Sermons from Methodist Central Hall, Westminster

‘God has made it clear that giving is costly. For God so loved the world that he GAVE his one and only Son. When we are willing to give everything we have to Jesus, it will overflow in the service of others – especially the poor.’

This year all of us are aware that we celebrate motherhood at a moment of history in which people are Mothering in a broken world.

Jesus is still calling us to consider his radical kingdom. Calling you, me, his Church, the world! Unless we respond, we only have ourselves to blame.

Dr Joanna Williamson of One Rock International and a Local Preacher at Methodist Central Hall Westminster chats with Dan Forshaw about the situation in Eastern Europe and what churches on the Polish / Ukrainian border are doing and how we in the UK and further afield can help.

'The challenge to live in the real world, to acknowledge the existence of foxes – sly and destructive people and forces – and to pray for wisdom to recognise evil in its many forms.'

Deacon Ali McMillan, ‘Who are you?’ Luke 4:1- 13 by Methodist Central Hall, Westminster

Friends, whatever we put into the hands of Jesus. Whatever we bring to Jesus, no matter how broken, He takes it, and when he gives it back, is never the same. An example of this is the transformation he has made in our lives. Once we were lost in sin, now we are found.

‘What’s Agape got to do with it? Well, EVERYTHING! It’s at the heart of the Covenant prayer as Methodists that we pray each year... I hope we can seek to be perfected in love as a Church and as individual disciples’

When we feel we are inadequate for God's call, that is a good sign, because depending on God will become our only option.

The crowd sought to cancel Jesus. Eventually, they thought they’d cancelled him forever when they hung him upon the Cross, but he gloriously rose again and walked away. But Jesus is in the ‘forgiving business’, and has the habit off seeking the lost and only walking away, when necessary - always with a forgiving and patient heart.

As disciples and servants of God, perhaps Jesus is asking us to fill the empty jars in our lives right up to the brim with love…. fill it with his word, fill it with the Holy Spirit…a symbol of water.……fill it with the right attitude towards one another……and set the stage for a miracle.

‘We don’t have the same experience as Jesus…but those words of God are for us too. Hear them today, you are God’s child, loved and with you God is well pleased. You are called by name, God is with you, you are precious in God’s sight.’

The Covenant Service at the beginning of a new year, is set in the context of Holy Communion. Remember God’s grace and forgiveness in Christ, Remember he will sustain you for the journey ahead. Remember his faithfulness to you, which can inspire our faithfulness in return.

A live broadcast recording of our Jazz Carols service from Sunday, 19th December 2021. The service was led by Dan Forshaw and the Jazz Vespers group with the London Jazz Choir led by Rachel Maby. The readings were from the MCHW team and the preacher was Revd Dr Jongikaya Zihle, Chair of the London District.

'We don’t just magnify the Lord through our worship in Church, but through coming alongside those who need us most! The compassionate rolling up our sleeves is also a sacrifice of praise!'

Deacon Ali McMillan - ‘Prepare the way’ by Methodist Central Hall, Westminster

'If we read the New Testament seriously, we can’t avoid the message that God will have the final word in human history.'

May we not think of those who have died as ‘lost’. Lost to us, maybe. But may we recall Jesus’s words, ‘No one has greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.’ Such sacrifice, I believe, is not lost to God

Our gospel reading today is an encouragement to give all that we have for God, what that looks like will be different for each person. It will though, for each and every one of us, require active decision making. We need to take time to think about how we are using what we have and who we are; to pray about it and not just to operate on automatic-pilot, most of all to trust God.

Today COP26 starts...a time when world leaders will be meeting to make commitments that might save the planet from its erratic weather patterns. To love God, His creation and our neighbours is to get involved, make your voice heard and pray for COP26.

This passage gives us a certain perspective on our link to possessions. Calls us to be ready to leap at the opportunity to respond to God’s call. Invites us to abandon whatever holds us back from following in the way. Challenges us to seek to ‘see’ God’s mercy and grace

Over generations when we have thought a situation impossible God has shown us – impossible is nothing

Let us love one another in such a way that there’s ‘no night out’, for those who are dreading the prospect of rough sleeping.

True riches come from the acts of faith that recognise the truth about the Lord’s identity—that He has given us all good things, both earthly and eternal, physical and spiritual. Those acts of faith include the offerings that we present to help meet other’s needs, as well as those monetary gifts that we bring. This Harvest Festival I pray that we will remember and recognise the Lord’s provision to...

Revd Gordon Newton; 'Slow Learners?’ James 3:13a - 4:3 and 4:7-8a Mark 9:30-37 by Methodist Central Hall, Westminster