Purple magnolia

A sermon preached by the Rev’d Natasha Woodward at the Church of All Saints’, Orpington Sunday14 June , 1st after Trinity, Proper 6 Readings: Ezek 17.22-end; 2 Cor 5.6-10; Mark 4.26-34 We’re in the green season (vestments, etc.). Half the year – which is about growth. Nothing spectacular, just steady living and growth in the faith; as in life - sometimes moving house, changing job, getting married, etc. Rest of the time 'just' living - ordinary time - ordinary life. It seems appropriate that we begin this 'season' this year with readings about seeds and trees and growth in faith. In a few months time this green season in will come to an end shortly after the Harvest festival in the Autumn - a festival all about growth and its fruits. So, early on the seeds are planted, and then it is time to nurture them, to feed them, to wait for them to grow, in anticipation of the harvest. We are invited to think of this as an analogy of the life of faith – s

A sermon preached by the Rev’d Natasha Woodward at the Church of All Saints’, Orpington at Evensong on Trinity Sunday, 6 June 2009 (year B) Readings: Ezekiel 1.4-10, 22-28a; Revelation 4 I find myself feeling sorry for babies and children before they can really talk properly: they so often clearly want to communicate more than they are able to say. When a baby cries parents have to guess what the problem is – too hot, too cold, hungry, wet, lonely – if only the baby could tell us, it would be so much easier. So I feel sorry for the babies, and think it must be great for them when they first learn to speak, and can begin to say those things which they remember being unable to communicate. In everyday terms it’s a problem that we leave behind when we learn to speak, but at another level it stays with us. However sophisticated we become, there are times when words simply fail us. We do not know how to describe what we see or experience. “I wish you could have seen it.” “You had to s