Sermons
An ancestor of mine was a Church Minister and I have a book of his sermons. To my eyes the sermons are not particularly easy reading! But it is clear fro the book that the sermons were originally available at a price of one penny in leaflet form. This is, of course, the way some Charles Dickens novels first appeared.
This has got me thinking. Some churches have sermons recorded – facebook, YouTube, church website etc. But most churches in Cornwall do not offer this facility. So why not distribute your sermon to those who may be interested? Or, better still, why not have a brief note or precis to give to anyone who might be interested? People have lots of paper in their lives; so it may be best to keep it short. Of course this can be distributed via email.
Wouldn’t it be great if this prompted some inter action between preacher and congregation?
I have attached a note from a sermon I delivered recently. It adopts a meditational approach. This is an approach well known to those who use Selwyn Hughes bible notes.
The theme is hope. Let’s enjoy that hope as we “chew the cud” from Romans 15.13.
William Hazelton
Romans 15.13 and hope
Are we gloomy about the world? And our lives? And the C of E?….Or hopeful?
Ponder “if you want to walk on water you’ve got to get out of the boat” (Matthew 14.25-32) and note:
- Hope got Peter out of the boat
- Trust held him up
- Fear sank him
It all hinged on whether he was focused on Jesus or on the storm
Romans 15.13: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit”
Peter’s focus…where is ours
Biblical meditation…rediscover the “cow, sheep, goat” in you…”chewing the cud”…bolt down food, regurgitate it into mouth, repeat process…absorb into the blood stream…objective
- Reconstruction of our thoughts
- Refocusing our emotions
- Realignment of our wills
Verse:
- God is a God of hope…does not discourage
- Hope overcomes fear
- Hope may be realised soon…later…eternally
- He seeks right now to to fill us with joy and peace…all joy and peace
- He wants us to overflow…
- As we trust
- Work of Holy Spirit
Image of sponge…useless without water…pours through us…we need to be refilled…a continuous process
Ponder the verse…meditate…may joy and peace fill your heart…may you move on with a spring in your step…a spring given by the Holy Spirit
Amen
145 CV ADV3 111222 – Peter Coster’s Reflections on the Advent 3 evensong readings.