Sermon for Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost Readings: Habakkuk 1:1–4, 2:1–4; 2 Thessalonians 1:1–4, 11–12 & Luke 19:1–10 Since the day of his ascension, followers of Jesus have been waiting for the time when he would come again and fully establish the kingdom of God here on earth. And in the two thousand plus years since, followers of Jesus have looked on in…

Sermon for Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost  Readings: Joel 2:23–32; 2 Timothy 4:6–8, 16–18 & Luke 18:15–30 The 2nd of October marked the second anniversary of my Mum’s death, and my sister and I gathered with our respective children and grandchildren that afternoon to inter Mum’s ashes. The occasion reminded of the suddenness of Mum’s death. She was 89 years old when she…

Sermon for the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost  Readings: Jeremiah 31:27–34; 2 Timothy 3:10–4:5 & Luke 18:1–14 In the seven years since 2016, we have witnessed the end of several of the longest premiership droughts in VFL/AFL history. The Western Bulldogs won only their second premiership in the club’s history in 2016, 62 years after they first tasted success in 1954. Richmond’s premiership…

Sermon for the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost  Readings: Jeremiah 29:1, 4–7; 2 Timothy 2:8–15 & Luke 17:11–19 When I reflect on my life to this point in time, I would describe the years from 2007 to 2009 as the darkest period in my life. In March 2007, my role as a senior executive of a multinational food manufacturing business based in Melbourne…

Sermon for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost Readings: Lamentations 1:1–6; 2 Timothy 1:1–14 & Luke 17:5–10 Today’s first reading, from the Book of Lamentations, concerns the fate of Jerusalem and its inhabitants in the aftermath of the destruction of both the city and the Temple by the Babylonians in 586 BCE.  The Book of Lamentation opens with the following verse, “How lonely…