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Author Archives: Avril Hannah-Jones
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
Posted in Sermons
Tagged Mothers' Day, Easter 7, anger, Julian of Norwich, God's Universalism, Farewell Discourse, John 17:6-19, universal salvation, Judas
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Sermon: The Ethiopian Eunuch
Today’s story, and the entire theme of the Book of Acts, is that as the gospel spreads through the world it gathers in more and more of those who have been pushed away or forgotten. We are the descendants of the community we see being created in the Book of Acts, and so we always need to look beyond our doors to see who has been excluded, so we can welcome them in. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged Acts 8:26-40, Apostle Philip, Easter, Easter 5, Ethiopian eunuch, inclusion, LGBTIQ, marriage equality, transgender, Year of Mark
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Sermon: To be Christian is to be in community
Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church The Third Sunday of Easter, 14th of April 2024 Luke 24:36b-48 This may be sad news for those of you who are, like me, massive introverts, but following Jesus is always a communal activity. … Continue reading
Sermon: Easter Sunday
Jesus Christ is Lord of all, not only of those like Peter, and the peace he preaches includes peace between those of different faiths and nations. From this moment on, if the church is to truly be the body of Christ, then its doors must be flung open, and everyone must be allowed to stream in. Continue reading
Sermon: Street marches
Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church Palm Sunday, 24th of March 2023 Psalm 118:1-2 19-29 Mark 11:1-11 After hearing today’s gospel story, of Jesus’ entry to Jerusalem the week before his death, I am a little surprised that the Roman powers … Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged Hope, Mark 11:1-11, Palm Sunday, political protest, Psalm 118:1-2 19-29, street marches, Year of Mark
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Sermon: “We wish to see Jesus”
We need to be careful about arguments that God needed a sacrifice to be made to forgive human sin. Such arguments turn God into a blood-thirsty monster who demands the death of his beloved Son before he deigns to forgive us. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged crucifixion, glorification, Hebrews 5:5-10, John 12:20-33, Lent 5, Melchizedek, Mourning, proclaim the gospel, scriptural witness, seeing Jesus
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Sermon: Being whole and seeing wholeness
We are not saints, and the world’s light and dark call forth in us now our light, now our dark. We struggle to see the wholeness of God’s love behind the fragments of the world that confront us. Sometimes the world shatters us into fragments. But the prophets, and the apostles, and the saints, and the mystics, and Jesus himself, speak with one voice and tell us that God created the universe out of love, and so the world is holy, even if we struggle to see it that way. And God created us out of that same love, and so we are holy, too, even if we struggle to see ourselves that way. Continue reading
Posted in Books, Sermons
Tagged bronze serpent, crucifixion, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ephesians 2:1-10, Frederick Buechner, John 3:14-21, Julian of Norwich, love, Moses, Year of Mark
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Sermon: The Ten Words
And if we struggle to believe that in God’s sight we are ‘precious and lovely’, then be assured: the day will come when ‘we shall really understand what [God] means in these sweet words where he says, “All shall be well, and you shall see for yourself that all manner of things shall be well.”’ Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged C. S. Lewis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Exodus 20:1-20, forgiveness, Freedom, Julian of Norwich, Lent, Lent 3, Psalm 19, sin, Ten Commandments, Walter Brueggemann, Year of Mark
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Sermon: Ash ‘Wednesday’
One of the reasons I went on the pilgrimage was in the hope that it would purge me of the incandescent rage I feel at the people who have murdered, or allowed the murder of, thousands of children. I was not purged of my anger, but I was reminded that the murderers are my fellow, sinful, human beings and that all of us need God’s grace. Continue reading
Sermon: The light wherein our shadows disappear
Is Calvin right? As we see Jesus shining with unborrowed light are our shadows made darker by the contrast? I do not think so. The Transfiguration reveals to us the beauty of God, but it reveals that beauty in the mystery of the Incarnation; the one revealed by the light is the Son of Man, the firstborn within a large family that includes us. Continue reading