Tag Archives: wealth

Sermon: When Jesus is being all too clear

It is absolutely important for us, as Christians, to donate to the work of Uniting, and FoodBank Victoria, and other emergency relief agencies. But in the twenty-first century it is no longer enough to expect the rich man to share what drops from his table with the beggar at his gate. We also need to use our intellect and our connections and our articulate voices to ask why there is any poverty at all in wealthy Australia, even if that takes us into the realm of ‘politics’. Continue reading

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Sermon: Being rich toward God

We do not need to fear the future, even though we know it will not look like the past, because the God who cared for us in the past will accompany us into that future. We can be rich towards God, because God is always rich towards us. Continue reading

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Reflection: This is what it all comes down to

We human beings have a propensity for selfishness and exploitation. We naturally tend to care most about ourselves and those close to us, and least about those out of our sight. Continue reading

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Sermon: A terrifyingly simple parable

It also takes the church out of the safe realm of biblical interpretation and theology into the scary realm of economics and politics. We could quite easily be told that questions of taxation and social security are none of our business. But we are in the Year of Luke and Luke, as I’ve already said, had no qualms about bringing socioeconomics into religion. Maybe we can too. Continue reading

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Sermon: A complete puzzle of a parable

I have been chewing on this parable, as Jesus’ first hearers would have chewed it over on their way home that evening, wondering what the Lord meant by this story. Continue reading

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