The most recent Sermons are listed below.
- The Lord stood by me and gave me strength - Patronal Festival Ss Peter & Paul 2018 and ending of Licensed Ministry The final sermon preached by Rev Canon Lesley McCormack on 1st July 2018 2 Timothy 4:6-8; 17-18 Matthew 16:13-19 The time of my departure has come…..To Him be glory for ever and ever. Amen Today is one of those occasions when the people … Continue reading The Lord stood by me and gave me strength
- “Whom shall I send”, asks God - Sermon preached by Rev Canon Lesley McCormack on Trinity Sunday, 27th May 2018 at Ss Peter & Paul, and St Michael and All Angels Isaiah 6:1-8; John 3:1-17 May I speak in the name of God, the one holy and undivided Trinity. Amen When I was ordained priest, a nursing colleague at the hospital where … Continue reading “Whom shall I send”, asks God
- Day of the Cross - Good Friday sermon, preached by the Rector, Rev David Walsh, on 30th March 2018 Throughout Lent we have been on a journey to this moment and this place, a journey to the cross. In some ways this is the climax of our journey, the end of the story. There is another story to tell. Later, … Continue reading Day of the Cross
- Remember that you are but dust, and to dust you shall return - Isaiah 58:1-12, John 8:1-11 Sermon preached by Rev Canon Lesley McCormack on Ash Wednesday, 14th February 2018 There’s something compelling about Ash Wednesday, something more than just the beginning of Lent. What we say and what we do on in our liturgy and worship on this particular Wednesday has power. Something of that power lies … Continue reading Remember that you are but dust, and to dust you shall return
- Our journey towards God - Sermon preached by Revd David Walsh on Sunday January 7th 2018, at Ss Peter & Paul Matthew 2.1-12 We begin 2018, as we do most years, with the story of a journey. A journey towards God. As we start out on this latest stage of our own journeys, our individual journeys and our journey together … Continue reading Our journey towards God
- Everything Changes! - Sermon preached by Rev Canon Lesley McCormack on Christmas Morning December 25th 2017 at Ss Peter & Paul Isaiah 9:2-7 Luke 2:1-20 Nothing seemed to change. For countless generations down the years, it probably seemed as though nothing ever would, in spite of the hope and the longing, as people faithfully waited, while struggling with … Continue reading Everything Changes!
- “So, then, each of us will be accountable to God” - Sermon preached by Rev Canon Lesley McCormack at Ss Peter & Paul and St Michael & All Angels on Sunday September 17th 2017 Romans 14:1-12 Matthew 18:21-35 Friday was a day of contrasts. While driving in to Kettering, I listened, fascinated, to scientists talking about the impending end for the Cassini spacecraft, the end of … Continue reading “So, then, each of us will be accountable to God”
- Who do people say the Son of Man is? - Isaiah 51:1-6 Romans 12:1-8 Matthew 16:13-20 Sermon preached by Revd Canon Lesley McCormack on 27th August 2017 at St Michael & All Angels “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?…..But who do you say that I am” When Jesus puts these questions to that very mixed bunch of people who were closest … Continue reading Who do people say the Son of Man is?
- Jesus and the Canaanite Woman - Sermon preached by Revd Canon Lesley McCormack on 20th August 2017 at St Peter & Paul Isaiah 56:1,6-8 Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32 Matthew 15:10-28 Loving God, by your Holy Spirit, take these words such as they are and do with them as you will, take us such as we are and do with us as you … Continue reading Jesus and the Canaanite Woman
- A story about the essential nature of God - Sermon preached by Rev Canon Lesley McCormack on Sunday 16th July 2017 at Ss Peter & Paul and St Michael & All Angels Isaiah 55:10-13 Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 Loving God, by your Holy Spirit, take these words such as they are and do with them as you will, take us such as we are and … Continue reading A story about the essential nature of God
- Who are we as a church? - PATRONAL FESTIVAL SERMON: THE FEAST OF ST PETER AND ST PAUL SUNDAY 2 JULY 2017 Sermon preached by Rev David Walsh 2 Timothy 4:6-8,17-18 Matthew 16: 13-19 Patronal Festivals are a time for churches to look at themselves in the mirror and ask: who are we as a church? As it happens, our Patronal Festival … Continue reading Who are we as a church?
- Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows - Sermon preached by Rev Canon Lesley McCormack on Sunday June 25th at St Michael and All Angels Jeremiah 20:7-13 Matthew10:24-39 “Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows” I have discovered again that there are many joys to be found in a holiday, a break away from the usual rhythm of … Continue reading Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows
- Leave us not comfortless, but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen us - Sermon preached by Rev Canon Lesley McCormack on Sunday 28th May 2017, at Ss Peter & Paul Acts 1:6-14 John 17:1-11 ‘Leave us not comfortless, but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen us’ At last, we have been enjoying the first really warm days of the year giving a glimpse of the joys of summer … Continue reading Leave us not comfortless, but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen us
- The reality of the Resurrection - Sermon preached by Rev Canon Lesley McCormack on 23rd April 2017 at Ss Peter & Paul Acts 2:14, 22-32; John 20:19-31 In some parts of the church, today is known as ‘Low Sunday’, in part because attendance may be less than for the Vigil or Easter Day; and the atmosphere is certainly quieter, calmer – … Continue reading The reality of the Resurrection
- Making all things new - Sermon preached by Rev David Walsh on Easter Day, Sunday 16th April 2017 Making all things new On Good Friday one of the church’s prayers asks God to: let the whole world feel and see that things which were cast down are being raised up and things which had grown old are being made new … Continue reading Making all things new
- ‘I am the resurrection and the life’ - Sermon preached by Revd David Walsh on Sunday 2nd April 2017, the Fifth Sunday of Lent. Ezekiel 37:1-14, John 11:1-45 ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live.’ These words from today’s gospel reading are familiar as the opening sentence of many funeral services. In … Continue reading ‘I am the resurrection and the life’
- Who are we? - Sermon preached by Revd David Walsh at Choral Evensong, on Sunday March 26th 2017 ISAIAH 43. 1- 7; EPHESIANS 2.8 – 14 Who are we? We may think it’s obvious who we are. But there are many ways of answering this question ‘who are we’? NATIONAL IDENTITY The question ‘who are we?’ as a nation … Continue reading Who are we?
- Are we ready, willing, to be surprised by God? - Sermon preached by Rev Canon Lesley McCormack on Sunday March 19th 2017 at Ss Peter & Paul Exodus 17:1-7 John 4:5-42 Loving God, by your Holy Spirit, take these words such as they are and do with them as you will, take us such as we are and do with us as you will for … Continue reading Are we ready, willing, to be surprised by God?
- Consider the lilies - Sermon preached by Revd Canon Lesley McCormack on Sunday 19th February 2017 at Ss Peter & Paul Romans 8:18-25 Matthew 6:25-end ‘Consider the Lilies’ is part of a series of paintings entitled ‘Christ in the Wilderness’ painted by Stanley Spencer. It is what you see on the front of our Order of Service this morning. … Continue reading Consider the lilies
- ‘The latter splendour of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts’. - Sermon by Revd David Walsh at Candlemas Evensong, Sunday January 29th 2017 These words may be familiar to us. And the name Haggai may also be vaguely familiar. But it may be little more than a name: one of a long list of minor prophets. I’m going to spend a few minutes exploring a few details about … Continue reading ‘The latter splendour of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts’.
- Come and see! - Sermon preached by Revd Canon Lesley McCormack on Sunday 15th January 2017, at St Peter & St Paul, and St Michael and All Angels Isaiah 49:1-7 John1:29-42 ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him ‘Rabbi, where are you staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come and see’. Last Sunday, we heard again that story … Continue reading Come and see!
- Be born in us today - Sermon by Rev David Walsh at Midnight Eucharist, 24th December 2016 Isaiah 52.7-10; John 1.1-14. Well we’re not going to forget 2016 in a hurry. As we look forward to 2017 and beyond we know that the world is changing. But we don’t know, can’t be sure, what the changes will look like. Nobody knows. … Continue reading Be born in us today
- Bear fruit worthy of repentance - Sermon preached by Revd Canon Lesley McCormack on Sunday 4th December 2016, at SM&AA and Ss P&P Isaiah 11:1-10 Matthew 3:1-12 Advent is a time when we find ourselves waiting – hopefully, expectantly; a time of anticipation as we prepare both to celebrate the coming of Christ at his birth while also looking ahead to … Continue reading Bear fruit worthy of repentance
- If only we had more faith - Preached by Mrs Kate Bowers on 2nd October 2016 at Ss Peter & Paul O Lord, take my lips and speak through them; Take our minds and think through them; Take our hearts and set them on fire with love for Yourself, Lord Jesus. Amen. Watching television coverage of the appalling suffering in Syria leaves … Continue reading If only we had more faith
- God’s honest judgement – then he offers us mercy - Preached by Revd David Walsh on 25th September 2016 Amos 6.1a, 4 – 7, Luke 16.19-end A vicar friend of mine has a son, who, much to his embarrassment, is constantly getting into trouble at the school attached to my friend’s church. The teachers at the school drip-feed my friend with stories of the latest … Continue reading God’s honest judgement – then he offers us mercy
- Living and walking with God is not safe, but it is always good! (SsP&P) - Sermon preached by Canon Lesley McCormack at Ss Peter & Paul on 18th September 2016 Amos 8:4-7; Luke 16:1-13 There is a wonderful scene in C.S. Lewis’s novel “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” where Lucy, the youngest of the children to go through the back of the wardrobe and enter the magical world … Continue reading Living and walking with God is not safe, but it is always good! (SsP&P)
- I have found my sheep that was lost (SsP&P) - Exodus 32:7-14, Luke 15:1-10 Sermon preached by Revd David Walsh on September 11th at Ss Peter & Paul It’s very good to be here this morning and I know many of you are relieved that at last you have a new Rector in place. It is an honour – and rather humbling – to become … Continue reading I have found my sheep that was lost (SsP&P)
- I have found my sheep that was lost (SMAA) - Exodus 32:7-14, Luke 15:1-10 Sermon preached by Revd David Walsh on 11th September 2016 at St Michael & All Angels. Right at the start of my ministry here in Kettering comes a gift in the shape of this morning’s Gospel reading. A reading from the heart of Luke’s Gospel which gets to the very heart … Continue reading I have found my sheep that was lost (SMAA)
- The cost of being a disciple - Preached by Canon Lesley McCormack on 4th September 2016 Luke 14:25-33 The first few words in this morning’s Gospel stopped me in my tracks, because they seem to fly in the face of what I thought I understood about what it means to be a follower of Christ – that I should love God with … Continue reading The cost of being a disciple
- We have a banquet to offer all people - Preached by Canon Lesley McCormack on 28th August 2016 Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16; Luke 14:1, 7-14 ‘When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you….’ As we gather here this morning to worship God, we sing, we pray, and we … Continue reading We have a banquet to offer all people
- Put your trust in the one true God - Preached by Canon Lesley McCormack at a baptism at St Michael & All Angels on 14th August 2016 Jeremiah 23:23-9, Luke 12:49-56 ‘You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?’ So here we are, gathered to witness and celebrate the … Continue reading Put your trust in the one true God
- Ask, and it will be given to you - Preached by Canon Lesley McCormack on 24th July 2016 Colossians 2:6-19 & Luke 11:1-13 “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who … Continue reading Ask, and it will be given to you
- Hospitality Sunday - Preached by Mrs Kate Bowers on 17th July 2016 Those of you who receive our weekly email may have noticed that it had the title – ‘Hospitality Sunday’. Hospitality Sunday does not appear in the church calendar! It just seems to sum up the readings we have heard this morning.
- No Excuses! - Preached by Leslie Spatt on 26th June 2016 How do we best help to build the Kingdom of God? Following and being followers isn’t easy. There’s a temptation to gather a group of people around oneself and then lead them for lots of different reasons: to be at the centre of adulation or being looked … Continue reading No Excuses!
- All of you are one in Christ Jesus - Preached by Canon Lesley McCormack on 19th June 2016 Galatians 3:23-end Luke 8:26-39 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. Luke’s story is full of pictures, imagery and emotion, a storm is … Continue reading All of you are one in Christ Jesus
- God has looked favourably on his people - Preached by Canon Lesley McCormack on 5th June 2016 1 Kings 17:17-24 Luke 7:11-17 It is often said that out of the three Gospels – Matthew, Mark and Luke – known as the Synoptic Gospels, Luke’s Gospel was written with the outsider particularly in mind. Luke was himself almost certainly a Gentile and most probably … Continue reading God has looked favourably on his people
- The Centurion and his Slave - Preached by Canon Lesley McCormack on 29th May 2016 Galatians 1:1-12; Luke 7:1-10 Today marks the beginning of a quieter time in the Church’s year – a year that so far seems to have moved at an astonishing pace. Christmas and Epiphany seemed to come and go in a flash; early February saw the beginning … Continue reading The Centurion and his Slave
- Feast of the Holy Trinity 2016 - Preached by Canon Lesley McCormack on 22nd May 2016 “Now, O Lord, take my lips and speak through them; Take our minds and think through them; Take our hearts and set them on fire with love for Yourself. Amen.” Today, the Feast of the Holy Trinity focuses our minds on the deep mystery that is … Continue reading Feast of the Holy Trinity 2016
- “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” - Preached by Canon Lesley McCormack on Ascension Day, 5th of May 2016. Albert Woodfox was freed from prison in February of this year on his 69th birthday having spent the past 43 years in prison. Save for the last few months during his preparation for release, all of those 43 years have been spent n … Continue reading “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
- “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come, and stay at my home” - Preached by Canon Lesley McCormack at St Michael and All Angels on 1st of May 2016. I wonder; I wonder what it must have been like, sitting by the poolside in Beth-zatha, with all those people, each living with their own problems and struggles, longing to be healed, longing to be made whole. Over the years, … Continue reading “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come, and stay at my home”
- “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation.” - Preached at Evensong by Kate Bowers for the Feast of St Mark the Evangelist 24th April 2016. Words from our first lesson this evening. Tomorrow is the feast day of St Mark. As a child I went to St Mark’s Junior School. We didn’t have a school hall of our own so assemblies were held in the church hall. … Continue reading “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation.”
- His Master’s Voice - Preached on Sunday 17th April 2016, The Fourth Sunday of Easter by Kate Bowers. As a small child my parents taught me to pray – every evening before bed. I can remember asking my mother why it was that when I talked to God he didn’t answer me. My mother as a wise woman who told me that if I carried … Continue reading His Master’s Voice
- Come and have breakfast - Preached by Revd Dr John Smith on 10th of April 2016 at St Peter & St Paul and St Michael and All Angels. Up two long flights of escalators, always crowded, always chasing and up into Holborn Tube station. Despite the escalators, a better station than Covent Garden with the lifts, or Leicester Square which … Continue reading Come and have breakfast
- Have you believed because you have seen me? Blesssed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe. - Preached by Lesley McCormack on Sunday 3rd April 2016 at St Peter & St Paul and St Michael and All Angels. (holding up Bible) This is God’s story, the story of God’s interaction with his beloved creation. But this is also our story, this is our song and now in the Easter season, we revel in … Continue reading Have you believed because you have seen me? Blesssed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.
- Since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. - Preached by Lesley McCormack on Sunday 7th February 2016 at St Peter & St Paul. “Since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.” Rawand Aziz and Saman Sharif are Iraqi Kurds, who fled persecution and oppression – both were granted asylum and later British citizenship. … Continue reading Since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.
- Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things - Preached by Lesley McCormack on 31st January 2016 at St Michael & All Angels. 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 Luke 2:22-40 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things This morning Luke is moving us on from stories of Jesus birth to his arrival at the temple for the first time. The … Continue reading Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things
- Now you are the body of Christ - Preached by Lesley McCormack on the 24th of January 2016 at St Michael and All Angels “Now you are the body of Christ” It was a cosmopolitan city, a lively seaport and trading centre exposed to multiple influences. People and cultures from east and west jostled together bring their own understandings of the world, bringing … Continue reading Now you are the body of Christ
- Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough ways made smooth - Preached by Lesley McCormack on 6th December 2015 Malachi 3:1-4 Luke 3:1-6 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough ways made smooth Today marks the halfway point in our journey through Advent, that time of year when we … Continue reading Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough ways made smooth
- And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. - Preached by Lesley McCormack on All Souls Day “Since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.” Lamentations 3:17-26, 31-33 John 6:37-40 Rawand Aziz and Saman Sharif are Iraqi Kurds, who fled persecution and oppression – both were granted asylum and later British citizenship. But they … Continue reading And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
- What do you want me to do for you? - Preached by Lesley McCormack on October 25th 2015. The work of the Holy spirit never fails to surprise and amaze me!! When this date was agreed for Flynn’s baptism, I had no idea what the readings might be but as the time drew nearer and I began to prepare for this morning I was delighted, … Continue reading What do you want me to do for you?
- Signs of God’s promise and presence - Preached by Kate Bowers, October 4th 2015 Lord Jesus; May I hear your voice and speak your words; May we hear your words and build your Church – to the glory of God the Father and in the power of His Spirit. Eleven years ago when I was just testing the water to gauge whether … Continue reading Signs of God’s promise and presence
