Tag Archives: Year of Matthew

Sermon: Beware of Blind Faith

Sermon for Williamstown 30 March 2014 John 9:1-41 This morning we heard a wonderful tale of light and sight and blindness, in which faith is born and faith is lost. The story begins with a question of theodicy, of God’s … Continue reading

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Sermon: Brothers and Sisters Together

Sermon for Williamstown 23 March 2014 John 4:5-42 Today’s reading from the Gospel according to John is one of my favourite stories in the entire Bible, with one of my favourite characters. The Samaritan woman has often got a bad … Continue reading

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Sermon: It’s not enough just to be ‘born’ again

Sermon for Williamstown, 16th of March 2014 John 3:1-17 John’s gospel starts with a bang. It begins with the wonderful Prologue, the hymn to the Word: ‘In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the … Continue reading

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Sermon: The Beatitudes

Sermon for Williamstown Uniting Church The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany, 2nd of February 2014 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 Matthew 5:1-12 Today, as we continue our Epiphany journey through Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, we hear one of my favourite descriptions … Continue reading

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Sermon: What a good thing for us that the church at Corinth was so imperfect

Sermon for Williamstown 26th of January, 2014   1 Corinthians 1:10-18 In last week’s reading from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, Paul started his epistle on an extremely positive note: “I give thanks to my God always for you … Continue reading

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Sermon: Called by God (expect the unexpected)

Sermon for Williamstown 19th of January 2014 John 1:29-42 1 Corinthians 1:1-9  In a couple of previous sermons I’ve mentioned the Revised Common Lectionary, which gives churches four Bible readings for each Sunday and is used by Anglican and Lutheran … Continue reading

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Sermon: Beloved sinners

Sermon for Williamstown Baptism of Jesus, 12th of January, 2014 Matthew 3:13-17 Acts 10:34-43 Christianity says two things about human beings. Actually, it says lots of things about human beings, but there are two particular elements of Christian anthropology that … Continue reading

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Sermon: Scandalous mercy

Sermon for Williamstown Uniting Church 4th Sunday of Advent, 22nd of December, 2013 Matthew 1:18-25 Way back in the eighties and early nineties there was an Australian television program called A Country Practice. I wasn’t allowed to watch the first … Continue reading

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Sermon: Women behaving badly and making history

Sermon for the third Sunday of Advent 15th of December 2013 Matthew 1:1-17 Were you surprised by today’s Gospel reading? I have to confess that this morning I cheated. The lectionary reading for this Sunday comes from the 11th chapter … Continue reading

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