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- 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
Sermon: Do not choose trauma
We can divide the world into Us and Them, Exiles and Babylonians, Jews and Samaritans, or we can recognise that we are all human beings who have been created by the one God to live on this one fragile and wonderful planet. We know which choice Jesus, who told us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, wants us to make. Amen. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged Book of Jeremiah, Bosnia-Herzegovina, chosen trauma, Elizabeth Boase, genocide, Jeremiah 29:1 and 4-7, Kosovo, Norman G. Finkelstein, Prophet Jeremiah, Serbia, Serbian nationalism, The Holocaust Industry: Reflection on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering, trauma, Trauma Theories: Refractions in the Book of Jeremiah, Vamik D. Volkan
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Sermon: No one deserves this
We are told in excruciating detail of the suffering Daughter Zion is experiencing. As Daughter Zion complains, ‘The punishment of my people is greater than that of Sodom’. (Lamentations 4:6) Nothing that Judah had done could justify the starvation, exile, and death her people are experiencing. Another way of saying it might be, no possible war crime can ever justify genocide. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged Amos, Babylonian Exile, Book of Lamentations, death, exile, Ezekiel, Gaza, Hosea, Isaiah, J. Cheryl Exum, Jeremiah, Jewish Voice for Peace, Judaism, JVP, lament, Lamentations 1:1-6, Liturgy, Palestine, prophetic pornography, sexual assault, siege, starvation, Tisha B’Av
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Sermon: Crazy brave hope
It could be argued that Australia as we know it, and our presence here today, is at least partly a result of the biblical narratives of the Exodus and the Babylonian Exile; that, like modern Israel and modern Palestine, modern Australia is a product of the Hebrew Scriptures. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged Australia, Book of Jeremiah, faith, Hope, Israel, Jeremiah 32:1-3a 6-15, land, Meredith Lake, Palestine, Prophet Jeremiah, The Bible in Australia
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Sermon: “Stop all the clocks …”
Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church 14th of September, 2025 Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28 Have any of you read Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series? If not, I highly recommend them. The books follow Joyce, Elizabeth, Ron, and Ibrahim, who live … Continue reading
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
Posted in Sermons
Tagged Babylonian Exile, Book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah 1:4-10, Prophet Jeremiah, trauma, Year of Luke
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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
Posted in Sermons
Tagged genocide, Isaiah 1:1 10-20, Israel, Justice, My great-grandfather, My Jewish heritage, Palestine, Prophet Amos, Prophet Hosea, Prophet Isaiah, worship, Year of Luke
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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
Posted in Sermons
Tagged God as Parent, Hosea 11:1-11, judgement, love, prophecy, Prophet Amos, Prophet Hosea, punishment, Year of Luke
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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
Posted in Political Activism, Sermons
Tagged Apostle Paul, Gaza, genocide, hunger, Israel, Lord's Prayer, Luke 11:1-13, Palestine, starvation, Teresa of Avila, war crimes, Year of Luke
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