Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Easter Readings: Acts 9:36–43; Revelation 7:9–17 & John 10:22–30 Let me begin this morning by posing you two questions. I don’t want you to answer these questions right away; I want you to just sit with them as you listen to the rest of my sermon. Here are the questions: Do you believe in the miracles…
Readings: Acts 9:1–6, Revelation 5:6–14 & John 21:1–19 When I was on pilgrimage to the Holy Land in January of 2018, one of the places I visited was the Church of the Primacy of Saint Peter. It’s a Franciscan church located in Tabgha, on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. The church supposedly marks the spot where Jesus commissioned Peter…
Sermon for Palm Sunday Readings: Isaiah 50:4–9a; Philippians 2:5–11 & Luke 19:28–40 As I was reading today’s gospel passage, while preparing my sermon for today, I was reminded of an incident at the MCG in 1999 involving Shane Warne. Australia was playing England in a one day match, and after having bowled England out for 178 runs, Australia was racing toward a…
Sermon for the Fifth Sunday in Lent Readings: Isaiah 43:16–21; Philippians 3:3–14 & John 12:1–8 The tennis world was shocked last week by the news of Ash Barty’s retirement, especially at a time when she seemed to be so dominant. Of course this isn’t the first time that she’s retired from the sport. In late 2014, at only eighteen years of age,…
Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Lent Readings: Joshua 5:2–12; 2 Corinthians 5:16–21 & Luke 15:11–32 When I was in my early teens, my friend’s sister, who was a few years older than us, became estranged from her parents. She moved out of home and shared a flat with a girlfriend who was a couple of years older than her. This girlfriend…
Sermon for the Third Sunday in Lent Readings: Isaiah 55:1–9; 1 Corinthians 10:1–13 & Luke 13:1–9 I’m sure that at some stage of our lives, we’ve heard of something bad happening to someone we weren’t overly fond of, and we’ve thought to ourselves, serve themselves right, he or she deserved it. Well that’s basically what happens at the beginning of our gospel…
Sermon for Second Sunday in Lent Readings: Genesis 15:1–12, 17–18; Philippians 3:17–4:1 & Luke 13:31–35 The news of Shane Warne’s passing last Friday came as a shock to many, even to those who weren’t avid followers of cricket. I know that when I read about it online, very early on Saturday morning, I was in a state of disbelief. It just felt…
Sermon for the First Sunday of Lent Readings: Deuteronomy 26:1–11; Romans 10:4–13 & Luke 4:1–15 Ash Wednesday marked the beginning of the Season of Lent, a period of 40 days during which we recall the time that Jesus spent fasting in the desert and being tempted by the devil, before commencing his public ministry. Today’s gospel passage is Luke’s account of that…
Sermon for The Transfiguration Readings: Exodus 34:29–35, 2 Corinthians 3:12–4:2 & Luke 9:28–36 Today we commemorate the feast day of the Transfiguration of Jesus; the event which revealed the true identity of Jesus, and which also revealed the glory of God. The gospel story shares a close parallel with the transformation that Moses underwent on Mount Sinai, when he came down from…
Sermon for the Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany Readings: Genesis 45:3–11,15, 1 Corinthians 15:35–50 & Luke 6:27–38 In our first reading this morning, from the Book of Genesis, we find ourselves at the tail-end of the story of Joseph being reunited with his brothers in Egypt, where he is now the second most powerful man in Egypt after the Pharaoh. These are…