Sermons

2024-11-10(Heb. 9:24-28; Mark 1:14-20)The Kingdom of God has come near…          Over the past eight or so years, I seem to have opened a number of sermons and talks I’ve done by quoting the phrase, ‘May you live in interesting times.’ It is commonly claimed to be an ancient Chinese curse, yet any cursory Google search […]

One of the joys of being involved with an auction is the way in which it can transport you to a moment of the past. A few months ago Bloomfield Auctions Belfast sold CS Lewis’s bath. I have walked down his road hundreds of times, I’ve often worshipped in St Mark’s Dundela where he was […]

FOUNDATION DAY MASS 2024 This perpetual conversation, in which the past speaks to the present to create the future, is fundamental…….. Fundamental. “Fundamental to what?” you might ask. I think it is fundamental to the operation of tradition and neatly expressed in that little piece of signage from a museum in Florence. Tradition is much […]

“Son of David, have mercy on me” Today’s story of the healing of Bartimaeus must be one of our favourite gospel stories. It’s a beautifully told tale full of pathos, excitement and movement. Many artists have produced beautiful paintings of this story. It’s wonderful to pray through as an ignatian meditation; you can’t help but […]

“Then who can be saved?” ************************ We are not at a time of great confidence. Even when numbers may be ticking up, people believe their lives are getting worse. Certainly the news seems to be getting worse. And this is true in the Church as well, even though there is an unreported uptick in numbers […]

It’s difficult to imagine salt that hasn’t got any saltness. It would be only appearances, with no taste behind the appearance. Christ is trying to focus our minds on essentials. This passage links up with the parable of the Sower, where some seed fell on rocky ground … it did not have much depth of […]

(Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23) ‘Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?’ Given the events of the early 2020s, many of us may have some sympathy with these words of the Pharisees and scribes. After all, it isn’t a bad idea to wash your hands […]

“He who eats this bread will live forever” In about 30 minutes time we will all receive bread and wine, the Body and Blood of Christ. Why do we do it? Partly because Jesus said we should. “Do this as oft as ye shall drink it.” We do it because we know it is Jesus […]

 The highlight of the holiday was my brother George’s 70th Birthday celebration. Many of you know George as the Auctioneer. He and his family are regular visitors to Mirfield. The meal was held at Stormont the home of the N.I. Assembly. There were 21 of us – all known to each other, all related either […]

I am the Bread of Life. John 6: 25-35 Bread. Our brother George once went to a conference on Bread and came back with three volumes of papers! There is so much that can be said about bread and so many different ways of making it. Bread means many different things, on different levels, so […]