Rev Pam Hynd's sermon for Epiphany 5
These verses from Matthew’s Gospel, known as the Beatitudes, are just about the best known and most loved of all the bits of the Bible – probably among the most loved words from all literature. Why is that? What do people love about them? Is it just a nice thought that God will lift up all the people who have been trodden down and overwhelmed by the cultural tide that is always going in the other direction? Do we think: it is OK that they are trodden down, because God will take care of them? Is that why people love these words? Or is it because, when we are trodden down, we can think about a day when God will make sure that we come out on top? When we are losing, the Beatitudes assure us that one day we will win. And that hope can sustain us so well that we don’t feel any need to fight for a better world now? Is that why people love the Beatitudes? Those are cynical questions, I know, and I don’t think most people love them for those reasons. It seems to me that we are captivated by them because they draw us into paradox. They strip away simplistic thinking by placing opposites together and telling us that it is the nature of God’s kingdom that those opposites are held together.
Rev Pam Hynd preaches at St Paul's on Epiphany 3
"What are you looking for? These are the first words spoken by Jesus in the Gospel of John. He spoke them to a couple of people who were clearly looking for something and hoped they had found it in him. What about you? What are you looking for?
Baptism of Our Lord, 2023
Rev Pam Hynd's sermon Christmas Day
It is almost Christmas so here's a bah humbug for you: Christians should talk more about God's judgment rather than just talking about love all the time. We should unsettle people with the bad news before we comfort them with the good news. The problem with that is not what you might think. The problem is that there is no bad news. God's judgment is good news all the way down - because God's judgment is love all the way down. Just ask Joseph
Rev Kathy Hammer's Sermon for Advent 3
We are living through a time of shattered peace. Will we live in denial? Will we become cynical? Or will we be fiercely defiant as we build enclaves of peace in a violent world?
Rev Pam Hynd's sermon for Advent 1