Who’s coming to dinner?

Sermon from Our Saviour Lutheran Church on the 17th Sunday after Trinity. Text: Luke 14:1-14 (which takes up the first 2½ minutes or so)

I see, said the blind man

A sermon preached on Quinquagesima Sunday, 6 March 2011 at Our Saviour Lutheran Church, Fareham. (Typos and all) [Click here for audio] 1 Samuel 16:1–13 1 Corinthians 13:1–13 Luke 18:31–43 If you have read John Bunyan’s A Pilgrim’s Progress, you may recall the trial of Mr. Faithful at Vanity Fair. The trial is a travesty…

Humbled and Exalted

A sermon preached at Our Saviour Lutheran Church on the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost (29 August) 2010. Luke 14:1–14 The daily ritual must have been incredibly wearying for the poor driver. Every morning at 8.20, he would approach the bus stop where I was waiting, together with a couple of dozen other young teenagers. In…

Everyone who asks receives

Sermon preached at Our Saviour Lutheran Church on the 8th Sunday after Pentecost (25 July 2010) Luke 11:1–13 Rosie was one of the more memorable students I had early on in my teaching career. A teenage girl more blessed with a quick tongue than with a reliable sense of when and how to use it.…

Just sit there

Sermon preached at Our Saviour Lutheran Church on the 8th Sunday after Pentecost (18 July 2010) Luke 10:38-42 Spare a thought for Martha. The patron saint of every eldest child who has been let down by an idle younger sibling, left to protest: “It’s not fair! ” Left to run the house, the kitchen, the…

A Tale of Two Sinners

Homily on the 3rd Sunday after Pentecost, 13 June 2010, at Our Saviour Lutheran Church, Fareham (UK). Text: Luke 7:36—8:3

Proclaiming and bringing

While reading Luke 8 with my wife last night, I noticed something that had passed me by before: Soon afterward he [Jesus] went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. (Luke 8:1) Proclaiming and bringing. That's a lovely summary of how the Gospel works: Jesus proclaims…

John the Baptist, faith and doubt

The Gospel reading for this Sunday, Luke 7:2–20, includes John the Baptist's famous sending of his disciples to ask Jesus whether He "is the one" or whether they should wait for someone else. From time immemorial, scholars and other theologians have debated over the question of whether this is an indication that John the Baptist…