Sunday Service – 25 January 2026
A worship service was held at 10.30am in the church on Sunday 25 January. The service was simultaneously broadcast on the Church Facebook page. For the next four weeks you can catch up here. The sermon starts at about 36:58 in.
The Bible passage was Matthew 4:12-22 and Duncan led and preached. Before the service, Duncan shared the video below which links to the theme of Sunday’s service.
Do listen to the sermon – it’s about Jesus beginning to preach, and calling his very first disciples.
Duncan mentioned that world leaders meeting in Davos last week spoke about the world having changed due to different political shifts of attitude and allegiance. They emphasised that a new era in world history had begun. The world has changed, and we need to change, to adopt a new mindset in order to cope and move forward.
The coming of Jesus marked the most significant new beginning in world history. In his case, the rupture with the past was not caused by something dark and dangerous, but by liberating light from heaven. ‘The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the shadow of death a light has dawned.’ (Matthew 4:12-22)
Jesus had coming, bringing the kingdom of heaven to earth, inviting people to open their eyes, and see, and enter the kingdom, and live differently. That’s why Jesus echoed John the Baptist’s words ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ (Matthew 4:16) ‘Repent’ in this context doesn’t just refer to moral behaviour, but to our whole way of seeing, to our whole way of thinking, and acting.
Into the world of competing empires has come the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of peace.
Whatever ‘darkness’ we are facing today, Jesus reminds us that there is a different way of seeing, if we will only open our eyes to the light. The kingdom of heaven is ‘near’, but we need to turn around and enter it. And we remember that Jesus himself is the light, and that entering the kingdom involves encountering Jesus. And even if our day is a very dark one, and the light seems not to penetrate the mist, Jesus loves us, and Jesus is with us.
And Duncan highlighted Jesus’ challenge to the men who would become his disciples: ‘Come, follow me.’ (Matthew 4:19) In his presence and in those words, light dawned on those men, and they were never the same again. Jesus met them, as Duncan pointed out not in a religious building or gathering – but in the middle of an ordinary working day.
Jesus Christ is with us in the ordinary, everyday things of life. And each morning we can allow the light to shape our mindset for the coming day, and resolve to follow Jesus in the day ahead, whatever that may mean.
Next Sunday, Duncan said, we’ll be beginning to look at Jesus’ famous ‘Sermon on the Mount’ which contains instructions and inspiration for us as we repent, and embrace the light, and follow.
