May I speak in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. AmenI read recently that psychologists think that our brains take around 35,000 conscious decisions every day, or one decision every two seconds. It’s quite an interesting statistic, one that reminds us of the extraordinary capacity of our created selves, but also of the often overwhelming burden of our responsibilities as conscious beings.Today as we celebrate the feast of Mary, the mother of Jesus, we do above all give God thanks for the ‘yes’ of Mary to God’s call on her life. But I think we also need to give thanks, and pay attention to the way that the whole of Mary’s life is an ongoing decision to say yes, an ongoing decision to walk in the ways of obedience and truth, even at times bearing the unbearable pain of that decision. I think we often consider Mary at the start and the end of Jesus’ life. In the drama of birth and death. We often consider her joy and her pain at these critical times in the narrative of our salvation. We think of the teenage mother, an unmarried refugee, the birth in the stable, the angels, the visitors, the beauty in the vulnerability and the unbelievable strength and power shining through this young woman bearing the saviour of the world in her young arms. We think also of the middle aged mother, her head shrouded with the veil of mourning, standing weeping at the foot of the cross, her sorrow shouldered alongside the women who stand with her in her grief.But do we consider Mary in the middle? Mary in the ordinary? Mary raising the boy, the young man, the adult son. Mary whose unseen and undocumented decisions also testify to a life of conscious faithfulness. I believe that in times of drama and of crisis we see an exposure of what has been built in the in between times. A closer walk with God is a decision that we take not just when our life depends on it and we cry out to God, but it is a decision we take when in our spaces of ease and of liberty we choose to walk God’s ways. We choose to spend time in His word, time in prayer, time in worship and study and service. I want to say that the glimpses we get of Mary indicate the depth of her everyday faithfulness, the rootedness of her love of God, the conscious ‘yes’ of the depths of her heart to following the commandments of God. I think when we consider the teaching of Jesus in today’s gospel we see the product of an upbringing which testifies to this ordinary faithfulness capable of bearing an extraordinary calling. What Jesus says is clearly outrageous. Leave all your relationships, give up all your possessions, and think very very hard about whether you have enough in your tank to bear the weight of the calling. I mean who is able to consider all of that and still say ‘yes, I will follow you’. It’s impossible.But I think what Jesus is really saying is that you can never know the cost of saying ‘yes’ to God when you begin the journey. You can never imagine how your life is going to change. How all of things that you now hold dear might pale into utter insignificance as you go on this journey of following Christ, how the cost will be great but the blessings will be greater. And he has to speak in such stark and shocking language because he has to challenge his hearers to truly let go. Because there can be no relationship in our lives more precious than our relationship with Him. There can be no plan that we can make ourselves that comes close to the plans and purposes that He has for us and for His Church. There can be no house or car or holiday or pension pot or any sum of money or possession that can come close to the value of knowing Christ’s love for us, and for his promise of eternal life.Jesus is the son of the woman who said ‘yes’. Not just once. Not just in the difficult times, but yes in the ordinary, yes in the every day. Mary knew she had nothing without the love of God. Mary knew she couldn’t control or plan her life. Mary knew that there was nothing of value that she desired except for the love of God. And Mary knew both the cost of this ‘yes’, but also the blessings. Mary lived a life which many would consider to be unthinkably dangerous and daunting and perhaps one that we would not envy.But as we honour her today I want to commend to you her witness of righteous living, not just in the times of crisis. I think in these times it perhaps both the easiest and the hardest it has ever been to make these micro decisions in each moment to follow God’s ways. Our access to Scripture, to worship, to prayer, to spiritual literature and fellowship both in person and digitally is extraordinary. And yet the overwhelm of information that we are exposed to in a digital age, the work of marketing which promotes security in financial and material ways, the lure of an idealised, perfect life somehow free from sorrow, and the illusion of fellowship on social media which isn’t actually real, and fleshy and honest – all these things manipulative our brains and our souls into places where suddenly we turn around and find we have walked far, far, far away from God.Mary knew the Hebrew scriptures and the exhortation from Deuteronomy to choose life. And she did that. In choosing life she found God’s faithfulness, she found God’s truth, she found God’s light. She found that love is stronger than death. She found that in the disciplines of the life of prayer there were freedoms and joys that she had never expected. So like Mary, we must choose life. We must put our devotions to Christ higher than anything else in our lives. We must lay down our own plans and purposes and dreams, and allow the gentle whisper of the Holy Spirit to lead and guide. We must lay aside our clinging on to all that glitters and promises security, remembering that God has promised that those who meditate on his law day and night will prosper, bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither.Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.Amen
Sermon for Parish Gift Day 2025 – 1st after TrinityReadings: Isaiah 65.1-9; Psalm 22.19-28; Galatians 3.23-end; Luke 8.26-39. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. AmenLast week as we reflected on God as Trinity, we concluded that the Trinity is not a puzzle to be solved, but a relationship with God that we are invited into. Today as we hold our Parish Gift Day we have the opportunity to reflect on how we respond to God’s love. To notice how God’s love changes us, both our thoughts and our behaviours around giving, and also to reflect together on how God is inviting us to use our resources at this time to serve His Church and His mission in this place.I don’t know what comes to mind when you hear the word ‘offering’ or ‘collection’. Our language around money and giving can sometimes feel dull, heavy, awkward or embarrasing even. It lacks joy and gratitude. Churches are not places where people are queuing up to give money!Some of this is cultural – British society is traditionally not as philanthropic as other places where people recognise their responsibility for cultural capital. Some of this is misinformation – I count myself as one of many who thought for a number of years that the Church somehow was paid for by the state. It is not. Some of this is logistical – are we supposed to give every week in every service we attend? Are we supposed to give monthly or annually? What is the best form of giving – in the plate as a physical offering at the same time as the physical offerings of bread and wine are offered to God, or virtually in a more secure, efficient, and yet somehow less personal way? Some of this is a confusion around money verses other forms of resource. We may give our time to the church, our gifts and our energies to the church, in place of or as well as a financial offering. Some of us may have less money and more time, for instance. All of these things need to be considered.But some of this is also spiritual. We may not be sure why we are giving, and so we may not be giving at all. If we have not received the grace of God, the generosity and blessing beyond all measure that God has given us in Jesus Christ, how can we possibly be growing in generosity ourselves?Church is of course not at all like a shop because it is a total inversion of that process. In shops we give money and then receive something in return. Here we give because we have first received. Our gift is a response to what we first have received from God. And our gift is a free, offering of love and gratitude to the God who in Jesus Christ has won for us eternal life, freedom from sin and death, an everlasting relationship with God our Father, and a Church which through every generation proclaims this good news, providing space to worship together, enjoy fellowship together, and commit to making the good news known. We give because we are overwhelmed with gratitude to God, and because we have hope in the mission of His Holy Church.In the Old Testament, the Levitical code set out the 5 forms offering and sacrifice that God’s people were required to make. These were presented so that the people could say sorry to God, and receive atonement. But as Isaiah acknowledges, it was perfectly possible to make these offerings without any real change of heart – and so the law failed because people thought that obedience to the law was enough to reconcile them with God, rather than understanding that these offerings were intended as an outward marker of an inward change of repentance. In Paul’s letter to the Galatians we see him explain this, and celebrate that now by the blood of Jesus this old way of making sacrifices for the atonement of sin has been replaced by a new covenant of love for all people, Jew and Gentile.So the shift is that our offerings are not about our sin but about our gratitude. There is no offering we could ever make that could cleanse us from sin in the way that Jesus has. His sacrifice is made so that our lives can bear witness to the joy and freedom of life we have in Him. And our offering therefore becomes a joyful, grateful response to what He has done for us.This is so evident in our Gospel reading today. Our own personal testimonies may not be so dramatic, but each of us here today has had an encounter with Jesus, each of us in our own way knows His power to heal, to liberate, to completely change our lives. And so the command that Jesus gives to the man who has been released from demon possession is this: Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you. And this is the same command to us. Go and tell others. Go and live a changed life. A life full of gratitude and hope and love! Let your life speak. Let your heart speak. Let your wallet speak of your gratitude to God!Today we are very specifically asking you to review your giving to God’s Church, and where possible increase what you give, ensuring giving is efficient and regular. It is also a good opportunity to consider leaving a legacy to the Church. We plan to do this at least annually, and I do encourage you to respond boldly and in faith. Very often we develop giving habits which can remain unchanged for a long time, but our giving should reflect our situation, both our financial situation and our spiritual condition. Today you may reflect either that in this season you would like to give more or in a different way, or indeed that at the moment you need to reduce your offering for a while. Today you may feel so overwhelmed by gratitude to God for His faithfulness in your particular life situation, that your heart is moved to give a single additional gift. I cannot convict you of anything, only God can do that. And there is no judgement in giving because only God sees our hearts.I do need to impress on you that there are significant costs of ministry and mission. Our buildings, our ministers, our resources for worship, our community outreach – have physical costs associated. All of these are detailed in annual reports and on diocesan websites for complete accountability and transparency and our treasurers I’m surewould be happy to assist with any questions you have about the cost of ministry in this place.But if nothing else, my greatest prayer for today is a shift of attitude. From seeing money in Church as something which is scarce, something that feels burdensome, heavy or meaningless, into something full of joy, full of gratitude for what Jesus has done for you, and celebration and hope for the mission of God’s Holy Church.I would like to honour all those who assist with the finances of our church, those who count, our treasurers, our gift aid secretaries, our independent examiners of accounts. I pray God’s blessing over your ministries, and ask that you too will be renewed with a sense of trust in God’s bountiful provision and a hope for the future of His Church.As I close I offer you this prayer of St Ignatius of LoyolaLord, teach me to be generous.Teach me to serve you as you deserve; to give and not to count the cost,to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest,to labour and not to ask for reward, save that of knowing that I do your will.Amen.
Sermon for the Patronal Festival – St Oswald – August 3rd 2025In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. AmenThis week I did a rather foolish thing. I wanted to fit in a short run one morning, but was a bit pushed for time. I got up, had a quick drink, got my running kit on and set out. The first 15 minutes were fine, actually I felt great. Then I started to flag. By 20 minutes I knew I was struggling, by 30 minutes I couldn’t go on. I was running on empty – there was no fuel in the tank. Luckily my route had taken me around Carnforth so I was able to pop into a shop and refuel. The return run was a totally different experience. My body, refreshed and refuelled, was able to run a lot better. Now physical fasting, done properly, is a wonderful gift for our physical bodies and for our spiritual growth, but my fasted state was simply a lazy oversight. A foolish mistake. If you want to run several miles, I do not recommend attempting it on an empty stomach.I tell you this because in our readings today we reflect on the wisdom of God, and the foolishness of the human will. And today we also thank God for our Patron Saint Oswald, who knew that running on empty was not an option. Who knew his physical form and his spiritual tank needed to be fit for purpose, ready for battle, ready to listen to God, to be faithful and obedient even to the point of death.What I want to share with you today is the idea that we too are living in times where we need to be strengthened to serve by the Wisdom of God, strengthened in our resolve to walk God’s ways, to live God’s truth, to have our spiritual reserves refreshed and renewed for, the race that God invites us to run and the battle that we need to be ready to fight – both images of the Christian life in the letters of St Paul.In the Old Testament, there are several books which make up what is collectively known as ‘the Wisdom literature’. These are Job, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, some of the Psalms, and the Song of Solomon, as well as the Apocryphal books like the Wisdom of Sirach. I honestly think these are some of the most rich and rewarding books to read, because they were written by incredibly learned and mature scholars wrestling with the ultimate questions of meaning and purpose and truth. The appointed reading from Ecclesiastes today is the opening words of the book, which are almost also like the closing summary, as the teacher (Qoheleth) concludes that everything in this world is HEVEL – the Hebrew word meaning ‘a breath’, and translated as ‘meaningless, vanity, nothing, a waste’. I wonder at his observations – that everything he has seen and reflected on, all amounts to nothing. Nothing new, nothing gained, nothing of purpose or value or meaning. It all seems rather bleak. But somehow true and honest. But then the teacher turns his mind to a sense of divine order and purpose, and by chapter 3 we have his notion that in amongst this futility and apparent meaningless, God has ordained order – a time for certain things, a place for certain things, even that God works to instil humility, perseverance and joy in those who surrender to His ways. Qoheleth has a deep sense of the ultimate justice of God, of His right to bring judgement, to offer freedom and everlasting life, or to offer punishment and condemnation. Ecclesiastes is a really fantastic read because it utterly transcends its own time and place (4th century BC)speaking eternal truths, pondering eternal questions, and ultimately submitting to the eternal sovereignty of God – whose Wisdom we will never fully comprehend.It strikes me that it is really very easy to fill our minds with information that does not draw us into the life of God. That does not speak of the eternal reality of His Wisdom, of His plans and purposes, of His Kingdom, and of His call. I was here in Church the other day and went to get one of the pew Bibles. It had a strange coldness to it. Like it was a fixture of the Church, lying on the pew unopened and unread. Of course we currently print the readings on the weekly sheets so I suppose many of these Bible’s do indeed lie unread from week to week, but I felt something sad about this. How can we allow the Wisdom of God to seep into our souls if our Bible’s are not open, their pages thumbed from our times of devotion to the Lord? In fact if you are sitting next to a pew Bible now, can you pick it up, dust it off, and open it to page: Look – here is the book of Ecclesiastes, here is the invitation of the Teacher to dwell upon these questions of eternal life. Perhaps later today you might come back to this mighty book of wisdom.If we are to be ready to do God’s will, ready to serve Him, ready for the race and the battle that lies ahead, then the daily act of reading the Scriptures is the fuel for our souls that we need. Whatever else we read or listen to in our days will surely remind us that we do live in a fallen world. That God’s ways are not our ways, that we need more desperately than ever to offer ourselves as living sacrifices obedient to His will.This theme is picked up in the fabulous exhortation in Paul’s letter to the Colossians – which is all about inhabiting the new self in Christ. You can find it on page: The renewed life where we are transformed from earthly beings riddled with sin into those who have been raised with Christ, able to discern the things that are above. I love this playful image of peekaboo that Paul deploys – the self of sin which is hidden with Christ in God so that also through Christ God’s glory can be revealed in us. It’s a wonderful acknowledgement of the innate contradictions in the human form as we live the redeemed life yet become aware of the hidden shadows of our past, which the enemy continually seeks draw us back into. In this letter the theme of the battle is resonant: there is a clarity of direction, and our intentions ad our resolve and our strength are paramount to resist these earthly ways which are so impure and unholy that they must be eradicated completely from our lives. I love that Paul’s exhortation is for the Colossians to be ‘clothed with the new self which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator’. Again, this knowledge – this food, this fuel, this Word of God and Wisdom of God dwelling deep within us is the ONLY way that we are ready to fight the battle, run the race. Renewal in any form in God’s holy Church begins in the deepest places of our hearts. Begins with us quietly, decisively turning again to Christ. Choosing His ways. Inhabiting His Word. Singing His Praises. Following His ways. Only then are we strong enough to do the work of God establishing His Kingdom in a world which is fallen, broken, desolated and dark.I’m struck in the life of St Oswald about his commitment to prayer. His dedication to time with the Lord. His resolve to pray ahead of all decisions. His humility to accept God’s will and to surrender his own sin of pride, allowing God to transform it into the humble servanthood of discipleship. Sometimes in our Churches I think we haveforgotten how to pray. We’ve lost confidence in the quiet time with our Lord that we are invited to daily. We consider how we can transform our buildings into community hubs, drawing people in for hospitality or social events. But these buildings are consecrated to the Lord. We stand on holy ground. There is no point to this building other than to give glory to God. It is a place where we come into God’s presence, hearts and minds open and expectant to receive from Him, to find rest for our souls, to be fed by His Word and His sacrament. To offer and receive encouragement and prayer in our fellowship, and to be sent out again as pilgrim people to live the redeemed life – running the race that lies ahead and fighting the good fight. We need renewal in our buildings, renewal in our worship, renewal also in prayer so that the primary activity of our Churches is the strengthening of our relationship with Jesus Christ, our renewed commitment to Him. From this form of renewal, I believe extraordinary gains in the establishment of the Kingdom of God are possible.In our Gospel reading which you can find on page: Luke perhaps picks up on the most deceitful of all sin, the illusion of self-reliance and the sin of ultimate greed. This I think is absolutely the one thing that time and time again causes us as Christians to stumble and fall. The one thing that saps our spiritual strength is our desire for comfort and ease. The man in the parable makes the mistake of making his discernment with himself, with his soul. He replaces prayer to God with self examination according to his own will. And he concludes that his ultimate need and desire is to build and fill these barns with everything that he will need for many years ahead. The shocking conclusion of the parable is decisive in its condemnation of such a decision. For Luke there is absolute clarity that we need to let go of this ultimate desire for wealth and possessions. That we need to generous to God as He is to us. That we need to give Him our all, and seek to strengthen our reserves of the holy things – humility, simplicity, and the joy of serving others.I wonder how we respond to this challenge. In demographic statistical charts we are an extremely wealthy parish. In our personal lives most of us want for very little materially. But God’s desire for us is to be rich in love, abounding in mercy and compassion, reaching out with a passion for the poor, the sick and the lonely. There is so much work to be done in the name of Jesus in this place, and we must not grow weary in this, giving up or simply returning to our places of easy and comfort.You may consider all of this to be quite extreme, and perhaps it is. When I speak of the battle this may not be something that you can relate to. We are not in this country living through a time of national war. But I want to assure you that we are living in a time of spiritual war. There are enormous battles and enormous opposition to the proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ, especially in handing on the faith to our children and young people. There is a battle for God’s sabbath – people are busy and activities and commitments come before worship. There is a battle for Christian ethics especially regarding decisions around life and death. There’s a battle for social justice, a battle for generousity. And a battle for the transformation of society through the love of God in Jesus Christ.If you are willing, as Oswald was, to fight in the name of Christ, then I can tell you it will be the hardest and yet the most fulfilling thing you will ever commit to. You will see darkness you have never seen, but also the dazzling brilliance of the almighty power of God. You will live the truth that the prophets narrate, that in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. In the race analogy you will grow weary and considering many times giving up, and yet you will stand in the strength of Christ remembering that He has won for us the race and the crown of eternal life.This is the invitation to renewal that we are offered in Jesus Christ. A renewal of our hearts, our minds, our bodies, our money, our homes, our families – everything that we have.Maybe today, like Oswald, like Mary, and John and all the saints – we can even whisper a tentative, fledgling, timid or almost inperceptively audible ‘yes’ to the call of God.To walk in His ways. To indwell His Wisdom. To know His power to save. To commit to the awe filled journey of following him all the days of our life, and making the love of God in Jesus Christ known to all.A prayer of St Oswald:‘Let us all kneel together, and pray that true, the ever-living and almighty God to protect us in his mercy from the arrogant savagery of our enemies, for he knows that we fight in a just cause for the preservation of our nation’.Amen
