Sermons from 2023

Thanksgiving

Karen leads us in our final service for 2023 as we look back on the year and give thanks to God for His provisions to us. Several of the congregation share what they have to be thankful for and share their prayers for the coming year.

Pete leads us in our sung worship with many of the songs also chosen by members of the congregation.

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.

All Age Service: Preparing for Christmas

As we enter Advent for another year, Shona kicks us off by leading us in our all-age service for December. In the service we look at three things we can do to prepare ourselves for Christmas: we can 1) Wait in, 2) hope and 3) praise.

Chris leads us in our prayers this week whilst Mike and Ricky lead our sung worship.

Science Sunday 2023: Ornitheology

This week we held our annual Science Sunday service for 2023. This is a service whereby we aim to demonstrate that science and Christianity are not as incompatible as some would have us believe. This year, we invite back Prof Mel Euerby who speaks about his passion for birds and photography, drawing links between the amazing diversity of bird life on Earth and showing how that demonstrates God’s love through the natural world.

Chris leads the rest of the service with prayers for scientists and Pete leads our sung worship.

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord Brings Joy

This week is the final part of our series in Isaiah 61, with Chris looking at verse 7. We see the last exchanges that Isaiah is prophecying about: that through God’s Spirit our shame and disgrace will turn into an inheritance of joy. Thanks to Jesus’ unthinkable sacrifice on the cross we don’t need to bear any more shame for the sins we have comitted and can exchange those for joy in God, which is our strength.

Andy leads the rest of the service as we get an update from Trevor about our mission of the month Mercy Ships, whilst Lynne and Mike lead our sung worship.

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord Brings Purpose

This week Chris continues our series in Isaiah 61, looking at verses 5 and 6 and asking one of the oldest questions in civilisation: what is our purpose? Thankfully the Bible has the answer, through the grace of Jesus our ultimate purpose is to be a priesthood for God. To teach and show His ways to others in the hope that they might also become part of the mighty and royal priesthood. How can we carry this out?

Ant leads the rest of our service for Remembrance Sunday as we join with the rest of the country to pause and remember those who have served and died for our peace and freedom. Pete and Nick lead our sung worship.

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord Brings Rebuilding

It’s the first week of November which we usually reserve for our all age services. However, this week we’re trying something different: tying in our all age service with our ongoing series in Isaiah 61. Chris leads us through looking at verse 4 and thinks about all of the damaged and destroyed things that God can rebuild through His Spirit and through us ourselves.

Lynne and Dave lead our sung worship for this week.