Easter Updates

April 10, 2024

A Few Days Back in Texas

Since the end of Hilary Term, quite a lot of different things have happened. I've been back in the States for a flying visit (and boy did it feel quick!). It was wonderful to be hosted at St John the Divine and speak on different topics, along with NT Wright, Jonathan Brant and Michael Lloyd. There wasn't quite time enough to say all the hellos I wanted to say, but I got in quite a few!


I also got to pop back to St. Martin's, preach at Riverway and say hello to many of my old colleagues. It really was fab to be back and I really enjoyed getting to preach on John 3 (including v.16!). One of the great joys (and sometimes challenges) of preaching from my perspective is that of being changed and shaped by the passage you're preaching on in the process of preparing the message. I have often done the groundwork several days out in preparation for a sermon and may even have a draft of a sermon I want to preach. But it's not the sermon. This was one of those late bloomers (probably not helped from the jetlag), but spending time in John 3 (and the end of John 2!) opened my eyes to things I hadn't noticed before and I still feel the impression it made on me.


If you'd like to take a listen you can watch it here:

If video doesn't play, click here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=925581062610150


First Parish Communion

One of the hopes that I have for being back in the UK, especially now I don't work Sundays, is to be able to help different churches in the area by stepping in and offernig cover where needed and getting a sense of where theological education can best serve the real needs of the local church. That said, I didn't think it would begin so quickly or in quite the place that it did...! 


I was asked by a colleague about a parish in the area needing help on Easter Sunday. Of all the places I thought it could be, I didn't expect where it was - my home church of St Clement's. This is the place I was baptised, confirmed and even where Stephen and I got married! It wasn't where I first preached, but it was where I first led a service in my teenage years (they had a monthly youth-led service). It holds a lot of memories and a precious place in my heart, so it was a real full circle moment to be back there and leading Communion on Easter Sunday! And not only that, but because my ministry to date has all been based in the Episcopal Church, this actually was my first ever Eucharist in a Church of England parish. God certainly has a sense of humour.


It was very special to be back, to see some old faces as well as new ones. It was lovely. Their new vicar (US: priest) started this week and I pray this next season of life would be a good one both for him and the for the church community.

Lastly...

The Easter break has been a good one. I've been able to do a little work on editing my manuscript for a monograph of my PhD thesis. I've also done a LOT of marking for the Introduction to Old Testament course that students taking the BTh programme complete in their first year of study. Students complete essays on topics that include questions like:


  • Compare the two creation accounts in Genesis 1 and 2
  • What was the role of an OT prophet?
  • What does it mean for God to "harden Pharaoh's heart" in the Book of Exodus?

They also submit a 1,500 word exegesis on an OT text, e.g. Genesis 3, 12 or Isaiah 6 or 51. It's a tough job to say a lot about these texts in such a short space, but they manage it!


I've also started preparations for some material on looking at how we tell and retell biblical stories: something to think about both with respect to how the Bible uses its own stories and some good stuff to get thinking about in terms of preaching and how we handle the biblical text in the pulpit (even if often a metaphorical pulpit in England).


Next week is 0th week ("noughth"), which means it's a week before the normal term starts, but there's teaching to be done (including a class from me on Anglicanism in North America!) as well as a 3 day workshop on preaching. Do pray for all the students and staff as they begin a new term—especially those students who are going to be preparing to head off into ministry this summer.


****** 


Why a Rock? A Sermon on Matthew 16:13-20

By Suse McBay • July 29, 2025
A sermon given at an all-age service at the wonderful church of St Wilfrid's, Calverley, on June 29th. The reading was Matthew 16:13-20: it was fun to work the film Labyrinth into a sermon on a very well-known text!

Commissioning Day Sermon (and first guest post)

By Suse McBay • June 18, 2025
Treasures in Jars of Clay by Revd Will Donaldson  Good morning everyone and thank you so much, Michael, for asking me to preach on this wonderful occasion. It’s a real honour and privilege to do so! Some of you know that I was a tutor here for 6 years from 2007: it’s a joy to be back in my retirement on the chaplaincy team, alongside Jane and Bruce. What will be your abiding memory of Wycliffe Hall? It might b e lectures, whether at Wycliffe or in the Faculty, when your eyes were opened and your mind stretched to explore the heights and depths of academic theology It might be the Focus mornings or the Study Weeks, with their leaning towards practical preparation for ministry, underpinned by parish placements and missions It might be worship in chapel, when you experienced the presence of Christ in the singing, the preaching, the liturgy and the celebration of communion. It might be your fellowship group, where you got to know a group of fellow students really well and journeyed with them through the training process, and they were there for you when you needed support It might be the enjoyment of belonging to the wider community – the chats over coffee in the Common room, or the discussions over lunch, or the theological boxing matches in Fight Club (where no punches were pulled!), or the more refined formal occasions like Matriculation and formal halls, or our community notices on Tuesdays with the drum rolls and the gold awards and – not to forget - the Principal’s jokes (all under the pretext of needing to link things up!), or maybe your abiding memory will be the Hall Photo last month that ploughed on despite thunder, lightning and torrential rain! How hilarious was that! An d you could spot the people whom Jesus would have called ‘oh ye of little faith’ – they had brought their umbrellas! There’s one other memory that I hope you will take with you into your future ministries: it’s our text for this morning: 2 Cor. 4.7. - ‘ But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us’ . Let me explain why I would love you to embed this in your heart as we send you out… 1. We have been entrusted with Treasure

Join us in Oxford in 2025!

Subscribe to

My Newsletter

Sign up here to receive quarterly updates (and occasional other news blasts) about how ministry is going and our move to the U.K.