The sermons set out below were transcribed from notes: they are what I remembered of the sermon after the service, and were jotted down later that day. So they may sometimes be sketchy. Where there is a hymn verse, or other factual detail, quoted, I have looked it up afterwards or subsequently.
(10/11/1991 sermon)
"45 years ago I was at
Becontree. There was a lady in the congregation who had been widowed young. She
brought up three children. She trusted in God.
She had come on to a new estate in
the 1920's or 1930's. She felt the spiritual isolation keenly. St Peter's
church there had opened the week before she came. She went in and felt she had
found her spiritual home. She went to the vicarage to see the minister. She
became one of the most faithful members of that church.
She used to see her children off to
school then be at the church at 8am for Holy Communion. Nowadays we try every
trick in the trade just to get people to put in an occasional appearance at
church.
She had a deep influence on the people there. She influenced many people. She told me sometimes she didn't know where the money for the next meal was coming from. But she trusted in God. She left a letter for her daughter after her death about the power of prayer. The minister there used to say her faith made him feel humble. There was something deeply attractive about her and that was her trust."
Fr K also said that in two
weeks time it is the feast of Christ the King, the last Sunday in the year, and
to keep it as a day of prayer.
At the tea after the service Father
K mentioned that he missed Tom. (He was a jovial elderly west Indian, and a regular
congregation member.) The subject of a new magazine (?from
Church House, I'm not sure in what context.) came up. Fr K said "they are usually someone's project, and when they
go the whole thing collapses." He said, "it is sometimes a case of jobs for the
boys, and girls."
17/11/1991 Sermon
2) SOME MORE OF FR GRESHAM'S SERMONS FROM THE EARLY 1990'S
The sermons set out below were transcribed from notes jotted down on the same day as the sermons were given. They are what I remembered of the sermon after the service, and may sometimes be sketchy. Where there is a hymn verse, or other factual detail, quoted, I have looked it up afterwards or subsequently.
1992 Good Friday service sermon
Fr K spoke about the hymn for Passiontide we sang in today's service. It was about Jesus crucified. The first verse (typed out below) says how we, when we sin now, crucify Christ afresh. He suffers at our sins because he loves us.
"Lord Christ, when first thou cam'st to men,
upon a cross they bound thee.
And mocked thy saving Kingship then
by thorns with which they crowned thee:
And still our wrongs may weave thee now
New thorns to pierce that steady brow,
and robe of sorrow round thee." W. Russell Bowie (b. 1882)
Fr K said the hymn 'The Old Rugged Cross' was often chosen for Good Friday. "But what does it mean?" Fr Gresham asked. "It is a repetition of a phrase, and a catchy tune".
1992 Annual General Meeting, St Paul's with St Luke
There was a request the church should be open sometimes so people could call in. (2022 note - There was a daily mass at the church, but outside of mass times it was closed.) Fr K said that what you want is for visitors to find someone praying in the church. He spoke about a church near Marble Arch where the vicar used to get up, have his breakfast, do his correspondence, then that was it for the rest of the day, every day - except for one day a week when he used to play golf - for the rest of the time he would be on his knees in the church praying. He was famous for this devotion to prayer. People used to come from all over the country to seek his advice on spiritual matters.
Fr K remembered a party of school children coming into the church once. "It was most curious. They were divided. Half of them were interested and wanted to listen, but the other half. Well! The little boys were off down the side aisles, having a go on the bells, and the little girls were into everything, the altar cloths, touching everything." He had to have eyes everywhere that day, he said.
Fr K spoke about the new people coming recently. The difficulty is, he said, not of getting people to come regularly, or of keeping them coming, but of kindling something in them when they do come. He said baptising adults was a very different matter to baptising babies.
Fr K Sermon at the service for the 32nd Anniversary of St Paul's with St Luke's church (1992)
"We hope this praise is sincere service to Our Lord."
"The church of St Paul's represents and is a part of the whole Church, as we are in relationship with the bishop. The church stands in this place as a sign of the City of God on Earth and a gateway into Heaven."
The reading spoke of the Heavenly City shining like a jewel and having twelve gates and twelve foundation stones, each with the name of an apostle on it. "We speak of the Catholic and Apostolic Church."
Fr K spoke of the language of the bride and the bridegroom being needed when we speak of the Church. "The Church is Christ's bride. We must make use of sexual language in our worship. If we don't it is a serious loss."
"Today we are obsessed with sex and make such a poor go of marriage."
(end of sermon)
In the service we had the hymn, "Hail thee, Festival Day!" (English Hymnal number 634)
In the sacristy after the service Fr Gresham said, "There might not have been many there, but it was a magnificent service." In the church hall the faithful lady who baked bread for us for Sundays had made a chocolate cake for the occasion.
Sunday Sermon, May 1992
"Science discovers how the universe started, it cannot say why. Only Faith can speak to us about this." An atheist friend of Fr Gresham's "admitted the futility of things finally". Another friend said he could not imagine nothingness. "Neither can I," Fr Gresham said.
"God is in the beginning and at the end. There is more than one meaning of the end or the finish. We can say something is at the end if it is finished and in its shape and ready for its use for all eternity.. That is one meaning for 'at the end'.
"The Apocalypse shows the end of the world in picture language. "I see a new heaven and a new earth." Now what does that mean?"
"Prof Tulkingham (?), a scientist and a priest of very orthodox views, is impressed by the fine grain of the universe, the detail. God did not simply start everything and then leave everything to it. God is in the fine grain now, and we should learn to see God in it. If at the beginning everything had been slightly different then we all wouldn't be here now."
"The Church is riven over whether or not Gays and Lesbians can be married in Church. Marriage is to represent the relationship between Christ and his Church. Now it has to be asked if gays or lesbians can have a union which represents this relationship between Christ and his Church."
"And the Church is riven over whether there can be women priests. What is a priest? Why have priests at all? This is a question that is not asked. Why not have administrators and workers and advisors? I mean, there are so many advisors, why not have a few more?"
"The priest is to represent Christ in the Church. And you have to ask if a woman priest can represent the bridegroom, in the relationship between Christ and his Church. I leave you to draw your own conclusions."
In a 1992 Parish newsletter Fr K wrote,
"Whatever the outcome of the vote in the November meeting of the General Synod, the Church of England is likely to become involved in a prolonged period of turmoil and unhappiness. That in itself is a reason to devote ourselves to prayer, which alone can convert faith and hope into charity. (Faith and hope are wonderful virtues but can descend into bigotry and shrill determination). But what the debate is really about - issues of authority and obedience - reflects what we believe the Church of England to be, in the past, the present and the future. Are we to be a living part of the Church of God, or merely the English branch of Anglicanism. ..... it is God we must converse with - and to converse requires us to listen."
In a 1992 diary note I described the Easter Vigil service at St Paul's with St Luke's, Bow Common as, "The Easter Vigil, Saturday 9pm, service was something fine and old and dusted with glory, with a structure of thought."
(2021 note:-)I valued the reasoning and thought Fr Gresham used in his sermons, and in all the ways he ran the services and addressed us. More than this, the worship at St Paul's in Fr Gresham's day was dusted with glory. He played the music on the church organ beforehand, and recorded it on a cassette tape. This was then played in the service. Usually either Mary McKenzie or Isabel Rowe operated a cassette recorder to play this tape during the service.
May 1992 Fr K sermon
"The Church needs the Holy Spirit. What is the relationship between Jesus and the Holy Spirit? Jesus said, 'I will send you a counsellor to stay with you for all time. I must go that this counsellor may come.'
The Holy Ghost is the spirit of Jesus Christ. The Holy Ghost is Jesus Christ within us.
The same Greek word is the root of 'Dynamite'. It is this Spirit, this Power, we need to pray for at this time, in the week ahead, for the renewal of the Church."
May 1992 Fr K sermon
"The Jews had a vivid imagination. They thought boldly in bright colours, like a psychedelic painting, although they may have been inconsistent in some of the detail.
The Greeks were very careful in their thought, endlessly arguing, like us today, and getting nowhere. It was the Jews who hit upon the truth."
(end of sermon)
In the parish news-sheet from the same service (May 1992), Fr Gresham writes the following:-
"In the days between Ascension Day and Pentecost we pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit.
'Send forth your Spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth. Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful people: and kindle in them the fire of your love.'
Such prayer is much needed today, for the Church, for the peace of the world, & for renewal in the Spirit.
Rev 22:16-17 'I Jesus have sent my angel to you with this testimony for the Churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star.
The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come". And let him who is thirsty come, let him who desires take the water of life without price.'
The parish news-sheet continues, " 'Alleluya, Alleluya I will not leave you orphans," says the Lord: "I will come back to you, and your hearts will be full of joy. Alleluya.'
This time of prayer to the Holy Spirit is a time also of prayer for Christian Unity."
In a separate paragraph in the newsheet, Fr Gresham writes, "Fifty years ago today (May 31st), I was ordained Deacon in Manchester Cathedral. I have just received a charming letter from someone who as a boy of 8 saw me that evening. He is now a priest in Stockport. So next year, God willing, I celebrate my Golden Jubilee as a priest. It falls on Sunday June 20th (Easter was late that year)."
Cosmic Redemption
Fr K spoke well of offertory hymn 327 (English Hymnal - predecessor of the New English Hymnal) - first verse typed out below.
"Once, only once, and once for all,
His precious life he gave;
Before the Cross in faith we fall,
And own it strong to save." (by W. Bright 1824 - 1901)
07/07/1991 Sermon
Fr K said we need "much thought and earnest prayer" in order to make things better. He did not like "happy clappy" services. He said the service was being rewritten supposedly to simplify things, but he found it becoming longer and more confused, as if it was being made up as they went along.
He said it is possible to get high on religion, as you do with 'dope'. "Take religion instead of 'crack'. This way leads to disillusion, despair and death," he said.
"Preparation is needed," he said. "We need to prepare for worship."
(After the above notes on the sermon, I wrote, "Looking at Fr K I had this idea, that he means more to people if he hasn't his own family, another home, to go to.")
21/07/1991 sermon
Fr k said,
"It is a pity we do not learn things by heart anymore, because we have nothing deep to nourish our minds. We hear and see so many things but it is all shallow."
Fr K remembered a Scottish lad in 1940 who said he was not a religious man but he loved the 23rd psalm.
Fr K said we should make the words of the hymns our own as we sing them
15/09/1991 sermon
"Daniel is a nom-de-plume of someone writing 200 yrs before Christ. It has been a practice of people to choose an illustrious name from the past to write under. The differing empires were likened to differing beasts, just as we used to speak of the British Lion, or we now speak of the Russian Bear or the American Eagle. The fourth empire was so terrible (?) that a beast was made up of composite elements; legs of iron, feet of clay, ....."
Fr K spoke of the prevailing atmosphere of the time in which the writer lived. "The middle east was in turmoil, like it is today, indeed," he said.
"Nowadays, if people consider who Jesus as a man was, they think he went about doing good things, that he said some wise things, and that he is irrelevant to how we live now; he lived a long time ago."
"Jesus himself chose the title, 'Son of man'. That is used before in the bible, in Daniel 7:21. He did not choose 'Christ'."
"Everything that the Son of Man has done on Earth in the past, everything that the Son of Man is doing in the present, and everything that he will do in the future to the end of time is brought together in the Eucharist. That is why the Eucharist is so central to our faith. The question we must ask ourselves is, Can we respond? "
( 2020 comment - Why I found this sermon good is especially the last paragraph. I had never heard anyone say this before. It invites thought. And Fr Gresham finishes with a challenge to us.)
22/09/1991 sermon
"Our faith is weak at the present time. The first thing we need is a renewed sense of God. Jesus Christ is our saviour. We should look at the meaning of the word salvation: a very straight-forward word with its roots in health and safety."
Fr K said there was a local man who died some years ago. (may have given his name, but I cannot recall it) "He was an unbeliever, but he always tried to speak the truth. He followed his lights as he saw them. This also helps Jesus."
Oct 1991 sermon
Fr K said, at the service for St Luke the Evangelist,
"Evangelist in its special sense means one of the four gospel writers. Gospel is God Spell - the word of God.
The charismatic movement is like a bush fire. It flares up and consumes everything. Then the wind changes and there is nothing there.
Is the decade of evangelism a policy of desperation? Or was Dr Runcie pushed into it by the African bishops at the Lambeth conference? Church attendance has fallen by 30% during the Runcie era."
Fr K said a priest predicted the rise of secularism as early as 1940. (name given but not remembered by me.) He warned that secularism may even enter the church. "And it has all come to pass. Secularism has gone down deep. But among intellectuals dissatisfaction is showing itself."
Fr K spoke of attending a talk on science and religion by an eminent professor of biology due to be held the following Wednesday.
3/11/1991 sermon
"From Moses to Christ. Central thing is to love God with all our heart, all our soul. WCC (? World Council of Churches) - used to be anti-communist, then pro-communist. Communism is just a heresy of Christianity, part truth, part error. Multi-faith now." Fr K said a friend of his said they are inventing a new religion.
"The Church is being destroyed from within. So many people are doing their own thing. This is a culmination of the (?) Reformation 400 years ago. The living tradition of the Church was discarded and people relied on the Bible. But soon the Bible was discarded as well. Martin Luther discarded parts of Christianity. He didn't agree with them. They didn't agree with his ideas."
Something about secularism was also mentioned.
"All the sacrifices in the old Jewish faith come to fruition in Christ, the new covenant in which the old covenant is fulfilled. And the old covenant is at an end."
Fr K said, "The only new thing we need, is to make the words, "love God with all our heart, all our soul, ......" real to us."
"Are we vaguely religious, or do we really love God? This is a serious question."
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