Monthly Archives: May 2024
Sermon: Sadly without unicorns
There have been many Christological interpretations of this psalm throughout history, and I am going to ignore all of them, except to say that an early mistranslation of ‘He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox’ had Sirion, another name for Mount Hermon on the border between Lebanon and Syria, skipping like a young unicorn. There were some wonderful interpretations of this psalm based on this mention of a unicorn, but sadly I must ignore them all, given that the unicorn was an ox. Continue reading
Sermon: “with warm breast and with ah! bright wings”
Do not be afraid of night, of death, of exile, of grief. The Holy Spirit, God’s ruach, still broods over the world with warm breast and bright wings. Continue reading
Book Review: Yet in the Dark Streets Shining: A Palestinian Story of Hope and Resilience in Bethlehem
Bishara writes that three issues make it difficult for Western Christians to listen to Palestinians: guilt over Christian antisemitism; belief in Israel as an ally of the West; and, most potently, Christian Zionism, the belief that the State of Israel is the fulfilment of prophecy and a harbinger of the eschaton. Of the three, it is probably the first that keeps members of the Uniting Church silent on the question of Palestine. Bishara’s story makes it clear that Western Christians must not assuage our own guilt at the expense of Palestinians. Continue reading
Sermon: Advice from Julian of Norwich
I have been struggling so much with the evil of the world over the past six months. It is always possible to find things in the world that seem to challenge any faith we might have in a good God, but there have been times over the past few months when I have had to turn off the television news because what is happening around the world and in Australia has so enraged me that I have felt physically sick. Continue reading
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