A sermon preached at the Sung Eucharist at St Anne’s Soho on Sunday 18th February 2024 (Year B) Lent 1. Based on readings from Genesis 9:8-17 and Mark 1:9-15. You can read the text of this sermon at this link: https://onebodyonebread.blogspot.com/2024/02/sermon-time-to-kick-off-our-ruby.html

The scriptures today are pointing us to a truth which, in The Wizard of Oz, it took Dorothy Gale until the end of her journey along the Yellow Brick Road to comprehend. 

That there is no place like home. 

And that the way to that home - that Kingdom - that hope which lies at the root of every possible desire - is not to be found by escaping along a magic rainbow highway. But step by step through the hopeless jumble of this contingent reality - guided by a deep, lived experience of who we really are. The beloved children of God. Recipients of divine pleasure.

Time to kick off our ruby slippers

A sermon given at the Sung Eucharist at St George’s Bloomsbury on Sunday 21st January 2024 – The Third Sunday of Epiphany (Year B) based on readings from John 2.1-11. You can read the text of this sermon at this link: https://onebodyonebread.blogspot.com/2024/01/sermon-jesus-wedding-sermon-to-us.html

It is a point of fact that very few wedding sermons have survived the ages. But let us be thankful the most important one - the one revealed in the gospel today - has. The Miracle at Cana is Jesus’ wedding sermon to us, his disciples.

Jesus' Wedding Sermon to Us

A thought for the day given at the lunchtime service at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Wednesday 20th March 2024 based on the text of John 11.1-45

al-Azariya - ‘the place of Lazarus’ - is the name by which the reputed location of the events in our gospel reading is now known. Today the West Bank Barrier cuts through the middle of the town, blocking the road to Jerusalem - which makes the whole place feel like a bit of a dead end. Somewhere you come, turn around and go back. Two thousand years ago, Jesus did the same. This was the setting for the last of the seven 'signs' he performed, before turning back to Jerusalem - for the final time. 
 
Today, al Azariya still has a strong odour - musty and slightly spicy. For years pilgrims have been buying small vials of nard and pouring it down the steps of the tomb. Nard is the expensive oil that Lazarus’s sister Mary used to anoint the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair. The scent of devoted service; of life and death, lingers in the air. An aroma of the gospel?

The stone bench on which the body of Lazarus is said to have been laid has long since been robbed away by souvenir-hungry pilgrims. 
 
In fact there isn’t much to see here at all. The only decoration is a plaque with these words, written in different languages:
 
“The glory of God shall be seen by those who put their faith in Jesus in times of greatest distress and hopelessness, they are certain that He is greater than any distress, even greater than death itself.”
 
Here, inside this dead-end place in this dead-end town, a sign pointing to Jesus. A sign of hope. That when we find ourselves up against the wall; confronted by the greatest distress - even the ultimate dead-end of death itself - we shall see the glory of God if we put our faith in Jesus. 
 
In gospel reading Jesus gives Martha and Mary that choice:  
 
‘I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this??’ 
 
They choose to believe. 
 
It’s the same choice we are presented with each day - to believe - to live - a truth we cannot fully understand. A truth which can seem so distant amidst all the darkness of this world. 
 
The truth that God’s glory is greater than our greatest distress - that Christ has conquered death itself. That in Christ is life, and the life is the light of all people. 
 
In the next few days we will follow Jesus to the cross and on to his empty tomb. We will be asked to reaffirm the choice we made at our baptism. That we believe and trust in Jesus. 
 
We’ve been there before. It’s a place with a familiar scent. An aroma which reminds of the possibilities that Jesus has opened up before us. A place where the glory of God is revealed in us; where we are the signs pointing to Jesus. 
 
It’s a place we come, turn around and go back. 

But it’s not a dead end. 

It's a life start.

Dead End or Life Start? - Thought for the Day

Jesus’ swansong on the night before he died is a Bittersweet Symphony that gave birth to an African American Spiritual, a soulful Motown hit and a Civil Rights Freedom Song, inspired a breakthrough hit for The Rolling Stones and most recently a Britpop Anthem. All those who have tasted that Bittersweet Symphony are called to sing that melody to the world – as Freedom Singers. That all our pain, all our sorrow will turn to joy. 

A sermon given during Holy Communion and St Giles-in-the-Fields on Sunday 21st April 2024 (The Third Sunday after Easter) based on the text of 1 Peter 2.11-17 and John 16.16-22. You can read the script at this link: https://onebodyonebread.blogspot.com/2024/04/sermon-sing-that-bittersweet-symphony.html

Sing that Bittersweet Symphony

As we “Beat the Bounds” of the parish, who or what will other people see reflected in us? A question that the Epistle of James encourages us to ask regularly - not just today. Because its author knew that grace is not faceless. And once we’ve seen it in the mirror, we will never forget it. 
 
A sermon given during Choral Holy Communion at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Sunday 5th May 2024 (Rogation Sunday, BCP) based on the text of James 1.22-end and John 16.23-end. https://onebodyonebread.blogspot.com/2024/05/sermon-grace-is-not-faceless.html

Grace is not faceless

The plight of the St Giles Blackbirds and of my ancestors – Irish immigrants to the St Giles Rookeries (described at the time as vermin, like pigeons), show that we have struggled to show fervent charity to each other for centuries. As Christians we cannot be complacent, or indifferent about matters of hospitality and remain true to ourselves. Let us rise up, flock together and fill ‘The Rookeries’ of today with our wings of faith.

You can read the script of this sermon at this link: https://onebodyonebread.blogspot.com/2024/05/sermon-blackbirds-pigeons-doves-our.html

Blackbirds, Pigeons, Doves & our Wings of Faith

Curate at St Giles-in-the-Fields, Honorary Chaplain to The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. MPhil Student at the University of Cambridge Divinity Faculty.

Sing that Bittersweet Symphony

Reverend Phillip Dawson

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