Trinity Sunday

Posted on 26th May 2024 by Peter

Today’s sermon was given by our reader Julie Taylor on Trinity Sunday, 26th May 2024.

Download Mp3 HERE!

Sermon starts at 2:50

John 3 v 1-17

Jesus Teaches Nicodemus

1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.

2 He came to Jesus at night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.’

3 Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.’

4 ‘How can someone be born when they are old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!’

5 Jesus answered, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.

6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.

7 You should not be surprised at my saying, “You must be born again.”

8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.’

9 ‘How can this be?’ Nicodemus asked.

10 ‘You are Israel’s teacher,’ said Jesus, ‘and do you not understand these things?

11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.

12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?

13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven – the Son of Man.

14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,

15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.’

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Posted in Easter, Julie Taylor, Trinity | Comments Off on Trinity Sunday

The Advocat

Posted on 21st May 2024 by Peter

Today’s sermon was given by our priest in charge the Rev Nick Mwandia at Pentecost Sunday. 19th May 2024.

APOLOGIES FOR THE QUALITY OF THIS RECORDING

Download Mp3 HERE!

Sermon starts at 1:46

John 15.26-27, John 16.4b-15

26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 

27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.

4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, 

5 but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 

6 Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. 

7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 

8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 

9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 

10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 

11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 

13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 

14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 

15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

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Jesus Prays For His Disciples

Posted on 12th May 2024 by Peter

Todays sermon was given by our reader Julie Taylor on the 7th Sunday of Easter entitled ‘Jesus Prays For His Disciples. 12th May 2024.

Download Mp3 HERE!

Sermon starts at 2:50

Jesus Prays for His Disciples

6 “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.

7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.

8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.

9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.

10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.

11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.

12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.

14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.

15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.

16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.

17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

Posted in Easter, Julie Taylor | Comments Off on Jesus Prays For His Disciples

Affirmation Of Faith

Posted on 5th May 2024 by Peter

Todays sermon was given by our priest in charge the Rev Nick Mwandia at our joint service with our sister church St Pauls, Luton on the sixth week of Easter. 5th May 2024.

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Sermon starts at 2:14

John 15 v 9-17

9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.

10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.

11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

14 You are my friends if you do what I command.

15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.

17 This is my command: Love each other.

Posted in Easter, Nick Mwandia | Comments Off on Affirmation Of Faith

The True Vine

Posted on 28th April 2024 by Peter

Todays sermon was given by our reader Julie Taylor on 28/4/24, on the fifth Sunday of Easter with the sermon entitled ‘The True Vine’.

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Sermon starts at 1:37

John 15 v 1, 5-8

The Vine and the Branches

1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.


Galatians 5 v 22-23, 25

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Posted in Easter, Julie Taylor | Comments Off on The True Vine

The Good Shepherd

Posted on 21st April 2024 by Peter

Todays sermon was given by our priest in charge the Rev Nick Mwandia on the forth week of Easter , on the 21st April 2024.

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Sermon starts at 1:50

John 10 v 11-18

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it.

13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—

15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.

16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.

17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again.

18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

Posted in Easter, Nick Mwandia | Comments Off on The Good Shepherd

Jesus Appears To His Disciples

Posted on 14th April 2024 by Peter

Todays sermon was given by our reader Julie Taylor on Mothering Sunday 14/4/24, on the third Sunday of Easter with the sermon entitled ‘Jesus appears to his disciples’.

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Sermon starts at 2:04

Luke 24 v 36-48

Jesus Appears to the Disciples

36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’

37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.

38 He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?

39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.’

40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.

41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, ‘Do you have anything here to eat?’

42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish,

43 and he took it and ate it in their presence.

44 He said to them, ‘This is what I told you while I was still with you: everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.’

45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.

46 He told them, ‘This is what is written: the Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,

47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

48 You are witnesses of these things.

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A Touch For Thomas

Posted on 7th April 2024 by Peter

Todays sermon was given by our priest in charge the Rev Nick Mwandia on the second week of Easter , the 7th April 2024.

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Sermon starts at 2:40

John 20 v 19-31

Jesus Appears to His Disciples

19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”

20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”


Jesus Appears to Thomas

24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.

25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the

Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”

27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”


The Purpose of John’s Gospel

30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.

31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Posted in Easter, Nick Mwandia | Comments Off on A Touch For Thomas

Easter Day

Posted on 1st April 2024 by Peter

Todays sermon was given by our priest in charge the Rev Nick Mwandia on Easter Day, the 31st March 2024.

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Sermon starts at 3:40

John 20 v 1-18

The Empty Tomb

1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.

2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb.

4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.

5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.

6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there,

7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen.

8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.

9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb

12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”

14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

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Palm Sunday

Posted on 24th March 2024 by Peter

Todays sermon was given by our reader Julie Taylor for our Lent service on 24/3/24.

Download Mp3 HERE!

Sermon starts at 4:45

Mark 15 (selected verses)

Jesus before Pilate

Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin… bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.

“Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate.
“‘You have said so,” Jesus replied.

The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him,

“Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.” But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.

Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested…
“Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate… But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to get Pilate to release Barabbas instead.

“What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked [the crowd]. “Crucify him!” they shouted.
“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

The soldiers mock Jesus
The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace … and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him.

And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!”
Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spat on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him.

Then they led him out to crucify him.

The death of Jesus
…They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means ‘the place of the skull’). And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.

It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. The written notice of the charge against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS.

They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!”

In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves.
“He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice ”My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

… With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

Posted in Julie Taylor, Lent | Comments Off on Palm Sunday