• Sermon – the Maker, Troublemaker, Peacemaker

  19/08/2013

  Here’s what I said on Sunday in the pulpit about that tricky gospel reading.
  

  Not peace, but a division

  Sometimes one reads the Gospel in church and everyone nods knowingly. You can tell that people think that what is being said is wise and good.

  When we tell the story of the Good Samaritan, perhaps. Or the Prodigal Son. Or the stories of his response when people brought him those who were sick.

  We hear Jesus being clever, holy and gracious. We see him healing and enlightening and blessing.

  And we approve.

  We approve of this Saviour for he is made in the image of all our hopes and our dreams.

  This is a God whom we can like. He would not be out of place in our company. We would be honoured to take him home for tea.

  But the truth is, Christianity is about something a little more than this. It is about following a Saviour who sometimes turns around and says things that we find tricky, difficult or bewildering. (more…)

Previous Posts

• What are you reading?

  14/09/2006

  Oh, thank you for asking. I’ve just finished reading Zadie Smith’s On Beauty which I enjoyed greatly. A more conventional read than either White Teeth or The Autograph Man but equally enjoyable. I’ve been picking up and mulling over John Selby Spong’s book Why Christianity Must Change or Die. I agree with much of the…

• Feather

  13/09/2006

• Millport

  12/09/2006

  Just back from a meeting in Millport. Cumbrae was bedrowsled with mist. It must have been the Millport Country & Western Music festival last week, I think – or perhaps it is still on. The lampposts were bedecked with US and Confederacy flags. I can’t help but think that Millport is surreal enough without this.

• Listen again

  11/09/2006

  For 7 days, the service that was broadcast from St Mary’s yesterday can be heard from the BBC’s webpages.