'What say you of Jesus?' - Transcript of Sermon 23rd August 2026

 Transcript of Sermon St Oswald's 23rd August 2026

Matthew 16: 13-20

I Keep Honest Serving Men by Rudyard Kipling

I keep six honest serving-men

(They taught me all I knew);

Their names are What and Why and When

And How and Where and Who.

I send them over land and sea,

I send them east and west;

But after they have worked for me,

I give them all a rest.

 

I let them rest from nine till five,

For I am busy then,

As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,

For they are hungry men.

But different folk have different views;

I know a person small-

She keeps ten million serving-men,

Who get no rest at all!

 

She sends' em abroad on her own affairs,

From the second she opens her eyes-

One million How’s, two million Where’s,

And seven million Whys!

Questions, questions, questions – the world is full of questions.

Each and every day we are asking questions and making decisions.

Some of those questions will be mundane, like, what I am going to have for breakfast. However, that question may be mundane to us, but for many families, even in Britain, that is not a mundane question.

So, we live with questions some of which will have little or no impact, and others that will set our lives off on a completely different direction. 

That’s as true for individuals as it is for communities and for nations and the decisions made by governments.

However, I want to suggest this morning that there is one question that outranks all other questions.

I think there is one question that is the most important question of all time, place and history.

The question is the one that Jesus put to the disciples and that Peter answered.

‘Who do you say that the Son of Man is?’

And people have answered that question variously over the years.

C.S. Lewis famously presented what has come to be known as the trilemma. Although the concept was written first in 1846 it is Lewes who has brought this to popularity.

It is a bit of long quote so bear with me and try and follow the logic of the argument. Quote…

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon, or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. ...

Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God." End quote.

Now we must tread a little carefully here and in particular when we are reflecting on Peter’s confession.

We must be careful we don’t rush ahead at this stage in the Gospel narrative and assume an acknowledgement of a full-blown concept of Jesus as the second person of the Trinity, being both God and man. All that is to come, but in the Gospel story so far we aren’t there yet.

Indeed, I was listening to a podcast the other day where Lewes’ work was being discussed and this trilemma came under scrutiny. One of the scholars said that Jesus did not out and out claim to be God as Lewes here says that he did.

(https://open.spotify.com/episode/1t3zptkGN3EF2qvh60at2J?si=a7d9d4e38ba74cc9)

Therefore, the question as we have it presented in our Gospel reading (which is in all three synoptic Gospels) is a good way of approaching what I am suggesting is the most important question which presents as two-fold.

The first part of the question from Jesus to the disciples is, ‘who do people say that the Son of Man is.’

 It’s intriguing to note that Matthew has Jesus speaking in the third person, Son of Man, and that Luke and Mark use the first person, I am. We know that Mathew writes obliquely, e.g. Kingdom of Heaven instead of the Kingdom of God. However, it does slightly change the tenor of the question, something perhaps to mull over later.

Be that as it may, we still have the first part of the question, “who do people say that Jesus is?”

Now that is a huge question in and of itself.

If you went and asked somebody from the Church of the Latter-Day Saints you would get one answer, and from the Jehovah’s Witness another answer. From a Muslim something else and from a Jew something different again.

From most orthodox Christians, (small o) the answer would reflect two thousand years study, debate, including textual scholarship and archaeological evidence, and not unimportantly, the lived experience of many millions of people.  But our primary source must remain the Scriptures.

The standard orthodox Christian view would claim that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, both human and divine.

The first part of the question therefore invites us to spend some time considering what others say about Jesus.

Having done that we are then ready for the next and most important question, ‘who do you say that Jesus is?’

Not what Lewes says, or Tom Wright, or Gordon Banks, or the person next to you or the Pope or the Archbishop, but you, in your heart of hearts, who do say that Jesus is?

This is a deep question asked deep into your heart, deep into your soul, deep into your very being.

We know how Peter answered the question – but this isn’t the sort of question that has a right and a wrong answer.

Now we can of course concur with Peter, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”

And I sincerely hope that you do agree with Peter’s confession of faith in Jesus.

Romans 10.9 “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

But - saved from what and saved for what?

For if we do believe and confess faith in Messiah Jesus then we have another question to answer.

In the light of this confession of faith how should I now live.

In the light of this confession of faith that we share with this community of Jesus’ apprentices, here at St Oswald’s, how should we then live in the world, in our community?

Alan Redpath in his book about King David, ‘The Making of a Man of God’ wrote, “the conversion of a soul is the miracle of the moment, the manufacture of a saint is the task of a lifetime.

If we had also read the Epistle set for this day we would have heard Romans 12. 1-8 that opens by saying…

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

In answering the question of ‘how should we now live’ at both an individual level and at a corporate level, as a community is going to take some work.

One place we could begin is to explore the term Messiah and what was and is meant by that term. What were some of the expectations.  Messiah – simply put, means an anointed King, like David, who would bring restoration and peace.

That pushes us back to the Scroll of Isaiah, especially chapter 42. From there to further exploration of the Scriptures as we seek to discern and discover God’s will for the whole of creation.  

Jesus wasn’t simply an interruption in the purposes of God for the world, a plan B, but integral to it, as beautifully portrayed by John in his opening prologue to his Gospel.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

And it is this confession of Peter that Jesus says is what the Church will be built on as upon a rock, a solid foundation.

Tom Wright says of this confession,

‘Jesus isn’t going to build an actual city, or an actual Temple. He is going to build a community, consisting of all who give allegiance to him as God’s anointed King. And this movement, this community starts right there and then at Caesarea Philippi.    

And we here at St Oswald, August 2026, are part of that same community, making the same confession and carrying the same hope. And like Peter, occasionally making mistakes even after this Confession. But as we study and reflect on Scripture, as we look to God and engage in prayer and meditation, we respond to God’s call to be co-workers with God pushing back the forces of darkness and making way for the King of Kings and Lord of Lord’s, God’s anointed King, Messiah Jesus.

David in his sermon last Sunday talked about external action not matched with an inner reality.

“’These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

This is reflected in the beautiful Choristers Prayer…

“Bless O Lord us your servants that minister in your temple, grant that what we sing with our lips may we believe in our hearts and what we believe in our hearts may we show forth in our lives. Amen”

If Jesus is the Messiah then what we have breakfast matters because every aspect of our lives matters to God. As St Augustine said, ‘If Jesus is not Lord of all, he is not Lord at all.’

But we need to learn that alongside the question about what we might have for breakfast, a much more important question asks why our neighbours aren’t able to have breakfast! 

Matthew 7.21 ‘“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

 

                            Who is Jesus to you?

https://youtu.be/UjER7McRbzc?si=JnrBW0XfDCwbt2YR

To view the sermon in context follow this link.

https://www.youtube.com/live/7KdR7g549Mw?si=YewOdTLkZYx1hbjC

'Becoming really Real!' - Weekly Reflection 16th August 2026

 On our recent holiday we took charge of our grandchildren James and William for the day which included putting them to bed. This gave their mum and dad an opportunity to have some time together. At bedtime I read an adapted version of ‘The Velveteen Rabbit.’ 

This is one of my favourite stories that I first came across while working and living in London in the 1980’s. We started up a ‘Story Time’ evening when a small group of adults would gather, between six to a dozen on a regular basis, and someone would read a story. Usually, the story could be read in one sitting or at most three or four sittings. ‘Charlotte’s Web’, a number of Oscar Widle’s stories, ‘Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, and one of our favourites, ‘Winnie the Pooh’ which was always accompanied by a ‘Pooh Party’ and always with a ‘little something to eat.’

('Story Time' is not the same as a book club.)

I remember spending over a week at Prinknash Abbey in Gloucester and following the Benedictine custom one of the monks would read a story aloud while everyone ate in silence. 

Communal reading was a common practice up until the 18^th century with reading material being relatively rare, the level of literacy and the communal aspects of living.   

And we see this in the story of the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts, 8:28-30

^‘…and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet.  The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.

It is also worth remembering that the Gospel’s and the Epistles would have been read aloud, discussed and debated before being passed on to another community of Jesus’ disciples.

It would be interesting to consider if ‘Story Time’ might work in a prison setting.

However, to come back to the wonderful story of The Velveteen Rabbit (or How Toys Become Real). This is a British children's book written by Margery Williams  and illustrated by William Nicholson. It chronicles the story of a stuffed rabbit's desire to become real through the love of his owner. The story was first published in Harper's Bazaar in 1921 featuring illustrations from Williams' daughter Pamela Bianco. It was published as a book in 1922 and has been republished many times since.

The Velveteen rabbit is given as a Christmas present to a small boy. The wisest and oldest toy in the nursery is the Skin Horse, which was owned by the boy's uncle, and who tells the rabbit about toys being made real by the love of children: "Real isn't how you are made... It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time - not just to play with, but REALLY loves you - then you become Real”. The rabbit is awed by this idea but feels his chances of achieving this wish are slight due to the boy forgetting about him in favour of playing with his newer, more modern and mechanical toys.

One night, the boy's nanny gives the rabbit to the boy to sleep with in place of a lost toy. The rabbit becomes the boy's favourite toy and the boy eventually begins to regard the rabbit as real. Time passes and the rabbit becomes older and shabbier but remains happy. He meets some real rabbits in the summer, who tell him that he is not a real rabbit upon learning that he cannot hop as they do.

One day, the boy comes down with scarlet fever and the rabbit sits with him as he recovers. The doctor orders that the boy should be taken to the seaside and that his room should be disinfected and all his books and toys burnt, including the velveteen rabbit, to prevent further spread of the disease. The rabbit is bundled into a sack and left out in the garden overnight, where he reflects sadly on his life with his boy. As the rabbit cries, a real tear drops onto the ground, and a flower appears. A fairy steps out of the flower and comforts the velveteen rabbit, introducing herself as the Nursery Magic Fairy who takes discarded children's toys and turns them real. She explains that because the rabbit has become real to the boy, who truly loves him, she will take him away with her and "turn him Real" to everyone.

The fairy takes the velveteen rabbit to the forest and kisses him, whereupon he becomes a real rabbit and joins the other rabbits in the forest. The next spring, the rabbit returns to look at the boy, and the boy muses that the rabbit in his garden looks just like his lost rabbit toy.

"Real isn't how you are made... It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time - not just to play with, but REALLY loves you - then you become Real”.

Jesus saw people and had compassion on them. (Cf Matthew 14.14)

The English noun compassion, meaning "to suffer together with."

And Jesus loved people them and made them really Real!

Sex workers, the lame the blind, the outcasts, the least the last and the lost, Jesus made them really Real by loving unconditionally. Although he did warn people from returning to a path of wrongdoing, such as the woman caught in adultery to whom he said, ‘go and sin no more.’  

And Jesus still looks out with love and desire for people to become really Real, and he invites you and he invites me to be the ones who like the little boy demonstrates that love.

There are a lot of false and harmful narratives out in society that promise a way of becoming ‘real’ and to live the best life.

But Rabbi Jesus says, ^“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.”  John 10.10

Jesus is the way for people to become really Real. We are his ambassadors and bring that message practically demonstrated in our love and compassion.  For all those whom we will encounter in the week ahead we will have an opportunity in helping them become really Real. 

 

          https://youtu.be/yS0jfvEKSgI?si=e9KeWF7i5vQC-CO_

 

 

'Creating Holy Habits' - Weekly Reflection 2nd August 2026

 

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Very familiar words from the opening verses of the Bible. Here we have the waters of chaos which is a rich theme that runs throughout all of Scripture until we get into Revelation and there we find in the New Creation that the sea is no more.  

“Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.”  Revelation 21:1

The chaos waters have been defeated, and order is finally and fully restored and flourishing ensues.

One of things that I found helpful upon retiring was to establish some patterns, some routines, some anchor points.

This is explored in some depth in a book ‘God in My Everything: How an Ancient Rhythm Helps Busy People Enjoy God’ by by Ken Shigematsu.

Shigematsu argues for a structured life built around a framework that includes every aspect of our lives, 24/7.  

However, once we have built our framework we are then not restricted to it, it is a ‘framework’ – i.e. how we ordinarily order our lives with certain patterns and procedures.  Much as in the hymn, ‘Dear Father of Mankind’ - Drop thy still dews of quietness, till all our strivings cease; take from our souls the strain and stress, and let our ordered lives confess the beauty of thy peace.

But we will at times have to step away or adjust this ordered pattern. That happened for me this week. My weekly pattern was ‘disrupted’ by looking after our grandchildren on Wednesday and Thursday to enable their mum to get ready to go on holiday. Then on Friday we had our youngest son and his girlfriend staying over as we all went to the reenactment of ‘The Battle of Evesham’ on Saturday.  On Tuesday we are also going off on holiday, joining our grandchildren, and mum and dad.

Prisons can often help bring order into chaotic lives. However, there is a real challenge for prison leavers. Much as it is for those coming out of the military.  When your life has been regulated and ordered largely by others or a regime or structure, how do we follow our own discipline of order. 

And it is interesting that some prisoners find Islam helpful because of its structure and the call to regular times of prayers, feasts and fasts. It is ordered and structured.

This can present a challenge to embracing the Christian faith because we operate out of pure grace. There are no demands, no structures, nothing as such that we must do or can do to make God love us anymore.

For me this is one of the unique aspects of the Christian faith that I really like. Because no matter who we are, where we live, no matter whether we are rich or poor, whether we find praying easy or hard, God loves us and we can have a relationship with God. God can bring order out of the chaos of our lives and bring flourishing.

I see this in Jesus’ message. The Pharisee’s where one group in particular who said that to follow God  you must follow these strictures and keep these laws and act in this way or that. However, if you were a poor peasant farmer of fisherman you might not have the wherewithal to do that. And if you are unable to do these things, does that then exclude you from having a relationship with God and being loved by God.  

“They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.” Matthew 23.4

Jesus says in a thousand ways, no, no, no!

Matthew 11:28-30  “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (The Message)

With the grandchildren over and then our son and girlfriend visiting my ‘regular framework’ was disrupted. And yes, that includes times for prayer and Bible study have been missed! And yes, while away on holiday they will be missed, albeit not altogether I might add.

However, because I have established a framework, a pattern, a ‘discipline,’ I can quickly pick that up again.

Therefore, although there are no ‘you must’ in the Christian faith there are disciplines that have been developed over the years to help us live ordered lives, to give structures not strictures, that help us grow and develop to become more like Jesus.

A common monastic tradition would have eight times of prayers and reading the Psalms every day. However, that is okay for monks but not for those living a busy life. And therefore, we can take the principle and modify them accordingly to fit into our own lives. One idea I picked up from a quick search online is the idea of asking what is one of your regular habits. For example, brushing your teeth every morning. Well, use this a trigger to offer up a prayer for the day ahead. You might even say a simple prayer that God would use your mouth in a good way, ‘Lord help not to say stupid or hurtful things today, may everything I say be graceful, helpful and supportive.’  Then clean your teeth as a way of brushing away all the bad things that you have said before and preparing for a fresh start. Link habits into opportunties for prayer. 

If we are engaged with those who have chaotic lives and need some structure and patterns we can make suggestions and help them create a framework, a trellis on which they can build their lives.  

While on holiday there will be some days and nights when we will look after the grandchildren. This will enable our daughter and son-in-law to have some time together.

They don’t need to do this to declare their love for each other, but it does enhance that love and helps enliven and deepen their relationship.

We don’t need to spend time in prayer and studying Scriptures, because God loves us – period.  However, because of that love and grace freely given we have a desire to move towards that love. (See 1 John 4:19) And creating holy habits of regular prayer, worship, fellowship and studying the Scriptures all help us to move in that direction. So that our ordered lives do confess the beauty of God peace.  

 

                https://youtu.be/7brCJdqEcVM?si=WCJZDtjCV8mWeTGR