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Tag Archives: Advent 2
Sermon: Peace Sunday
I suspect that the people of Israel heard this prophecy as true for the same reason that we are hearing it in church two thousand years after the birth of the one we Christians believe is the Messiah. Prophecies of the peaceable kingdom speak to our deepest longings. They describe what we believe, in the core of our hearts and our guts, God’s good creation should be. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged Advent, Advent 2, Isaiah 11:1-10, John the Baptist, judgement, Matthew 3:1-12, Peace, Prophet Isaiah, Year of Matthew
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Sermon: Would we really want God to appear?
Undoubtedly Zechariah would have asked God to allow him and Elizabeth to have a son, and in his song we hear his gratitude not only for this gift but for the liberation of his people, but there is no doubt that this appearance of the Lord has deeply disrupted his life. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged Advent 2, Gospel according to Luke, John the Baptist, Luke 1:68-79, Luke 3:1-6, Malachi 3:1-4, Year of Luke, Zechariah
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Reflection: Called to make peace
Perhaps this year, 2020, is the year when comfortable middle-class Australians like me are most aware that the grass withers and the flowers fade and that we, human beings, are grass. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged Advent, Advent 2, Isaiah, Isaiah 40:1-11, Isaiah 85: 1-2 8-13, Mark 1:1-8, Peace
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Sermon: The greater righteousness (1)
it is the story of a righteousness that doesn’t stand on the letter of the law, but instead offers justice and mercy and faith Continue reading
Sermon: How can we celebrate Advent in a world without Peace
There are many, many other places around the world where an absence of conflict is misnamed ‘peace’. I’m reminded of a very famous quote from the first-century Roman historian Tacitus’ history of Rome’s conquest of Scotland. Tacitus writes a rousing speech that he puts into the mouth of the British leader, Calgacus, in which he says of the Romans: ‘They make a desert and call it peace.’ Continue reading