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Sermon: And, again, the Uniting Church is not a Bible-believing church
At the recent national Assembly of the Uniting Church I was shocked to hear people argue, in the course of discussion about same-sex marriage, that members of the Uniting Church read the Bible literally. Whatever one thinks of marriage equality, the Uniting Church has never been a ‘Bible-believing’ church in that sense. The Basis of Union makes that extremely clear. So, although my congregation has heard it all before, I’ve taken the opportunity of Jesus authoritatively interpreting the Scriptures to explain how members of the Uniting Church read the Bible: seriously, reverently, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit – but NOT literally.
Sermon for Williamstown Uniting Church
30 August, 2015
Mark 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: the Uniting Church is not a Bible-believing church. We are a church that believes that the Bible is important, but not a church that believes that the Bible is the Word of God.
So, how do those of us who belong to the Uniting Church read the Bible? According to the Basis of Union, the document that defines who we are as a church, we Uniting Church types understand the Bible to be ‘unique prophetic and apostolic testimony’ and we are given ‘the serious duty of reading the Scriptures’.[1] When I was ordained one of the questions I was asked was: ‘Relying on the power of the Holy Spirit, will you be diligent in the study of the Bible; will you seek to live a holy and disciplined life; will you be faithful in prayer?’ and I answered ‘With God’s help I will’. All Uniting Church members are expected to read the Bible; ministers are meant to study it. The Bible is vital to our faith. But we are not expected to read it literally.
A letter to the Prime Minister on Marriage Equality
I was one of the 110 Christian signatories to this letter asking the Prime Minister to allow a conscience vote on marriage equality. Sadly, the day before this letter was delivered, at a Prayer Breakfast at Parliament House, a six-hour joint LNP party room meeting decided not to allow members of the LNP a conscience vote. But the letter is still important because the issue will not go away, and because it shows that Christians are not all of one mind on the question.
(c) Alex Lee / BuzzFeed
The Hon Tony Abbott MP
Prime Minister
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Cc: Liberal National Party Caucus
Dear Prime Minister
Christian Support for Same-Sex Marriage
We write as people of faith and as a voice for many others of religious faith. We are leaders and prominent members of Christian communities across diverse fields of endeavour. We respect that ours is a democratic, multicultural and secular nation. We equally affirm that Parliament should be open to hear religious voices among the many Australian voices that advocate on important social issues. Continue reading
Posted in Political Activism
Tagged marriage, marriage equality, Politics, same-sex marriage
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Sermon: Friendship, refugees, asylum seekers, and a birthday
Sermon for 21 June 2015
Williamstown Uniting Church
1 Samuel 17:57-18:5, 10-16
Today the lectionary offers us two options for the Old Testament reading, the story of David and Goliath, and the story of David and Jonathan. I promised the children last week that I would tell them the story of David’s encounter with a giant, but for the rest of you I’ve rather unsurprisingly decided to preach on the love story rather than the war story. I’ve preached on friendship several times already during my time here, and the story of David and Jonathan is the story of an amazing friendship.
Jonathan is ‘the friend few of us deserve but most of us would dearly love to have’.[1] The friendship between Jonathan and David can be compared with the love between David’s great-grandmother, Ruth, and her mother-in-law Naomi, in which Ruth makes the wonderful declaration that: ‘Where you will go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people and your God my God. Where you die, I will die – there will I be buried’; a commitment so profound that this promise from one woman to another is often read at weddings. It’s tempting to think that David inherited his capacity for inspirational friendship from her. Continue reading
Reflection: Two and a half days in to the Ration Challenge
This Refugee Week I am taking part in Act for Peace’s Ration Challenge. For seven days I am committed to eating the same rations that a refugee receives in Burma. The rations are: 3,500 g of rice; 280 g of split peas; 250 g of fortified flour; 155 g of fish; 40 g of salt and 125 ml of vegetable oil.
The rations, plus my cultivated condiment
Because refugees can add to their rations by cultivating a garden we are also able to add supplies that we have ‘cultivated’ by getting sponsorship: $200 raised adds a condiment; $300 adds a serve of vegetables; $400 adds a portion of fruit; $500 adds a serve of protein; and $1000 adds a bonus item to the value of $5.
Two and a half days in I am not hungry, or feeling very deprived. But I am feeling a little bored at my lack of menu choice. 3.5 kg of rice over the course of a week is a lot of rice! I had bowls of plain rice for breakfast on Sunday and Monday, and rice fried with chilli for Sunday lunch and dinner, and I am already very, very over rice. Continue reading
Posted in Political Activism, Reflection
Tagged Act for Peace, Food, Ration Challenge, Refugee Week
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Sermon: Be afraid, be very afraid. Jesus and family values
Sermon for Williamstown Uniting Church
Pentecost 2, 7th of June 2015
Mark 3:20-35
Be afraid, be very afraid. After the joy of the Easter season, Pentecost, and Trinity Sunday, the church is now in ‘Ordinary Time’ and this year that means that we’re spending serious time immersed in the Gospel according to Mark. As I’ve said several times already this liturgical year, Mark is the shortest, the earliest, and the ‘scariest’ of the canonical gospels.[1]
In today’s reading from the gospel, we see that strangeness and scariness up close, as Jesus is accused of being in league with demons and his family tries to restrain him because they believe he’s out of his mind. It’s a story that includes Jesus describing an unforgivable sin, and turning from his biological family in favour of the people gathered around him. This week’s reading is not for the faint of heart, nor for those who are relaxed and comfortable with the status quo. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged demonic possession, family, Mark 3:20-35, Pentecost 2, Year of Mark
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Sermon: The Trinity is a celebration; not a maths problem
Sermon for Williamstown
May 31st, 2015
Isaiah 6:1-8; John 3:1-17
One of the things that Trinity Sunday does is remind us, in case we’ve forgotten, just how unique, or possibly weird, the Christian understanding of God is. My most recent reminder of this was in Nazareth, in Israel. On the road to the Church of the Annunciation a billboard has been erected that quotes from the Koran:
“O People of the Scripture (Christians)! Do not exceed the limits in your religion. Say nothing but the truth about Allah (The one true God). The Christ Jesus, Son of Mary, was only a Messenger of God and His word conveyed to Mary and a spirit created by Him. So believe in God and His messengers and do not say “Three gods” (Trinity). Cease! it will be better for you. Indeed, Allah is the One and the Only God. His holiness is far above having a son.”
Having read this sign, Christians then go to the church built over the house identified as the one in which Mary was living when the archangel Gabriel told her that she was going to bear a son. That’s what makes us different from the other two Abrahamic faiths, Judaism and Islam. All three Abrahamic faiths worship the one God, but we Christians insist on saying that the one is simultaneously three; that God was not above having a Son, and that that Son was himself God.
The Act for Peace Ration Challenge
I am frequently overwhelmed by a sense of how lucky I am.
That sense can come when I’m walking by the sea, when I’m reminded of how lucky I am to live in Williamstown. It can come when I’m leading worship, when I’m reminded of how lucky I am to be able to follow my vocation. It can come when I’m playing with my nephew, nieces, or any of the many other children in my life, when I’m reminded of how lucky I am to be have children to love even though I don’t have any of my own. It can come when I’m browsing in a bookshop, when I’m reminded of how lucky I am to be able to buy a book without worrying about my budget. It can come when I watch the news at night, when I’m reminded of how lucky I am that I was born in Australia. I wasn’t merely born in Australia; I was born to a stable, Anglo-Celtic, middle-class family. In so many ways, through absolutely no effort on my part, I won the birth lottery. Continue reading
Posted in Political Activism, Reflection
Tagged Act for Peace, Burma, fund-raising, Ration Challenge
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Sermon: We are never left alone
Sermon for Williamstown
Pentecost, 24th of May, 2015
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Acts 2:1-21
John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15
Today we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit to Jesus’ disciples at Pentecost, the event that we remember as the birth-day of the church. Today is a day of loud and joyful celebration, coloured red for the Spirit in the liturgical calendar, as we envisage a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and divided tongues, as of fire. We have balloons, streamers and candles here in the nave; the children, I believe, are currently decorating cupcakes for after the service; and we will have deeply unhealthy fizzy raspberry soft drink to accompany them. Today is a happy day. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged Acts 2:1-21, Ezekiel 37:1-14, Holy Spirit, John 15:26-27, Pentecost, Year of Mark
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Sermon: Friendship
I’m cheating! Most of this was written and preached in the Macedon Ranges, last time this reading came up in the lectionary. But looking back at it I find that I still agree with everything I said then, and I quite like the sermon, so I’m going to preach it again.
Sermon for Williamstown
May 10th, 2015
John 15:9-17
I’ve been thinking about marriage this week. On Tuesday I received the first mailing of papers for the national Assembly that will be held in Perth in July. Among the few proposals that came with them the papers were two about marriage, one from the Standing Committee and one from the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress. (Neither suggested any change in our current understanding of marriage, but both suggest that we have a lot more discussion about it.) On Wednesday, at a meeting with members of the Burmese congregation, Natalie, Bev and I heard that Pastor True has been recognised by the government as a marriage celebrant, and we rejoiced with him that he’ll be able to celebrate the marriages of members of his congregation. Most people in Australia see marriage as something churches are particularly concerned with, which is why ministers are able to be authorised by the Attorney-General to act as marriage agents for the state. Churches agree, marriage is important to us, which is why the coming Assembly will spend a fair bit of time discussing marriage. In comparison, friendship isn’t a topic that gets mentioned a lot in the church. And yet if any form of relationship can be described as particularly Christian, as the specific way that Christians live out our lives, it’s not marriage. It’s friendship. Continue reading
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