Christmas
God has drawn near in love
27 December 2014
Christmas, Seasons, Teaching, Technology
I love technology. I love the fact that Google Maps is able to navigate you around traffic snarls – often allowing you to take the exit just before all the traffic has built up on the motorway. So cool! I was in Brisbane a couple of weeks ago for a wedding, and stayed with…
Every nation may come and worship
5 January 2014
In the Gospel of Luke, it is the lowly and outcast shepherds who are the first to visit the child Jesus in the stable in Bethlehem; in the Gospel of Matthew, it is foreign magi who have journeyed for weeks, if not months, to come and seek the new-born king of the Jews. What is…
A messy church and Christmas
24 December 2013
Christmas, Discipleship, Seasons, Teaching
In the middle of the year I was travelling through South America with a group of young pilgrims from the Diocese towards World Youth Day. While everything on the trip started off really well, by the time we arrived in Rio de Janeiro, the weather had really turned against us and the rain started pouring…
Baptisms and pillows
13 January 2013
Christmas, Discipleship, Epiphany, Seasons, Teaching
Gathering to celebrate the Eucharist on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, the liturgy provides fantastic images to reflect upon. From the prophet Isaiah who reminds us that the Lord will not crush the bruised reed, to the Lord Jesus who after he comes up out of the water receives the gift of…
Many epiphanies
6 January 2013
When I caught up with some friends during the week to celebrate a mutual friend’s birthday, the conversation turned to the Feast of the Epiphany and the celebration of Christmas. Mainly this was because one of the guys was a deacon in the Coptic Orthodox church, and he was gently berating me and the other…
Holy family saints
30 December 2012
When you drive around in Sydney’s south-west, with all the road-works around, you are bombarded by an increasing array of signs – some permanent, some portable, some flashing and variable. Road signs can help you to know what the speed limit is, or if there is a sharp corner looming, or a change in the…
Belief in ‘god’
25 December 2012
Bible, Christmas, Seasons, Teaching
We are told by surveys and the media that more and more Australians no longer believe in ‘god’. Yet, if you asked them what the ‘god’ that they don’t believe in is like, I would have to say that I don’t believe in that ‘god’ either. For most people, god is a being who is…
Belief in ‘god’ at midnight
25 December 2012
The early church began to realise after the events of the death and resurrection, that this is the God who was revealed in the baby born in Bethlehem. God has come in the child born in the manger. God has come in Jesus of Nazareth; if we want to know what God is like, we…
All the nations
8 January 2012
We are so used to thinking about the Christmas story as told in the gospel of Luke, that Matthew’s equally compelling story can get sidelined. When we do turn to Matthew’s story, we can get so distracted by the crib scenes and carols that the true details also get lost. It is worth pondering the…
Blessed by the face of God
1 January 2012
Christmas, Season of Growth, Seasons, Year B
In the perception of the so-called general public, when people think about God – if indeed they ever think about God, the idea that will probably be conjured would be more like the idea of the force from Star Wars, then the biblical reality of God. Likewise, the idea of heaven as somewhere up there…
Grace, peace and purpose of Christmas
28 December 2011
Time magazine this year declared the Protester to be the ‘Person of the Year’ – and certainly 2011 was an extraordinary year of protests and revolutions. But it was not the first year to be noted as such – and one event that began a revolution that continues to this day was the birth of…
Christmas Proclamation
26 December 2011
At the midnight Mass on Christmas Day (or Christmas Eve if you prefer) there is a tradition of reading the ‘Christmas Proclamation’ – which powerfully situates the events of the Nativity in the historical context of salvation and secular history. This is a recording of the beginning of Mass and the proclamation…Play MP3 (2’26”)Recorded at…
The journey of the Magi
1 January 2011
Feast of the Epiphany. The journey of the magi provides us with an opportunity to reflect on our own relationship with Christ and the lengths that we go to seek out truth and bring our lives in worship before the child king in Bethlehem. Play MP3Recorded at SJV, 6pm (7’00”)Play MP3Recorded at SJV, 10.30am (6’41”)
Family Models
26 December 2010
On the feast of the Holy Family, we are presented with various images and models of family. St Paul encourages us to be clothed in love as we allow the message of Christ to find a home within us. In the gospel, St Matthew in Herod and Joseph gives us two figures that provide powerful…
The word revealed in the sight of all the nations
25 December 2010
We are reminded in the prologue to the Gospel of John of the incredible power of the word of God – a word that changed the course of human history in ways that we will never understand. Some of the most defining moments in human history have been shaped and defined by human words -…
Rethinking familiar stories
24 December 2010
When we hear the Christmas story proclaimed in the Gospel of Luke, we are more than likely so very familiar with the basic story line, that we simply switch off, or switch into sentimental childhood memories replete with lots of non-biblical details. When we actually look closely at the story, perhaps what we see in…
Holiness today
26 December 2009
Feast of the Holy Family. In the lives of the saints we are presented with different models of how to live a live dedicated to the Lord. Perhaps this is because there is in fact no one way to be holy – all that we can do is to look at the lives of people…
Mary the revolutionary
24 December 2009
Christmas 2009 – a revolutionary ChristmasChristmas often brings out the very best in us; but of course it can also bring out the very worst. If we are honest, we can probably admit that at times all we want to do is gag at the very mention of it. Sometimes we tell the story of…
Epiphany
4 January 2009
Paul reveals (Eph 3:5-6) that in the visit of the Magi we see not a new plan, but the long hidden plan of God to include all people in his inheritance, his body and his promises. Recorded at St Michael’s, 9.30am (8’20”) Guitar by Dan Mueller.Play MP3
Holy Family – 28 Dec 2008
28 December 2008
On this feast we reflect about being part of a human family, and can be led deeper into the mystery of God and the way that in scripture we are often presented with feminine images of God. For example, God is ‘compassionate’ – but the Hebrew word for this ‘Rakham’ also means womb, so when…
Christmas Day
26 December 2008
Following from the Gospel of Luke (2:1-14) of Midnight Mass, we reflect on what the word ‘glory’ means. It is based on the Greek word ‘doxa’ and the Hebrew word ‘kabod’ – which means weight/significance/substance. We experience a glimpse of the glory of God when we look up at the night sky. Exodus 33 tells…
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