Sermons

We don’t like plagues. We shudder to think what it must have been like to live through the various runs of Bubonic Plague in the middle ages. We fear illnesses like swine flu because of what they might do to our community. We get very anxious when we hear that Iraq might have biological or chemical weapons, that could make life very painful and uncomfortable for us.

Welcome to Paul’s letter to the Philippians. The church at Philippi was a thriving and healthy church. Just from this opening paragraph we get a sense of how deeply Paul feels for them. It’s almost as if they are his favourite church. Philippians is a lovely letter, because the Philippian church had no major problems. Sure, there are a few things for them to work on, and there are a few things for them to watch out for. But overall, this is a church that’s getting things right, that is in good health, and has been a tremendous strength and blessing to Paul.

With great delight we have just baptised three small children. We have just welcomed three new members into our church. That makes this a good Sunday to think about our relationships with one another. How should we, who are in this church, relate to one another? What should characterise our relationships.

Over the past twenty years, the study of “comparative religion” has become a significant enterprise. As more and more religious faiths are represented in Britain in significant numbers, and as communications around the world have opened up, we feel it is important that people have a basic grasp of the religions of the world and how they differ from one another. Most GCSE RE syllabuses now focus on this, and the emphasis is on the various practices, customs and rituals of each religion. Compare, and contrast.