Author Archives: Avril Hannah-Jones
Sermon: The importance of good biblical interpretation
Bad Biblical interpretation has been used by Christians to justify the most appalling crimes against humanity: slavery; the Holocaust; apartheid. We must read the Bible carefully, in context, and through the lens of Jesus’ commands that we love God and neighbour because the alternative is terrifying. Continue reading
Sermon: So, you want to have a king …
In the same way that we can be certain that the author of Samuel was wrong to attribute a desire for genocide to God, we can be certain that there are things that we believe about God today that will later be revealed to be wrong – because we are human and, as the Apostle Paul wrote, we currently only ‘see in a mirror, dimly’. Continue reading
Sermon: Jesus (mis)reads the scriptures
The Pharisees are shocked at Jesus’ apparently cavalier attitude to the laws governing the Sabbath. Modern Christians are shocked at Jesus’ apparently cavalier attitude to biblical interpretation. Continue reading
Women Celebrating Justice: Reflection for the Victorian Country Women’s Association
In 1928 when the CWA opened ‘rest rooms’ throughout Victoria it was overturning an injustice that meant that women couldn’t travel far from home. We all know how important it is for women to have access to toilets; even today some girls leave school when they start menstruating because they don’t have access to water and toilets. So well done to those very first members of the CWA! Continue reading
Sermon: Is Isaiah a role model for volunteers? (National Volunteer Week)
In the same way, Isaiah keeps prophesying even though he knows he will fail, and we keep offering our best efforts to the church community to which God has called us even if we don’t know what success would look like. It’s counter-intuitive, and it’s why volunteering is the wrong word. Instead we should talk about ministry, or service, or even about acts of love. Continue reading
Sermon: What is love? (Baby, don’t hurt me)
It is, as I have said so many times that I’m sure you’re sick of it, the heart of the Christian faith. We. Are. Loved. Continue reading
Sermon: Forgiveness, not sacrifice
Sermon for Williamstown Uniting Church ANZAC Service – 22nd of April, 2018 Have any of you seen the recent film Good-Bye Christopher Robin? It flashes forwards and backwards between the two World Wars and the period between them. It begins … Continue reading
Sermon: Putting it all together
The journey to faith isn’t instantaneous and it isn’t simply a matter of reading and understanding the Scriptures. Faith comes from the disciples’ encounters with the risen Jesus, in which everything they’ve heard and learned is integrated with what they’ve experienced. Continue reading
Sermon: The story continues
maybe Smith does fit in this year’s telling of the Easter story. After all, there’s no doubt that he has failed, fallen short of what has been expected of him. And one of the things that the Easter story reminds us is that all human beings do fail. Part of being human is stuffing up. Continue reading
Sermon: How is Jesus like a bronze serpent?
The cross turns our ways of seeing the world upside down. God becomes powerless to defeat death; human suffering is taken up into the life of God. Continue reading
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