Tag Archives: Year of Luke
Sermon: The women in the Gospel according to Luke
Maybe what Jesus is telling us is to focus on the one thing immediately in front of us as we do it, whether that is preparing a meal for a guest, or sitting with that same guest and paying attention to what they are saying. Maybe this is a story about being ‘pure in heart,’ as we translate one of the Beatitudes, having a single focus on whatever it is that we are doing, to do it well and to the glory of God. Continue reading
Sermon: Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
Violence against violence is worthless. Hate is always foolish, and love is always wise. Always try to be nice and never fail to be kind. Who was the neighbour? The one who showed mercy. Let us go and do likewise. Amen. Continue reading
Sermon: Trouble-making and scape-goating
But if the outsider was no longer an outsider, the insiders might need to examine their own lives. Without a contrasting ‘baddie’, the insiders might not seem to be as good as they had imagined. If there was no longer an external enemy to draw people together, the differences between them would become more obvious. They would no longer have simply been able to rely on being part of a community created by what it was not: a community made up of people who wear clothes and live in houses and do not need to be chained up. Continue reading
Sermon: The Unexpected Lydia
One of the reasons for declining church membership is simply that in twenty-first century Australia there is declining membership of everything. But unlike unions, sports clubs, and political parties, churches believe that we have God on our side, which leaves us with Judas’ question: ‘Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?’ Continue reading
Sermon: This is our story
In the single greatest act of civil disobedience ever seen this man, executed by the powers of Empire, was raised from the dead. The very least that the world’s oppressive regimes expect when they kill someone is that the person will stay killed. Continue reading
Sermon: Do not be afraid
We do not need to fear the future or look back on the past with nostalgic regret, because we know that the God who does new things will walk with us into whatever lies ahead. It may be death, but we also know that after the crucifixion comes resurrection. We have nothing to fear. Thanks be to God. Amen. Continue reading
Sermon: Two brothers
We often fail to live as the people God creates us to be, and then we repent that, but that doesn’t mean that we need to try to earn our Father’s forgiveness. As this parable shows us, all we need to do is come to ourselves in whichever far country we have exiled ourselves, and return home. The Father will come running to welcome us. Continue reading
Sermon: Don’t blame the victim
Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting ChurchThird Sunday of Lent, 20th of March, 2020 Isaiah 55:1-9Luke 13:1-9 Humans have a dreadful tendency, in our need to make sense of life, to blame victims. We tend to see it when a woman … Continue reading
Sermon: “All shall be well”
As we lament over the pain of the world, and pray for its healing, as well as doing our own small part towards caring for the vulnerable, we can hold on to the reassurance offered to us by a fourteenth-century mystic. Because we know that at the core of the universe is love, we believe that ‘all will be well and all will be well and all manner of thing will be well’. Continue reading
Lent 1: Journeying with Jesus
It is this very danger that Ash Wednesday seeks to overcome, by making visible the fact that every single one of us is a sinner who needs to repent. None of us is perfect, and today that truth will be marked on our faces. And we can acknowledge and accept our imperfection, because God does not save perfect people. Continue reading
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