Each Sunday five separate sermons are delivered at Westminster Abbey or St Margaret's. The Abbey's clergy and guest preachers address current theological issues, religion and world events, and the interpretation of biblical texts.
2012
-
6 January 2012 Sermon given at Sung Eucharist on the Epiphany of Our Lord 2012
The Very Reverend Dr John Hall, Dean of Westminster
‘May all kings fall down before him, all nations give him service.’
-
8 January 2012 Sermon given at Matins on the Baptism of Christ 2012
The Reverend Professor Vernon White, Canon in Residence
Some Gospel stories appear to portray a Jesus with human limitations, who needed to grow, change, and learn like any human being. This might seem to compromise his divinity and perfection. But properly understood this is actually the way that real human perfection is made, and it is how his effectiveness as a divine saviour is also displayed. The baptism of Christ was a sign of this, especially when interpreted through such stories as his encounter with the Gentile woman.
-
15 January 2012 Sermon given at Matins on Sunday 15th January 2012
The Reverend Professor Vernon White, Canon in Residence
Conversion involves seeing more - and then being willing to be transformed by what we see, and whom we meet. This second sermon on the theme of change, conversion, and new life, describes something of the anatomy of personal conversion, using the story of Nicodemus as paradigmatic.
-
22 January 2012 Sermon given at Matins on Sunday 22nd January 2012
The Reverend Professor Vernon White, Canon in Residence
There is a major reorientation involved in conversion, which affects social attitudes as well as spiritual change. There is also some cost involved, a 'little death' on the way to new life. This third sermon on the theme of change, conversion, and new life, draws on St Paul's conversion as the paradigm.
-
29 January 2012 Sermon given at Matins on Sunday 29th January 2012
The Reverend Professor Vernon White, Canon in Residence
Religion is a matrix for nourishing healthy spiritual life. But not all aspects of religion help, and some hinder. Prompted both by the people and the underlying events of the presentation of Christ in the Temple, this last in a series of sermons on conversion considers how religion itself may need changing if it is to change us in the right way.
-
2 February 2012 Sermon given at Sung Eucharist for Candlemas 2012
The Reverend Andrew Tremlett, Canon in Residence
In this Sermon for Candlemas, the Christian aspiration to ‘a good death’, dying prepared is considered in the light of Simeon’s response: 'Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace'.
-
5 February 2012 Sermon given at Matins on Sunday 5th February 2012
The Reverend Andrew Tremlett, Canon in Residence
In this first sermon in the February Series, ‘Saints and their Churches’, I trace the Abbey’s link with Rome through the work of the Cosmati family whose richly decorated pavements also adorn the Church of San Clemente in Rome. Hidden beneath the floor, however, is an even more intriguing story of the transmission of faith, which prompts questions about the future of European Christianity.
-
7 February 2012 Address given at a wreathlaying ceremony to commemorate the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens
Right Honourable Dr Rowan Williams,, Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All England and Metropolitan