Service Date: 16 May, 2010

Alison Vance gave our theme introduction on the theme: Learning from Many Faiths; the reading was from Luke 6:27-31.

Service Date: 2 May, 2010

Acts 11:1-18
I wonder what sort of food you like eating. When I was a child, I used to be a very picky eater. The only reason I ever got in trouble at junior school was when I refused to eat school lunch - it tasted so bad! And the first time I went to stay with my German pen-friend Ute in Bavaria, I was so worried about eating the foreign food that I lived on oranges and milk for several weeks!
But I suspect I'm not the only one to be picky. Let's face it, people in different cultures eat such strange food sometimes. Imagine taking the stomach of a sheep, frying up bits of the sheep's heart, liver and lungs with oatmeal, onion and spices, and stuffing the stomach with it, then boiling the whole thing for several hours before eating it with mashed-up turnips and potatoes. Oh, I forgot - many in this congregation don't need to imagine a thing like that. We eat it every Burns night, after we've said a poem in its honour, and we call it haggis.

Service Date: 25 April, 2010

Acts 9:36-43
When I hear this story, do you know who I think of? Lillian Binney. Lillian died a few years ago, but she was a regular and faithful member of St Andrew's. She sang in the choir - so long as it wasn't in Latin. She insisted on walking everywhere, rather than being given a lift. And a while ago, she used to run a group of women doing handicrafts for the sales of work St Andrew's used to hold, part of the Bath Street Mission before ever the dual carriageway cut Broomhall in two.

Service Date: 2 April, 2010

You can find this service attached as a file. The images we used for meditation can be found at the website of Victoria Hall Methodist Church, Sheffield, painted by a local artist who is a member of that congregation - take a look at http://www.victoriahallmethodistchurch.org.uk/

Service Date: 1 April, 2010

You can find the service attached as a file; it included footwashing and Holy Communion.

Service Date: 28 March, 2010

Were we there?
Were you there when they crucified our Lord?
Well of course not. We're none of us that old. We didn't come along till two thousand years later. We rely on the story handed down through the centuries by those who have followed Jesus before us.
Year by year, with the help of a different Gospeller each year, we look at different parts of the tradition handed down to us, and retell the story of what Jesus said and did in the last week of his life. This year we have Luke's story, told for a group of Christians who weren't Jewish, told to reassure the Romans that Christians were nice people.

Service Date: 21 March, 2010

John 12:1-8
Recently I gave up the unequal struggle and found someone willing to keep my house tidy. And now every Friday morning when I come back from the Broomhall Breakfast, I can tell she's been there, because of the piny smell of the cleaning products she uses; it goes all through the house.
This morning we have a new scent in church, too - just before the service,
I sprayed the sanctuary with perfume. Don't worry if it's not your favourite scent - it'll wear off soon. But it helps us to think ourselves into that party we've just heard about when Jesus and Martha and Mary and Lazarus and all Jesus' close friends were eating together. There would be lovely smells of food, like you get at the Breakfast. But there would also be this new smell, this expensive, wonderful scent. Mary was giving Jesus' feet an aromatherapy massage, and drying them with her long hair. The smell of it must have gone right through the house.

Service Date: 14 March, 2010

Luke 15:1-3; 11b-32
This is a very familiar story, a story of a family falling out and coming back together again. You get this sort of story in the soaps all the time, and in real families too; it happens to fathers and to mothers, to brothers and to sisters. I'd like you to think yourselves into this very familiar story, and to ask yourself three questions:
First question: if I imagine myself in this story, where do I find myself?
- Am I the father or mother who has seen their child leave home and get lost?
- Am I the son or daughter who has left the family and got into trouble?
- Am I the brother or sister who has been good all the time?
Second question: do I forgive either of the other two? What for? Or do I refuse to forgive them? Why?
Third question: do I need forgiveness from either of the other two? Why? Do I think I'll get it?

Service Date: 7 March, 2010

Luke 13:1-9
Good morning. I am a fig tree. As you'll see, I'm speaking figuratively, so you're going to have to use your imaginations, but I'm sure you're all well capable of doing that. Ready? Good.
Good morning. I am a fig tree. You may still be having some difficulty imagining this, and if so, I'll tell you why. I don't actually have any figs on me. This is a bit of a problem.
I'm growing on a country estate in Israel. Quite a nice position, plenty of sunshine, a bit rocky but that doesn't bother me too much. I like it here. Every year I can stretch out my roots a bit more and grow a few more leaves and enjoy myself. I'm not doing any harm to anyone, just being beautiful.
But that's not good enough for the landowner. Oh no. He wants me to grow figs. How unreasonable is that? Aren't my leaves enough?

Service Date: 28 February, 2010

Luke 13:31-35
When something bad happens in our lives, one of the things people often wonder is: How can God let this happen? If God cares for us, how come I'm hurting so much?
Every time we pray the Lord's Prayer, we're calling God our Father, and fathers are meant to look after their children. In two weeks time we'll be celebrating Mothering Sunday, and thinking how God's like a good mother as well as a good father to us; one of the reasons we think God's like a mother is when Jesus says to the people of Jerusalem, in the reading we just heard, I'd have loved to cuddle you and keep you safe, the way a hen cuddles her chicks under her wings.
So doesn't God care enough for us to keep us safe? Or if God cares, maybe God's not strong enough to stop bad things happening? Either way, it's a bit scary to think about.