Sermon: Universalism means universal love

Posted on June 1, 2025 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church
The Seventh Sunday of Easter, 1st of June 2025

Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21

Today, the last Sunday of the Easter season, as we listen to our final reading from the Book of Revelation, we are hearing the very last words of the Bible. The Bible is not to be read, as I thought it was to be read when I was given my first grown-up version at the age of eight, from Genesis chapter one verse one, to Revelation, chapter twenty-two verse twenty-one; from ‘In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,’ to ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.’ But the final verse from Revelation is not a bad ending for the entire biblical canon. There are variants in the original Greek that make this last blessing even more expansive, so in the King James and the New English Versions we read ‘The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all’ and in the Good News translation we read, ‘May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with everyone.’ However we translate it, the last verse of the last chapter of the last book of the Bible reminds us that the gospel is meant to be good news for the whole wide world. Continue reading →

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“First they came …” the progressive Australian version

Posted on May 27, 2025 by Avril Hannah-Jones

First they came for First Nations people, so we march on Invasion Day, advocate for Treaty, and ask governments to Raise the Age.

Then they came for the LGBTIQ+ community, so we marched, and advocated, got homosexuality decriminalised and marriage equality legalised, but realised the fight against neo-Nazis would never end. Continue reading →

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Sermon: Building Jerusalem in Australia’s dry and dusty land

Posted on May 18, 2025 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church
The Fifth Sunday of Easter, 18th of May 2025

Revelation 21:1-6

I have a confession to make. Although I am Scottish Australian, I absolutely adore the song ‘Jerusalem,’ the early nineteenth-century poem by William Blake that Sir Hubert Parry put to music in the early twentieth century. I blame the joy I take in hearing about ‘England’s green and pleasant land’ on the film Chariots of Fire, which was released when I was eight years old and in which my cousin had a role playing Eric Liddell’s brother Rob. If you have not seen Chariots of Fire, and you do not know who Eric Liddell was, that is your homework for the week. The soundtrack of Chariots of Fire, including ‘Jerusalem,’ is carved into my memory.

Blake's hand-lettered preface to his epic poem Milton, which contains the words to what became the song 'Jerusalem'

Continue reading →

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Sermon: The Book of Revelation – not that terrifying!

Posted on May 4, 2025 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church
The Third Sunday of Easter, 4th of May, 2025

Revelation 5:11-14

Today I am going to do something that I have never done before. I am going to preach on the lection from Revelation.

The Revised Common Lectionary gives us only a few readings from Revelation, mostly limiting them to this season of Easter in the liturgical year of Luke, and mostly giving us descriptions of worship and praise. If we follow the lectionary readings we never hear about the plagues, wars, and famines that Revelation describes as occurring when angels blow trumpets and pour out bowls of God’s wrath, even though it is probably those plagues, wars, and famines that first spring to mind when thinking about this part of the Bible. Beyond the lectionary, we are most likely to use elements of Revelation in song. ‘Love divine, all loves excelling’ (TIS 217), the Battle Hymn of the Republic (TIS 315), ‘Shall we gather at the river?’ and ‘When the saints go marching in’ all use images from the Book of Revelation. (If St Kilda ever wins an AFL Grand Final we will most definitely be singing ‘When the saints …’ even though the football theme song makes no mention of stars falling from the sky, the sun refusing to shine, or the moon turning red with blood.) But there is more to Revelation than us casting our crowns before God or the grapes of wrath being trampled. Continue reading →

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Easter Sunday: Joining Mary Magdalene in joy and sorrow

Posted on April 20, 2025 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church
Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025

1 Corinthians 15:19-26
John 20:1-18

“I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”

There are two things of which we can be sure about the events of that first day of the week. The first is that Jesus’ body was missing from the tomb. If the corpse had been quietly lying where Joseph of Arimathea had placed it, the Romans would have displayed it as soon as rumours began to spread that an executed man was appearing to his followers. In the Gospel according to Matthew there is a story of the priests bribing soldiers to say that Jesus’ disciples had stolen the body to explain its absence (Matthew 28:11-15) and another Jewish story had a gardener named Judas removing the body and later returning it. Whatever else we believe, we can be sure that the tomb was empty. Continue reading →

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Sermon: Until warring powers cry ‘Enough!’

Posted on April 13, 2025 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church
‘Palm’ Sunday, 13th of April, 2025

Luke 19:28-48

Today we celebrate Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem for the Passover. Like pilgrims throughout time, Jesus’ disciples rejoice as they enter the holy city, praising God for God’s mighty deeds. But Jesus is not simply another pilgrim. Luke’s telling of the story makes it clear that Jesus is entering Jerusalem as its king. He sits on a colt that has never been ridden, one that is suitable for sacred purposes. Jesus’ disciples set him on it, an act of homage, and the spreading of cloaks on the road before the colt is another act of homage to a ruler. The psalm that the crowd sings as they come into sight of Jerusalem has one small but significant change from the version in the psalter. Rather than singing ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord,’ the people sing, ‘Blessed is the king …’. Continue reading →

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Sermon: Martha, Lazarus, and Mary

Posted on April 6, 2025 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church
Lent 5, 6th of April, 2025

John 12:1-8

‘The chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council, and said, “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.” But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all! You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.”’ (John 11:47-50) Continue reading →

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Sermon: No, we are not unworthy

Posted on March 30, 2025 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church
Lent 4, 30th of March, 2025

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Today’s reading from Paul’s Second Letter to the church at Corinth, or at least the second letter of his to the Corinthians that we have, is full of quotable quotes. We frequently use the two verses about our reconciliation with God through Christ in Declarations of Forgiveness. The verse about all those in Christ being a new creation is a suggested Bible verse for the service at a cemetery or crematorium. The Uniting in Worship II ‘Service of Healing for Those Whose Marriage is Ending or has Ended’ (did you know we had one?) also suggests using it as part of the letting go of the marriage relationship. These are well-known words. Continue reading →

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Sermon: None of us is perfect – and that’s okay

Posted on March 23, 2025 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church
Lent 3, 23rd of March 2025

Luke 13:1-9
1 Corinthians 10:1-13

The Apostle Paul can do things that we cannot. As I said last week, when we twenty-first century Christians read Paul’s letters some two thousand years after Paul wrote them, we must remember that Paul is writing as a Jew who believes that Gentiles have become part of the covenant people of Israel through their faith in Christ. Paul does not see Judaism and Christianity as separate religions. As a Jew, Paul can use the Jewish Scriptures in ways that make most Christian biblical commentators very nervous. Very few Christian biblical scholars would read the story of Israel in the wilderness in the allegorical way Paul does in his first letter to the church in Corinth. Continue reading →

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Sermon: Jesus IS a wishy-washy liberal

Posted on March 16, 2025 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church
Lent 2, 16th of March 2025

Luke 13:31-35
Philippians 3:17-4:1

‘Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.’ If you have ever committed to Lenten fasting and then struggled to stick to it, and I must confess that this year I have regularly failed to not to eat chocolate, then you might find this reading on the second Sunday of Lent all too pertinent. If that is you, relax. Paul’s ire is not directed at those of us failing to fast. His concerns are much greater. Continue reading →

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