James Lawrence: Sermons from Blackburn Cathedral

As Lent begins again, James preaches on the dust to which we return — and the breath of God that first animated it. A sermon on mortality, mercy, and the strange freedom of knowing how small we are before a God of inexhaustible grace.

On the feast of Paul's Damascus Road encounter, James explores the most dramatic conversion in Christian history — asking what it means for a life to be turned inside out by a meeting with the risen Christ, and what this says to us today.

At the Baptism of Christ, James returns to the theme of repentance — exploring how Jesus's own baptism inaugurates a ministry of transformation, and what it means to follow him into the waters of new life and new identity.

James explores the Advent call to repentance — not as guilt-inducing self-flagellation but as a liberating reorientation toward God. To repent is to turn from whatever diminishes us toward the one who makes us fully and lastingly alive.

On All Saints' Day, James celebrates the extraordinary company of the faithful — those remembered and those forgotten — and reflects on what it means to belong to a community that spans death itself.

In the first of a creation care series, James reflects on the doctrine of creation — not Gaia as a self-sustaining system, but a world held moment by moment in the hands of a personal, loving God who calls us to be its careful stewards.

James turns to Paul's shortest letter — the personal, urgent plea to Philemon regarding the slave Onesimus — exploring what this remarkable document says about freedom, dignity, forgiveness, and the social revolution of the Gospel.

Jesus's warning about the dangers of wealth and the parable of the rich fool lead James to explore what genuine wisdom looks like — and why the accumulation of things is such a poor substitute for the life that is truly life.

James explores the sending of the seventy in Luke 10 — the harvest is plentiful, the labourers few — as a model for mission: travelling light, depending on hospitality, and announcing the nearness of the Kingdom.

On the feast of the two great apostles, James explores what Peter and Paul — so different in temperament and background — share: a transforming encounter with the risen Christ and a life given wholly to the Gospel.

As the long Trinity season begins, James reflects on what it means to live as people of the resurrection — shaped by the pattern of Christ's dying and rising, and sent into the world with the good news of the Kingdom.

James preaches on the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost — the rushing wind and tongues of fire that transformed a frightened group of disciples into a fearless, boundary-crossing community of witnesses.

James explores the beach breakfast of John 21 — Jesus cooking fish for exhausted disciples, the threefold restoration of Peter, and the simple, repeated question: do you love me? A sermon on failure, grace, and re-commissioning.

On Mothering Sunday, James holds together the joy of family and the pain of broken relationships — exploring what the New Testament means by the Church as mother, and the healing that comes from belonging. 

At the imposition of ashes, James preaches on the ancient words — remember you are dust — and their strange power to free us from pretension, to open us to grace, and to set us on the Lenten road.

As the Christmas season draws to a close, James reflects on John's great prologue — the Word that was with God and was God, become flesh and full of grace and truth — and what it means to receive him.

In the final days before Christmas, James reflects on the Annunciation — Mary's yes to the angel, the overshadowing of the Spirit, and the courage required to carry the word of God into the world.

James opens another Advent season with the Church's urgent and beautiful invitation: stay awake, keep watch, for the one who came and the one who is coming is already closer than we think.

James explores the upside-down kingdom of Jesus — where greatness is measured in service and the first shall be last — asking what genuine servant leadership looks like in church, family, and public life.

On the mountain of Transfiguration, the voice from the cloud says simply: listen to him. James explores what it might mean to truly hear Jesus — and to let his words reshape our lives from the inside out.

James engages Jesus's radical challenge to the purity codes of his day — arguing that what defiles a person comes not from outside but from within — and asks what this means for our own patterns of religion and righteousness.

In one of his most creative sermons, James uses the cultural lens of the zombie to explore what it means to be truly alive — and how Jesus offers not mere existence but resurrection life, a life that begins now and cannot be extinguished.

John's account of the feeding miracle leads James to explore the Bread of Life discourse — Jesus's astonishing claim to be the bread that comes down from heaven, given for the life of the world. What does it mean to feed on him?

Drawing on Amos's vision of the plumbline, James asks what it looks like to measure our lives, our churches, and our communities against God's standards of justice, mercy, and faithfulness.

James explores the feeding of the five thousand — one of the most dramatic and multi-layered miracles in the Gospels — as a sign of Christ's provision, his compassion, and the abundance of the Kingdom of God.

On the birthday of the Church, James preaches on the coming of the Holy Spirit — the wind and fire of Pentecost, the gift of languages, and the extraordinary, continuing work of the Spirit in the world today.

On the night Jesus was betrayed, James preaches on the Last Supper — the extraordinary act of foot-washing, the new commandment to love, and the bread and cup that carry the weight of the world.

James returns to the Jordan to explore the baptism of Jesus — the descent of the Spirit, the Father's voice of affirmation, and the way this definitive moment shapes the entire arc of Jesus's ministry and our own call as the baptised.

James explores the journey of the Magi — astronomers and outsiders drawn to worship the king of the Jews — as a window into the universal reach of the Gospel and the surprising ways God draws people home.

At Midnight Mass, James preaches on the extraordinary heart of Christmas — that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. A sermon of wonder, warmth, and the scandalous particularity of the Incarnation: that God chose to arrive as a child.

On Gaudete Sunday, James explores the paradox of Advent joy — a joy that does not deny darkness but chooses hope anyway, rooted in the unshakeable promise of the one who is coming.

James opens the new liturgical year with Advent's great themes — the coming of Christ in history, in the present moment, and in final glory — and the peculiarly counter-cultural invitation to wait with hope rather than to consume with haste.

At the Cathedral's Remembrance service, James holds together grief and gratitude, the horror of war and the hope of peace — preaching with honesty and pastoral care on what it means to remember, and what the dead ask of the living.

On Bible Sunday, James celebrates the gift of scripture — exploring how this ancient library of texts continues to speak with living authority into every generation, and how we might read it more faithfully, honestly, and generously.

At the Harvest Thanksgiving, James reflects on gratitude, abundance, and the responsibility that comes with God's generosity — inviting the congregation to hold lightly what they have received and generously what they can give.

James preaches on one of the most demanding and liberating teachings of Jesus — the call to forgive as we have been forgiven. A searching and pastoral exploration of what forgiveness actually costs, what it gives, and why it lies at the heart of the Gospel.

James turns to the story of Peter — his failures, his restoration, and his remarkable transformation — asking what this flawed and passionate disciple can teach us about grace, identity, and what it truly means to follow Jesus.

On the Feast of the Transfiguration, James explores the moment when the veil between heaven and earth grew thin on the mountain — and what it means to glimpse the glory of Christ in the midst of ordinary life and discipleship.

James brings Romans 8 to its soaring conclusion — the Spirit interceding for us in our weakness, all things working together for good, and the unbreakable love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. A sermon of extraordinary confidence and hope.

James engages with Paul's raw and honest wrestling in Romans 7 — the battle between the good we want to do and the patterns that pull us away — and what it means to find freedom in Christ rather than in our own moral effort.

Drawing on the Epiphany season's theme of revelation, James considers how Christ continues to make himself known — in scripture, sacrament, and the surprising encounters of everyday life.

James explores the significance of Jesus's baptism in the Jordan — a moment of divine affirmation, Spirit-anointing, and the launch of a ministry that would change the world. What does it mean to hear the Father say 'you are my beloved'?

In the final Sunday before Christmas, James reflects on the mystery of the Incarnation — the astonishing claim that God chose to enter human history through the birth of a child — and what it means to receive him with the openness of Mary.