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Author Archives: avrilhj
Sermon: The welfare of the city
God has brought you here; God is already at work here; and in the shalom of this amazing, beautiful, challenging city of Melbourne, you will find your shalom. Continue reading
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Posted in Sermons
Tagged Babylonian Exile, city, exile, Jeremiah, Jeremiah 29:1 and 4-7, Melbourne, Wesley Uniting Church
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Sermon: A psalm of hate
Another gift of the Psalter is the permission it gives us to share everything with God, even those emotions of which we are ashamed. The psalms show us that there is nothing that human beings can think, feel, say, or do, that we need to hide from God. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged anger, biblical interpretation, C. S. Lewis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Hate, Psalm 137, reading the Bible, revenge, The Psalter
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Sermon: A terrifyingly simple parable
It also takes the church out of the safe realm of biblical interpretation and theology into the scary realm of economics and politics. We could quite easily be told that questions of taxation and social security are none of our business. But we are in the Year of Luke and Luke, as I’ve already said, had no qualms about bringing socioeconomics into religion. Maybe we can too. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged 1 Timothy 6:6-19, Luke 16:1-13, parables, Poverty, wealth, Wesley Uniting Church, Year of Luke
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Sermon: A complete puzzle of a parable
I have been chewing on this parable, as Jesus’ first hearers would have chewed it over on their way home that evening, wondering what the Lord meant by this story. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged Dishonest Manager, Luke 16:1-13, money, parables, wealth, Wesley Uniting Church, Year of Luke
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Sermon: God must be crazy!
The problem is that Jesus is willing to eat with tax-collectors and sinners, to relate to them as people, to see them as beloved human beings, before they demonstrate any repentance at all. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged lost coin, lost sheep, love, Luke 15:1-10, parables, Wesley Uniting Church
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Reflection: Carrying the Cross
What we are seeing with the federal Religious Discrimination Bill is a last, desperate, attempt by Australian churches to hold on to the privilege and possessions that Australian Christians used to be able to take for granted: respect from the community, and a place at the tables of politicians. Continue reading
Posted in Reflection, Sermons
Tagged Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Lenny Duncan, Luke 14:25-33, William H. Lamar IV
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Sermon: Slavery and Biblical Literalism
If Christians were satisfied with simply ‘believing in the Bible’ we might still be approving slavery. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged Bible, biblical interpretation, philemon, reading the Bible, slavery, Wesley Uniting Church
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