Sermons
Here at St George's we are lucky to have a number of people who preach regularly. They include the vicar, curate and the readers as well as visiting preachers who are invited to join us from time to time. Some of their sermons are available here to download so that you can read them and think them through.
A sermon is a proclamation - a call to the congregation to be transformed. The sermon is part of the conversation between God and his people which leads to conversion and is, therefore, sacramental. The sermon is not just a piece of intellectual or entertaining (or, even, boring) fluff in the middle of a Sunday service, but an integral part of the whole and often, therefore, unable to stand alone: it belongs within that act of worship.
Sometimes this is why the preacher chooses not to put the sermon on this website; other times it's because it hasn't been written out fully, or needs further work. Of course we, the congregation, often don't hear everything the preacher says and often can't remember it. Part of the task of the listener is to ask ourselves what it is that God is saying to us; what it is in the preacher's words that God wants us to hear.
Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has said this about preaching:
"Why is it difficult to talk about God? Because God is different, and the source of difference, and the source, the wellspring of change. It is difficult because when we draw near to God things change unpredictably. The bread and wine become the instruments of the light and life of Christ delivered into our hands and into our lives. It is difficult because Christian speech is about silence and the Word, about dying and rising. That is why it is the challenging role of the preacher, wrestling with that difficulty, to remind us why difficulty matters. Difficulty is central because change is difficult and difficult to understand. Transformation is not obvious. It is about becoming other. The preacher goes into the pulpit to proclaim that difficulty, that difference, proclaiming the events and the transactions that we really need to know about if we are not to be left locked up in a prison of our own imaginations and wills and feelings. Preaching is springing us from the trap of our egos. Which is why, of course, the pulpit is just the tip of the iceberg, a sign of that whole process of speaking and acting which attempts very inadequately to say what it is that has changed through that unspeakable transaction, transformation and difference that occurs through Jesus Christ."
We hope that the sermons you read here will lead you to that transformation.
2012 Sermons:
| Date | Occasion | Preacher |
|---|---|---|
| 24th January | Week of Prayer for Christian Unity | Nick Chamberlain |
| 19th January | The Third Sunday of Epiphany | Nick Chamberlain |
| 12th January | The Second Sunday of Epiphany | Pauline Pearson |
2011 Sermons:
| Date | Occasion | Preacher |
|---|---|---|
| 25th December | Christmas Day | Nick Chamberlain |
| 24th December | Midnight Mass | Nick Chamberlain |
| 24th December | 6.00pm Carol Service | Nick Chamberlain |
| 18th December | The Fourth Sunday of Advent | Alun Ford |
| 4th December | The Second Sunday of Advent | Nick Chamberlain |
| 27th November | Advent Sunday | Alun Ford |
| 20th November | Christ the King | Nick Chamberlain |
| 6th November | The Third Sunday before Advent | Nick Chamberlain |
| 23rd October | Last Sunday of Trinity | Alun Ford |
| 16th October | The Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity | Nick Chamberlain |
| 18th September | The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity | Alun Ford |
| 31st July | The Sixth Sunday after Trinity | Alun Ford |
| 17th July | The Fourth Sunday of Trinity | Alun Ford |
| 7th July | Welcome Eucharist | Pauline Pearson |
| 3rd July | The Second Sunday of Trinity | Pauline Pearson |
| 19th June | Trinity Sunday (Evensong) | Nick Chamberlain |
| 19th June | Trinity Sunday | Nick Chamberlain |
| 5th June | Seventh Sunday of Easter | Nick Chamberlain |
| 18th - 24th April | Holy Week & Easter | Pauline Pearson |
| 23rd January | Third Sunday of Epiphany | Colin Dixon |
| 2nd January | Second Sunday of Christmas | Nick Chamberlain |
2010 Sermons:
| Date | Occasion | Preacher |
|---|---|---|
| 24th December | Midnight Mass | Colin Dixon |
| 7th November | Third Sunday before Advent | Joan Grenfell |
| 24th October | Dedication | Nick Chamberlain |
| 29th August | 13th Sunday after Trinity | Chris Wardale |
| 22nd August | 12th Sunday after Trinity | Chris Wardale |
| 15th August | Blessed Virgin Mary | Chris Wardale |
| 1st August | 9th Sunday after Trinity | Nick Chamberlain |
| 2nd May | Easter 5 | Nick Chamberlain |
| 4th April | Easter Day | Nick Chamberlain |
| 4th April | Easter Day Liturgy | Nick Chamberlain |
| 2nd April | Good Friday Address 3 | Nick Chamberlain |
| 2nd April | Good Friday Address 2 | Nick Chamberlain |
| 2nd April | Good Friday Address 1 | Nick Chamberlain |
| 2nd April | Good Friday Liturgy | Nick Chamberlain |
| 1st April | Maundy Thursday | Nick Chamberlain |
| 31st March | Holy Week - Wednesday | Nick Chamberlain |
| 30th March | Holy Week - Tuesday | Nick Chamberlain |
| 29th March | Holy Week - Monday | Nick Chamberlain |
| 24th January | Third Sunday of Epiphany | Nick Chamberlain |
| 3rd January | Second Sunday of Christmas | Allison Fenton |
| 3rd January | Second Sunday of Christmas (BCP readings) | Allison Fenton |
2009 Sermons:
| Date | Occasion | Preacher |
|---|---|---|
| 25th December | Christmas Day Morning | Nick Chamberlain |
| 24th December | Christmas Eve Midnight Mass | Nick Chamberlain |
| 24th December | Christmas Eve Carol Serviece | Nick Chamberlain |
|
9th August |
Trinity 9 | Matthew McKenna |
| 26th July |
(sermon given at St Hildas) |
Matthew McKenna |
| 19th July | Trinity 6 | Nick Chamberlain |
| 21st June | Trinity 2 | Nick Chamberlain |
| 5th July | Allison Fenton's First Mass | Brother Damian SSF |
| 12th April | Easter Day | Stephen Hampton |
| 12th April | Easter Day Vigil | Stephen Hampton |
| 10th April | Good Friday (1) | Stephen Hampton |
| 10th April | Good Friday (2) | Stephen Hampton |
| 9th April | Maundy Thursday | Stephen Hampton |
All sermons are saved as PDF files and will open in a new window.