Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany Readings: Micah 6:1–8, 1 Corinthians 1:18–31 & Matthew 5:1–12 You may not have paid too much attention to the “sandwich board” or A-frame sign outside the church, which lets people know that the church is open and that they are welcome to come in, but there is a verse from the Bible that appears right…
Sermon for Third Sunday after Epiphany Readings: Isaiah 9:1–4; 1 Corinthians 1:10–18 & Matthew 4:12–25 The author of the Gospel of Matthew, whom I will simply refer to as Matthew hereafter, quotes extensively from the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). Members of the community that Matthew was writing to, which was predominantly a Jewish community, would have recognised or been familiar with these…
Second Sunday after Epiphany Readings: Isaiah 49:1–7; 1 Corinthians 1:1–9 & John 1:29–42 Last Sunday we celebrated the Baptism of Jesus, and we read in Matthew’s Gospel that when Jesus surfaced from the waters of the Jordan River after being baptised, the Holy Spirit descended on him in the form of a dove and settled on him. In today’s reading from the…
Sermon for the Baptism of Jesus Readings: Isaiah 42:1–9; Acts 10:34–43 & Matthew 3:13–17 Today’s gospel passage is quite short, at only five verses, but there is so much to unpack in it. To begin with, it’s the first time we encounter the adult Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel. Matthew tells us that Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan River to be…
Sermon for the Feast Day of the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus Readings: Numbers 6:22–27; Psalm 8; Galatians 4:4–7 & Luke 2:15–21 Today’s gospel passage is, for me at least, a reminder of why we need the Old Testament. There are some Christians who are troubled by the image of God that is sometimes presented in the Old Testament, which is that…
Sermon for Christmas Readings: Isaiah 9:2–7, Titus 2:11–14 & Luke 2:1–20 I recently had the pleasure of speaking at a Christmas lunch for the Essendon Masonic Lodge, and I talked about two particular aspects of the modern, secular celebration of Christmas that really bother me. The first is how early the celebration of Christmas begins. I mentioned in my talk to the…
Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Advent Readings: Isaiah 7:10–16, Romans 1:1–7 & Matthew 1:18–25 The early Christians believed that today’s reading from the prophet Isaiah was actually a prophecy about the birth of Jesus, and we can understand why when we read verse fourteen that says, ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel’,…
Sermon for the Third Sunday in Advent Readings: Isaiah 35:1–10, James 5:7–10 & Matthew 11:2–11 Several years I watched a documentary on the mass migration of wildebeest (some 1.7 million of them) that occurs each year around the same time in the Serengeti region of Africa. The migration is heavily influenced by the wet season and the availability of water, and as…
Sermon for the Second Sunday in Advent Readings: Isaiah 11:1–10, Romans 15:4–13 & Matthew 3:1–12 “Prepare ye the way of the Lord”, say the lyrics of the self-titled song from the musical Godspell. But what does it mean to prepare the way of the Lord? If John the Baptist were answering that question, he would say that we should repent; that is,…
Sermon for the Feast Day of St Andrew Readings: Deuteronomy 30:11–14; Romans 10:8–18 & Matthew 4:18–22 The discussion at last Monday’s Spiritual Cafe centred on the notion that we are free either to accept the ultimate power or authority of God or reject it. The choice is ours to make, and there are consequences in this life and, if we believe, in…