It's not very often I am invited to do a guest preach, because most Sundays I am either preaching at the church I serve or, nowadays, am teaching at or facilitating a college residential event.  So it was really lovely to be able to accept an invitation from a church I last preached at almost exactly 22 years ago! (Strictly it's 21 years and 51 weeks but what's a week between friends?!).  Back then, I was an as yet 'unsettled' ministerial student, wondering what lay ahead... now I am entrusted with the care of ministers in training in a very different world.

For most of my ministerial life, the services I've led have been audio-recorded, and for fourteen years, they were shared effectively as a podcast; and for nearly four of those years, I led worship either on Zoom or in a hybrid format. For the last two years, no recording has taken place, there is no record of what I said (except in the scripts on my laptop).  So it was a bit of a change today to be streamed live on YouTube and not only to listen, but also to watch back this evening.

Listening back, I reckon it was an okay sermon, in a decent, traditional kind of service.  The hymns - all bar one chosen by the church musicians, one by me - all fitted the theme and were sung well by the congregation.

I always appreciated being able to listen back to my services, to reflect on what I had said, to hear what others heard, so it was a blessing to do so today.

Should you wish to listen/watch, you can click on the embedded video  - but there is no expectation whatsoever that you will.