Sermon: Who is welcome? The doubters; the faithful; the rule-breakers

Posted on March 21, 2020 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Sermon for Western Heights Uniting Church
22 March 2020

John 9:1-41

Jesus is reported to have said, ‘do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today’ (Matthew 6:34) – but then Jesus did not live through a pandemic. Things have been changing so fast that it has been almost impossible to keep up. Last week we simply agreed not to shake hands at church. On Wednesday the Church Council decided that we wouldn’t have morning tea after church, and that we would offer small, family-only, funerals now and larger Services of Thanksgiving when the crisis is over. On Thursday Karen and I decided not to have the fabulous inter-generational service we’d planned for this morning because it was going to explore senses other than sight, and now is not the time to be using taste and touch in worship. When I had thought I had finished writing this sermon on Friday we weren’t sure what was happening next, but we were planning to stay open. So I had to do some rewriting on Saturday, after the decision had been made to stop gathering for worship. Given the pace of all this, it’s extremely hard not to worry about tomorrow, no matter what Jesus might have told his disciples.
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For the newsletter

Posted on March 20, 2020 by Avril Hannah-Jones

The supposedly-Chinese (but probably really English) curse is: “May you live in interesting times”. Times have certainly become interesting! We do not know how COVID19 will affect us; we have already had to make changes to the way we live; and undoubtedly there will be many more changes before this pandemic is over.

However, some things will stay the same. Even if we cannot gather together, we will still be a community. Even if we cannot attend a Sunday morning service, we will still be able to worship God together – maybe virtually. (I absolutely hate being filmed, so my big corona virus sacrifice might be allowing myself to be videoed.) Whatever happens, we will continue to be the people of God, loving God and one another through this crisis.

We already pray for each other and for those in need in the world. Please continue to do that. Please also pray for the medical staff, who will put themselves at risk to care for the sick; for our leaders, who are having to make very difficult decisions; and for the poorest people in our community, including asylum seekers and others without access to government help. This will hit them hardest.

May God bless you and keep you in the days ahead.

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Covid19 Diary 1

Posted on March 19, 2020 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Samuel Pepys: March 19, 1665
Lord’s day. Mr. Povey and I in his coach to Hide parke, being the first day of the Tour there – where many brave ladies. Among others, Castlemayne lay impudently upon her back in her coach, asleep with her mouth open.

March 19, 2020

Last night the Church Council discussed what to do if someone dies during the pandemic emergency. A much-loved member of the congregation had a fall on Sunday, and is not expected to survive. In ordinary times his funeral would be enormous, hundreds of people would gather to say ‘goodbye’. Obviously we can’t do that now. Continue reading →

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Sermon: Who is welcome? Foreigners and women

Posted on March 14, 2020 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Sermon for Western Heights Uniting Church
15 March 2020

John 4:5-42

Today’s story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well is one of my favourite stories in the entire Bible, with one of my favourite characters. But even though this is a famous story, celebrated in song, throughout history the Samaritan woman has been defamed.

The story starts with Jesus sitting alone by a well, when a woman approaches to draw water. John tells us that it’s about noon. Immediately we know that there is something wrong in this woman’s life. She’s coming to the well in the heat of the day, rather than in the cool of the dawn or early evening. She’s coming alone, rather than with the other women of the village. The woman is an outsider, isolated from her community. And yet Jesus, a Jewish man, asks her for a drink. Continue reading →

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Sermon: Who is welcome? Those who need to be born again

Posted on March 7, 2020 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Sermon for Western Heights Uniting Church
8 March 2020

John 3:1-17
Butterfly House by Eve Bunting

In today’s reading we are introduced to one of the most tantalising characters in the Bible – Nicodemus. He only appears three times in the Scriptures, all in the gospel according to John, and we know nothing else about him. But in these three moments we see a journey from darkness to courage and love – a journey for us to imitate.

The reading starts with Nicodemus the Pharisee coming to visit Jesus by night. Why at night? Is he coming to visit a teacher in the quiet hours, when Pharisees were advised to study without the distractions of the day? Will a night visit mean that his fellow scholars are unlikely to see him visiting someone as potentially disreputable as Jesus? Or is the ‘night’ from which Nicodemus emerges to question Jesus symbolic, representing the world of ignorance into which the light that is Jesus has come to shine? Given that we’re reading a story written by John, probably all of these answers are right. Continue reading →

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Sermon: Who is welcome? Sinners.

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Sermon for ‘Ash Sunday’

Matthew 4:1-11

Our theme for Lent is ‘who is welcome?’ and, as you may have gathered from the Call to Worship, the answer is ‘everybody!’ Jesus was executed by the Romans because they thought he was a political rebel, seeking to overthrow them. But long before he entered Jerusalem on the day we remember as ‘Palm Sunday,’ Jesus was a social and religious rebel, well-known for welcoming those others excluded.

Today, the first day of Lent, the day on which we belatedly ‘celebrate’ Ash Wednesday, we are reminded that the ‘everyone’ Jesus welcomes includes ‘sinners who need forgiveness’. That’s just another way of saying ‘everyone’ because there isn’t a human being alive who lives without sin. Luckily, there is also no one whose sins God does not forgive. Continue reading →

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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 and Elijah, talking with him.’ It’s so strange, the transfiguration. Some commentators suggest that what we have here is a post-resurrection Easter vision, or a vision of the end times, when Moses and Elijah were expected to appear, being read back into the ministry of Jesus. But I don’t think the Transfiguration is a vision. I think it is a ‘story’.

Stories aren’t seen as particularly important in our fact-based, scientific, world. The word can even mean ‘lie’; when we tell children ‘don’t tell stories’. And yet stories are essential. We understand ourselves and our world by listening to stories; we create our identity through them; we explain our experiences to others by telling them our story. This is particularly true in the church. We explain who we are and, more importantly, who God is, with story. Continue reading →

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Sermon: The unfashionable virtue of obedience

Posted on February 15, 2020 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Sermon for Western Heights Uniting Church
16th of February, 2020

Matthew 5:21-37

‘Obedience’ isn’t seen as a virtue in the 21st century. This could be because the 20th century saw too much of it. After World War Two, trials of Nazis were held at Nuremberg. Those on trial usually admitted that they had carried out the crimes with which they were charged, but argued that they were just following orders. ‘Just following orders’ is now known as the ‘Nuremberg defence’. It was also later used by Adolf Eichmann when he was tried in Israel. He said,‘I cannot recognize the verdict of guilty … At that time obedience was demanded, just as in the future it will also be demanded of the subordinate. Obedience is commended as a virtue.’ The judges rejected this defence, both at Nuremberg and at the trial of Eichmann. They held that ‘just following orders’ doesn’t excuse someone from breaking international law. 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 in his baptism, when the Holy Spirit descended on him and God announced that Jesus was his Beloved Son. And both last week and this week we see the calling of Jesus’ first disciples, those first followers who will form the nucleus of the new community to which all of us now belong through our own baptism.

If you can remember last week’s reading from the Gospel according to John, you might be a little puzzled at the differences between that description of the call of Jesus’ first disciples and today’s. John tells us that Andrew and another disciple were initially disciples of John the baptiser, and that it was John’s recognition of Jesus as the Lamb of God that led to the disciples seeking Jesus out. It was only after spending time with Jesus, responding to his invitation to ‘come and see,’ that the disciples recognised Jesus as the Messiah. Then Andrew sought out his brother Simon, whom Jesus renamed Peter. John’s story would have made sense to a Jewish audience, used to disciples seeking out their own rabbi. Continue reading →

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No need for a Religious ‘Freedom’ Act

Posted on January 23, 2020 by Avril Hannah-Jones

1.      Introduction

Australia is a multi-cultural and multi-faith nation in which people from a great variety of religious backgrounds, and those who hold no faith at all, have found a home. With a very few exceptions Australians of all faiths are able to safely practise their religion here. As the Report of the Expert Panel into Religious Freedom (the Religious Freedom Review) documented, Australians whose faiths face persecution overseas appreciate the ‘relative safety that Australia affords people of different faiths’ (1.13). That Report recommended only small additions to Australia’s legislative protection of Australians’ religious freedoms.

Given this, the Second Exposure Draft of the Religious Discrimination Bill (2019) (the Bill) is disappointing. It goes far beyond the recommendations of the Religious Freedom Review. Although the Bill describes itself as one that addresses ‘Religious Discrimination’ it should more accurately be titled a ‘Religious Freedom Bill’. It gives rights to people of faith that are not held by other people. It allows people of faith to discriminate against those with whom they disagree. It attempts to give rights that can only be held by individuals to religious institutions. If this Bill is passed, it will create divisions within Australia that currently do not exist. The passing of this legislation may license further discrimination within Australia, rather than less. Continue reading →

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