Prolegomena on the use of Social Media in Ministry

Posted on June 11, 2013 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Over the past decade social media have taken over the world; or at least those parts of the world with access to the internet. As may appear obvious, social media are called that because they’re social; in contrast to broadcast media that seek to reach anyone and everyone, social media ‘are forms of digital communication between and among people who have some relationship to each other’.[1] Social media allow people who know each other in real life (RL) to keep in touch when separated by distance or circumstance. They also allow people who have never met each other in RL, but who are connected by common interests, to meet each other in a relatively safe virtual space. Continue reading →

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Sermon: It’s more than just a miracle

Posted on June 1, 2013 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Sermon for Williamstown
The Second Sunday after Pentecost

June 2, 2013

Luke 7:1-10

On first hearing, today’s story from the Gospel according to Luke sounds simple. Someone is sick, to the point that he’s about to die, and Jesus, the one who came to heal the sick, makes him well again. Jesus’ power as a healer is so great that he doesn’t even need to be in the same place as the sick person to heal him; Jesus’ authority over everything that causes illness is so complete that he can simply order the illness to go, and it does. This is a story about Jesus the healer, the wonder-worker, the one whose identity is seen in his ability to perform miracles. Because he healed those around him then, we can pray for healing now; as one of the hymns in our hymn book says: ‘O Christ, the healer, we have come to pray for health, to plead for friends’.[1] The end. Sermon finished. Continue reading →

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Sermon: Trinity and Wisdom

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Sermon for Williamstown
Trinity Sunday

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‘Sophia, the Wisdom of God’ by Betsy Porter

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

John 16:12-15

Today we celebrate Trinity Sunday. We celebrate explicitly what is implicit every time we gather for worship: that the God we are worshipping is both One and Three. This is the central Christian understanding of God. We don’t worship a God who is an isolated individual, but a God who in God’s very self is a community of love. Continue reading →

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The Conclusion to my PhD Thesis

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Looking back at my thesis, which I wrote in 2003, I wonder if my conclusions were accurate. Ten years’ on, what do other people think?

Conclusion

The (homo)sexuality debate in the Uniting Church in Australia began before the Church was created and has not yet been concluded. In some ways it appears that the Church has achieved nothing in its three decades of discussion. Homosexual Church members have not received the absolute welcome for which they yearn; nor have they received the simple condemnation that some other members of the Church would like the Assembly to proffer. In many ways their situation is the same as it was when the Church was created. Some people and groups accept them; others reject them. Membership is (almost) universally open to them; yet their leadership usually faces challenges. High profile homosexual ministers like Byrnes and McRae-McMahon face regular demands that they be disciplined. Low profile homosexual members are welcomed and accepted by their congregations. Continue reading →

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The Uniting Church discusses sexuality

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Recently, in the course of a conversation on Facebook, someone suggested that the Uniting Church hadn’t done any biblical and theological reflection before accepting that presbyteries can ordain people in same-sex relationships. My experience as an historian is that the Uniting Church is absolutely hopeless at remembering our history, and constantly seeks to reinvent the wheel, so it’s no wonder that people don’t remember the biblical and theological reflection that the Church has done on sexuality. Continue reading →

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The Third Annual Service of the Church of Latter-Day Geeks is coming!

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Avril Hannah-Jones

The third annual Sci Fi and Fantasy-Friendly Service of the Church of Latter-Day Geeks will be held on Sunday the 30th of June with the theme: “Community: There’s no such thing as a solitary hero”

The service has moved from Romsey to Williamstown, and will be held at the Williamstown Uniting Church – Electra St, 36 Electra St, Williamstown 3016.

Everyone is welcome to come and worship God in sci-fi or fantasy costume but, as at previous services, all stakes, swords, lightsabers, blasters and other weapons must be left at the church door.

If you have any questions, comment on this post and I’ll do my best to answer them.

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There’s no such thing as a solitary hero.

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Sermon: Ascension – it’s not about hovering feet

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Sermon for Williamstown

Feast of the Ascension, 12th of May 2013

Acts 1:1-11

Luke 24:44-53

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Ascension, Bath Abbey

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension. We’re cheating a little, because in the lectionary the Ascension comes forty days after we celebrate the Resurrection on Easter Sunday, so we should have observed it on Thursday. The reason I want us to remember the Ascension today, despite being several days’ late, is because it’s a part of the story of Jesus that we often ignore. Every time we say the Apostles’ Creed together, as one of the things we believe about Jesus, we affirm: ‘He ascended into heaven’. But how often do we think about what that actually means? Continue reading →

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Synod: What I would have said … Education

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Avril Hannah-Jones

On the first day of the 2013 meeting of the Uniting Church Synod of Victoria and Tasmania, the Synod heard about the mistakes that led to the closure of Acacia College and left the Church tens of millions of dollars in debt. ACA College Logo Final

A great deal of the discussion was about the failures in governance that happen when there is no single point of accountability. Many suggestions for improving these were made. What wasn’t mentioned in the report from the consultants with which the Synod was presented was whether any of the problems were caused by trying to set up a highly-resourced private school on a low-fee basis, or indeed whether the Uniting Church should be setting up private schools at all. Continue reading →

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Sermon with mandatory mention of same-sex marriage

Posted on April 27, 2013 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Sermon for Williamstown
Easter 5, 28 April 2013

John 13:31-35
Acts 11:1-18
Revelation 21:1-6

The Christian faith has a dual personality. On the one hand, the church is an ancient institution, drawing on thousands of years of history. At the beginning of every service the Scriptures are solemnly carried into the worship space, in recognition that it’s through them, words written thousands of years ago, that we hear the Word of God. We draw on prayers prayed by Jews and Christians throughout the centuries when making our own prayers, and we repeat rituals established by the first Christians when we celebrate the Eucharist. We do all this because we know that God has been present in human history from the very beginning, and that in Jesus God decisively intervened in human history in one particular time and place. We live in a culture that values the new over the old, that demands innovation and finds repetition boring. And yet the church persists in telling the same old stories and following the same old liturgical cycle year-in and year-out, as Advent leads to Christmas, and Lent prepares us for Easter, and the same stories of Jesus’ life are told throughout Ordinary Time. The church knows the value of memory and tradition. Continue reading →

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Reflection: Problems of identity

Posted on April 27, 2013 by Avril Hannah-Jones

This has been a bad week for me, mental health-wise. Such a bad week, that I want to write it as BAAAAAAAAAAAAAD. That’s how bad it has felt. In one way it’s not a surprise. My experience of clinical depression is that no matter how well I look after myself: how healthily I eat; how much I walk; how carefully I take my medication – there are days when my brain rebels, the fog descends, and life becomes temporarily unbearable. Fortunately, my experience of clinical depression is that if I wait my brain will re-balance, the fog will lift, and I can keep going. But the pain is hell while it lasts. Continue reading →

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