Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 1 January 2023. ‘This was the loving kindness of God in action. God taking personal responsibility for the whole of the human condition when none other could do so.’
Archives for 2022
Sunday worship for 25 December 2022, Christmas Day
‘God our Father, whose Word has come among us in the Holy Child of Bethlehem, may the light of faith illumine our hearts and shine in our words and deeds.’ We open our Liturgy of the Word with hymn 42, While shepherds watched …
Christmas Day: Only the beginning
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 25 December 2022. ‘A new song for a new time. Glory to God – to be worshipped and adored like none other in human history.’
Sunday worship for 18 December 2022, Advent 4
We open our Liturgy of the Word with hymn 11, O Come, O come Emmanuel …
Advent 4: The source of who we are and where we are going
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 18 December 2022. ‘Today faith seems to be a form of cultural bonding. It has its practices and conventions, its festivals and fasts. But the Christian hope is about trusting God above all others and in Jesus following His teaching and example.’
News from the Diocesan Office: December 2022
The latest edition of an information bulletin from the Diocese of Glasgow & Galloway
Advent 3: A new and greater dimension
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 11 December 2022. ‘As we gather in worship we are doing far more than having a social bonding session. We are also being taken up with the things of God.’
Sunday worship for 11 December 2022, Advent 3
‘God of power and mercy, you call us once again to celebrate the coming of your Son. Remove those things which hinder love of you, that when he comes he may find us waiting in awe and wonder for him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.’ Our accompanying music videos this week take us from Accra to Omsk, but we open this Liturgy of the Word with hymn 7, Hills of the north, rejoice …
Advent 2: Encrusted with its own importance
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 4 December 2022. ‘It is still our task to keep that electricity of the gospel in being and to ask for the renewing work of the Holy Spirit among us.’
Sunday worship for 4 December 2022, Advent 2
We open this Liturgy of the Word with hymn 12, On Jordan’s banks …
Sunday worship for 27 November 2022, Advent Sunday
‘Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and put on the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility, that on the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal.’ We open this Liturgy of the Word with hymn 9, Lo He comes with clouds descending …
Advent Sunday: The task is not to lose heart
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 27 November 2022. ‘The world still aches to see God and in the church it should be able to see Jesus. We have to make sure that it does.’
Commentary: Apocalyptic
One of the most misunderstood words around today must be ‘Apocalyptic’, writes Rev Sydney Maitland. It has been fashionable for some years now. The film about the war in Vietnam, ‘Apocalypse Now’ dealt with a dysfunctional mission to deal with a rogue officer. There is a full genre of fiction dealing with a ‘post-apocalyptic’ world…
Sunday worship for 20 November 2022, Christ the King
‘Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, our Lord and King: grant that the peoples of the earth, now divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his gentle and loving rule.’ We open our Liturgy of the Word with hymn 394, Let all the world in every corner sing …
Christ the King: This is the kind of King that we serve…
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 20 November 2022. ‘Jesus’ kingship is present among His disciples in every age and situation as they spread the word of His life and death and resurrection.’
Sunday worship for 13 November 2022, Remembrance
‘Almighty God, you sent your Son Jesus Christ to be the light of the world. Free us from all that darkens and ensnares us, and bring us to eternal light and joy’. We open our online Liturgy of the Word with hymn 417, O God our help in ages past …
Remembrance: Apocalypse now?
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 13 November 2022. ‘This is the time to renew our lives of prayer, and to look again at the things of our faith. It is time to pray for those who already serve in our forces and civilian first responders, and for those who will serve or be called to other service for the nation. That may include some of you here today.’
Sunday worship for 6 November 2022, All Saints
‘Almighty God, whose people are knit together in one holy Church, the mystical Body of your Son: grant us grace to follow your blessed saints in lives of faith and commitment, and to know the inexpressible joys you have prepared for those who love you.’ We open our online Liturgy of the Word with hymn 197, For all the saints, who from their labours rest …
All Saints: Chosen and blessed in the sight of God
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 6 November 2022. ‘The most emphatic of Jesus’ blessings is for those who endure insult and exclusion from the scoffers and deniers of the land. But Paul has more to say in support of those who determine to believe and trust in Jesus…’
Commentary: Jesus the Tektōn
‘The interesting thing was that Jesus was known as the carpenter’s son. But he may have been more than that: a general builder, skilled in stonework as well as woodwork. A ‘Tektōn’: multi-skilled and probably multi-tasking.’
Sunday worship for 30 October 2022, 4th before Advent
‘Almighty God, whose chosen servant Abraham obeyed your call, rejoicing in your promise that in him the family of the earth is blessed, give us faith like his, that in us your promises may be fulfilled’. We open this Liturgy of the Word with hymn 486, We have a gospel to proclaim …
4th before Advent: It all seems so unfair
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 30 October 2022.
Sunday worship for 23 October 2022, Trinity 19
Lord God our redeemer, who heard the cry of your people and sent your servant Moses to lead them out of slavery, free us from the tyranny of sin and death, and by the leading of your Spirit bring us to our promised land. We open this Liturgy of the Word with hymn 473, When morning gilds the sky …
Trinity 19: Whatever disappointments life has thrown at us, God has seen
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 23 October 2022. ‘The mercy and rewards of God are unearned because they are unearnable. They can only be received in love and joy, which is given in exuberant and extravagant mercy.’
Trinity 18: A different kind of reality
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 16 October 2022.
Sunday worship for 9 October 2022, Trinity 17
Almighty God, in our baptism you adopted us for your own. Quicken, we pray, your Spirit within us, that we, being renewed both in body and mind, may worship you in sincerity and truth. We open this Liturgy of the Word with hymn 433, O worship the king …
Trinity 17: Jesus met them and they were healed
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 9 October 2022. ‘The question for us is why do some suffer and others not? Why do some find their pleas answered and others meet delay or just silence?’
Sunday worship for 2 October 2022, Harvest
Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered by your Holy Spirit into one, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the glory of your name. We open our Liturgy of the Word with hymn 262, We plough the fields, and scatter …
Trinity 16 – Harvest: There is still much to be grateful for
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 2 October 2022. ‘To receive Jesus’ agenda in faith is to open doors to a wholly new kind of life. He promises not only a new relationship with God but a new relationship with ourselves and with each other.’
Episcopal Synod decides appeal
The bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church have rejected – on a split vote – an appeal by the Rt Rev Anne Dyer against her suspension as Bishop of Aberdeen & Orkney following the lodging of formal complaints of misconduct.
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