The Vicars Blog

Let’s briefly picture the scene portrayed in the parable of the sower. A farmer is going out to sow some seed in his field. He scatters the seed liberally by hand throwing it from side to side and it falls in different places. Some seed falls on the pathway that goes...

Our two readings this morning were chosen by the Liturgical Group of the Church of England, the body who choose the readings set for each day, because they complement each other and also shed light on each other.  It is one of the basic principles of...

Everyone has different ideas about what Christianity is all about – what its purpose is; what its goal is. As you know, there are many ‘denominations’ – different groupings of Christians who prefer to think of and practise their religion in different ways. The sad...

I don’t know if any of you managed to see any or all four of the episodes of the BBC’s ‘The Nativity’ this week. It did get a very good press overall – except, I saw, on the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science website, where it seems, sadly, from reading...

The warning of an approaching object or event is always important. We need to know what’s coming, what danger it poses, what action – perhaps evasive action - we need to take: and that of course is true whether we are talking about a tsunami or a visit from the...

The Reading is St. Matthew Ch 6 verses 16 - 21 The Collect for Ash Wednesday  - Almighty and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all them that are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we...

Last Sunday I introduced the passage set for the day from the Book of Isaiah by giving you something of an introduction to the book’s two parts and its main themes. Briefly for the benefit of those who were not here [You can by the way read that sermon, as well as the...

This morning’s ‘Ice-breaker’ that we gave you as you took your seats for Cafe Church was a light-hearted exercise to get you thinking about how we naturally look at people and are tempted to pigeon-hole them or put them into categories...often on the basis of very...

If, as you and I think about this world in which we live, we are looking for a definition of love, then we should look not in a dictionary but at Calvary, at the cross of Jesus Christ. The emblem that Christians chose to be the universal emblem that spoke most...

Today people all around the world will be celebrating Christmas. They will be celebrating in different ways and of course in different languages. Has anyone ever heard or perhaps even sung ‘Silent Night’ in German? In Danish? Or how about Chinese? Arabic perhaps? I...

That last reading was entitled ‘St. John unfolds the great mystery of the incarnation.’ As we think about Christmas, we can usefully do so in terms of John’s inspiring words – v9 ‘the true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. ’ St. John, the...

The Church’s season of Lent challenges us to take an honest look at ourselves in the light of the good news of fast approaching Good Friday and Easter Day. Lent offers an opportunity to take stock of our relationships with God and neighbour. Such a spiritual audit as...