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“Something happened on the road…”: a sermon for the FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY (11 JANUARY 2026)

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  ·         Text : Philippians 3.2-11       Think, for a moment, of your most successful, conventional, respectable, upstanding, “normal” friend.   You know, the predictable, dependable one – the one with a steady job (or perhaps retired after an honourable career), the one who gives you a sense that all is well in the world.   Now, imagine the phone ringing this afternoon, picking up the receiver (if you’ve got a land line) and hearing your friend’s voice say – “I’m in jail. Can you please come and post my bail?”   Several things might go through your mind at that moment – is this a joke? …a prank in poor taste?   Then again, that kind of chicanery would be completely out of character for my serious, respectable friend.   What could they possibly have done? …has there been a mistake?   Should I just hang up, forget my friend’s existence, and carry on with my quiet, pleasantly boring life?  ...
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“Letter from an Ephesian Jail”: a sermon for the SECOND SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS (04 JANUARY 2026)

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Listen to the sermon here: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/cedarparkunited/episodes/Letter-from-an-Ephesian-Jail--Sam-Farrugia--January-4--2026-e3dfih6/a-acdi12g       Other people’s mail.   I don’t know about you, but I really enjoy reading other people’s mail.   Just to be clear, I mean to say that I enjoy reading letters that some people (or, more often, their literary executors ) have chosen to publish for public consumption.   Whether it be the correspondence of Henri Nouwen, J.R.R. Tolkien or Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I always find it enriching to read these personal dispatches, which were most probably not composed with their eventual publication in mind.   All this to say that a good part of the New Testament is made up of just this type of communication.   Paul’s letter to Philippi is a brief, personal piece of writing, composed in a buoyant and affectionate spirit and addressed to people whom Paul knew well and whom he obviously...
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“Remember who you are”: a sermon for the THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT (14 DECEMBER 2025)

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     If you’ve been a Christian your whole life (like me), things can get confusing sometimes.   There are times when we forget why we ever decided to follow Jesus, or we experience disappointments, or we just get bored and wonder what the point of it all is.   It’s easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of activities, and to wonder if there’s more… what is Christianity all about anyway?   Maybe there was a time when we were excited about living for Jesus and serving in his kingdom, but somewhere along the way, we got lost, we got hurt and now we ask ourselves if perhaps we were mistaken, or – even worse – perhaps Jesus made a mistake in choosing us as one of his disciples.   What do we do if we find ourselves in such a place?   It is in moments like these that we need to be reminded who we are .   Fortunately for us, we have a story in the Gospel of someone what had this exact experience.   This person’s journey to greatness was anythin...
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