Saint John the Baptist Church - Chipping Barnet - Sermons

I regard everything as loss, because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Fr Sam Rossiter-Peters invites each of us to ask ourselves the all important question as we approach Holy Week. How do you...

There are a few days in the year which are a joy to very many people but a challenge to some. Christmas especially can be difficult after the loss of a loved one and it can feel very lonely. Valentine's Day for those who yearn for a relationship but haven't found their right person can be likewise. Mothering Sunday also very much falls within this category. For many, Mother's Day, as it's called o...

As a Christian, as well as as a priest, it has been my experience that one of the biggest barriers to people coming to faith, or even exploring relationship with the church, is the fear that they aren't and can't be good enough. People who don't have much familiarity with Christianity often assume that Christians live by some impossibly high moral standard, one that they expect not just of themsel...

There can be something greatly troubling about the reality of the human heart. Human beings are, of course, capable of love, justice, and acts of great self-sacrifice. And yet there seems to remain within us a deep-seated inclination to turn away from the path of life and flourishing that God has set before us. Fr Sam Rossiter-Peters explains how in scripture the Israelites in the wilderness had s...

Will you take the path that Christ has already opened for you? Will you begin by admitting that you do sin? You have made mistakes as Adam and Eve made mistakes. Will you ask Christ to help you resist temptation because he beat temptation in the wilderness? And then will you follow the path that he laid for you? Yes, a difficult path, but one which leads to the joy of complete freedom. Fr Sam Ross...

Do you often hear preaching about loosing the bonds of injustice, undoing the thongs of the yoke, letting the oppressed go free or breaking every yoke? In this episode Fr Sam Rossiter-Peters invites us to ponder on the question for us today is, will our fasting, our prayers, our rituals do anything to us? Will they shape us into people who have stones in their hands, ready to judge? Or will they s...

Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. Where to you, when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets. The Beatitudes, the list in which Jesus declares that those who are poor, hungry, weeping and hated for his sake makes...

For this sermon we celebrate the feast of the presentation of Christ in the temple and in so doing, we close our celebrations of Christmas and Epiphany. Fr Sam Rossiter-Peters reminds us that God is our perfect heavenly Father. He's not a supermarket. May we have this strength and trust to follow the plan that he has laid out for us, to hear the answers that he has for us, even when they're no and...

Have you ever loudly walked into a room only to realise that everyone there was silent and had to back away in embarrassment? Sam Rossiter-Peters explains that when we break God's expectations by acting without love, we distance ourselves from him. That's not because he stops loving us. In fact, it's the opposite. Acting without love is the choice to walk away from God, to put ourselves before Him...

Are you aware of what it feels like to be left out? Fr Sam Rossiter-Peters explains why the feast of the Epiphany is so important because today God chose to bring outsiders in. As we start 2025, if you have ever felt unloved, if you've ever wondered whether you in fact you do matter to God, whether you've ever wondered whether you in fact do matter to God, whether you've ever wondered whether you...

The scriptures are so wonderfully alive. You can read the same passage repeatedly and through the Holy Spirit they speak to you in new ways on your Christian journey. Fr Sam Rossiter-Peters explains that costly grace is the incarnation of God. This event we are invited to ask, are we ready to stand before Jesus when he comes tomorrow? Have we been pursuing cheap or costly grace? If ready means liv...

If you knew that his Majesty the King was coming to a dinner party sometime in the next month, but you didn't know when. How would you prepare? Jesus’s apocalyptic sayings like the ones we heard in our Gospel reading are some of his most difficult sayings to understand, like the first disciples we sometimes wish that he'd made them either easier to understand, like the first disciples, we sometime...

What does Remembrance Sunday feel like for you? Fr Sam Rossiter-Peters invites us as Christians to bring together those difficult realities of remembrance, mourning and hope together. Because we're expert at bringing mourning and hope together, because we do it every time we come to the Eucharist. So, as Christians, this remembrance Sunday, let us do more than just recall. Let us hold intention, l...

What are the things that keep us far from God and what are the remedies? We're in a liminal space, a space between places where we move from slavery to our selfish incarnations to the freedom of love for God ourselves and others. It will only be when we see Jesus face to face that we know fully the reality of the resurrection which he won for us. Fr Sam Rossiter-Peters emphasises the great miracle...

The Magnificat, a song of liberation by Mary, addresses social injustices by highlighting how the rich have exploited and oppressed the poor. Jesus' teachings and actions continued this song of liberation, emphasising radical inclusivity and generosity. Fr Sam Rossiter-Peters emphasises the song's continued relevance today, encouraging listeners to take action to demand better for the marginalised...

Today, we ask ourselves, Who is God to us. Fr Sam focuses on a truth which my Pentecostal charismatic upbringing taught him. Fr Sam speaks about the notion that God's nature is infinite and so we tend to focus on the elements of that nature which makes the most sense to us. our starting point must not be our prejudices and our desires. We must start each day by laying aside who we want God to be a...

Today, we remember St Mary Magdalene, Fr Sam focuses on a truth which my Pentecostal charismatic upbringing taught him. Fr Sam speaks about the fact there is no relationship without emotion. Whilst it might be comfortable for us who prefer a more contemplative Anglican approach to worship to consider our type of worship the norm, Worship of our Gods throughout the ages has in fact tended to be muc...

Do we have the strength to speak truth to power? Speaking truth to power is risky, because it means boldly proclaiming uncomfortable truths to people with power over you. Fr Sam speaks about account of the beheading of Saint John the Baptist and the consequences that he faced prior to his death.

This sermon touches on Saint Mark's account of Jesus healing people, noting the tone of benign indifference in the passage. This tone may be due to the Messianic secret principle in St. Mark's gospel, where Jesus asks healed people to keep quiet about their miracles. Theologians debate why Jesus asked people not to mention the miracles he performed, suggesting it may have been an early example of...

The best public servants are rarely completely popular. Could it be that as human beings we tend to demand a just world, particularly of our public servants, of our leaders, even though we find out that the unjust world unjustly benefits us. In his sermon today, Fr Sam speaks about as how as a people we can choose to serve others and follow the call of Jesus Christ, who is the true servant.

Do you consider yourself a just person? Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. In his sermon today, Fr Sam speaks about how we can leverage our Christian faith to address injustice in our world.