A note of hope

Having written earlier this week about pastoral schizophrenia, I ended the week preparing a sermon on the irrepressible hope of the Gospel on either side of my visit to the crematorium to conduct a funeral. The thing is, we either believe these things in the face of death, or we never believe them at all, surely?

Today’s sermon is on Revelation 21 v. 5, and I have chosen to read it from the King James Version, rather than a more modern equivalent. The reason for my choice is that in the King James it sounds like more of a fanfare than the rather anodyne words in its successors. The words “behold, I make all things new” ring out across the centuries, summoning the people of God from the shadows.

This morning I shall enlist the help of a trumpeter to make my point- starting the sermon with a fanfare, and ending with the distant sound of the trumpet. Sadly I have no video of my particular trumpeter, but I leave you with the sounds of Wynton Marsalis to make the point, as he plays the theme tune to…’Good Morning Sunday’ on CBS

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_ZuxYxxT60&w=400&h=300]