Season of Growth
Proclaim Christ Crucified
5 February 2017
Season of Growth, Series, Year A
When pondering the nature of God, Paul could have spoken about the various ways that God had been revealed across the centuries, the different qualities of God, the effects of God, or the ways to encounter God, based on philosophy or rhetoric – common in Greek culture. Instead Paul focuses on one basic element -…
Somebody boast
29 January 2017
Season of Growth, Series, Year A
The liturgy presents us with the final section (26-31) of chapter one of First Corinthians today, which means we have jumped over verses 18-25 which provides the essential context of the passage. Paul speaks in a powerful rhetoric about the cross – ironically telling us that God will destroy the wisdom of the wise. It…
Preaching Jesus united
22 January 2017
Season of Growth, Series, Year A
Corinth was located at the end of a neck of land attaching the Peloponnese peninsula to mainland Greece and having a port facing east (Cenchreae) and another with access to the west (Lechaion), Corinth was geographically predestined to be a corridor of commerce and a potpourri of cultures. Ships could be hauled across the isthmus on chariots on the 6km paved…
Grace and Peace in Corinth
15 January 2017
Season of Growth, Series, Year A
Each liturgical year, the second readings for the first eight weeks of the Season of the Year are taken from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians. In Year A we read sections from chapters 1-4; in Year B from chapters 6-10; and in Year C from chapters 12-15. The letter is also read at key points in…
Four Transcendentals: One
27 November 2016
Advent, Season of Growth, Seasons, Series, Year A
One small piece of wisdom that has come down from the ages (it was first stated in Greek philosophy, and then offered into the Christian tradition through the writings of the Eastern fathers, St Augustine, and then codified in scholastic philosophy through the writings of St Thomas Aquinas) is the Latin phrase: omne/omnia ens est…
Christ the King of mercy
20 November 2016
Season of Growth, Solemnity, Year C
Many of the parishes around our Diocese celebrate First Holy Communion on this day – which seems like a lovely idea, given the name of the Solemnity with which we conclude the liturgical year. But I am intrigued about the disjuncture between the apparent theme of the liturgy and the strong and provocative images that…
Sun and temple and Alpha
13 November 2016
As we come to the end of the liturgical year, the darker tone of the readings this week match well the international mood after the results of the presidential election in the US. The images are rich and evocative, and require us to unpack them a little. We begin with the image of the sun -…
Living Simply 4 – Today Matters
6 November 2016
Season of Growth, Series, Year C
In the Gospel today (Luke 20:27-38), a group of Sadducees (the only mention in the Gospel of Luke) come to Jesus with a question, involving a bizarre scenario about seven unfortunate brothers and their common childless wife. Although the context of the resurrection of the dead is presumed, Jesus doesn’t complete the argument, leaving it…
Little Zacchaeus
30 October 2016
Radio Program, Season of Growth, Teaching, Year C
Before I begin this gospel reflection, there is one thing that you should know about me: I am not height challenged – in fact I am much more likely to be asked to move out of the way so that others standing in a crowd behind me are able to see the action. So the…
Living Simply 3
23 October 2016
Season of Growth, Series, Year C
In order to be able to live simply, sometimes a bit of perspective is going to be helpful – so we need to go on a journey today into the vastness of the universe – which scientists just last week announced was even bigger than previously known. Gospel reflection Unless we are in the legal…
Living Simply 2
15 October 2016
Season of Growth, Series, Year C
“In a few hundred years, when the history of our time will be written from a long-term perspective, it is likely that the most important event historians will see is not technology, not the Internet, not e-commerce. It is an unprecedented change in the human condition. For the first time – literally – substantial and…
Living Simply 1
9 October 2016
Season of Growth, Series, Year C
When you look at the Gospels and the ministry of Jesus, there are many things that strike you. But one thing that is not present is any sense of Jesus being distracted and worried about so many things all happening at once. Somehow he manages to keep this focus on the thing that is happening…
Fanning the flame of faith
2 October 2016
Is there anything better than a blazing log fire on a cold winter’s morning? Clearly the answer is no – but what is better is if someone else gets the fire going for you – especially when you are a little child and you have no clue as to how to get a fire going….
Being Good Stewards
18 September 2016
The parable that Jesus tells today (Luke 16:1-13) is a very odd kind of story – one that has perplexed people across the generations. Does he really praise the astuteness of the steward for doing something at least immoral, if not illegal, in the final stages of his term as the steward for the rich man?…
Lost & Found
11 September 2016
We read the whole of the fifteenth chapter of Luke’s gospel today – which begins with this description of the annoyance of the religious types that Jesus was mixing with the wrong kinds of people – the tax collectors and sinners. In response, Jesus offers these three beautiful parables – the last two of which…
Towers, Armies and Mission
4 September 2016
Discipleship, Season of Growth, Teaching, Year C
Jesus is somewhat uncharacteristic today as he tries to win friends and influence the crowds by declaring that they will not be worthy to be his followers and disciples unless we hate the most significant people in our lives, including ourselves, take up our cross – which means to prepare to die – and give…
A tale of two mountains
28 August 2016
Bible, Season of Growth, Teaching, Year C
The wonderful reading from Hebrews 12 today (second reading) may pass us by, because it presumes that we have a good understanding of the rest of the book, as well as Jewish history, geography, scripture and the Jerusalem temple. It probably doesn’t help that the name of the first mountain is not even given in…
Are you saved?
21 August 2016
The Gospel today begins with our first reminder since the end of chapter nine, that Jesus is continuing to teach and minister along the road towards his suffering and death in the city of Jerusalem. Someone asks a question: Will there only be a few who are saved? Now that is a good question, if ever…
Jarred awake
13 August 2016
Radio Program, Season of Growth, Teaching, Year C
If your image of Jesus is of Mr Nice Guy, always meek and mild, then the Gospel today will come as a massive shock. In the Gospel, from Luke chapter 12, verses 49-53, there doesn’t seem to be a hint of gentle Jesus, or even nice Jesus, but instead a wholesale picture of family feuding…
Treasures of standing ready
6 August 2016
Only faith… We have a selection from the magnificent reflection on faith that is Hebrews chapter 11. Today we hear the stories of Abraham and Sarah, who trusted in a God who they barely knew to set out for a land that they did not know, among a people that they did not know, trusting…
Building Bigger Barns
31 July 2016
One of the interesting characteristics of the Hebrew language is that it has a relatively small vocabulary – especially in comparison to English. It is also a very concrete, practical language, with very few words that are merely conceptual. So when it comes time to try and describe something that is more abstract, Hebrew has…
Prayer 101 – 2 Beginning to Pray
24 July 2016
Discipleship, Season of Growth, Series, Teaching, Year C
We are invited deeply into relationship with a God who as a good father wants to give good gifts to all of his children – and especially the gift of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus was a little child, as was the tradition at the time, his mother Mary would have taught him how to…
Prayer 101 – Learning to Pray
17 July 2016
Season of Growth, Series, Year C
In today’s gospel, we see Jesus arriving at the house of Martha, who in good near eastern tradition is very attentive to the hospitality of Jesus. But when Martha’s sister Mary is able to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to him while he taught, Martha remains distracted by all the serving. Mary…
Discipleship 4 – Moved by compassion
9 July 2016
Discipleship, Season of Growth, Teaching, Year C
Arriving at the fourth part of this series on being disciples of Jesus, we are given the provocative question by a lawyer – what must I do to inherit the life of the age to come? True to form, Jesus does not provide a direct answer, but instead asks a question – what does the…
Discipleship 3 – Moments of Conversion
3 July 2016
Discipleship, Season of Growth, Series, Teaching, Year C
Jesus today sends out the larger group of his followers to become disciples – those who have learnt from the master and now share in his mission to proclaim that the kingdom of God has drawn near. It is this passage of scripture (Luke 10:1-9) that was the inspiration for the new logo for the…
Discipleship 2 – Following Jesus
25 June 2016
Discipleship, Season of Growth, Series, Teaching, Year C
Discipleship 2. Called to follow Jesus Jesus sets his face resolutely towards Jerusalem (Luke 9:51) The kingdom of God: We are called to follow A time of Social unrest • Violence by Roman soldiers • High taxation • Tensions within the Jewish community • The Jewish people had returned from exile God would become King…
Discipleship 1 – Who is Jesus?
19 June 2016
Discipleship, Season of Growth, Teaching, Year C
Discipleship: The path to knowing and following Jesus The question Today in the Gospel (Luke 9:18-24), Jesus asks these 2 questions: Who do the crowds say that I am? Who do you say that I am? Peter answers: The anointed of God How do we answer this question? How would you describe your lived relationship…
Oily Mercy – revisiting the mercy movement
11 June 2016
When I read this Gospel, from Luke chapter 7, verses 36-50, of the anointing of Jesus by a sinful woman, two very vivid images come to mind, evoked by two songs. The first is the old song ‘Beautiful to Me’ by Don Francisco, which in his style is a powerful retelling of this story, told from…
Compassion raises the dead
5 June 2016
Season of Growth, Solemnity, Year C
This seventh chapter of the Gospel of Luke begins with two stories of healing: the first is the healing of the Centurion’s slave; the second is our gospel story today – the raising from the dead of the son of a widow in the town of Nain. In the first story the healing comes at the…
Marginal Prophet
31 January 2016
Jeremiah is one of the most favourite prophets in part because he is so transparent about his call and its consequences. He certainly didn’t go out of his way to be a prophet. You couldn’t really blame him. At the time of his call, during the reign of King Josiah, the southern kingdom of Judah…