OT Sermons

Have you ever been in a situation where you have done something that has left a bad impression on somebody else, and then later you needed the help of that same person, and you had to go back with your tail between your legs to ask for help, knowing they will remember? I asked our young people before the service if they had any recall of this, and there were quite a few nods around the room, and quite a few hands went up when I asked if anybody had a story along those lines they would like to share. Well, these were stories people preferred to keep quiet. It's embarrassing.

When you apply for a job, as I did years ago before coming here, one of the questions they ask you is to list your hobbies and interests. Here's what I put. I can’t remember if it's on the application form for this job or not: the best quality coffee in the world, hiking and running, the books of John Le Carré, and the films of Laurel and Hardy.

A few months ago we finished the process of moving house. It was a process that took us as a family very many months because of the complexities that can arise. But the process begins as you start looking on the internet for houses that you might like the idea of living in, and when you find one that you like, you phone the estate agent and you arrange to meet with them.

Many people today feel very vulnerable. You don't know if you can trust the past. You don't know if you can trust the future. The past—and maybe many people—have made promises to you in the past and have broken them. Politicians promise that if we elect them, they will fix things, and yet all the problems that we labour under—whether it's housing or inflation or whatever—there's always something. Your employer promises you a promotion or job security, but then they let you down. Your landlord promises you that you can stay where you are, and then they serve notice that you have to leave.

We have all, I suspect, come across bad leadership. Bad leadership in the world, where, for example, corrupt politicians seek to serve their own interests at the expense of the citizens they are supposed to be taking care of. Two countries have had elections in recent weeks. Both sets of elections are very significant for both the country concerned and the wider region. One is Turkey and the other is Nigeria, and one of the midweek life groups that I lead has been particularly praying each week over these matters for Nigeria, and for what flowed out of the recent presidential elections.

Do you ever find yourself listening in to somebody else's conversation? It could happen for a number of different reasons. It could simply be that you or they are being indiscreet. You're just being nosy or rude. You're on a train, and somebody else in the carriage is having a fascinating conversation about what they did on their night out last night, and it's just too interesting not to listen in.

If there is bad news, it is better to know it than to be in the dark. Some of you work in the medical profession, and there are a number of thankless tasks that fall to you as doctors and nurses and healthcare professionals. You don't need me to tell you that, at times, your job is tough. One of the tasks that must be the most difficult is bringing the news to somebody that an illness they thought was mild is actually far more serious than they first thought. But you know that you need to find a way to share that news with them. You can't go, "They're not ready to hear this.

How do you subdue somebody who is extremely strong? That's a question that cuts in two directions. So, on the one hand, we have arrayed against us some really mighty forces — things like suffering and death, sickness, the atrocities of war, and our own sin and selfishness that is the cause of all those things. How would we subdue those mighty things that would harm and hurt us?

A great deal gets said these days about leadership. It is not hard to find a load of books about how to be a good leader—whether that's a good leader in politics, a good leader in education, a good leader in business. There is a huge publishing industry in what makes a good leader, what kind of people should we appoint to positions of leadership, what characteristics are shown in good leadership, and what is an abuse of leadership.

Well, we've called this series in the book of Judges Hope in Dark Times. We often find ourselves in dark places in life. I mean, the obvious one at the moment is Covid, which has caused all kinds of chaos, anxiety, stress and difficulty—and in some cases, serious illness and even death.