Sermon for Easter Day Readings: Acts 10:34–43, Colossians 3:1–4 & Matthew 28:1–10 As part of this morning’s service, we will renew the promises that were made at our baptism. The reason we do this is symbolic, because historically, in the early centuries of the church, the rite of baptism took place at Easter. In those times, candidates for baptism were required to…

Sermon for Easter Day Readings: Acts 10:34–43; 1 Corinthians 15:1–11 & John 20:1–18 In the second half of last year I decided to enrol in an online course to become accredited to teach English as a second language. I had 6 months in which to complete the course, however the course overview suggested that most people finished it somewhere between 12 and…

Readings: Acts 10:34–43, Colossians 3:1–4 & Matthew 28:1–10 Shortly, we will renew our baptismal promises as part of this morning’s service. The reason we do this is symbolic, because historically, the rite of baptism took place at Easter. Candidates were required to undergo a three year period of preparation for baptism, which was known as the catechumenate. Writing to the church in…

Readings: Acts 16:16–34, Revelation 22:12–22 & John 17:20–26 I had a meeting with someone earlier in the week who described themselves as being spiritual rather than religious. They told me they feel intimidated by church, because they don’t understand what is happening during the liturgy of the Sunday morning service, and because they find it difficult to make sense of the Bible.…

Readings: Acts 16:9–15, Revelation 21:10–14, 21:22–22:5 & John 14:23–29 Earlier this week I attended the clergy conference of the Marmingatha Episcopate, which is the region which Bishop Genieve Blackwell is responsible for. The theme of the conference was “Leading Change”.  I doubt there are many people who would argue against the need for change in the church at this point in its…

Readings: Acts 9:36–43, Revelation 7:9–17 & John 10:22–30 Today’s passage from John’s Gospel begins with the words, “At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem.” To get a better idea of what John is trying to tell us in this passage, we need to know something of the history of the festival of Dedication.  In the year 167…

Readings: Acts 9:1–6, Revelation 5:6–14 & John 21:1–19 As most of you know, I was blessed to be part of a pilgrimage that visited the Holy Land in January 2018. During the pilgrimage, our group spent four days at the Sea of Galilee, and one of the places we visited in our time there was the Church of the Primacy of Saint…