Sermon - We “are” baptised

Ivanka Demchuk (Ukrainian, 1990–), Baptism of Christ, 2015. 

Sermon preached at St George’s Bloomsbury on Sunday January 15th 2023  and St Stephen Walbrook on Thursday 19th January 2023 (Year A, Second Sunday of Epiphany) based on readings from 1 Corinthians 1.1-9 and John 1.29-42.

START STOP - Going green - what’s the bloody point?

Exiles by Matilde Damele on show at St Stephen Walbrook in September 2019

Each year the period between September 1st and the Feast of St Francis of Assisi on October 4th is set aside by the church as the Season of Creation, when we are called to focus our prayers and actions on our stewardship of the earth. Today marks the middle of a week-long series of protests which are aiming to draw international attention to the climate emergency. These 'Climate Strikes', which have been led by young people, were started by the Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thurnburg who has said “This is the moment in history we need to be wide awake. Dreams cannot stand in the way of telling it like it is, especially not now.”

I think in the Bible it is especially the Books of Wisdom that “tell it like it is” - with frank assessments of the difficulty of living faithfully in the here and now. I have chosen a reading today from one of these - the Book of Ecclesiastes;