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Category Archives: Sermons
Sermon: Trinity Sunday
There is no room for self-sufficient rugged individualists in the church. We are creatures created in the image of the God who is community, and we are called to live as members of a community that includes everyone. That is how we will gather around the Lord’s Table later in this service. As I say every month, ‘Everyone who wishes to eat and drink at this table is welcome, because Christ turns no one away’. Continue reading
Sermon: No longer hiding
Since we are imperfect beings, and churches are imperfect institutions, this means that we will be accused of hypocrisy. How can our community service agencies ask the government to increase welfare benefits when churches receive tax exemptions? How can churches say we support constitutional recognition for First Nations when we played such a central part in colonisation, the destruction of Indigenous cultures, and housed the children stolen from their families? Continue reading
Sermon: We have not been left alone
The disciples show us how to wait, how to live in the time in-between; in community, with one another, constantly devoting ourselves to prayer. Called to glorify Jesus through our own lives we are to love one another as Jesus loved us, so that everyone will know that we are his disciples. We are to be one, as the Father and Son are one Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged Acts 1:6-14, Easter 7, Farewell Discourse, Gospel according to John, John 17:1-11
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Sermon: With gentleness and reverence
I have also found it incredibly heartening to hear why these people believe that they have been called into ministry in the Uniting Church. Most often, they talk of the inclusivity of the Uniting Church, of our diversity, of the way in which we respect each other’s differences and do not demand that everyone follow our way of being Christian. We are an entire Church that shares our faith ‘with gentleness and reverence’; that seeks to find common ground between us and those who are not Christian. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged Acts 17:22-31, Apostle Paul, Areopagus, culture, Easter 6, ministry, preaching, Roman Empire, Year of Matthew
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Sermon: In death and life
We do not need to wait until death to enter God’s dwelling-places, to join the community of love that is God. Jesus tells his disciples ‘I am in the Father and the Father is in me,’ and we are welcomed into their community of love and invited to dwell in God in both life and death. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged Acts 7:55-60, death, Farewell Discourse, John 14:1-14, life after death, life before death, St Stephen
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Sermon: Life in abundance
Do we use our money in such a way that it leads to the life in abundance that Jesus came to bring, for us and for others? Do we, for instance, give money to causes that bring health and hope to people in need? Do we buy things that have been produced in fair and sustainable ways? Do all the many people involved in getting food to our tables receive a living wage? Can we say with Justin Martyr that, ‘We who once took most pleasure in accumulating wealth and property now share with everyone in need’? Can we say with Tertullian that ‘our care for the derelict and our active love’ identify us? Continue reading
Sermon: On not being terrified of eating and drinking with Jesus
Each month we imitate these disciples on the road to Emmaus. We gather around the Table at which our Lord is the Host, knowing that we are welcome there, and then we leave the table to share God’s welcome with the world. Fed by both metaphorical and literal food, we go out to share both metaphorical and literal food. We receive what we are, and we become what we receive – the Body of Christ. We rejoice as we are regularly reminded that Christ is here: in our hearts; in our lives; and in our midst. Continue reading
Sermon: Where, O death, is now your sting?
If we ever worry that our sins, our faults and failings, make us unimportant, unacceptable, unlovable, that we deserve punishment rather than acceptance, then we can rejoice. Jesus said that he came to bring mercy, not sacrifice, and God affirmed Jesus’ teachings in the resurrection. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged death, Easter, Easter Sunday, eucatastrophe, J. R. R. Tolkien, old age, resurrection, Year of Matthew
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Sermon: Our Only King
We Christians should be inoculated against such awe. We venerate and revere only God. Our ‘powerful leader’ is Jesus, who is gentle and humble in heart, and whose yoke is easy, and burden light. (Matthew 11:28-30) But we are human beings, and so we are just as prone to revering people for the wrong things – wealth, heritage, title, fame – as Trump supporters. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged Donald Trump, gentleness, humility, King David, kingship, Leslie Cannold, Matthew 21:1-17, Palm Sunday
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Sermon: Death and Life
The funeral service used to contain the reminder that ‘in the midst of life we are in death,’ which apparently comes from a battle song by tenth-century monk Notker the Stammerer and, while that might strike our twenty-first-century ears as morbid, it is simply a fact. If we accept that, today’s reading can offer us comfort. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged death, Easter, funerals, George Herbert, Hope, John 11:1-45, Kevin Hart, Mourning, resurrection, William Shakespeare, Year of Matthew
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