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.

Download Mp3 HERE!

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.

Download Mp3 HERE!

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.”
Posted in Nick Mwandia, Uncategorised | Comments Off on Mercy At The Cross

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!

Posted in Uncategorised | Comments Off on Remembrance Service 2022

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.

Download Mp3 HERE!

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.”
Posted in Nick Mwandia | Comments Off on Life In The Resurrection

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.

Download Mp3 HERE!

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.”
Posted in Julie Taylor, Shoebox Sunday | Comments Off on Zacchaeus

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.”
Posted in Nick Mwandia, Trinity | Comments Off on Humility and Faith

The Persistence of Faith

Posted on 16th October 2022 by Peter

Sermon from St Andrews Church, Slip End, UK. Sermon given our priest in charge the Rev’ Nick Mwandia on the 18th Sunday after Trinity on the 16/10/22.

Download Mp3 HERE!

Sermon starts at 3:12

Jeremiah 31 v 27-34

27 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will plant the kingdoms of Israel and Judah with the offspring of people and of animals.

28 Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the Lord.

29 “In those days people will no longer say, ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

30 Instead, everyone will die for their own sin; whoever eats sour grapes—their own teeth will be set on edge.

31 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.

32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.

33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

34 No longer will they teach their neighbour, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”


Second Reading: Luke 18 v 1-8

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.

2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought.

3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think,

5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says.

7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?

8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Posted in Nick Mwandia, Trinity | Comments Off on The Persistence of Faith

An Attitude Of Gratitude

Posted on 9th October 2022 by Peter

Sermon from St Andrews Church, Slip End, UK. Sermon given our reader Julie Taylor on the 17th Sunday after Trinity on the 9/10/22.

Download Mp3 HERE!

Sermon starts at 1:29

Luke 17 v 11-19

11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 

12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 

13 and called out in a loud voice, ‘Jesus, Master, have pity on us!’

14 When he saw them, he said, ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were cleansed.

15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 

16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him – and he was a Samaritan.

17 Jesus asked, ‘Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 

18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?’ 

19 Then he said to him, ‘Rise and go; your faith has made you well.’
Posted in Uncategorised | Comments Off on An Attitude Of Gratitude

The Duty Of Faith

Posted on 2nd October 2022 by Peter

Sermon from St Andrews Church, Slip End, UK. Sermon given our priest in charge Rev’ Nick Mwandia on the 16th Sunday after Trinity on the 2/10/22.

Download Mp3 HERE!

Sermon starts at 1:36

Luke 17 v 5-10

5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

6 He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.

7 “Suppose one of you has a servant ploughing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’?

8 Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’?

9 Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?

10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”
Posted in Nick Mwandia, Trinity | Comments Off on The Duty Of Faith

Harvest Praise

Posted on 25th September 2022 by Peter

Sermon from St Andrews Church, Slip End, UK. Sermon given our reader Julie Taylor at Harvest Festival on the 25/9/22.

Download Mp3 HERE!

Sermon starts at 2:03

Luke 16 v 19-31

The rich man and Lazarus

19 ‘There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 

20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 

21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 ‘The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 

23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 

24 So he called to him, “Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.”

25 ‘But Abraham replied, “Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 

26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.”

27 ‘He answered, “Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 

28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.”

29 ‘Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.”

30 ‘“No, father Abraham,” he said, “but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.”

31 ‘He said to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”’

Posted in Harvest, Julie Taylor | Comments Off on Harvest Praise