Sermons on Luke

Simeon and Anna

For our final service of the year, in lieu of a “traditional” message we return to a style of reflection on God’s word that we previously used for our summer series. We take a close look at Simeon and Anna’s responses to meeting the infant Jesus at the temple in Jerusalem and think about the…

Joy

We continue on the journey towards Christmas by lighting the third candle on our advent wreath, this year representing joy. Chris speaks on the word given to Mary by Gabriel and her subsequent visit to see Zechariah and Elizabeth. In this we see the three aspects of the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, all present, working as one and inviting Mary to participate in God’s great plan. He then contrasts it with the act of communion, the Lord’s Supper, where at the other end of Jesus’ earthly life we are all now invited to participate in that great plan of God.

Andy leads the rest of the service thinking about the origin of the word joy and its importance in the Bible whilst Lynne and Dave lead our sung worship.

Wonder

Ant leads our all-age service for December, choosing the theme of wonder as his subject for this month. God has many names in the Bible, at this time of year we focus on the name Immanuel, God With Us, and the wonder that Jesus’ coming brings into our lives.

Mike leads our sung worship this week.

AsiaLink

Jim Gourlay joins us this week to give an update on AsiaLink, an overseas mission organisation which enables local churches and organisations in Asia to bring God’s message of light and love to those who don’t yet have it. He also speaks on the sacrifices that Jesus calls us to make to become his disciples.

James leads the rest of the service whilst Pete leads our sung worship.

Advent 2023: Peace

As we conclude our Advent series for 2023 Chris looks at Jesus bringing peace to the world. This doesn’t just mean no conflict; it means true Shalom peace, the reconciliation and reunification of God’s people. The making right of the world. And Jesus calls us to do that right alongside him.

We also have prayers for peace in situations in our lives and around the world whilst Pete leads our sung Christmas worship.

Advent 2023: Joy

We continue our Advent series for 2023 and Chris looks this week at the joy that Jesus brings. Joy is a simple but powerful word. It’s not something that we can force ourselves to feel, but something that processes out of glorifying and rejoicing in the Lord. Even in our darkest moments we are called to rejoice in the Lord and what Jesus has done, from this rejoicing will come our joy!

Ant leads the rest of the service with a rather unorthodox baking tutorial whilst Lynne and Dave lead our sung worship.

Advent 2023: Faith

After our all-age service last week we now start our Advent series for 2023 in earnest with Chris looking at the interconnected nature of hope, faith, joy and peace. This week he looks at faith, the nature of the faith we have in God, how faith comes out of hope, and how faith must inevitably lead to action: otherwise we might as well not have it at all.

Susan leads the rest of our service whilst Pete and Nick lead our sung worship.

Jesus: What is the Kingdom of God like?

In the final installment of his monthly series on Jesus, Roger Standing looks at how Jesus describes what the kingdom of God is like. First as a mustard seed, then as grains of yeast. Both look small and ineffective but make a huge difference when they’re put into action – how can we take our own status as meek, lowly and humble and turn that into making a huge difference for God?

Susan leads the rest of the service as we share communion together and Mike leads our sung worship.

Zacchaeus

Shona leads our all-age service for June, looking at the story of Zacchaeus. How did one encounter with Jesus turn a selfish, self-serving, bullying and greedy tax collector’s life around so that he eventually gave half of his money to the poor?

Pete and Nick lead our sung worship this week.

Jesus: And You Will be Children of the Most High

Roger Standing continues his monthly mini-series looking at Jesus. This week he looks at Jesus’ teaching about how generous God is with us and his undeserving kindness to us: the ungrateful and wicked. How can we reflect that generosity to others?

Andy leads the rest of the service as we share communion together and Pete and Nick lead our sung worship.