Tag Archives: Year of Luke
Baptism and the ‘Sermon on the Plain’
Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church23rd of February 2025 Luke 6:27-38 This is going to be a short Reflection, because today we have the joy of baptizing Cassandra and Margaret, and in the very act of baptism the gospel, the … 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
The Apostles’ Creed
Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church Baptism of Jesus, 12th of January, 2025 The Apostles’ Creed In the Ordination Charge that ministers receive one of the things the Uniting Church tells us is: ‘You will receive the Apostles’ and Nicene … Continue reading
Epiphany: Inclusion versus Exclusion
There are two ways in which humans have responded to the certainty that they are the people of God. The first is to see this as justification for rejecting or oppressing all those not considered to be God’s people, claiming that this is God’s will. In one of Balaam’s prophecies he says, ‘God, who brings [Israel] out of Egypt, is like the horns of a wild ox for him; he shall devour the nations that are his foes and break their bones. He shall strike with his arrows.’ (Numbers 24:8) We know the damage done throughout history, the destruction still happening today, because people believe that their foes are God’s foes and that God fights in their wars. Continue reading
Christmas Reflections: Remembering Bethlehem, Seeking Peace
… as Christians we still have a duty to speak up against war crimes, racism, and injustice, even if that means we are accused of antisemitism or of being on the side of terrorists. If we are to celebrate Christmas and sing carols with integrity then we must speak up against all violence in the Holy Land, even if our calls for peace are misinterpreted or misrepresented. Continue reading
The Magnificat and Micah: Love Through Justice
It is interesting that we hear her song on the Sunday of Advent when we celebrate love, because just as it can be hard to see love in all Micah’s condemnations and warnings, it can sometimes be hard to see love in the scattering of the proud, the bringing down of the powerful, and the rich being sent away empty – especially when we are the rich. But as African American theologian Cornel West says, ‘justice is what love looks like in public’. When Micah and Mary prophecy justice, they are speaking of love. Continue reading
The Gift of Peace: God’s Love for All
The reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church on the Second Sunday of Advent emphasizes the contrasting visions of Zechariah and John the Baptist. While Zechariah holds a nationalistic hope for Israel’s redemption, John’s message calls for a wider, personal vision of repentance and peace. Paul reinforces that true righteousness stems from love, not mere religious identity. As Christians prepare for Christ’s arrival, they are urged to pursue and embody peace in a troubled world. Continue reading
Sermon: Stand up and raise your heads, justice and righteousness will come.
Every year people like me moan and complain that the outside world has started preparing for Christmas too early. The Council puts up decorations, the shops start trying to sell us things, butchers and fishmongers tell us to order now for Christmas feasts, and all this before December had even started. Rather than being quite so Scrooge-like, grumpy people like me should perhaps look at the time and effort the secular world puts into preparing for Christmas, and put the same time and effort into preparing for the Parousia. That is, after all, what today’s Bible readings advise. Continue reading
Sermon: Longer than all earthly empires
In this world of violence and exclusion proclaiming such things might seem utterly naïve. And yet the reign of Christ has lasted longer than any of the empires of the world. Jesus was executed by the Roman Empire, which lasted for between 500 and 1000 years, depending on how it is defined. The British Empire, the reason that most of us are living here on this land, lasted four hundred years. Jesus was executed as a common criminal almost two thousand years ago and yet here we are, millennia later, on the other side of the world, trying our best to live as citizens of his realm. Continue reading
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