The things that are God’s

Iulius_Caesar_denarius_44_BC_851830

Sermon preached at St Mary Magdalene Winterbourne Monkton

22nd October 2017: Trinity 19; Readings 1 Thessalonians 1.1-10 & Matthew 22.15-22

‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.’ They are to many of us, I suspect familiar words. They are easy to remember, maybe not least because they are so deceptively simple. At face value, Jesus seems to say: there are two categories: worldly things and Godly things. The secular and the sacred. Put whatever it is you’re unsure about in one of those two categories, and you’ll be fine.

Thus, it has something to say about the importance both of our secular tasks, our jobs, our daily busyness, and about the sacred, about our worship and about the church. However, as with so many if not all of Jesus’ sayings and teachings, what seems so simple, actually points to the complexity of human life. The complexity of our relationships with each other, and with God. The complexity of negotiating our way through our civic and sacred duties.

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How beauteous mankind is!

Tempest

It is hard so sum up a day of pondering on the complexity, the beauty and the ‘messiness’ of human nature. Today, Canon Mark Oakley invited us to look at the human and divine nature through the lens of Shakespeare’s final solo play, The Tempest.

As with any truly worthwhile conversation, the more one understands of the other – in this case the characters in the play, or even the play itself – the more one realises how much we have in common. Particularly it struck me today that the answers we look for in the play, belong to questions that we need to ask ourselves and the world we live in.

What would a graceful life look like? Is justice what the most powerful enforce? Can we be truly free if we hold any power over others? What does it mean to forgive those who have hurt us and those whom we have hurt? Continue reading “How beauteous mankind is!” →

An Invitation

Sermon preached at St Peter at Vincula, Broad Hinton on 15th October 2017

The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity, Matthew 22.1-14

I have to say that I agree with Martin Luther when he said whilst preaching 1531 that he thought this was a ‘terrible gospel’ to preach. This month, churches throughout the world commemorate the start of the Reformation, which was marked by Luther nailing his 95 theses to the door of a church in Wittenberg in Germany.

Scholars and theologians still debate whether Luther wanted to start a revolution by doing this, or whether he wanted to reform the Church from the inside, without causing any factions. As many of you will know, Luther’s main objection to the practices of the Church at that time was the selling of indulgences, by which people could pay money to reduce their time in purgatory.

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School Chaplaincy

Marlborough_College_Chapel

‘Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.’

On Education – Albert Einstein

 

It seems pretty obvious to ask a School Chaplain to write a reflection on school chaplaincy. However, in some way, I feel that I am even less qualified to write something about this now – with the little experience I have – than I was a term ago, without any experience. So I asked myself the question: what would I hope that pupils, and staff for that matter, remember when they think about the chaplaincy at Marlborough College a good few years after they have left? What remains after they have forgotten what was actually said? Continue reading “School Chaplaincy” →