Author Archives: Avril Hannah-Jones
Bit cut out of Sunday’s sermon
Sadly, there was no room for this paragraph in the sermon for Sunday the 21st. Throughout history various groups, religious and otherwise, have predicted the end of the world and hitherto all have been wrong. Going down the rabbit hole … Continue reading
Sermon: Come and see God in the ordinary
Eighty per cent of women are dissatisfied with our bodies. Would it help us to think of our bodies as ‘members of Christ,’ ‘a temple of the Holy Spirit’ within us? Would we treat our bodies with more respect if we remembered that they are gifts to us from God, given to us to glorify God? Continue reading
Sermon: Epiphany 2024
The magi, as Gentile foreigners, would be able to get through the checkpoint into Bethlehem in the same way that I did when I visited. It would now be illegal under Israeli law for Herod and his court to enter, though. Jewish Israelis are forbidden from visiting and seeing Palestinians as ordinary people, living in their own homes, which makes it easier to convince them that all Palestinians are terrorists who want to kill them. Herod’s soldiers would still be able to raid Bethlehem, as the IDF did this Christmas. Mary and Joseph would need to go through multiple checkpoints on their flight to Egypt, and arguing that they needed to do so to save the life of their baby might not work. Continue reading
Sermon: No Christmas in Bethlehem
It is important for us as Christians to do this, because Christianity is so profoundly implicated in the violence in Israel and Palestine. One of the reasons that many Jewish Israelis believe that their state must be a fortress is because of the centuries of Christian antisemitism the culminated in the twentieth century in the Holocaust. And one of the reasons that the United States government provides Israel with weapons is because of the strength of Christian Zionism in the USA. Continue reading
Sermon: Questioning Mary the Revolutionary
Both Israel’s Likud government and the Hamas leadership seem to want a situation in which the people who have been oppressed can become the oppressors. We know that this is not justice, but the Magnificat comes uncomfortably close to such a vision. Continue reading
Sermon: Even when there is no peace
Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church Advent Two, 10th of December 2023 Isaiah 40:1-11 2 Peter 3:8-15a Mark 1:1-8 Thousands of years ago the first of the three prophets we call Isaiah looked forward to the coming of a king from … Continue reading
Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church Advent One, 3rd of December 2023 Isaiah 64:1-9 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 Mark 13:24-37 Happy New Year! Today, the first Sunday of Advent, the church is beginning both a new church year and a time … Continue reading
Sermon: Being Sheep, not Goats
Our charitable giving increases at Christmas because we know that the best way to welcome the new-born baby who is our Saviour is by caring for him in the poor. We may need to wait until the end of time to see the Son of Man come in his glory. But we see Jesus every single day in the faces of those in need. Continue reading
Sermon: It’s not the Rapture
I have wondered whether it makes sense to preach hope and a God of love in such a world. But then I remember that the world has always been like this, and that the church not merely can but must preach hope and a God of love through every crisis. Continue reading
Sermon: We will not use the Bible to justify genocide
Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church 5th of November 2023 Joshua 3:7-17 Matthew 23:1-12 Members of this congregation have occasionally asked me why I always preach on a Bible reading from the Revised Common Lectionary. One answer is that by … Continue reading
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