New Kid on the Blog

Here's Sunday's sermon from last week, I will get around to writing something sometime soon... seem to be rather busy at present.... The blurb for this sermon: Do we make 'Christ in our own image'? Or do we allow Christ to transform us into his image? Following on from the Gospel encounter with a 'daughter of Abraham' in the Synagogue we consider Jesus' relationship with the law, his Jewish roots and a 'true and lively faith' of grace and compassion. 

Another sermon...  This one a bit of an interaction...

This is me saying what you might have just read if you followed the link from the last post!

Well, this is it, my opening sermon.  Don't get too excited, it won't win any preaching awards, nor lead to revival in BC, but I wanted to be clear and straightforward for my first Sunday serving in this place.... It will be available as a podcast soon (oooh, I hear you say, or maybe not) Warning, I may have used the opening story before.... Hosea 11:1-11 Colossians 3:1-11 Luke 12:13-21 Eat Drink and be Merry  ? A priest takes up his new role as rector of a parish. All seems well during his first Sunday service and as people start leaving the minister says goodbye at the door and has the usual 'lovely sermon', 'thanks for joining us', 'welcome', 'glad to have you on board' etc from those leaving, until about ten people along a dishevelled looking man says 'long winded', and 'dreadful voice' and then wanders off back into the church. A few more folk shake hands and say farewell with 'thank you for your words for tod...

What Am I After All What am I after all but a child, pleas'd with the sound of my own name? repeating it over and over; I stand apart to hear--it never tires me. To you your name also; Did you think there was nothing but two or three pronunciations in the sound of your name?                                                                                                       Walt Whitman   (1819-1892) What complex things we human beings are.  At any given moment we combine layers of experience, belief, fear, hope, love, truth, deception and so much more as we present ourselves to the world around.  I love Whitman's poem above, which seems to express something of that complexity of our identity, and encouraging us to ...

We're here - Victoria, British Columbia. At least I have an excuse for not having been active on Blogger for a while, I have had no access to a PC for over a month.  This has been a joy and a trial. I have been missing writing generally (which I find much more agreeable with a keyboard and screen) and writing about faith, for sermons, newspaper articles and the (very) occasional blog article particularly! So here we are in sunny Victoria (I am assured this will not always be the case but we are making the most of it while it lasts) and have settled in to our new little home... much smaller than the Vicarages we have been fortunate enough to have since we were married 20 years ago but we are still very fortunate to have..... and I have sworn my Oaths of Alliegance to the Bishop, the Crown, and the Doctrine and Worship of the Anglican Church of Canada. This means I can start work tomorrow I am at the stage where following send off from Five Alive Mission Community, a joyful ...

So, we're leaving the country soon to go to the land of Maple Leaves, Beer, Ice Hockey, Mounties, Moose, Mountains, Bacon, Snow and lots of different stereotypes than those to which we are used... stereotypes which seem to be drifting sadly towards intolerance, racism, poverty and a dismantled social welfare system...though I prefer the Tea, Vicars, Cucumber Sandwiches and lovable Cockerneys of bygone eras! Such a move is bound to create lots of very mixed feelings and the odd sensation, more so than previous moves, that things are being done 'for the last time' in this particular context. For example, as an Anglican Clergyperson in England I am legally bound to perform the weddings, funerals and baptisms (colloquially known as 'hatch, match and dispatch') of anyone who lives within the borders of our parishes - though there are some conditions on these things, it is pretty much an expectation that the local 'Parish Church' will perform these function...