Service Of The World

Posted on 1st January 2023 by Peter

Sermon from St Andrews Church, Slip End, UK and recorded at St Pauls Church in Luton. This sermon given our reader Julie Taylor on The second Sunday of Christmas on the 1/1/23.

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Sermon starts at 3:35

Matthew 2 v 13-23

The Escape to Egypt

13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt,

15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

18  “A voice is heard in Ramah,
    weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
    and refusing to be comforted,
    because they are no more.”


The Return to Nazareth

19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt

20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.

22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee,

23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.
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Joseph and the Angel

Posted on 20th December 2022 by Peter

Sermon from our joint service at St Paul’s Church, Luton, UK. Given by our priest in charge Nick Mwandia on the 18/12/22 entitled “Joseph and the Angel”

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Running time 41 minutes

Matthew 1 v 18-25

Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son

18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:

23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.

25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
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Remembrance Service

Posted on 11th December 2022 by Peter

You can listen to the whole of this years Bereavment Service from St Andrews church which was held on 11th December, by using the player below.

You can down load the service sheet HERE!

Download Mp3 HERE!

Running time 41 minutes

Music played during the service
The Blessed Son of God
It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
Silent Night
Pie Jesu – by Gabriel Faure and played by Sylvia
The Lord Is My Shepherd
O Little Town Of Bethlehem
I Cannot Tell

Posted in Advent, Julie Taylor | Tagged | Comments Off on Remembrance Service

Witnessing

Posted on 4th December 2022 by Peter

Sermon from St Andrews Church, Slip End, UK. Sermon given our priest in charge the Rev’ Nick Mwandia on the 2nd Sunday of Advent. Recorded on the 4/12/22.

Download Mp3 HERE!

Sermon starts at 2:17

Matthew 3 v 1-12

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea

2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”

4 John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.

5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan.

6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

10 The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

11 “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
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The First Sunday Of Advent

Posted on 28th November 2022 by Peter

Sermon from St Andrews Church, Slip End, UK. Sermon given our reader Julie Taylor on The first Sunday of Advent at our Christingle service on the 28/11/22.

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Sermon starts at 2:43

Isaiah 2 v 1-5

1 This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

2 In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established     as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills,     and all nations will stream to it.

3 Many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,     to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways,     so that we may walk in his paths.’ The law will go out from Zion,     the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

4 He will judge between the nations     and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into ploughshares     and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation,     nor will they train for war any more.

5 Come, descendants of Jacob,     let us walk in the light of the Lord.


Matthew 24 v 36-44

36 ‘But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 

37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 

38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 

39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 

40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 

41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

42 ‘Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 

43 But understand this: if the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 

44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
Posted in Advent, Christingle, Julie Taylor | Comments Off on The First Sunday Of Advent

Mercy At The Cross

Posted on 20th November 2022 by Peter

Sermon from St Andrews Church, Slip End, UK. Sermon given our priest in charge the Rev’ Nick Mwandia on the Sunday next before Advent. Recorded on the 20/11/22.

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Sermon starts at 4:25

Jeremiah 23 v 1-6

1 “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord.

2 Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the Lord.

3 “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number.

4 I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the Lord.

5 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.

6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Saviour.


Second Reading: Luke 23 v 33-43

33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left.

34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar

37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

38 There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews.

39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?

41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
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Remembrance Service 2022

Posted on 13th November 2022 by Peter

This is the complete remembrance service from St Andrews Church Slip End. Recorded on the 13/11/22. Proceedings were lead by reader Julie Taylor with Liz Higgens playing the organ.

Download Mp3 HERE!

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Life In The Resurrection

Posted on 6th November 2022 by Peter

Sermon from St Andrews Church, Slip End, UK. Sermon given our priest in charge the Rev’ Nick Mwandia on the 3rd Sunday before Advent. Recorded on the 6/11/22.

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Sermon starts at 2.12

Luke 20 v 27-38

The Resurrection and Marriage

27 Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. 

28 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 

29 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. 

30 The second 

31 and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. 

32 Finally, the woman died too. 

33 Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”

34 Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. 

35 But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, 

36 and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. 

37 But in the account of the burning bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’

38 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”
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Zacchaeus

Posted on 2nd November 2022 by Peter

Sermon from St Andrews Church, Slip End, UK. Sermon given our reader Julie Taylor on shoebox Sunday on the 30/10/22.

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Sermon starts at 3:12

Luke 19 v 1-10

1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.

2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.

3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd.

4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”

6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.

10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
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Humility and Faith

Posted on 23rd October 2022 by Peter

Sermon from St Andrews Church, Slip End, UK. Sermon given our priest in charge the Rev’ Nick Mwandia on the last Sunday after Trinity on the 23/10/22.

The first half of this recording was taken from the mic at the back of the church and so sounds rather echoey and indistinct, but I realised the mistake half way through and the audio does improve!

Download Mp3 HERE!

Sermon starts at 1:47

Luke 18 v 9-14

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable:

10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.

12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
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