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Category Archives: Sermons
Jesus’ Compassionate Ministry: Lessons from Mark 6 and Ephesians 2
While the needs of the world are great, and the church is called to imitate Jesus’ compassion, none of us is Jesus. Not even collectively is the church the Messiah. In today’s scenario, we are the Twelve, not Jesus, and we can take time to rest. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged Act2, Ephesians 2:11-22, Mark 6: 30-34 and 53-56, Refreshment, Rest, Uniting Church, uniting church in australia, unity, Year of Mark
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Sermon: I go down the rabbit hole of ‘predestination’
We have been blessed in Christ, chosen in Christ, adopted through Christ, obtained an inheritance in Christ, and set our hope on Christ. However God will gather others to Godself, we have become God’s own people through our relationship with Christ. Continue reading
Sermon: Strength in weakness
Both Paul, describing the thorn in his flesh, and Jesus, telling the Twelve to take nothing for their journey but staff and sandals, are making the same point. We do not share the good news of Jesus Christ using our own power. We do so in the power of God. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged 2 Corinthians 12:2-10, Apostle Paul, Mark 6:1-13, strength, weakness, Year of Mark
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Sermon: Enough for all
Each ‘daughter’ receives from Jesus what it is they need. While the delay caused by healing the haemorrhaging woman makes it appear that Jairus’ request has been denied: ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?’ both daughters are healed. The time and power Jesus gives to one is not taken from the other. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged 2 Corinthians 8:7-15, A Christmas Carol, Apostle Paul, generosity, haemorrhaging woman, healing, Jairus' daughter, Mark 5:21-43, Poverty, Scrooge, sharing, wealth
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Sermon: Deeper Water
Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church 23rd of June 2024 Mark 4:35-41 One of the last poems that the nineteenth-century British author Emily Bronte wrote begins: No coward soul is mine No trembler in the world’s storm-troubled sphere I see … Continue reading
Sermon: Simply planting seeds
I occasionally get discouraged about my own absolute and utter failure as an evangelist. I am many atheists’ favourite Christian, which is not a title I take lightly. Often I have been told by people that if they believed in any God, they would believe in mine. Which is nice, but sometimes I wish they would consider a belief in God to be more than hypothetical. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged growth, harvest, kingdom of heaven, Mark 4:26-34, mustard seed, parables, Year of Mark
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Sermon: Holy Spirit and evil spirits
It is hard to rightly judge enthusiasm manufactured by living men before our own eyes, whether that enthusiasm is the Jesus Movement within first-century Judaism, the excesses of Francis of Assisi, Protestantism, Methodism, the movement for the ordination of women, the struggle for churches to welcome LGBTIQ+ people, Pentecostalism, and so on, and so forth. If we are not going to join the scribes in their eternal sin, we need to be constantly open to the new things the Holy Spirit is doing, and this will demand much discernment. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged anti-Zionism, Beelzebul, families, family, Holy Spirit, Jesus'family, Mark 3:20-35, materialism, Methodism, racism, Rev. Sydney Smith, Satan, scribes, sexism, spirits, white supremacy, Year of Mark
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Sermon: Ending in Darkness
Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church2nd of June, 2024 Psalm 88 Bruce and I, with the help of our cantor, Tom, are being a bit cheeky today. The psalm that Tom led us in this morning, Psalm 88, is not in … Continue reading
Sermon: Sadly without unicorns
There have been many Christological interpretations of this psalm throughout history, and I am going to ignore all of them, except to say that an early mistranslation of ‘He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox’ had Sirion, another name for Mount Hermon on the border between Lebanon and Syria, skipping like a young unicorn. There were some wonderful interpretations of this psalm based on this mention of a unicorn, but sadly I must ignore them all, given that the unicorn was an ox. Continue reading
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Tagged Brene Brown, Gerard Manley Hopkins, gratitude, Monty Python, nature, Psalm 29, Trinity Sunday
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Sermon: “with warm breast and with ah! bright wings”
Do not be afraid of night, of death, of exile, of grief. The Holy Spirit, God’s ruach, still broods over the world with warm breast and bright wings. Continue reading
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