Tag Archives: John Calvin
Sermon: Complaining to God; doing justice
Habakkuk suggests that there are then two equally faithful ways of engaging with God amid wrongdoing and trouble, destruction and violence, strife and contention. One faithful response is to complain to God, as Habakkuk does, as Job does, as the psalmists do. The Hebrew Scriptures are full of examples of people saying, ‘O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen?’ Complaining to our just and loving God that the world God created is not demonstrating justice and love is an example of the faith by which the righteous live. Continue reading
Sermon: The light wherein our shadows disappear
Is Calvin right? As we see Jesus shining with unborrowed light are our shadows made darker by the contrast? I do not think so. The Transfiguration reveals to us the beauty of God, but it reveals that beauty in the mystery of the Incarnation; the one revealed by the light is the Son of Man, the firstborn within a large family that includes us. Continue reading
Reflection: When the things of God and the Emperor conflict
As Christians, we too need to refuse to give our obedience and loyalty to ‘the emperor’ if the emperor is defacing the image of God by mistreating human beings. In such cases it is only by resisting the emperor that we can give to God the things that are God’s. Continue reading
Sermon: Sinners and Saints
We’re all in this together; all of us sinners saved only by the grace of God. We’re comrades in human solidarity, recognising in each other the same faults and failings that we find in ourselves. Continue reading
Sermon: Commemorating the Reformation
looking at the Orthodox and Catholic churches, which do not ordain women, I can only be glad that Luther nailed his arguments to the door of Wittenberg Cathedral. Or didn’t nail them, because that may be a myth. Either way, I think we’re a better church because of it. Continue reading
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