Sermons by Barry Roche

The transfiguration is a strange story but the challenge is to do as God commanded the disciples. This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him! Mark 9:7

The World Economic Forum 2020, held in Davos, was dominated by climate change, although it failed to reach any consensus on what to do about it. Barry looks at what the Bible has to say to us about our rights and responsibilities as global citizens and children of God.

As Jesus was baptised, a voice from heaven said “This is my son with whom I am well pleased”. Is this what God says to each of us as we are baptised? And how can we live up to that unconditional love?

The Magnificat is Mary’s song of praise to God when the angel reveals the extraordinary news that she is to bear God’s son. Our worship too is important, it makes a difference.

Jesus, the shepherd king, showed how a king and leader should love and serve his people.

The parable of the shrewd (or dishonest) manager is one which is hard to understand, but the story ends with the warning “you cannot serve both God and money”. Barry looks at the priorities in our lives and asks “what would Jesus say?”

John Newton wrote the hymn Amazing Grace after he realised the evils of the slave trade he was involved with and, together with William Wilberforce, worked tirelessly to restore justice. And yet today slavery is still present in our world, even in our own country. The challenge of racial justice and intolerance is ever with us and challenges us to act in accordance with God’s principles.

Today is Holocaust Memorial Sunday and also Homeless Sunday. In the midst of a troubled world we need more than ever to rediscover the Word of God for ourselves and live our lives by His standard.

The story of the Syrian woman who asks Jesus to heal her daughter poses difficult questions about who the good news is intended for. Barry unpacks more of this story from Mark’s Gospel.