• Sermon – the Maker, Troublemaker, Peacemaker

    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…)

4 responses to “This ain’t persecution”

  1. Beth Routledge Avatar

    Yep. And I think that the Primus has got it badly wrong in responding to this one.

  2. Graham Evans Avatar
    Graham Evans

    Allowing political and religious ad would turn us into another US, where political and religious “debate” centres on who can raise, or already has, the most money.

  3. Ross Kennedy Avatar
    Ross Kennedy

    Oh yes, and while we’re at it we had better ban all films from public showing which contain any religious content – eg: ‘Schindlers List’, ‘Brooklyn’, ‘Magdalen Sisters’, ‘Fury’, ‘Amazing Grace’, ‘Doubt’, etc,etc. We should not risk offending anyone should we? Idiocy – whose idiocy?

  4. Kelvin Avatar

    Surely wanting political and religious ads banned from cinemas is about good taste rather than offence.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Previous Posts

  • Edinburgh (E)CU

    Like Fr Gadgetvicar, I’ve been following the story of the alleged banning of a group of Evangelical students from the University of Edinburgh. It has been widely reported – there is a variation on the story here. The Lawyers Christian Fellowship has done very well at portraying the story as a freedom of speech issue…

  • Botafumeiro Demonstration

    All right, all right, I’m back already. [Well, back to work tomorrow]. And with this little gem – an online demonstration of the physics of the Botafumeiro, the enormous thurible swung in Santiago de Compostela.