A sermon preached by the Rev’d Natasha Woodward at the Church of All Saints, Orpington Sunday 13 December 2009, the third Sunday of Advent, year C Readings: Zephaniah 3.14-20; Philippians 4.4-7; Luke 3.7-18 Advent is a time of expectation. Our lives and relationships are full of expectations. I heard on the radio the other day the story of a daughter who didn’t fulfil her father’s expectations. The daughter is Patricia Scotland, who, after coming from the Caribbean at the age of 3, grew up as one of 12 brothers and sisters in Walthamstow. She became a lawyer, at 35 the youngest person to become a QC since William Pitt the younger. She is currently the chief government lawyer – and leaving aside a recent scandal when she failed to photocopy a document – throughout her career she has done a great deal of good for all sorts of people, work particularly inspired by her Christian faith, and which has resulted in a long list of awards and accolades. She did not, however meet her father
from Kilburn, London