Holy Trinity Winchester Podcast

OpeningMay I speak now in the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.Amen.Please sit down.A Christian View of the End of the WorldWell, all three of our Scripture passages that we have just heard this morning are about what we might call a Christian view of the end of the world. How is the world going to end?Christianity says something very specific about this, which may differ from other views, other philosophies, other religions. Christianity does not say that the world is simply going to peter out in some way with the heat death of...

Why All This Stuff About Mary and the Saints?When new people visit this church, they sometimes have a question. It is a question that comes up quite frequently, actually, from people who are not regular attenders at this kind of church, let’s say. And the question that comes up time and time again is: What’s all this stuff about Mary? Specifically, it is always Mary—everyone wants to know about Mary—and there is a question that comes along with it: What about prayer to the saints? What about Mary? What about prayer to the saints?It is a ver...

OpeningWell, we have some wonderful Scriptures today, but I would like to make some comments on only the first part of the Gospel reading, just because it is such an important passage of Scripture.The Greatest CommandmentA lawyer comes to test Jesus and asks him, “What is the greatest commandment in the law? What is the great commandment in the law?” He is essentially asking Jesus: What is the most important thing to do in this world, in life?And Jesus’ answer is, as we have just heard: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all...

An Extraordinary Model of MissionThere is, I think, something rather striking about the instructions that Jesus gives to the seventy-two disciples in today’s Gospel. They are sent out with almost nothing: no money, no bag, no travelling equipment, not even a spare pair of sandals. They are not to linger in conversation on the road, we read. They are not to waste time worrying about where they may stay. They are simply to head out, enter a home, pronounce peace, accept hospitality, eat whatever is put in front of them, heal the sick, and announce that the kingdom of Go...

I would like to begin today by making some comments about that wonderful New Testament passage, Philippians chapter 4, in which the Apostle Paul says: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.”Rejoicing in a Hard WorldIt is interesting that Paul says this in that letter. All the way through the book of Philippians he is constantly speaking about rejoicing and telling the Christians he was writing to—and through them, us as well—to rejoice. At that point in his life he was languishing in a prison cell, facing possible death in the arena, being torn apart by wild...

“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.”May I speak now in the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.Amen.Friends, we have wonderful and interesting readings this morning. I am going to begin with Isaiah chapter 5.The Song of the Vineyard“Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard:My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines;he built a watchtower in the m...

Opening“You will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”Creation Is More Than What We Can SeeI would like to start this evening with a small bugbear about the modern Church of England. There is a lot of talk about creation in the modern Church of England. There is Creationtide, a season to do with creation. There is even a Festival of Creation now, which I think has already occurred this year. I must have missed it.The bugbear I have with these festivals and seasons is that a lot of t...

Two Kinds of AuthorityToday I would like to talk about the Gospel reading we have just heard from Matthew, and also that great text from Philippians chapter 2. I will come to the latter in a little while. First, the Gospel.The chief priests and elders, as they often do, challenge Jesus. They ask him, “By what authority are you doing these things?” Where do you get the authority to carry out this ministry, these signs, these miracles, to say the things you have been saying?It becomes clear over the course of the narrative that the religious officials have a very...

The Madman in the MarketplaceThe great nineteenth-century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche told a story about a madman running into a crowded marketplace and anxiously announcing the death of God. Everyone in the marketplace was going about their normal business—buying and selling things—and they thought he was insane (hence the title “The Madman”). But the irony of the story is that the madman was really the only one who saw things clearly.What Nietzsche meant by this is that belief in the Christian God was dying out at the time, and therefore everything that people’s lives and their society had been b...

Peter’s Question and Jesus’ Radical ReplyLast week we considered Christ’s teaching on what to do if a brother sins against you. “Go and tell him his fault,” Christ says, “and if he listens to you, you have gained your brother.”In our passage this morning, Peter— as he often does— has a question about this. As we might, because it rather implies that we accept our brother’s apology and therefore want to be reconciled with him. “Lord,” says Peter, “how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”The biblical number seven implie...

A sermon on Matthew 18:15–20Opening“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I among them.”In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.Amen.The Church as the Place of Christ’s PresenceI think the reason I am where I am and do what I do is at least partly because I love the Church. What I am about to say may sound slightly extreme, but I do believe that the Church holds out the only real hope for this world. I do not believe this because of the g...

The Revelation of ChristFriends, as we have just heard, we come today to what has at times been a controversial and contested passage in Scripture: Christ’s words, “Thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.” These words are spoken by Jesus to Peter after Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.I will say more about Peter specifically in a moment, but the first thing I wish to observe is the importance of the revelation of Christ as the Messiah and of Peter’s proclamation of him as such.What is...

The Reality of MotherhoodI know from observation—not experience—that motherhood is difficult. When a woman conceives a child, things change in almost every conceivable way. Her body changes. She may become sick. She will suffer physical aches and extreme fatigue. Psychologically, she suffers, perhaps because of the strange sense that a new life is growing within her. And at the end of this long nine-month period, there is of course birth, and after that, joy that a child is born.But of course, the mother then has these awesome new responsibilities to reckon with: care for a baby, for an i...

The Pattern in Christ’s LifeIt interests me that the devotional life of Christ is not described in much detail in the Gospels. What did He do when He was out praying? What was He doing in His devotions? Yet we can see a clear pattern in the Gospels, and I want to suggest that this pattern is an encouragement to us.After the Feeding of the Five ThousandIn Matthew chapter 14, the Gospel reading we have just heard, Jesus has performed a significant miracle: the feeding of the five thousand. Before that miracle, Jesus had been trying to get away fo...

The Transfiguration, 2026‘And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.’ 2 Corinthians 3:18In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.Why the Transfiguration?In his second epistle, the Apostle Peter wanted to convince his audience that what he was saying about Christ was not just another cleverly devised myth but that it was, in fact, the truth. He says that the Apostles ‘were eyewitnesses of his ma...

“For while gentle silence enveloped all things, and night in its swift course was now half gone,your all-powerful word leaped from heaven, from the royal throne, into the midst of the land that was doomed.” Wisdom 18:14–15In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.The Mustard Seed and the LeavenOur Gospel reading today consists of four of Jesus’ parables that describe the Kingdom of Heaven. The first section is about a mustard seed that is the smallest of all seeds but which when it grows becomes the largest garden plant and then a t...

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Last week I was speaking about the proclamation given by Christ to his disciples, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And I said that Christ did not come to start a religion called “Christianity” but that he came to found a new kingdom here upon earth: the Kingdom of God.I spoke a little about what it means to be part of that kingdom: namely, that it is to be formed into a people who have God for their king, who are obedient to God, and who call others to be gathered in to this kingdom.I’d like to continu...

Fr Jamie Franklin says that Christ did not come to found a religion called “Christianity”. Instead, he founded a new and everlasting Kingdom upon earth: the Kingdom of God. And out of his compassion, he calls all of humanity to become its citizens.

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In this sermon from the First Sunday after Trinity, Fr Jamie Franklin speaks of faith as an inward conviction that is expressed in outward obedience. He exhorts the listener to draw near to God, confident that he will meet the needs of those who seek him.

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Isaiah 40:12-17, 27-end; 2 Corinthians 13:11-end; Matthew 28:16-end

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit holytrinitywinchester.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit holytrinitywinchester.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit holytrinitywinchester.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit holytrinitywinchester.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit holytrinitywinchester.substack.com

To understand the words of Jesus in John 10, we must observe that John 10 follows immediately after John 9, the story of the man born blind. In that story, Jesus healed a man born blind. And yet the Pharisees, a group of religious rulers, did everything in their power to debunk this miracle and therefore to reject Christ as one sent from God. The blind man was eventually cast out from the Synagogue for not going along with them. At the end of that story, there is an exchange between the blind man and Jesus, overheard by some of the Pharisees in...

The Hopelessness of our Earthly JourneyOn the Road to Emmaus, we meet two disciples. One of them was named Cleopas, the other not named. Ancient sources suggest that it was in fact Luke himself, but we simply do not know.The risen Christ drew near to them and yet they were kept from recognising him. We are told that they were downcast and looked sad. From their words, we understand that they had lost hope. And this was because Jesus of Nazareth, a man mighty in word and deed before God, had been delivered over and crucified. And so their...

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit holytrinitywinchester.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit holytrinitywinchester.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit holytrinitywinchester.substack.com

A sermon given by Fr Jamie Franklin on Maundy Thursday, 2026.

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The Transformation of TimeThe week of weeks begins today. But what exactly does it mean to be a Catholic Christian who observes the liturgical calendar? And what is the significance of Palm Sunday and Holy Week?To begin with, we must recognise that we have been inculcated into a certain view of time: the time of the secular. Secular time implies that all time is the same and that one event simply follows other. We are cut off from the seasons and their festive observances because of technology and advanced infrastructure and thus we experience our lives as a succession...

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit holytrinitywinchester.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit holytrinitywinchester.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit holytrinitywinchester.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit holytrinitywinchester.substack.com

Genesis 2: 15-17; 3:1-7 ; Romans 5:12-19 ; Matthew 4:1-11The Temptation of Adam and EveAs is usually the case on the first Sunday of Lent, we are given the story of Christ’s temptation in the wilderness for our Gospel. But, in order to understand the symbolic significance of this story, we must go back to the book of Genesis and to the temptation of Adam and Eve.As the story of Genesis tells us, God created a good and glorious world and, within it, he placed a garden paradise. In that garden, he put a man and a woman, Adam and Ev...

Exodus 24:12-end; 2 Peter 1:16-end; Matthew 17: 1-9Lent and mystical encounterIt’s hard for me to believe that Lent begins again in only three days from now. Time seems to move so quickly. Once again, the Church gives us the story of a mountaintop experience to reflect upon - that of the Transfiguration of Christ. This is paired with the story of Moses’ encounter with God on Mount Sinai.Now, if you’re anything like me, you might think about Lent with a certain amount of dread. When I mention to my children that Lent is coming up they can see no goo...

Genesis 1:1-2.3; Romans 8:18-25; Matthew 6: 25-end

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