The Legacy of Ruth: Challenging Prejudice in Scripture

Posted on November 3, 2024 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church
3rd of November 2024

Ruth 1:1-18
Mark 12:28-34

I recently had the fun of having my genetic heritage mapped. I did not ask the company to tell me which disease will eventually kill me, or to put me in touch with any unknown relatives. I just wanted to see whether the stories I have been told about my ancestry match my genes. The company compared my DNA to their reference panel of DNA from groups of people known to live in different regions of the world. As a method it is not foolproof, but the results that came back did match what I know of my heritage. Genetically I am mostly Scottish, then English, Ashkenazi Jewish, and Irish. I am, as I suspect most people are and as I already knew, a mongrel. Continue reading →

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Reflection: Genocide and the Crucified God

Posted on October 20, 2024 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church
20th of October 2024

Hebrews 5:1-10
Mark 10:35-45

‘In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.’

You will remember, because I am sure that you have memorised all my Reflections, that on the fifth Sunday in Lent this year we had the second half of today’s reading from the Letter to the Hebrews. I want to quote something I said on that Sunday, about what it means that the author of the Letter to the Hebrews says that Jesus ‘offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears’. I believe that the author is telling us that the only necessary high priest, the sole mediator between God and humanity, the one who offers prayers and sacrifice to God on humanity’s behalf, also brings to God the grief of the world. We often look at a world ruled by violence and feel anguish and isolation and anger. In this reading we are shown God in Jesus grieving the world’s violence with the same passion that we feel. Continue reading →

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Sermon: Mark 10:17-31 and the Challenge of Wealth

Posted on October 13, 2024 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church

13th of October 2024

Hebrews 4:12-16
Mark 10:17-31

‘The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow’. Did today’s gospel reading scare you? It scares me. Every time I hear the story of the rich man who sadly leaves Jesus because he has many possessions, I feel as shocked as he was and as astounded as the disciples. I hear Jesus’ words: ‘go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor’ as a command that I am failing to obey; his statement: ‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God’ as a dreadful warning. I live a relatively modest life by Australian standards, but Australians do not live modest lives by world standards. I do give some money, but I am far from selling what I own and giving the money to the poor. My enormous library and Lego collection both convict me, and this reading alarms me. Continue reading →

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What does a good life look like? Reflection on James 3:1-12

Posted on September 21, 2024 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church
22nd of September 2024

James 3:1-12

Today we are hearing the fourth of the five readings the lectionary gives us from the Letter of James. Last week we heard about the dangers of our tongues, the dreadful things they can say if we let them loose. As James wrote: ‘The tongue is like a spark … our tongues get out of control. They are restless and evil and always spreading deadly poison.’ He warned his readers that if we let our tongues run away with us, which I for one am prone to do, ‘from the same mouth come[s] blessing and cursing’. James condemned this, asking: ‘Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs?’ If we curse people with the same mouth with which we bless God, we are as unnatural as a fig tree that grows olives. Continue reading →

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The Power and Danger of Speech: Insights from James 3:1-12

Posted on September 14, 2024 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church
15th of September 2024

James 3:1-12

This morning we are again listening to the Letter attributed to Jesus’ brother, James the Righteous, and while last week I preached with gusto on one of my favourite passages in all Scripture, James’ assertion that ‘faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead,’ this week I need to be more circumspect. When I started this series two weeks ago I confessed that while I am good at sharing what I have with the poor, I am simply dreadful at keeping my tongue still. What makes the fact that I do not bridle my tongue (James 1:26) even worse is that by ordaining me the Uniting Church has recognised me as a teacher, and ‘we who teach will be judged with greater strictness’. Despite that, I will try to draw on the ‘wisdom from above,’ (James 3:17) and speak today about the dangers of speaking. Continue reading →

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The Importance of Faith in Action: Reflection on James 2:1-10, 14-17

Posted on September 7, 2024 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church
8 September 2024

James 2:1-10, 14-17

We are in our second week of reading through the Letter attributed to Jesus’ brother, James the Righteous, leader of the church in Jerusalem. Last week I mentioned Martin Luther’s abhorrence of this letter, which he called ‘an epistle of straw’. Today we come to my favourite part of the letter, and the part that I think, more than any other, made Martin Luther fume: ‘What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill”, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.’ Continue reading →

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Living the Word: Reflection on James 1:17-27

Posted on August 31, 2024 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church
1st of September 2024

James 1:17-27

For the next month we are going to be reading our way through one of my favourite books in the Bible, the Letter of James. ‘James’ only became part of the biblical canon in the late second or early third centuries, and into the fourth century it was still described as one of the Bible’s disputed books. In the sixteenth century Martin Luther notoriously described it as ‘an epistle of straw’ and an influential commentary published in 1921 still saw it as simply a collection of slogans without a unifying theme.[1] The letter’s poor reputation among Christians is probably because it could easily have been written by a Jew who revered Jesus merely as a human teacher. Jesus is mentioned only twice and there are no references to his crucifixion or to the resurrection. Despite its poor reputation, I love this letter, and we are going to spend the next month learning from it. Continue reading →

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Ephesians 6:10-20: The Armour of God and the Gospel of Peace

Posted on August 24, 2024 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church
25th of August, 2024

Ephesians 6:10-20

Over the past few weeks I have experienced a version of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon. The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, named after the German terrorist group, is also called the frequency illusion and it is a cognitive bias in which we notice a specific concept, word, or product more frequently after recently becoming aware of it. I have not just become aware of the issue of religion and violence, but knowing that today’s passage from the Letter to the Ephesians about putting on the whole armour of God was coming up, I have noticed questions of faith and war being raised in the media I consume. Over my recent two weeks’ leave I watched the most recent season of Doctor Who and one episode, ‘Boom,’ stars the Anglican soldiers who first appeared in stories in 2010 and 2011. The latest Companion, Ruby, is surprised to find soldier-clerics and asks: ‘What’s an “Anglican marine”? Since when was the church an army?’ The Doctor answers: ‘Since most of your history. You’ve been living in a blip.’ Doctor Who’s use of Anglican priests as soldiers makes me slightly grumpy (and I can go into that in detail over morning tea, if anyone is interested) but what if the Doctor is right? What if our current understanding that Christianity should not be violent is simply a blip?

Image of Varada Sethu as a soldier with a clerical collar.

‘Anglican marine’ Mundy in Boom.

Continue reading →

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Sermon: Ephesians 5:15-20 on being wisely drunk

Posted on August 17, 2024 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church
18th of August, 2024

Ephesians 5:15-20

Make ‘the most of the time, because the days are evil.’ Give ‘thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ The author of this Letter is telling the members of the church in Ephesus how to live, now that these Gentiles have joined Jewish followers of Jesus in a new community. The author seems a little confused. The Ephesians are living in evil days, but they are still to give thanks to God at all times for everything. What does the author mean? Continue reading →

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Be Angry! | Reflection on Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Posted on August 10, 2024 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church
11th of August, 2024

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

‘Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil.’

In the Letter to the Ephesians a follower of the Apostle Paul seeks to sum up Paul’s teachings and apply them after his death. In his Letter to the Galatians Paul had written: ‘As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.’ (Galatians 3:27-29). The purpose of the Letter to the Ephesians is to explore the implications of this unity. The passage we hear today is not simply philosophical advice on how the virtuous are to live. The author of this Letter is telling Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians how they are to live together, now that they have all been baptized into Christ. Continue reading →

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