• A sermon for Y’All

    Here is a sermon that I preached on Sunday. You can find the audio here. (This one is more fun to listen to than to read, I think).

    I have learned in the course of my travels that it sometimes takes people a few minutes to atune to the way I speak. I’ve learned that people sometimes need a few sentences before they get used to my accent – the way that I speak.

    And of course, it works the other way around too.

    I am getting used to listening to the sounds of voices that I am not used to hearing. And of course, coming to here, the first time I’ve been in the South has meant me having to listen extra carefully.

    Before I came on this here I decided to lose weight and get fit. Over the course of a year I managed to lose 30 pounds. What I hadn’t realised was that when I came to the South, the hospitality would be such that I would put those 30 pounds back on. During breakfast.

    Whilst I was eating that first breakfast, I had something to ponder. For the very first night that I was here I had the strangest of dreams. I’ve been up at Sewanee, the University of the South. It is a beautiful university and an excellent seminary and I was their guest. That first night, I dreamed that I had encountered angels. It is a strange dream to have these days though it would not have been particularly unusual in Biblical times. [Indeed, one might think that a very great deal of John’s Revelation, part of which we heard this morning, was just such a dream].

    Anyway, I woke up on my first full day in the South absolutely sure that I’d encountered angels in my dreams. And as I came to, I desperately tried to remember what they had been saying. I knew that something was important. I tried and tried.
    However, to this day, I can’t remember anything of the conversation.

    I do remember one thing though. (more…)

8 responses to “Easter Sermon 2016”

  1. Julia Avatar
    Julia

    God’s here with us all the time. If he rises or not, He’s always with us anyway.

    1. Kelvin Avatar

      Thanks David – edited now. I don’t know how that happened.

  2. Meg Rosenfeld Avatar
    Meg Rosenfeld

    Cheer up. At least you don’t have to walk all the way to Emmaeus this afternoon and then run all the way back to Jerusalem. Wonder and amazement can be pretty exhausting, but they’re well worth the stress.

    The Lord is risen! Alleluia!

  3. Keith Barber Avatar
    Keith Barber

    I can only see as far as the beginning of the reference to Brussels… hope the Border hasn’t been closed to Kelvin’s thoughts!

    1. Kelvin Avatar

      Should be sorted now.

      1. Keith Barber Avatar
        Keith Barber

        Thank you… inspiring as always.

  4. Alex Staton Avatar
    Alex Staton

    Hi Kelvin, thanks for posting this – particularly since I hadn’t the stamina for the 10.30 service after the Vigil. I could blame ‘that Graeme’ as my mother calls my partner in reluctant recognition he’s here to stay 😂. You’ll be knackered. I hope you managed to relax this week without needing to console yourself with too many pickled eggs.

    Last week certainly saw more than its fair share of tragedy. Unfortunately we’ve become somewhat used to terrorist attacks. I think many in both the Muslim and wider community found Mr Shah’s murder in particular absolutely devastating. It’s difficult to see how to make sense of it or to see how the message of Easter speaks to such wickedness and tragedy. I found the points you made at the end of your sermon encouraging. Christ is risen in the lives of those that bring to love of Christ where hatred is present, challenging the prejudice, working for interfaith initiatives, supporting the marginalised.

    I was interested in your earlier comments and the turn of phrase you use. I think I know what you’re getting and I uderstand the sentiment behind the words it is easy to believe Christ will never rise from the dead. Im sure that was the experience of the disciples on that first Good Friday. Still, could you say a little more about why you use the future tense throughout the first part of your sermon.

    Best

    Alex

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