St Barnabas Swanland, Sunday Sermon Summaries

  Matthew 13:   31-33, 44-52 Romans 8: 26-end Since becoming a vicar, I no longer say the Lord’s prayer from memory; I always read it.    Now, before you think ‘what do they teach vicars now?    Doesn’t he even know the Lord’s prayer?’    I do, but whenever I say the Lord’s Prayer out loud I read it.    Partly because I do sometimes mix up the 2 traditional and modern versions – ·         ‘is it in earth or on earth’? ·         ‘are we saying thy’ or ‘your’? ·         And are we forgiving ‘sins’ or trespasses’ this time? But I can also find myself skipping over the words without thinking what they mean. For example “Your kingdom come” We use these words every week in church, but it’s easy to gloss over them to get to the ‘asking’ and ‘forgiving’ bits without considering the implications of what we’re saying? What doe...

  Matthew 13: 24-30, 36-43 Romans 8: 12-25   Do you remember the games we played when we were young, where there were “goodies” and “baddies” (cowboys and indians, cops and robbers, or - for younger ones - the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance in Star Wars) As Christians we can sometimes think in the same way – who are the “goodies” and who are the “baddies”? We might even get spiritual about it: Who’s “in” this new Kingdom Jesus talks about and who’s “out”? So we ask… ·         Who’s got the right theology? ·         Who’s living the right way? ·         Whom can we ‘write off’ as having got it wrong? Or not being spiritual enough? Or not believing what we believe to be right? ·         ‘What are we supposed to do about those who say they’re ‘in’, a ‘part of what God is doing’, but we’re really not happy with w...