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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Sermon: Giving into Temptation

Posted on March 9, 2025 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church
Lent 1, 9th of March, 2025

Romans 10:8b-13
Luke 4:1-13

Lead us not into temptation. Save us from the time of trial. Over the past few weeks I have been pondering on how incredibly lucky we are not to have great political power. We in the Western world are watching people nakedly succumb to the temptations of power in ways that we last saw in the nineteen-thirties. Donald Trump, J. D. Vance, and Elon Musk seem to have surrendered to the sins of pride, wrath, and greed, and the pleasure that comes from being able to mistreat others. This giving into temptation has flown from the Oval Office outwards and downwards, as Trump’s followers justify his every ridiculous thought bubble, and the leaders of other countries flatter him. We are so lucky that we are not in those positions. We are not facing that particular time of trial.

Photo of President Zelensky of Ukraine sitting in military fatigues with his arms crossed next to President Donald J. Trump sitting in a blue suit with a red tie, and J. D. Vance sitting in a blue suit on a couch berates Zelensky. Continue reading →

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Sermon: The Glorious Impossible of the Transfiguration

Posted on March 2, 2025 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church
2nd of March 2025

Exodus 34:29-35
Psalm 99
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
Luke 9:28-36

The Lord our God is holy, and God’s holiness can be confronting, terrifying, beyond human understanding. When Moses spent time with God, his own face began to reflect God’s glory, and the people of Israel were so terrified that Moses had to veil his shining skin when he was not directly mediating between God and the people. Centuries later Peter, James, and John also encountered the glory of God on a mountain, and they too were terrified. Now, thousands of years later, we listen to these stories and, like Peter, we are confused, even afraid, not knowing what to say about them. We are told that ‘the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend’ (Exodus 33:11) and that Jesus’ three closest disciples saw him speaking with Moses and Elijah, who had lived centuries before, and we are obviously in the realm of dreams and visions. What are we to do with these stories? Continue reading →

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Baptism and the ‘Sermon on the Plain’

Posted on February 23, 2025 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church
23rd of February 2025

Luke 6:27-38

This is going to be a short Reflection, because today we have the joy of baptizing Cassandra and Margaret, and in the very act of baptism the gospel, the good news of God’s love and Jesus’ sacrifice, is proclaimed. But today’s reading from the Gospel according to Luke, the second part of the Sermon on the Plain, is astounding, and I do want to say a little about it. Continue reading →

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Sermon: Are we trees planted by water or shrubs in the desert? Both!

Posted on February 16, 2025 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church
16th of February 2025

Jeremiah 17:5-10
Luke 6:17-26

Jesus liked to teach through parables. The Gospel according to Luke contains some parables that are recorded nowhere else, parables without which the entire world would be different: the parable of the Prodigal Son; the parable of the Good Samaritan; the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. In the teaching we hear today, though, Jesus is not speaking in parables. He is, if anything, only too clear. We middle-class Australians living in the green and leafy eastern suburbs of Melbourne are, in world terms and in terms of human history, profoundly rich. We enjoy a level of luxury that for most of human history only royalty could aspire to. And in the Sermon on the Plain Jesus says bluntly, ‘Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation’. Why could he not have told a parable about a nasty rich man dressed in purple and fine linen and living in luxury who refuses to give the leftovers from his table to the beggar covered with sores crouching at his gate? (Luke 16:19-31) Then we could console ourselves with the thought of our charitable giving – we do not leave Lazarus languishing. But Jesus is not speaking in parables today. Continue reading →

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Sermon: Jesus, Jeremiah, and answering God’s call

Posted on February 2, 2025 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church
2nd of February, 2025

Jeremiah 1:4-10
Luke 4:21-30

Out of the sheer goodness of my heart, I allowed Alastair Pritchard to take the service last week when the lectionary readings included one of my favourite Bible passages: Jesus’ Nazareth manifesto. Last week we saw Jesus go to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom, and read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’ Jesus then tells the people ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ That is where last week’s reading from the gospel according to Luke ended and where today’s reading begins, with the very Lukan announcement that the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled today. Continue reading →

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The Apostles’ Creed

Posted on January 12, 2025 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church
Baptism of Jesus, 12th of January, 2025

The Apostles’ Creed

In the Ordination Charge that ministers receive one of the things the Uniting Church tells us is: ‘You will receive the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds as safeguarding and witnessing to the faith of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church, and use them in worship and instruction.’ I have been here for over four years and have hitherto failed to use the Apostles’ Creed in worship and instruction. Today, as we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus, we will reaffirm our own baptism, including saying the Apostles’ Creed together. So let me use today’s Reflection for ‘instruction’. Continue reading →

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Epiphany: Inclusion versus Exclusion

Posted on January 5, 2025 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church
Epiphany 2025

Ephesians 3:1-12
Matthew 2:1-12

I want to begin today’s Reflection by talking about a character who does not appear in any of the lectionary readings for the Feast of the Epiphany. Indeed, he does not appear in any lectionary reading at all. But you may know of him, or at least of his donkey. The seer Balaam encounters the Israelites on their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. According to the Book of Numbers, the Israelites had already defeated two kings: Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan. Now Balak, king of Moab, sends messengers to Balaam, son of Beor, asking Balaam to come and curse Israel. But in a dream, the Lord tells Balaam, ‘You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.’ (Numbers 22:7-14)

King Balak again sends messengers, ‘more numerous and more distinguished,’ to plead with Balaam, and again Balaam refuses, but then ‘that night God came to Balaam and said to him, “If the men have come to summon you, get up and go with them; but do only what I tell you to do.” (Numbers 22:20) Given this, it is profoundly unfair of God to then get angry with Balaam when Balaam goes with the officials of Moab but, fair or not, God’s anger is kindled and an angel of the Lord stands in Balaam’s way. Balaam’s donkey sees the angel and refuses to pass it, so Balaam hits the donkey three times, until ‘the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”’ Balaam’s response is, bizarrely, not to be astounded that his donkey is speaking, but to roar ‘Because you have made a fool of me! I wish I had a sword in my hand! I would kill you right now!’ The Lord then opens Balaam’s eyes, he sees the angel and bows down. The angel of the Lord tells Balaam, ‘Go with the men; but speak only what I tell you to speak.’ (Numbers 22:22-35) Continue reading →

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