Purple magnolia

A sermon preached by the Rev’d Natasha Woodward at All Saints' Church, Orpington 6.30pm Evensong, Sunday 27 April 2008 (Year A, Easter 6) Zech 8.1-13; Rev 21.22-22.5 The calendar has included two festivals this week - St George on Wednesday, and St Mark on Friday. We know very little about who the original George might have been, in particular. There is a document from the 5th century mentioning George as being among those "whose names are greatly reverenced by men, but whose acts are known only to God." Even then, over 1500 years ago, they did not know what he had done, simply that he was remembered by people as pious. The story with the dragon and the maiden only appeared several hundred years later. For St Mark we have more, in that we have the gospel written by him, and can deduce, for example, that he knew Greek, but apart from that we know very little about his life, what he did. One might be forgiven for thinking, then, that they are not of much interest as s

A sermon given by the Rev’d Natasha Woodward At All Saints' Church, Orpington 6.30pm Evensong, Sunday 27 April 2008 Easter 4, Year A: Ezra 3.1-13; Ephesians 2.11-22 Our reading from Ezra was about rebuilding the temple. The reading from Ephesians talks about abolishing the law. It might sound like these two readings have been put alongside each other precisely to show that what was abolished was precisely what we saw being re-established in Ezra. But Ezra's understanding was that God had established the law which he was bringing back. And so we have to ask - Did God abolish the law that he had established? Did God change his mind? This has seemed a dilemma to Christians at different times. How can it be that a way of worship and understanding God which we might see reflected in the old testament could cease to be valid? Should we just throw the Old Testament away? But orthodox Christianity has always taught that the OT is just as much part of the Christian Bible as the

A sermon given by the Rev’d Natasha Woodward At All Saints' Church, Orpington 9.30am Eucharist, Sunday 6 April 2008 Easter 3, Year A Acts 2.14a, 36-41; 1 Peter 1.17-23; Luke 24.13-35 The disciples were walking to Emmaus when they met Jesus. They were on the move. Travelling, or journeying, is an important theme of this Easter period, of the Exodus – when the Israelites were freed from Egypt, that is not the end of the story. They are freed from slavery, a great liberation, but they're not home yet. They spend 40 years in the wilderness before they come to the land which is to be their home – being saved from slavery for them doesn't mean an instantly stable life. It means being on the move. And while they are on the move they encounter God, especially in the pillar of fire and the pillar of smoke which shows them the way. And in our gospel reading today, it is while the disciples are walking that they encounter Jesus. This idea of encountering God while on the move