Purple magnolia

A sermon preached by the Rev’d Natasha Woodward At St Andrew's Orpington Sunday 18 January 2009 (Confession of St Peter) Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Readings: Ezek 3.4-11; 1 Pet 5.1-4; Matt 16.13-19 Peter "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Jesus is Lord – only thing we can agree on. For some it means that when Jesus died on the cross it was the greatest sacrifice God could make, that God's wrath for the sins of the humanity was satisfied – no human death would have been enough, but the death of his own son was. For others "Jesus is Lord" means that God comes among us in powerlessness and poverty. "Jesus is Lord" for many means that God is closer to us than we can imagine, that Jesus is the height of that human closeness to God. Or "Jesus is Lord" can mean that Jesus is Lord over death – Jesus died – but in God, as God, overcame that death in his resurrection. "Jesus is Lord" can be a statement about Je

A sermon preached by the Rev’d Natasha Woodward At St Nicholas, Strood Sunday 11 January 2009: Baptism of Christ Readings: Mark 1.4-11; Acts 19.1-7 I've been asked to preach tonight about something I am passionate about. I'm also told that I have slightly longer available than I normally do when I preach. Now that you're all safely here, and the doors have been locked, I feel ready to reveal to you that I am passionate about philosophy. And theology. And how they relate. Tonight, I would like to share with you a little bit of philosophy, to talk about its significance, and see just how much it has to say about the Christian life. This little bit of philosophy comes from Austin Farrer, who was a priest, theologian, philosopher, biblical scholar and poet. He lived an worked in Oxford, and died in 1968, unfortunately young, when he was only in his sixties. In the years since his death he has been a little bit out of fashion. The references to him that we find are to

A sermon preached by the Rev’d Natasha Woodward At All Saints' Church, Orpington Sunday, 11 January 2009 (Baptism of Christ) Readings: Mark 1.4-11; Acts 19.1-7 I've noticed that I find it easier to promise to do something if it doesn't involve being in a particular place at a particular time. If someone says – come and preach at my church sometime! I say yes of course. But – come and preach on the 11th of January, as I am doing this evening at another church – makes me just a little jittery. There's the moment of writing it in the diary, when I have to consider whether I can really make this commitment. Much easier just to say, yes I'll come sometime! I wonder if most of us are like this. That, for legitimate reasons, because of busy diaries, or uncertainties about our health or our other commitments, it is much harder to make a commitment that involves saying we'll be in a particular place at a particular time. It's easy to say we must have a chat s

A sermon preached by the Rev’d Natasha Woodward At King's College London, 15 October 2008 Reading: Luke 13:18-21 The mustard seed, the yeast in the bread, are powerful images. The physical reality is that something large can't come out of something small. Something's effect is proportionate to its size. And yet the mustard seed, the yeast have big effects. And so I can say – in this world – we might feel small, we might feel insignificant, but with God's power, we can do great things. I could tell you a host of inspirational stories, about people like Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Desmond Tutu whoever you like – and talk about the small, insignificant events in their lives which set them on the road to achieving so much. And you would perhaps be inspired, that, although aware of your smallness, you could do something great. I thought about preaching a sermon like that. But I have to admit, I felt a bit bored at the thought of it. And if I'm bored wit