Category Archives: Sermons

Rev'd Michael Bayley preaching at St Mark's‘Living Thinking Faith’ means engaging intelligently with the Bible, as well as other sources of inspiration, to help make sense of life, to appreciate its potential, challenges and ambiguities, as well as to discern how best to invest our time and energies.

Sermons are one important way in which this can happen. Preaching at St Mark’s aims to stimulate and inform – to cultivate wisdom and inspire discipleship through engaging the mind, feeding the spirit and strengthening our resolve to live out the difference Christian faith makes to human being.

This is no small task. In addition to our own ministers, visiting preachers are a regular feature, and sometimes we replace the traditional style of sermon with an interview or multi-media presentation.

Gospel of Compassion

This has been quite a week for religion in public life.   Putting to one side the on-going debate about the probity and propriety of prayers in public places, we kicked off with Baroness Warsi, Cabinet member, co-chair of the Conservative … Continue reading

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Wisdom is Waiting

Moments of great calm, kneeling before an altar of wood in a stone church in summer, waiting for God to speak; the air a staircase for silence; the sun’s light ringing me, as though I acted a great role. And the audience still; all that close throng of spirits waiting, as I, for the message. Prompt me, God; But not yet. When I speak, though it be you who speak through me, something is lost. The meaning is in the waiting. Continue reading

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Homelessness

Jimmy is a traditional ‘man of the road.’  Someone who has chosen to be of no fixed abode and wouldn’t thank you for the offer of settled accommodation – ‘too much trouble, too much responsibility’.  Possessions on his back, bedding … Continue reading

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Making Jesus Visible

I decided to go to church.  Not because 1 wanted to be saved, nor because l wanted solace from the cross.  Rather, I wanted the comfort of other people’s faith.  I like to be anonymous among the hymn-singing crowd, the … Continue reading

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Naming of Christ

When working as a college Chaplain in Cambridge, the first official event of the new academic year for the incoming students was the Chaplain’s tea party. Around 3 o’clock on Sunday afternoon, the Old Library would start to fill with … Continue reading

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John the Baptist – fore-runner or mentor?

‘Why then are you baptizing, if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?’ John 1.25 These days I’m not so often in church at this point because I’m part of the team who’re doing Godly Play sessions … Continue reading

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Keeping Faith

In a few minutes time, each of us will be invited to pray, Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Familiar words from the Lord’s Prayer, but I wonder what comes to mind when you recite them … Continue reading

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Cancelling Debt

This is the fourth in our sermon series on the Lord’s Prayer and by now it will have become apparent that although this prayer consists of various acclamations and petitions they are intimately related to one another to the extent … Continue reading

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“Give us this day our daily bread”

Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. This is the third sermon in our series on … Continue reading

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Honouring God

“The Lord’s prayer is Christianity’s greatest prayer.  It is also Christianity’s strangest prayer.  It is prayed by all Christians, but it never mentions Christ.  It is prayed in all churches, but it never mentioned church.  It is prayed all Sundays, … Continue reading

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