Category Archives: Religion

A Sermon for Sunday, 9th March 2025

For the fainthearted . . .

” . . . where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.” Luke 4:2

The practical, the powerful, and the personal, the three temptations the devil puts before Jesus.. The temptations are very clever, very beguiling, but temptations are like that, if they were not they would not be temptations, they would be things that could be rejected without a second thought.

What might we learn about ourselves in these conversations between the devil and Jesus?

Jesus is hungry, he is famished and the devil …

A Sermon for Sunday, 2nd March 2025

For the fainthearted . . .

“Then from the cloud came a voice that said, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” Luke 9:35

The story of the transfiguration of Jesus gives four words beginning with “A” that can help  thinking about what the experience meant for the disciples and what it can mean for people now. The four words are appearance, accomplish, awake and alone.

The first word is “appearance.”

Saint Luke Chapter 9 Verses 28-29 says, “Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John …

A Sermon for Sunday, 23rd February 2025

For the fainthearted . . .

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?” Luke 6:32

Jesus looks deep into the hearts of his listeners and he knows exactly what human nature is like.  Insights that were developed by researchers of human behaviour centuries later are here in the pages of Saint Luke’s Gospel.  Today’s verses from Saint Luke Chapter 6 anticipate the insights of psychology and sociology in our own time about the ways in which we treat other people.

One of the ideas from sociology that is anticipated by …

A Sermon for Sunday, 16th February 2025

For the fainthearted . . .

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.” Luke 6:24

There is a complete imbalance in the church’s preaching of the Gospel.

The church is obsessed with issues of personal morality.  Conservative bishops and liberal bishops alike speak forcibly on their views of human sexuality and other moral matters, but seem silent when it comes to the things about which Jesus speaks. Jesus talks a lot about money and very little about sex and all the other issues that preoccupy the church.

Where is the …

A Sermon for Sunday, 9th February 2025

For the fainthearted . . .

“Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” Luke 5:10

The life of the fisherman grows ever harder and more dangerous. Depleted fish stocks demand further and further travel in deeper and deeper waters.  The need to earn an income drives ships to sea in weather that would have kept them in port in former times.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus used the work of the fishermen as a picture of the work of the church. The followers of Jesus were to go out and seek new disciples …

A Sermon for Sunday, 2nd February 2025

For the fainthearted . . .

“But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.” Luke 4:30

The League of Ireland football season begins again next month. As a season ticket holder for Saint Patrick’s Athletic, I like to think I am a firm supporter, but am aware that I am half-hearted compared with the real fans.

When teaching in Drimnagh,  post-mortem on the previous Friday night’s match was always an activity with a group of fifth year students each Monday morning.  One week one of them said, ‘Sir, are you coming …