Category Archives: Sermons

Sermon: Do not be afraid

Posted on February 22, 2020 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Sermon for Western Heights Uniting Church Transfiguration, 23rd of February 2020 Exodus 24:12-18 Matthew 17:1-9 ‘And [Jesus] was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses … Continue reading →

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Sermon: The unfashionable virtue of obedience

Posted on February 15, 2020 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Of course we cannot be perfect, as our Father in heaven is perfect. But every time we try to be better, every time we could call another Christian, ‘You fool’, or objectify someone by looking at them with lust in our hearts, and yet we don’t – we come closer to being the people God created us to be. Continue reading →

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Sermon: Following in the footsteps of the Apostle Peter and Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Posted on January 25, 2020 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Sermon for Camberwell Uniting Church 26th of January, 2020 Matthew 4:12-24 Isaiah 9:1-4 These weeks that we have between Christmas and Lent are dedicated to the nature of vocation or call. We’ve seen Jesus’ call to begin his public ministry … Continue reading →

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Sermon Against the Prosperity Gospel

Posted on January 18, 2020 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, neither success nor failure, wealth nor poverty, health nor sickness, happiness nor despair. Continue reading →

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Sermon: God’s Humanity

Posted on January 11, 2020 by Avril Hannah-Jones

even more important than the details of the incarnation is the simple point of the incarnation. In Jesus, God became one of us. In Jesus, God embraced humanity. Continue reading →

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Sermon: The foolishness of the wise

Posted on January 4, 2020 by Avril Hannah-Jones

The magi may be ‘wise men from the East’ but apparently they lack all common sense. Continue reading →

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Sermon: Putting Herod back into Christmas

Posted on December 28, 2019 by Avril Hannah-Jones

If we include the Massacre of the Innocents and the Flight into Egypt in the Christmas Story, then the answer to the question, ‘where is God?’ is: ‘right there in the midst of danger and slaughter, vulnerable and defenceless’. Continue reading →

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Sermon: Counter-culturally caring for creation

Posted on November 17, 2019 by Avril Hannah-Jones

This is why the Pope, and the Ecumenical Patriarch, and the World Council of Churches have told all Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Christians that we have a responsibility to respond to the Climate Emergency. As people made in the image of God the Creator we are called to care for God’s creation. Continue reading →

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Sermon: The welfare of the city

Posted on October 13, 2019 by Avril Hannah-Jones

God has brought you here; God is already at work here; and in the shalom of this amazing, beautiful, challenging city of Melbourne, you will find your shalom. Continue reading →

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Sermon: A psalm of hate

Posted on October 6, 2019 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Another gift of the Psalter is the permission it gives us to share everything with God, even those emotions of which we are ashamed. The psalms show us that there is nothing that human beings can think, feel, say, or do, that we need to hide from God. Continue reading →

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