Sermon for the Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost Readings: Job 38:1–7; Hebrews 5:1–10 & Mark 10:35–45 Do you ever find, when you’re either listening to, or reading, passages from the Bible, that certain words come to mind that perhaps sum up what you’re thinking about that you’ve heard or read in the passage? While preparing the sermon for this morning, as I read…
Sermon: 20th Sunday after Pentecost 10th October 2021 Readings: Job 23:1-9 Psalm 22:1-15 Hebrews 4:12-16 Mark 10:17-31 When John and I were preparing to emigrate to Australia, we had to sell our house which we had lived in for over forty-one years. As you can imagine, we had collected quite a lot of ‘stuff’ in that…
Sermon for the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost Readings: Job 1:1, 2:1–10; Hebrews 1:1–4, 2:5–12 & Mark 10:2–16 Do you think it’s easier for someone to have faith if they’ve been blessed with good fortune in their life? Do you think that some people have faith, because they think that if they do they will receive blessings in their life? Or do you…
Sermon for the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost Readings: Esther 7:1–6, 9–10, 9:20–22; James 5:12–20 & Mark 9:38–50 Today’s first reading was from the Book of Esther, and I thought that it might be helpful to provide a summary of the book so as to give you some context for today’s reading. The book is set during the reign of King Ahasuerus, otherwise…
Sermon for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost Readings: Proverbs 31:10–31; James 3:1–12 & Mark 9:30–37 The 2nd of October will mark the first anniversary of my mum’s death, and I still miss her terribly. My son and his wife recently announced they were expecting their second child, and my instinctive reaction was to contact Mum and let her know the good news,…
Sermon for the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost Readings: Proverbs 1:20–33; James 2:18–26 & Mark 8:27–38 I remember a time in my working life, long before my call to ministry, when the company that I worked for went through a significant upheaval. The Managing Director was moved to a different role in the Asia Pacific region of the company’s operations, and a retired…
Sermon for the Martyrs of New Guinea Readings: Zephaniah 3:14–20; Romans 8:33–39 & John 12:20–32 September 2nd has been set aside by the Anglican Church of Australia to commemorate the “Martyrs of New Guinea”, twelve Anglican men and women who died in Papua New Guinea in 1942–43 during the Japanese invasion and occupation of the country. They were: John Barge, priest Margery…
Sermon for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost Readings: Song of Songs 2:8–13; James 1:17–27 & Mark 7:1–8, 14–23 A number of years ago I was working in Clayton and living in Mulgrave. The company I worked for at the time was located on Centre Road, not far from the intersection with Westall Road. Between the street that I lived on and Centre…
Sermon for the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost Readings: 1 Kings 8:22–30, 41–43; Ephesians 6:10–20 & John 6:56–69 Where is God? My answer to this question as a young boy was, “He’s in heaven”. And heaven of course was up above me in the sky, and my image of God being in heaven was one of Him reclining on a large, white cloud.…
Sermon for Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost Readings: 1 Kings 2:10–12, 3:3–14; Ephesians 5:11–21 & John 6:51–58 When John F. Kennedy campaigned for the presidency of the United States in 1960, he was viewed with suspicion by many Protestants and Evangelicals, as well as many non-Christians, on account of his staunch Roman Catholic background. There were those who believed he would have “dual…