Tag Archives: Prophet Jeremiah
Sermon: Do not choose trauma
We can divide the world into Us and Them, Exiles and Babylonians, Jews and Samaritans, or we can recognise that we are all human beings who have been created by the one God to live on this one fragile and wonderful planet. We know which choice Jesus, who told us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, wants us to make. Amen. Continue reading
Sermon: Crazy brave hope
It could be argued that Australia as we know it, and our presence here today, is at least partly a result of the biblical narratives of the Exodus and the Babylonian Exile; that, like modern Israel and modern Palestine, modern Australia is a product of the Hebrew Scriptures. Continue reading
Sermon: “Stop all the clocks …”
Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church 14th of September, 2025 Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28 Have any of you read Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series? If not, I highly recommend them. The books follow Joyce, Elizabeth, Ron, and Ibrahim, who live … Continue reading
Sermon: The jeremiads of Jeremiah
There is much discussion today about the right of nation states to exist. What a difference it would make in the world if we agreed with the Hebrew prophets that only those nations whose citizens act justly one with another, those nations that do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, those nations that do not shed innocent blood, have the ‘right’ to dwell peaceably in their lands. Continue reading
Sermon: Are we trees planted by water or shrubs in the desert? Both!
Maybe the division that Jesus makes in his Sermon between the poor and the rich, the hungry and the filled, those who weep and those who laugh, those who receive praise and those who are rejected, is not just a distinction between two groups of people. Maybe this division is also within us. Maybe we are both the tree planted by water and the shrub in the desert. Continue reading
Sermon: Jesus, Jeremiah, and answering God’s call
Today the scripture has been fulfilled. That ‘today’ is still ours. How are we going to respond to the God who comes today, who calls us today, who brings liberation today? To borrow some words from Rabbie Burns, ‘Now’s the day, an’ now’s the hour’. How are we going to answer God’s call? Continue reading
Sermon: The shalom of the city
God has brought us here; God is already at work here; and in the shalom of our amazing, beautiful, challenging city of Melbourne, and our diverse, multicultural, multifaith, and ‘no religion’ Australia we will find our own shalom. So let us serve this city and the people among whom we live, in all the ways that we can. Amen. Continue reading
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