Sermon: Scandalous mercy

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Sermon for Williamstown Uniting Church

4th Sunday of Advent, 22nd of December, 2013

Matthew 1:18-25

Way back in the eighties and early nineties there was an Australian television program called A Country Practice. I wasn’t allowed to watch the first seasons, but by the mid-eighties I had joined all my school friends in my addiction to it. Every year, around Christmas time, memories of one particular episode come back to me. As I remember it, the episode centred on an older woman who found herself unexpectedly pregnant and was considering ending the pregnancy. Naturally, everyone in the entire town knew this and had an opinion on it, no secrets in Wandin Valley, and one of the doctors went to visit a church to think about it. There she met a priest who asked her about different scenarios in which a termination might be appropriate. One was when the mother was an unmarried teenager for whom giving birth would be particularly risky. Would she perform an abortion in that circumstance? The doctor said, yes, of course. Ah, said the priest, but what if the mother’s name was Mary and the town was Bethlehem? Continue reading →

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Sermon: Women behaving badly and making history

Posted on December 12, 2013 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Sermon for the third Sunday of Advent

15th of December 2013

Matthew 1:1-17

Were you surprised by today’s Gospel reading? I have to confess that this morning I cheated. The lectionary reading for this Sunday comes from the 11th chapter of Matthew, and tells us about John the Baptist, imprisoned by Herod, sending disciples to ask Jesus who he is. Jesus answers: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.” It’s a great reading for any time of year, especially Advent, but I’ve decided not to preach on it. Instead, I want to talk about a reading that isn’t in the lectionary and is very seldom talked about – the opening verses of the Gospel according to Matthew.

The Gospel according to Matthew starts with Jesus’ genealogy. No other gospel starts like this; Luke also has a genealogy, but Luke puts it chapter three of his gospel: after all the birth stories have been told; after John has baptised Jesus; and when we are told that Jesus is about thirty years old. Only Matthew begins with a list of Jesus’ ancestors, which tells us that Matthew thinks this list is important. The list is not historical; it’s theological. Matthew is telling us that Jesus was the son of Abraham and the son of David. But Matthew also tells us that Jesus is descended from Abraham and David in unusual ways. In this long list of names, usually considered boring, are some fascinating stories that tell us a lot about who Matthew thinks Jesus is. Continue reading →

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End Child Detention

Posted on November 21, 2013 by Avril Hannah-Jones

End Child Detention.

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Sermon: Joy, delight, and life WILL prevail

Posted on November 17, 2013 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Sermon for Williamstown

17th of November, 2013

Isaiah 65:17-25

Over this past week I have been reading and watching the news from the Philippines. Typhoon Haiyan has affected millions of people; hundreds of thousands are displaced and thousands dead. As always, there’s a lag between the initial disaster and the time that emergency supplies can reach people affected, and so people have been left without food and water, shelter and medical aid, surrounded by the bodies of the dead.

In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, everything God made was very good. And yet, despite the goodness of God’s creation, we see a world around us in distress. Where there should be peace, we see violence and catastrophe. Where there should be joy, we see sorrow and rage. Women die in childbirth; children die of preventable illnesses; men and women die of war, famine, disease and, as we’ve been reminded this week, natural disasters. This is not the way the world should be, we know this. We know it because the story of the creation has given us a vision of how God wants the world to be. We know it because throughout the centuries the prophets cried out for justice, telling the people what God wants for us. We know it because in Jesus Christ God came and lived among us and showed us what a Godly life looks like. Today’s reading from Isaiah is just one of the many, many, biblical descriptions of God’s good intentions for God’s beloved creation. Continue reading →

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No, the church shouldn’t celebrate same-sex marriages – Part 2

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Avril Hannah-Jones

In this part Rev. Dr Garry Deverell explains why he believes marriage is a heterosexual institution.

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No, the church shouldn’t celebrate same-sex marriages – Part 1

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Avril Hannah-Jones

In this part Rev. Dr Garry Deverell explains why his opposition to same-sex marriages is not an opposition to same-sex relationships.

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Should the church celebrate same-sex marriages? Well, maybe. (Neither yes nor no.)

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Should the church celebrate same-sex marriage? I answer ‘maybe’. What I mean by ‘maybe’ is that marriage should be a state responsibility; that the state should marry both same-sex and different-sex couples; and that the church should bless the relationships of both same-sex and different-sex couples, but not ‘marry’ anyone, because marriage should be a civil and not a religious rite. ‘Maybe’ was a massive over-simplification.

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Yes, the church should celebrate same-sex relationships.

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Rev. Peter Weeks argues that, yes, the church should celebrate same-sex relationships at a discussion at Williamstown Uniting Church – Electra St on the 11th of September 2013.

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From the Forum on Same-Sex Marriage; the case for ‘maybe’

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Should the church celebrate same-sex marriages? Maybe

When it comes to marriage, my head and my heart are split. In the six years that I’ve been a minister of the Uniting Church, and thus a registered religious marriage celebrant, I’ve celebrated the marriages of 34 couples. They’ve been of various ages. Most, but not all, have been Australians. All but two of the couples had been living together for years when they came to meet with me. Sometimes, a year or so after the wedding, I’ve baptised a child of the marriage. In other cases I’ve baptised the children, and then married their parents. Weddings have been held in the Royal Melbourne Zoo, at a farm, on the top of Mount Dandenong, and in a hotel owned by the groom, as well as in churches. Some people have asked me to preside at their wedding because they or their relatives have been congregation members; some have been friends; some have just been looking for a pretty church; others have been guests at a wedding I’ve celebrated and have decided that they’d like me to do theirs too; and in one case I was related to the groom, so I had a fun year telling people I was going to marry my brother. Continue reading →

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Sermon: We are the sheep that God loves passionately, crazily, extravagantly; we are the uniquely valuable coin, whose recovery causes such celebration.

Posted on September 14, 2013 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Sermon for Williamstown

15th of September, 2010

 

Luke 15:1-10

In today’s two parables we find ourselves in the heart of Luke’s Gospel. Christianity would not be the faith we know if it wasn’t for these two stories and the one that follows them. Our identity as Christians would be very different without this trio. The stories of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son, reveal to us the overwhelming nature of the love of God. They also reveal to us who we are.

The setting of these stories is one of both celebration and condemnation: “Now all the tax-collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’” When Jesus shared a meal, the people around the table experienced the banquet of the kingdom of God. One of the signs of the coming of the kingdom was the sharing of table fellowship with tax collectors like Matthew,[1] Levi,[2] and Zacchaeus,[3] as well as with respectable people like Pharisees.[4] Rich, poor, women, men, sinners, foreigners, the despised and the respected – all were welcome to share food with Jesus.[5] Continue reading →

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