Sunday 16 July 2023 was the occasion of Eddie Sykes’ last visit to Rosyth before retirement. An emotional morning, when he and Susan were presented with gifts in acknowledgment of five years spent with us, and prayers were offered for their future. Eddie used the opportunity to talk about Christian growth: in his sermon, his reflection on the Gospel of the day started:

Often when we read the parable of the sower, we think of the way in which the seed falling on different kinds of terrain produces different results. We see the ‘responses’ as the different ways in which different people respond to the message of the kingdom of God. Indeed, that is what Jesus’ intent was – when he told the parable.

However, there is another side to the story, and that is the seed falling on the different types of ground can actually show the different stages or experiences in our life of faith. Then, the harvest or otherwise, as it were, is about the growth of the seed or otherwise in the soil of our lives.

The soil, if you like, can thus represent for us the ways in life in which we handle different issues that come our way. The sower, seed and soil picture is an extremely effective way of communicating the message of the kingdom – especially as we are reminded in Genesis that we are made from dust and to dust we shall one day return. Dust into which God has breathed life – his life breath.

So, yes, we are soil – and our hospitality towards the good news message – thus from this parable we can see four different ways in which we respond to the message of the kingdom. …

… You’ll have to read the rest of Eddie’s sermon at this link.

The picture, entitled “The parable of the sower by Madison Murphy”, appeared on a small number of websites in the early 2010s, but is nowhere attributed.

This is an extract from Rev Sheila Cameron’s sermon on 9 April, Easter Sunday, when she was expounding on John’s account of the resurrection in John 20:1–18:

… It’s Mary Magdalene, forgiven sinner, friend and devoted follower of Jesus, who takes centre stage in John’s resurrection story, and it is to her that Jesus entrusts the message to the community of his followers that he is alive. This is a very poignant encounter. Mary did not expect to see the face of Jesus again; she wept, not expecting consolation, knowing only loss. Her grief was compounded by the loss of Jesus’ body, all that remained of him. Things couldn’t get any worse. Then in the tomb she saw two angels who spoke comforting words of sorts: “Why are you weeping?” Maybe there was better news ahead.

In the ensuing encounter, as Jesus speaks Mary’s name and she recognises him, a profound change takes place in her relationship with him. She accepts with surprising equanimity that she cannot cling to him and must let him go; the important thing is that he is alive, though changed. He is on his way to his Father, and so cannot be with her or the disciples in the same way as before. The new relationship Jesus offers is still one of presence, but now a presence in another dimension that will last for ever.

God’s reassurance is not far off for those who seek him, as Mary Magdalene discovered. God does care about our griefs and longings and asks us to live in faith that our sorrows will be assuaged in him. This very human account of the resurrection invites us to reflect that love comes to maturity after death. We know that love is not limited by mortality; but that there are times in our lives when we can let go and entrust those we love to God. …

Do read the whole of Sheila’s sermon at this link.

This 1835 painting of Christ’s Appearance to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection by Russian painter Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov (1806–1858) in the State Russian Museum, St Petersburg, is made available via Wikimedia Commons at this link.

This is an extract from Rev Sheila Cameron’s sermon to the St Margaret’s congregation on 26 March, the Fifth Sunday of Lent, when she was expounding on two resurrection passages in Ezekiel 37:1–14 and John 11:1–45:

… what does Jesus’s promise of resurrection mean for us here and now? Whatever our circumstances: whether someone is a young person and still a bit uncertain of their identity, or a so-called ‘mature’ person advanced in years, whether they’re struggling in mid-life with money, career or family issues, or battling with ill health or the loss of physical strength in old age, these words of Jesus, “I am the resurrection and the life,” carried in the heart and recited in faith will bring comfort and restoration and enable each one of us to face the future with confidence.

These are words that have inspired whole nations to seek freedom and human dignity, as well as being most potent in the lives of individual Christians. The idea that we can overcome the flesh, that is, our limited physical existence in a body subject to sin and decay, and live anew, here and now, inspired the movement to liberate the poor from political and economic oppression in South America in the 1970s and 80s. One of the fathers of that movement in the Catholic Church wrote that Paul’s teaching in Romans 8, that setting the mind on the flesh brings “death” while setting the mind on the Spirit brings “life and peace”, combined with Paul’s idea of the church as the body of Christ – makes the Church a very powerful agent of transformation in the lives of poor people and enables them to take charge of their own destinies.

Do read the whole of Sheila’s sermon at this link.

The Raising of Lazarus, painted in Siena by Duccio di Buoninsegna and in the collection of the Kimbell Art Museum in Forth Worth, Texas, is made available by the Web Gallery of Art at this link.

Please allow me to read to you seven verses from Paul’s letter to the Rosythians:

1. Dear friends, observe for yourselves that uniformity does not exist in nature, but only in the minds of men and women.
2. Recognise that God loves diversity, for diversity is the key to survival in all that is alive. Therefore celebrate your differences.
3. Reflect on your different ways and see how they can bring strength to all who are living in his service.
4. Waste no time on things which may bring you negativity, but build upon the same foundations of the many good things that prevail amongst us.
5. Be confident that, in God’s sight, your individuality makes a good servant but is a poor master.
6. Therefore put your ways to good effect and be united only in Christ and in your faith in his teaching, that you may prosper according to God’s holy will.
7. And may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, be with your spirit, my brothers and sisters.

Amen.

This is how Mary Kidd finished her sermon to the St Margaret’s congregation on 25 January 2023, within the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. You can read the whole sermon at this link.

Photo by Wylly Suhendra on Unsplash

Mary treasured up all of these things and pondered them in her heart. (Luke 2:19)

I think that pondering gets a bad press. It sounds indecisive. Like we should be getting on with something. Not just pondering it. But right from Advent Sunday  we’ve been hearing about what’s going to happen: prophecies, angels, a long journey, a star and then, Christmas morning, the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the word made flesh, Emmanuel, God with us. Now it’s happened. And Mary’s response isn’t to say, right, what’s next? It’s to treasure up all of these things, and to ponder them in her heart. We can’t say she’s doing nothing, she’s pondering.

And although it sounds like a rather funny old-fashioned word, that is what she’s doing. It’s not decisive, and I believe that’s the point. It’s a moment between what has happened and what will happen, turning from the old to the new, much as we are all doing on this new years’ day. And that place we go where we ponder things – maybe a favourite quiet place, maybe just somewhere in our minds – is somewhere God can meet us all, where our hearts, our minds, our very souls are open to him. It is chance to listen to that still small voice of calm as we try and work out what’s just happened and now what’s going on. Maybe even a time to pray. Take time to ponder. Give others the time they need to ponder things too.

…

As we ponder things that are now past and the things that this new year holds for us, it gives us chance to offer all our plans and hopes and fears to God, knowing that like Mary, our true calling is to follow the calling, the plans, the resolutions that he has made for us, given life in his Son, revealed to us today through the presence of the Holy Spirit. And it is our chance to pray the prayer sometimes called the Prayer of Affirmation on this New Year’s Day: “For all that has been; thanks. To all that will be; yes.”

Amen.

These are extracts from the sermon preached by Dave Lewis that your webmaster heard on New Year’s Day 2023. Do read the whole of it, downloadable at this link.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash