Tag Archives: easter

Easter Micro-sermon 2019

In 2016 I wrote a Easter Micro-sermon using chocolate brands. Two years later I wrote one in Disney characters. In 2019, areas of Sheffield got the pun-treatment!

Arbourthorne (Our birth and) death have always been marked with the sin that got Tapton to our lives Endcliffe-d (and cleft) our soul in two; where it went Sothall (south all) the time!

God so loved the Worrall that He sent His Son. Wybourn (Why? Born…) as a man He Woodside with us against the darkness. Jesus came to Plumbley depths of life and Walkley side us and out of His Deepcar for us, save us from sin.

Unfortunately, He was Herdings the temple saying He’d Totley destroy it and that He Wadsley sin for every Manor woman. The authorities thought He wanted to Beauchief priest or something! So they planned to Kelham. They bribed a friend to be Batemoor to catch Jesus than to help him.

They pierced Jesus feet and Handsworth nails and crucified him on a Greenhill between two Crookes, abused and Longley.

There he was, on another Parson’s Cross dying for their sins and with a final Intake of breath he cried, “It is Don.”

At that moment all were amazed Fir Vale of the temple was ripped in two. The disciples Lowedges-us (lowered, Jesus) from the cross and found a Sharrow tomb that Woodhouse his body. They rolled a Greystone(s) over the entrance and placed two Birley soldiers next to it.

Heeley in the tomb for three days. The disciples’ hopes Whirlow and they didn’t know the way Fulwood. Women went to his tomb on the third day, Hope Valley they’d be able to prepare the body but instead they found Jesus Colley standing, alive, proclaiming,

“Death has been Beighton and I’ve Darnall I came to do.”

So they Ranmoor than walked to tell the other disciples.

After this, Jesus went up to Heaven where He Woodseat(s) at His Father’s right hand. Now, He stands at the Dore and knocks and H-Ecclesall (He calls all) to follow Him. Will you?

Easter Micro-sermon 2018

In 2016 I wrote a Easter Micro-sermon using chocolate brands. Two years later I was asked to write another one and I chose Disney characters. Enjoy!

We were in a Maui pit, Floundering in sin so, Sven the time was right, God sent his son Dopey our rescuer, our saviour and our Doc. He faced the Beast of darkness that ensnares our whole life. He was not Bashful in bringing Moana more light into our loneliness. But we were ashamed of his light and hid in our darkness; Bolting the door. As Annather attempt to silence God we put a crown of thorns on his Ed and nailed his Hans to the cross. He died and we took Kristoff the cross and buried him. 

He entered into Hades. 

Early on the third day, while his friends were still Sleepy, they went to the tomb and found an Angel. It asked “Why are you looking for Aladdin a tomb when he is alive?” As Mary ran to tell others Jesus appeared to her and she didn’t know whether to cry Olaf. 

Over the next few days he appeared to many showing Jafar he went to show his love for us. You and Lilo me. I Kaan’t express the wonder!

He took our hearts, black as Tarzan he made us Snow White. Elsa place I cannot go for his Scars save Smee from the Dumbo-haviour which I know are wrong but Iago repeating the pattern making me Grumpy. Ariel hurts and shames have been Stitched together, redeemed to make Abutiful patchwork of his grace. So shout for joy, ring the Belle: for today is a Happy day. 

Death has been defeated. Christ is risen!

Easter Micro-sermon 2016

I was challenged, by my wife, to sum up my Easter sermon using the names of popular chocolate bars. The result follows. Enjoy!

We all vainly attempt to Boost our own power and influence as though we truly were the gods of the Galaxy. What Jesus taught, the secret of how the whole of creation really works, and our only prAero is to humbly follow God. Without God we soon discover that life is no Picnic. Every attempt at solving our problems without God not only fails but Mars his image in us. For He has revealed that image in Jesus, the Lion of Judah, yes, but also a humble servant. But Jesus wasn’t just a good human being like the rest of us who had in some way miraculously achieved perfection, he needed to be Divine, showing his power to radically change the very fabric of the universe, to revolt, to reform, to rotate the accepted death and decay. To Twirl the twisted tatters of our interpretations of reason around.

In His resurrection God confirmed His image in Jesus which means that when Jesus hung on the tree beTwix heaven and earth he reconciled them together in his brokenness. Yes, on Friday, Death Snickers at his supposed victory over God but the truth began as a Wispa in the garden when the women saw the stone Rolo-ed away. New Creation sprouting where Death once remained un-opposed. But with each life that is impacted by the Ripples of resurrection He reveals more of His glorious Bounty extravagantly poured out as He continues to create a fresh His Kingdom on the earth.

Dead Man Walking

thegreenmile3

We enter into Holy Week with the intention of re-living the events of Jesus’ final days before his cruel death on Good Friday.

We seek to experience, as much as we can, the various emotions he felt and to go through the sense of loss, abandonment, doubt, despair and pain that he endured.

We do these things whilst knowing and acknowledging that we are in a privileged position. We know the end of the story and it is hard to completely forget but it is also wrong to reject the memory of the resurrection and to not allow, in some way, for that to impact on how we see the days that proceeded it.

We enter, therefore, into a paradox; of wanting to participate, in some way, in his kenosis (emptying of self) in the way he did whilst, at the same time, trusting in the faithfulness of rescue and purpose that we profess to owning within us.

We want to proclaim,

Dead man walking.

and, although he will die, it is true, it is more true of us: We are ‘dead people walking’. We walk his journey to death each day of our lives but the joy and splendour of the Christian life is that we too can cast off that name and confidently stride into freedom shouting,

He is risen. He is alive!

He is risen. We are alive!

348-he-is-not-here_-he-is-risen-indeed-garden-tomb

May this season of Easter be, for you, a time of awakening to the reality of the gift of life offered to you.

So we are called not only to believe that Christ once rose from the dead, thereby proving that he was God; we are called to experience the Resurrection in our own lives by entering into this dynamic movement, by following Christ who lives in us. This life, this dynamism, is expressed by the power of love and of encounter: Christ lives in us if we love one another. And our love for one another means involvement in one another’s history. Christ lives in us and leads us, through mutual encounter and commitment, into a new future which we build together for one another. That future is called the Kingdom of God… The Resurrection is not a doctrine we try to prove or a problem we argue about: it is the life and action of Christ himself in us by his Holy Spirit. (Thomas Merton, He is Risen (Illinois: Argus Communications, 1975))