I feel sorry for Thomas.  He gets some bad press, mostly so John can make a point to his readers I think.  I’m not even sure Thomas had doubts.  I think he had questions, so that’s where this week’s sermon focuses… on questions.

I was at Lanark Greyfriars and the readings were John 20: 19-31, 1 John 1:1 – 2:2 and Acts 4: 32-35

As always, your comments, suggestions and most of all questions are very welcome.

I’ve posted the text for this sermon about Mary of Bethany and Judas before but I’ve never recorded it until now.

I often feel that Holy Week is one of the most overlooked parts of the Christian year.  That’s all the more strange because it is at the very heart of our faith.  Today is the day when we remember that Jesus gathered  with his closest friends in an upper room to celebrate the Feast of the Passover.  During the meal Jesus broke bread and shared a cup of wine and in doing so gave the church the sacrament of communion.  Remember me.  Sad that in Holy Week, of all times, we forget.

Has the sermon had its day?  Is there still a place for preaching?  Jonny Baker explores preaching in a thought provoking piece he wrote about a year ago… Preaching: throwing a had-grenade in  fruit bowl

I have to say that I don’t think preaching is done yet, but then you might expect someone who stands at the front of a church most Sundays to say that.

My biggest complaint about lots of preaching is that it is mostly average at best.  I know it’s hard to hit the heights every week but it seems to me that most of the complaints I hear about preaching are really about quality.  Most of us enjoy listening to a captivating speaker for much longer than 10 or 15 minutes.  I regularly listen to Rob Bell talk on his podcast for an hour and I’m disappointed when it’s over.  And that has no visual aids.

So, here’s my plea to anyone who gets to stand up in front of any group of people to speak.  Look on that 15 minute slot as the most important 15 minute presentation of your life, without the associated stress obviously. Would that change how you approach it? Should you expect people to disagree with what you said? What would you like them to go home thinking about?

In Jonny’s article he say:

Mike Riddell suggests that ‘The purpose of the sermon is to unleash the power of scripture in a way that leads to personal and corporate encounter with God.’ (p119 God’s Home Page).  I like that.  I’d add that it should open up the possibility of transformation which maybe is implicit in his definition.  One other goal of preaching/teaching is education – enabling people to learn.

Is that what you get on a Sunday?  Is that what you set out to do on a Sunday?  What do you think about preaching?

This is a sermon preached on Sunday 8 March on Mark 8: 31-38 (Lent 2B).  As always, I’d be glad to hear your thoughts.

This is the sermon I preached this morning at Barrhead United Reformed Church on Mark 9: 2-9, The transfiguration of Jesus.

1 Samuel 3:1-10 is one of my favourite passages in the Bible.  I love the story of Eli and Samuel and all its imagery and drama.

Let me know what you think of the sermon.  Thoughts, comment and criticism (constructive preferred) all welcome.

I was leading worship at St Andrew’s in Blantyre this morning while their minister Peter is off at a conference.  It was great to be there again, although we had a bit of a hymn tune issue which I thought was kinda funny.  It always amuses me when people don’t know a tune how quiet they get, usually with a kind of stunned ‘Help! That’s not the tune we know!’ look on their faces.  The audio of the sermon is above.  Our text for today was Mark 1: 1-11, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

St Andrew's Blantyre