Dear friends, We have entered into the year of Our Lord 2024. In the ancient world, the passage of time was marked by counting the years since the accession of the king on the throne: "In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius…" (Luke 3:1). Since the 6th century, however, the Christian world has…
The Lord Who Saves
Sermon preached at Our Saviour Lutheran Church on the 2nd Sunday after Christmas, 5 January 2014 Text: Matthew 2:13–23 You can listen to the sermon here. What’s in a name? For us moderns, not a lot. Names are labels chosen from a stock of traditional or (increasingly) non-traditional stock. We name children after relatives or…
The extraordinary ordinary
Homily preached at the Lutheran Women’s League of Great Britain Workshop at Our Saviour Lutheran Church, Fareham 9 November 2013 Text: Romans 16:1‒16; Luke 8:1‒3; 10:38‒42 The lists of names in the final greetings of the New Testament Epistles tend to pass us by in our daily reading. When I first started reading the Bible…
Some thoughts on long hymns
An extract from the Sunday Cantata episode for Trinity 24, first aired on 3 November 2013 on Lutheran Radio UK. In my life so far, I have been fortunate enough to have lived in a number of different countries. In fact, I have moved around enough to consider myself a bit of a home-grown expert…
The Structure of the Collect
The following was printed in the service bulletin at Our Saviour Lutheran Church on 25 August 2013 (Trinity 13). As far as I'm aware, the mnemonic was invented by the Rev. Bosco Peters on the site Liturgy. At any rate, that's where I learned it. The Collect always takes the same form. This form of…
Contented Peace
This beautiful aria was our Communion anthem today at Our Saviour Lutheran Church, from Bach's Cantata BWV 170, Vergnügte Ruh, to words by Georg Christian Lehms (1684–1717). [podloveaudio src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/546760/Blog/audio/BWV170%20-%201%20Vergnugte%20Ruh%2C%20beliebte%20Seelenlust.mp3"] Contented peace, beloved delight of the soul, You cannot be found among the sins of hell, But only where there is heavenly harmony; You alone strengthen…
Children in the Service
This is printed on the front page of the bulletin each week at Our Saviour Lutheran Church: It is a delight and a privilege to have children in the service. Children as much as adults are members of God’s family and Jesus welcomes little children to Him. There is a Sunday School for children during…
Quick to hear, slow to speak
Sermon on Cantate—28 April 2013 Preached at Our Saviour Lutheran Church, Fareham, and Oxford Lutheran Mission Text: James 1:16–21 A recording of the sermon from Our Saviour, Fareham, is available here. * * * In the holy name of ✠ Jesus. Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for…
Whole body worship
From time to time, I add a little section called 'Liturgical Titbits' to the service bulletin at Our Saviour Lutheran Church. The idea is that, over time, the congregation's knowledge and understanding of various aspects of the liturgy will grow—and bring about a growing appreciation thereof. These pieces are, as the name suggests, very brief,…
God has time
Here's the audio from last Sunday's sermon on the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. There is no script, so listening is the only option. Except, of course, for not listening. Text: Luke 1:57–80 (Acts 13:13–26) [audio:http://www.oslc.org.uk/audio/2012/oslc-2012-06-24.mp3%5D Source: Our Saviour Lutheran Church
SimonPotamos 