Sermons & Other Words

Grace Abounds!


Sermon – Easter 7
Acts 16.16-34, John 17.20-end
Revd. Matthew Peat

The crowds gathered. Will there be enough seats? Will there be enough service sheets? Can everyone see? These are some of the questions around when we host our monthly baptism service at 12 noon. Hundreds of people come, a moment to celebrate, except that if I’m honest they’re hard work.

Its hard keeping that many people engaged and trying to be serious alongside the celebration.

Consequently, I can often go home disheartened and drained in a way it feels as though the sacrament is being abused. And yet there is more, as an email I received last week reminded me.

Prior to last month’s service, an enthusiastic photographer spoke to me before the service asking for some guidance about what was and was not appropriate. We had a chat and I asked if he could email me some of the photos because they would be useful to us for publicity and so on.

I’d forgotten about the request until an email came with some photos attached, one of which is one of my favourite ever photos. In the foreground I’m holding the Riley-James. In the background is a row of smiling joyful faces, beaming at the child and maybe even me.

That photo has served as a little reminder to me that though I might sometimes feel a bit indifferent about baptisms, God’s grace is still at work and that that grace will be revealed to us in all sorts of people and events.

It’s a photo I shall treasure for the rest of my days and is certainly one to turn too if I feel a bit grumpy and thinking it’s a waste of time.

Perhaps Jesus needed moments like that too. We might like to think of Jesus being meek and mild, all calm and collected but the reality I suspect was rather different. It must have been frustrating to be surrounded by followers who for much of the time just don’t get it.

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Purveyors of Hope


Sermon Year C - Easter Day Sermon with Holy Baptism
John 20.1-18
Revd. Matthew Peat

Every so often when it’s a sunny day and incense has been part of our Eucharist, as it was this time last week, a wonderful things happens.

As the smoke of the incense is met with the bright light of the day, mediated through the windows around us, then shafts of light magically appear. These shafts or beams of light are beautiful and in some way speak to us of the life of faith.

For though we know there are times when this life can seem harsh and difficult, something young Jacob, his parents Matthew and Katie together with the rest of the family have been reminded these last few weeks and months.

Amidst these difficult times, I know there have also been shafts or beams of light, glimpses of hope, little clues that there is more. Something I want to return to a bit later.

Mary whom we encounter in our Gospel this morning knew well the harshness of life. On Friday she had seen Jesus die. The power of evil and the darkness that surrounds it seems to have won.

We find her next ‘Early on the first day of the week’ at Jesus’ tomb, bewildered and distraught for ‘the stone had been removed from the tomb’. A kind man talks to her and it’s when he mentions her name, she knows. She has ‘seen the Lord’.

As darkness fell last night at our Easter Vigil though the wind blew Bishop Paul lit the paschal candle from a small fire. He then brought that light into the church proclaiming ‘The Light of Christ’.

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Hope Filled Child


Sermon Year C – The Presentation of Christ in the Temple
Hebrews 2.14-end, Luke 2.22-40
Revd. Matthew Peat

Many of you are Grandparents. In that role you take a keen interest in the lives of your Grandchildren. Some of you see them more than others, almost and maybe even every day, some of you less so, separated by geography and so on.

Grandparents in many ways have the best bits of parenting. They usually don’t work so can turn up as and when required, with little else to worry about except to concentrate on their charges.

That concentration can of course be demanding “Grandma can you do this or that” or “Grandad I don’t like those” or perhaps trying to respond to the most disturbing question ever asked “why?”

And yet though they can be exhausting Grandparents are invariably delighted by their Grandchildren.

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Brief Encounters – Moments of Revelation


Sermon Year C – The Baptism of Christ
Luke 3.15-17, 21-22
Revd. Matthew Peat

We know so little of Jesus’ early years. What we do know comes to us in a series of brief encounters or moments of revelation in which something significant happens.

This morning as we recall his baptism, he is of course an adult and it does mark the beginning of his public ministry, when he steps out of life as a carpenter onto the mainstage.

He stepped onto a stage where ‘the people were filled with expectation’.

Something was happening.

John had stirred people up. They ask, is this John the Messiah?

John ‘answered all of them’ by saying he is not, that another is coming.

This other man is baptised along with others, and the Gospel tells us he is praying and at that moment his true identity is revealed, a voice comes from heaven and says

‘you are my son, the beloved; with you I am well pleased.’

It is a moment of revelation.

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Opening our Treasure Chests


Sermon Year C - Feast of the Epiphany
Matthew 2.1-12
Revd. Matthew Peat

The wise men from the East, who have followed the star arrive at the crib. God first reveals his love in a stable before animals and shepherds and then come the wise men.

In contrast to the animals and shepherds, from the stable and the fields, the wise men represent the power and prestige of the world. They remind us that though this baby was born amidst mess and muddle, he’s for all people, rich and poor, those with little and those with lots.

Christmas 2015 is fading from our memory. The decorations have come down and the carol CD’s are put away for next year.

In the last couple of weeks we’ve reflected on the birth of Christ and what it continues to mean for us today.

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Strange That — It’s All About Love


Sermon Year B – Christmas Day
Titus 2.11-14, Luke
Revd. Matthew Peat

Some strange things happen at this time of year. It’s as if we suspend, at least for a bit, the sad stuff about ourselves and the world, enjoy our imagination more and put on our festive face and share a bit of Christmas magic, Ho Ho Ho!

So for example, we talk of Santa Claus coming down chimneys, we maybe even left him something last night to sustain him for his onward journey.

Maybe we watch a good Christmas movie, ‘Miracle on 34th Street’, ‘It’s a wonderful life’ or some other with a happy ending of course.

We may even a bit more charitable to those with whom the rest of the year we find a bit of a trial.

The strangest event of all that which we come here and to celebrate this morning, the birth of Jesus.

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The Risky Yes of Faith


Sermon Year B – Advent 4
Hebrews 10.5-10 Luke 1.39-55
Revd. Matthew Peat

‘Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’

I wanted to begin with these verses which precede those we have heard today. We have of course nearly completed our Advent jigsaw puzzle. We have these last few weeks pondered some of the themes of the season. This morning we turn our thoughts to Mary, to Jesus’ mother without whom the puzzle cannot be finished.

Mary is often depicted as serene, beautiful and sad in so many statues, icons and pictures. She looks tidy and neat. Many of these don’t quite ring true for me. They’re just too perfect and also she often looks too old. She was after all a young girl, 16 or 17, perhaps a little older or even younger.

And like most 16 year olds probably had hopes and dreams for her life. She knew this carpenter Joseph and could imagine a life with him. But then the Angel Gabriel appears and invites her to see that the life to which she is being called is going to be different.

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Joy and Gladness


Choral Evensong Sermon for Advent
Isaiah 40.1-11, Luke 1.1-25
Revd. Matthew Peat

If you’re anything like me, you might sometimes look at others and think that they seem happier than you. They seem to be always cheerful and positive, at least on the outside. Maybe we think they’re an image of happiness and want to be like them.

Except we know also that appearances can be deceiving. Smiles sometimes mask great sadness rather than happiness. We all try to put on a brave face and keep smiling. So when someone asks “How are you?” seldom do we give an honest answer, by smiling away giving the impression of being happy, we keep them happy too.

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