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What I’ve been reading …
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Recent Posts
- Sermon: The futility of war and the peace of Christ
- Sermon: The God of Israel? The God of the USA? The Father of Jesus Christ is the God of the whole world and all creation.
- Sermon: Jesus’ advantage over Genghis Khan
- Sermon: Was Jesus a violent or a peaceful protester?
- Sermon: It is not going to make us any friends
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Author Archives: Avril Hannah-Jones
There is no ‘war on Christianity’ in Australia
This was going to be in this Sunday’s sermon, but there’s no room for it. But it took me ages to find the correct Synod Minute, so I’m sticking it here so that I will remember it. There is no … Continue reading
Sermon: Christmas Day
Christmas is created by God’s Spirit doing a new thing, and God entering the world in a new way. It also happens because of the openness of Mary and Joseph to all that scandalous newness. Are we able, like them, to say ‘yes’ to God when God does something new in our lives? Continue reading
Christmas Eve: All hands were drunk
Christmas tells us that God loves us so passionately that God became human, and so today we sing songs of joy. As we sing we also remember the lessons this baby grew up to teach us: to love God, our neighbours, and our enemies; to care for the poorest in society; to welcome those society most excludes. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged carols, Christmas, Christmas Eve, Luke 2:1-14, nativity, shepherds
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Sermon: Joy Sunday
Today, I am not suggesting that those of us who struggle to find the joy in Christmas should pretend that everything in our lives is perfect. I suspect that our lives would be better were we able to say honestly that Christmas is a difficult time for us. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged A Christmas Carol, Advent, Advent 3, Blue Christmas, Charles Dickens, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Joy, Luke 1:46b-55, Matthew 11:2-11, Scrooge
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Sermon: Peace Sunday
I suspect that the people of Israel heard this prophecy as true for the same reason that we are hearing it in church two thousand years after the birth of the one we Christians believe is the Messiah. Prophecies of the peaceable kingdom speak to our deepest longings. They describe what we believe, in the core of our hearts and our guts, God’s good creation should be. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged Advent, Advent 2, Isaiah 11:1-10, John the Baptist, judgement, Matthew 3:1-12, Peace, Prophet Isaiah, Year of Matthew
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Sermon: Jesus’ female ancestors
I lived through a ‘think of the children’ scare campaign as a young gay woman; I do not appreciate politicians, political candidates, and neo-Nazis replaying it with trans people today. Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged 2 Samuel 11:1 – 12:25, Advent, Advent 1, Bathsheba, Book of Ruth, Genesis 38, LGBTIQ, matthew 1:1-17, Queer People, Rahab, Ruth, scare campaigns, Tamar, transgender, Year of Matthew
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Sermon: Longer than all earthly empires
In this world of violence and exclusion proclaiming such things might seem utterly naïve. And yet the reign of Christ has lasted longer than any of the empires of the world. Jesus was executed by the Roman Empire, which lasted for between 500 and 1000 years, depending on how it is defined. The British Empire, the reason that most of us are living here on this land, lasted four hundred years. Jesus was executed as a common criminal almost two thousand years ago and yet here we are, millennia later, on the other side of the world, trying our best to live as citizens of his realm. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged Christ the King, crucifixion, Jeremiah 23:1-6, Luke 23:33-43, Passion, The Reign of Christ, Year of Luke
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Sermon: The Peaceable Kingdom
How can we look at everything that is happening around us, the homes and livelihoods destroyed by what is usually God’s good gift of water, the thousands of people who have died of covid19 in Australia and the millions who have died around the world, and say that God cares about creation? The author that we know as ‘Third’ Isaiah, from whom today’s reading from the Hebrew Scriptures comes, had the same challenge. The description of God’s holy mountain as a place where all creation is renewed seems completely unrealistic. But there was nothing fanciful in what Isaiah was doing. Continue reading
Sermon: Forgiveness and Repentance
we cannot expect to remain the same when we joyfully climb down that sycamore tree. As we examine our lives, we may find ourselves relinquishing half of what we have, and doing four times as much right as we have previously done wrong Continue reading
Sermon: God’s priorities, according to the Prophet Jeremiah
It would take a great deal of faith to hold on to that hope while sitting in the ruins of Jerusalem, or while in exile in Babylon, just as much faith as it takes us to hold on to the hope of God’s justice when we look at the world around us. It is much easier to hold on to this hope in community than to try to do it alone and here in Australia, despite anything politicians or the media might say, we do have the great privilege of being able to meet together for worship and to share the words of God with each other. So let us encourage each other in our persistence, as we pray without losing heart. Amen. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged Babylonian Exile, Christian persecution, exile, Hope, Jeremiah 31:27-34, Luke 18:1-8, Persecution of Christians, prayer, Year of Luke
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