Every now and again - and very infrequently - I am invited as a 'visiting preacher'.  It can't happen that often because when I was a full time minister I preached at least 43 Sundays a year, and as part time I preach 20-ish and teach anything up to another 12.

It was nice to be invited to preach at a church I visited twice, possibly three times, as a student... and scary to realise just how long ago that was!

Tomorrow it will be just seven days shy of twenty-two years since I last preached at this church - and my goodness what a lot has happened on those years!

In 2022, I was invited to preach on Elijah passing on his mantle to Elisha - it was a half decent sermon, with some good ideas.  Tomorrow I've been invited to preach on the end of Hebrews 11 into Hebrews 12 - it's an okay sermon, with some, imo, appropriate questions.

I find it fascinating looking back at my old sermons, often quite impressed by them ('I was clever once'), often noting how similar they are to those I write now, even if language, style and details of theology have changed, and often wondering what someone might draw out as my 'one sermon' (according to some people, we all only have one!).

So, tomorrow I head off to Manchester, to talk about one of my favourite passages of scripture, saying pretty much the same things I have been saying for quarter of a century, and trusting that somehow, God is in it all.