Preached on Sunday, 12.11.2017 By the Reverend Dr. Norman Shanks 30 years ago, when I was chaplain to Edinburgh University, Remembrance Sunday was marked by a special service that started in the University’s splendid historic Playfair Library – the setting at other times for prestigious social or civic rather than religious events. There was an … More Remembrance Sunday
Preached on Sunday, 08.10.2017 By the Reverend Dr. Kathy Galloway Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’? I have recently been reading about the sorry involvement of Scotland in … More 18th Sunday after Pentecost
Preached on Sunday, 01.10.2017 By the Reverend Dr. Norman Shanks 10 days ago I was in Stirling for a meeting of the Drummond Trust, which was set up in the nineteenth century to promote the Christian Gospel principally, in its early years, through the distribution of evangelical tracts. Over the years the Trust has developed … More Is the Lord among us or not?
Today we reach the end of our journey through the stories of Genesis – and here it is good to remind ourselves, that through all these stories, one story has been being told. It is the attempt to tell the people of Israel where they come from, to tell them how they reached where they are, how it is that other peoples exist, where ancient enmities have come from, and where they as a people belong. … More Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.
This sermon was delivered at Wellington Church, Glasgow on Sunday 6th August 2017. Under the title “A name change!” the Rev. Dr. Roger Sturrock looks at Jacob’s and our struggles with God. … More A name change!
For all sorts of reasons, the story from Genesis we have for today is a difficult story. We find it hard to get into the culture of the time; we know little or nothing of the marriage customs of the time it portrays; we might even find it hard to work out why the story is there at all. … More What is the kingdom of heaven like?
Near the house where I grew up in Stirling there is a shortcut up to the Old Town, the way to the castle; it saves you walking round the long way by the street. It consists of a long staircase, which is quite steep – and it is known locally as ‘Jacob’s Ladder’. It will not be the only one in Scotland, or indeed in the world, because this story of Jacob is one that has captured the imagination – it gives our mind’s eye something to picture, and artists have tried to offer their own interpretation of the dream Jacob had of a stairway to heaven. … More Jacob woke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!’
I was reminded in preparing this sermon of a book written by Umberto Eco about a tale of plots and threats, a tale invented in the nineteenth century to justify the persecution of the Jews, a tale of their threatened takeover of the world – ‘The Protocols of the Elders of Zion’. … More Thus Esau despised his birthright.
For a preacher, the use of the lectionary has many advantages. But it can also be somewhat challenging, trying to discern and understand what the central theme, which unifies a set of readings which don’t obviously at first cohere, actually is. … More May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God our strength and our redeemer. Amen
In 1990 we as a family were on holiday in Canada and, on Sunday, we went to church. The bible reading was the same one we heard this morning, about Abraham and Isaac, about sacrifice and the voice of God. The minister said that there was provision in the church hall for children during the sermon – and he encouraged parents to send their children to use that provision because, he said, what he was going to say might not be for young ears. So, of course, our 8 year-old and 6 year-old decided they were going to stay. … More By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac.
It is typical. Typical of God’s calling to us that is. That on the day of Pentecost, instead of being allowed to dwell on what it feels like and, means to have tongues of fire resting on you, the disciples have to go straight out and start preaching. … More
So Matthew’s gospel begins with the promise of the Messiah, whose name will be Emmanuel, which means ‘God is with us’; and it ends with the words of that Messiah: ‘and remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ And the way the church found to talk about this creator who is with us, in the flesh and in the spirit, is the doctrine of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Spirit; creator, redeemer, sustainer. … More Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
It’s not the first question asked in the story of the Ascension; in some ways it’s the answer to the first question. The first question, you will remember was this: ‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’ It’s the equivalent of the children in the back of the car who, after a short time on the journey, ask: ‘are we there yet?’ … More Why do you stand looking up towards heaven?
Hope is not the fluffy option; a wistful, hand-wringing exercise for the incurably unrealistic. There is a cancer alive in our world today. […] All these, and more, are there to be seen and heard in our often bleak world. We should be coming in – with our message, God’s Word of Life that is Hope. … More General Assembly 2017 – Sermon
Preached on Sunday, 21.05.2017 By the Reverend Dr. David Sinclair We went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a spacious place. We celebrate this year as the 60th year of Christian Aid Week, but Christian Aid (under a couple of other names) goes back to 1945. Christian Aid … More We went through fire and through water
