Sermons

John 1:29-42 ©Marian Free In the name of God who invites us to be part of God’s very self. Amen. Today we break our journey through Matthew’s gospel to gain an insight into the theology of the writer of the John. Given that we read Matthew’s account of Jesus’ baptism last week, you may have noticed some significant differences in John’s version. Familiar elements of the story include the detail that John was baptising in the Jordan when Jesus appeared and that at some point prior there was a dove which descended from heaven as prophesied and which enabled the … Read more

The Baptism of our Lord Isaiah 42.1-9 Psalm 29 Acts 10.34-43 Matthew 3.13-17 Sunday 11 January 2026                         ©Suzanne Grimmett If this well-known story should teach us anything, it should be to stay awake, keep watch and be ready. You never know when God may turn up amongst a bunch of ordinary sinners and the heavens might open. These moments are what I described on New Year’s Eve as kairos moments- different from the chronological creep of time where there is a predictability in the way the world runs and the power and money that determine its course. This moment by the … Read more

Ephesians 3.1-12 Matthew 2.1-12 Feast of Epiphany 2026                                               ©Suzanne Grimmett When I was a child I was given a magic set and loved practising tricks for hours, becoming more deft with sleight of hand so I could bemuse and astonish anyone I pressured into being my audience. Everyone of course knew that I didn’t have any real magical power- they were all in on the game of pretence. And I knew, even as a child, these tricks of mine were very different to the dark powers of magic that I had been warned about in church- those summoned by … Read more

                             ©Suzanne Grimmett Centrally in the Colleges of Cambridge University there is a very famous and I think, quite disturbing, clock. It was created by Dr John C. Taylor who was fascinated by clocks, believing them to be the invention which has most changed humanity. “The wheel,” said Dr Taylor, “is the servant of mankind, but clocks control us.” This fascinating timepiece was unveiled to the public by Cambridge physicist, Stephen Hawking in 2008. Its dominant feature is the mechanical grasshopper like creature which Taylor calls “The Chronophage”, which literally in the Greek means “time-eater”, and which moves its mouth, … Read more

Isaiah 63.7-9 Psalm 148 Hebrews 2.10-18 Matthew 2.13-23 First Sunday after Christmas                     ©Suzanne Grimmett Today we are celebrating the First Sunday after Christmas, but if we celebrated the Feast of the Holy Innocents, we would be hearing roughly the same Gospel reading, and it is not one that you would necessarily choose at first for a baptism! So close after Christmas and here we have the Holy Family having to run for their lives, refugees fleeing a despotic King. After the magi had come to Jerusalem seeking information about the prophesied newborn King of the Jews, Herod’s paranoia- something … Read more

Isaiah 62.6-12 Psalm 97 Titus 3.4-8a Luke 2.8-20 Christmas Day 2025                                                      ©Suzanne Grimmett Joy to the world! The Lord is come Joy to the earth! The Saviour reigns He rules the world… with truth and grace We have claims in our carols that ring familiarly in our ears but we would be less than honest if we did not look around at the world as it is and wonder sometimes, even at Christmas, “Where Lord? Where have you come and where do you reign and where are the signs that your rule of the world has been established with truth … Read more

Luke 2:1-14 Marian Free In the name of God who reveals Godself to the most unlikely, the most uneducated and most despised and who entrusts them with the message of salvation. Amen. There are so many sub-plots to the Christmas narrative that it is impossible to do justice to all the different elements. So where does one start to explore the Christmas narrative –the announcement of Jesus’ birth to Mary or to Joseph, the journey to Bethlehem, the inn keeper who found room, the shepherds, the angels, the magi, the star? We could as some do, let our imaginations go … Read more

©The Rev’d Richard Browning The following is a four part movement, depicting the work of chaplaincy with students, and, I propose, the four weeks of Advent. Using your right hand: 1 2 3 4 Centre Extend Turn Return Heart Attend Grasp Ingest Speaking to students and now to you: 1 2 3 4; Heart. Attend. Grasp. Ingest. Heart You want to be free, established in yourself, a creature standing in your own identity, not occupied by another, or owned by anything other than your authentic self. A name for “being established in yourself” is sovereign. Attend (stretch) You want to … Read more

    ©Suzanne Grimmett My soul is alive with thoughts of God.What a wonder, Their liberating works.Though the world has been harsh to me,God has shown me kindness,seen my worth,and called me to courage.Surely, those who come after me will call me blessed.Even when my heart weighs heavy with grief,still, so does hope abide with me.Holy is the One who makes it so.From generation to generation,Love’s Mercy is freely handed out;None are beyond the borders ofGod’s transforming compassion.[1] These are the opening lines of a paraphrase of the Magnificat by M Jade Kaiser. Today we have heard Mary’s song of praise in … Read more

Matthew 3:1-12 ©The Rev’d Canon Dr Marian Free In the name of God who calls us to point away from ourselves to God. Amen. I am the first born in my family, so I have very little experience of what it is to live in someone else’s shadow. No one has ever said to me: “You’re not as clever as or as good as Marian.”  No teacher, guide leader or other adult has ever been able to compare me with a family member who came before me. No one has had unrealistic expectations of me based on what an older … Read more

Feast of St Andrew the Apostle and Advent 1 Deuteronomy 30.11-14 Psalm 19.1-6 Romans 10.8-18 Matthew 4.18-22 30 November 2025                                                 ©Suzanne Grimmett What would make someone leave everything they had ever known- their livelihood, their only security, their families, their way of life- to follow an itinerant preacher and healer? What would make Andrew call his brother, Simon Peter to gather their nets and walk away that day?’ Of course, there was history here. It was not the first time Andrew had encountered Jesus. Andrew had been a disciple of John the Baptist and according to John’s Gospel, had … Read more

Jeremiah 23.1-6 Song of Zechariah Colossians 1.11-20 Luke 23.33-43 Sunday 23 November 2025 Reign of Christ Sunday     ©Suzanne Grimmett One century ago, the world was still taking in the scale of loss of not only human life, but meaning and certainty in the wake of World War I. The Spanish Flu had claimed the lives of 40 million people across the globe. Industrial and technological change in the form of radio, television, cars and aeroplanes were changing the way people saw the world and perhaps even more critically, the things they desired and consumed. Politically, leaders were arising who would … Read more