Tag: faith

sermons by ian banks

You gotta have faith(fulness)

My Mum’s family were very keen on taking and keeping photos. Her Dad wasn’t the greatest photographer though and most of them have the top of the heads chopped off, or half a person to one side, or a finger part-way over the lens. However, these photos were precious and kept in a box rather than thrown away.

And I have a family album kept by my mum’s great-grandparents. They are studio photos, some of which must have been taken not long after photography became commercially available in the mid to late 19th Century…

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sermon keith trivasse

Hebrews to Dominic

Faith, says Hebrews, ‘gives substance to our hopes and makes us certain of realities we do not see’.

We have not seen Jesus, unless we have had a vision. We have not seen Jesus but at some level, in some way we believe in him and trust in him and see him as our friend and saviour.

And we cannot see God the Father, yet we can envisage God as our Creator and the one who breathes life into us.

We cannot see the Spirit. All we can do is to believe in the power of the Spirit, have faith in that power, and live.

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nigel silvester sermon

The faith challenge

Picking up on recent media sound bites, faith seems to getting a much more negative vibe – “We’ve lost faith in the justice system”; “The country has no faith in politicians”.

Closer to home, in relation to Bury FC, “the fans have lost faith in the current owner”. Interestingly though the latest chairman statement calls us fans to hang on in there and have faith!

Our Christian faith is becoming more and more marginalised. Having faith – Christian or otherwise – is becoming a challenge – but wasn’t it ever so?!

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sermon gill barnett

Our journey

On preparing for holidays, bags are packed and we’re ready to be off. 

It’s an illustration I often use at a Baptism service. 

Once your bags are packed and loaded into the car you don’t then just sit on the drive for a week and come back raving about what a lovely time you’ve had of it.  That would be pointless.  You’ve made preparations: you make the journey. 

And that’s what we’re here celebrating today – our journey.  Whether we’ve only just begun it or we’re years into it, we’re on the same journey heading for the same destination which is heaven, where our place is assured by the sacrifice of Jesus.

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