You will find here the Sunday sermons. Each sermon is posted in English and in French.
Pentecost XVIII OKTOBERFEST October 4th, 2020 Exodus 20:1-20 Philippians 3:4-14 Matthew 21:33-46 When I celebrated communion for the first time in St. Esprit on this Sunday in 1994, little did I know that all these years later I would still be here at the same altar celebrating an Oktoberfest! During the course of those years,…
Pentecost XVII / AGM September 27, 2020 Exodus 17:1-7 Philippians 2:1-13 Matthew 21:23-32 Today, we are marking an extraordinary time with an extraordinary General Meeting of the church, postponed from our normal date on the first Sunday in May. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary leadership, and it’s with sorrow that one of the reasons…
Pentecost XVI – Rentrée Sunday September 20, 2020 Exodus 16:2-15 Philippians 1:21-30 Matthew 20:1-16 I suppose of all of Jesus’ parables, the parable of the laborers in the vineyard is one of the most appropriate for today: Rentrée Sunday of our French classes, and the Sunday before our Annual General Meeting. It is also an…
PENTECOST XV September 13th, 2020 Exodus 14:19-30 Romans 14:1-12 Matthew 18:21-35 It was a Friday afternoon in late October when I made my first official visit to a Mosque as the Bishop of London’s Consultant on interfaith dialogue. Even though a friend had invited me to join the study group at the little mosque in…
Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost September 6, 2020 Exodus 12:1-14 Romans 13:8-14 Matthew 18:15-20 When people who are unfamiliar with Christian communities hear the word “Church”, they respond in many different ways. I’ve heard some people saying “The church – they may start out nicely, but don’t worry, they’ll get to you in the end –…
Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost August 30, 2020 Exodus 3:1-15 Romans 12:9-21 Matthew 16:21-28 Many botanists have identified the burning bush through which God spoke to Moses as a plant called Rubus sanctus, a small thorny bush that grows near desert wadis and survives on very little water. It grows to about sixty centimeters (two feet).…
Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost August 23, 2020 Exodus 1:8 – 2:10 Romans 12:1-8 Matthew 16:13-20 Modern Western society seems to have an obsession with the concept of time. Our personal computers have to be precisely calibrated in order to function properly. Modern watches keep accurate time down to the millisecond. Almost every gadget in our…
Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost August 16, 20220 Genesis 45:1-15 Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32 Matthew 15:(10-20),21-28 In our Gospel reading, we hear of the only occasion in which Jesus fails to respond to someone who calls to him for help. He simply remains silent when a foreign woman appeals to him to heal her sick daughter. The…
Pentecost X August 9, 2020 Genesis 37:1-28 Romans 10:5-15 Matthew 14:22-33 Before the tunnel from England to France was built, the quickest route by car or train was to take the boat or the hovercraft from Dover to Calais. This gave rise to many jokes in England, such as “Fog in Channel. Continent cut off.”…
Pentecost IX August 2, 2020 Genesis 32 :22-31 Romans 9 :1-5 Matthew 14 :13-21 NEW FLAVORS I suppose like many of you, I often eat alone. This custom began when I left my parents’ house, when I first had my own accommodation. Even if I was house sharing and living in a sort of community as I was…