Author Archives: Avril Hannah-Jones
Resolution on non-violent anti-genocide action
At the eighteenth meeting of the Uniting Church Synod of Victoria and Tasmania, Rev. Alex Sangster and I presented a proposal condemning antisemitic acts in Australia, while pointing out that protesting genocide is not antisemitic and encouraging members of the Uniting Church in Victoria and Tasmania to do so. The proposal was passed without amendment. This is the text of that proposal, the rationale for it, and the words of the speech I made presenting it. Continue reading
Sermon: The jeremiads of Jeremiah
There is much discussion today about the right of nation states to exist. What a difference it would make in the world if we agreed with the Hebrew prophets that only those nations whose citizens act justly one with another, those nations that do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, those nations that do not shed innocent blood, have the ‘right’ to dwell peaceably in their lands. Continue reading
Sermon: My great-grandfather’s “true Jewishness”
This message is clear: to be the people of God, it is not enough to worship God. To truly belong to God, the people of God must also live out their calling in justice and in caring for those most in need. Continue reading
Sermon: Collective responsibility, if not collective punishment
In Hosea’s portrayal of God, God is the good and caring parent who watches a beloved child become a difficult adolescent and make the wrong choices. Continue reading
Sermon: Give Gazans their necessary bread!
It has been hard to think about daily necessary bread this week, while seeing the images of skeletal children starving in Gaza. I will not show them to you, because they are simply too graphic for church. Charities have been warning the world of this impending human-created disaster for months; now Palestinians are dying daily of hunger. More than a thousand Palestinians have been killed trying to access the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, whose name is bitterly ironic. Continue reading
Sermon: As I have said before, economics are theological
I do not believe in a God who destroys nations for their wrongdoing. I do believe that the words of Amos are a warning to any nation that might believe it has God on its side, or in today’s terms, that it is a virtuously liberal democracy, and yet commits injustice against the most vulnerable. Continue reading
Sermon: Casting the first stone
There are few things harder than forgiving those who have done wrong, whether they have harmed us or others. For many of us, there is nothing harder than forgiving ourselves when we know we have done wrong. I suspect that the two are connected, and that the people who judge others most harshly are those who are most unable to forgive themselves. Continue reading
Sermon: Murder is not a biblical value
One side of the Hebrew Scriptures worships a violent and vicious tribal god. But throughout the Hebrew Scriptures is a second stream, with a God who cares as much for the stranger as for the Israelite. Continue reading
Sermon: Dear God, we pray for unity and peace
But as I write this Reflection, Israel and Iran are dropping bombs on each other, and there seems every likelihood that President Trump wants the USA to be involved. So today these readings seem to me to speak less about the need for unity among Christians, and more about the need for unity among human beings. Continue reading
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