A tough Epistle and Gospel reading this morning; both seeking to tell us what to do and how to do it. They are the sort of readings that might make some of us rebel, especially those of us that don’t like being told exactly what to do or believe. These readings are a bit like a stern parent saying:

“Just do as I tell you!” When what we might want to say is; ‘Why?’ 

‘Why?’ is a good question. These two readings, however,  are just gob-bits from larger texts of the Bible and we really can’t take them...

“But among you there are some who do not believe.”   John 6:64

“I believe in the sun,

Even when it is not shining.

I believe in love,

Even when I do not feel it.

I believe in God,

Even when He is silent.”

Anon. Scrawled on a wall in Cologne Cathedral crypt which was bombed in WWII

‘I believe in God, even when he is silent.’

Could you imagine writing those words during that dark chapter of our history? Whoever did so had great faith and an even greater hope. Their words imply that their faith was not based...

I want this morning to go off piste in my sermon. I’m not going to address any of the three readings which we have just heard, important though they are. I want instead to share with you a passage of theological writing which I first read many years ago and which has deeply influenced my thinking and praying since then.

It comes from a book entitled The Shape of the Liturgy, which was written by an Anglican Benedictine monk, Dom Gregory Dix of Nashdom Abbey It was published in 1945. It is a monumental work and, frankly, a very hard...

The extract from Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians set  this morning is entitled in my Bible; ‘Rules for the new life’ and good words they are too. For life is never straight forward and sometimes we can leave things unsaid or undone that we would have been better off sorting out before the sun set on the day. It can be all too easy not to put things right as soon as possible and that can lead quite easily to estrangement or malice; neither of which are healthy. Paul tells the Ephesians, and it applies equally to all of us...

Cooking is something I enjoy doing. I also enjoy reading and re-reading cookery books, as well. Recently, while dipping into one of Claire MacDonald’s books I was struck how appropriate what she had written was to today’s readings. In particular, in relation to today’s Gospel reading; it is not as recipe but the introduction to a recipe for ‘Black olive, sun-dried tomato and garlic bread’ that I think is very apposite:

“I made this recipe first in the summer of 1992, making it up as I went along. Initially I tried baking it in oiled loaf tins… but I didn’t...