Saint John the Baptist Church - Chipping Barnet - Sermons

Sermon on The Second Sunday of Lent - Fr Sam Rossiter

On the Second Sunday of Lent, Fr Sam reflects on one of the most beloved verses in Scripture — “For God so loved the world…”, and invites us to see it not as a slogan, but as a revelation of relationship. Drawing on the intimate imagery of the Son resting “at the Father’s breast,” this episode explores how God’s very nature is love, a love so complete that it overflows into creation and into the giving of the Son. Lent becomes a season not of condemnation, but of restoration. In Christ, the distance we created between ourselves and God is carried and undone. Faith, then, is not about mastering ideas about God, but trusting the One whose love is the deepest truth of reality, and rediscovering that we were made for relationship with Him.

Sermon on The First Sunday of Lent - Fr Sam Rossiter

On the First Sunday of Lent, Fr Sam reframes Lent not as a season of gloom, but as a path to deeper joy. Reflecting on the wilderness temptations of Christ, he explores how Jesus reversed the pattern of Eden, resisting the temptations of appetite, power, and control where humanity had failed. Lent, then, becomes a season of abundance. Through fasting, prayer, and generosity, we are not punishing ourselves but retraining our hearts, turning away from self-reliance and back toward the loving relationship with God for which we were created. True joy, the sermon reminds us, is not fleeting happiness but flourishing in communion with the Trinity, made possible through Christ’s victory in the wilderness.

Sermon on The Last Sunday of Epiphany - Fr Sam Rossiter

On the Last Sunday of Epiphany, Fr Sam reflects on the competing pressures that crowd God out of our lives, busyness, noise, and a culture unsure of truth itself. Drawing on the Transfiguration of Christ and St Peter’s insistence that the apostles were “eyewitnesses of his majesty,” this episode calls listeners back to Jesus as the firm foundation of truth in a confusing world. In a time of overload and uncertainty, the sermon reminds us that faith is sustained not by clever ideas or shifting priorities, but by returning again and again to the revealed glory of Christ, making space for prayer, worship, and truth amid the noise.

Sermon on The Second Sunday of Epiphany - Fr Sam Rossiter

On the Second Sunday of Epiphany, Fr Sam reflects on the difference between seeking explanations about God and receiving revelation from God. Centered on John the Baptist’s declaration, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” this episode explores how God reveals Himself most fully not through ideas, but through the cross. Epiphany, we are reminded, reaches its deepest expression in Christ’s self-giving love — where human brokenness meets divine forgiveness. The sermon invites listeners to approach faith not as something to be fully explained, but as a mystery to be encountered, participated in, and lived through repentance, grace, and sacramental life.

Sermon on The Baptism of Christ - Fr Sam Rossiter

On the Feast of the Baptism of Christ, Fr Sam reflects on baptism as a gift, not an achievement. Using the image of baptism as a spiritual birthday, this episode explores how our deepest identity is revealed, not earned in God’s love. Just as Jesus is named “Beloved” at the Jordan before he does anything to prove himself, so too we are claimed, welcomed, and loved before all action or effort. Baptism and Eucharist together remind us that our worth rests in grace alone, calling us to live not from comparison or striving, but from the secure knowledge that we are God’s beloved children.