Mount Calvary Sermons

THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST 2014    MATT 18:15-20   They call it pivoting, and when it is done well no one even notices.  It’s the skill of being asked a question and giving a long, and very impressive reply - on a completely different subject.  And if you practice hard, study the dark arts deeply enough, and have so little conscience that you could fool a lie detector, you can pull it off so magnificently that no one will notice that you completely failed to answer the question.  It also helps if you’re running for office, or have worked in the British civil service, where they run courses on this.  But we’ve all done it, haven’t we?  I remember my French and German teacher.  Mr Strauss, his name was.  At the equivalent of 10th Grade British kids go through a hideous trial by fire.  It’s a series of public exams, compiled in places like Oxford and Cambridge; and they are so important that you carry your success or