Teaching
Hope of New Creation – 4 (part 2)
26 March 2009
In the second part of the fourth session, we turn to consider the nature of Paradise (or heaven) and how we can begin to understand how a loving God allows the existence of a place that is beyond hope and beyond pity – hell. (12’19”) Play MP3
Hope of New Creation – 4 (part 1)
26 March 2009
In this first part of the fourth session, we consider the vexed question of Purgatory, drawing from the insights of Pope Benedict in his 2007 encyclical Spe Salvi. (12’49”) Play MP3
Hope of New Creation 3 (part 2)
20 March 2009
The third session of the Hope of New Creation. In the second part of this session we look at the nature of the redemption of our bodies. (15’06”) Play MP3
Hope of New Creation 3 (part 1)
18 March 2009
The third session of the Hope of New Creation. In this first part, we look at the Ascension of Jesus and what this mystery might mean for us – about absence and presence. Then we consider the Second Coming of Jesus and the often misunderstood idea of the ‘Rapture’. (14’31”) Play MP3
Hope of New Creation 2 (part 2)
13 March 2009
Day 2 in the Hope of New Creation series. Today we look at life after death in the first century and consider how the early Christians modified the understanding of resurrection that was already present in second-Temple Judaism. Then we turn to the Gospels and examine a number of hypotheses that have been offered as…
Hope of New Creation 2 (part 1)
13 March 2009
Day 2 in the Hope of New Creation series. Today we look at life after death in the first century and consider how the early Christians modified the understanding of resurrection that was already present in second-Temple Judaism. Then we turn to the Gospels and examine a number of hypotheses that have been offered as…
The Hope of New Creation
8 March 2009
What on earth are we doing for heaven’s sake? What is the significance of the resurrection of Jesus for our lives today. What happens when we die? What do we hope for after death? Is heaven the ultimate destination, our final ‘home’? Often our vision of heaven, the way that we imagine it, looks so…
Chaos and Covenant
1 March 2009
Lent, New Creation, Seasons, Teaching
Lent – Sunday 1B. Understanding the world-view of the People of God is crucial to understanding the Scriptures. We imagine that we understand how the world works, having a post-Enlightenment, post-Industrial Revolution and post-modern world-view. Yet, perhaps we are beginning to see that the world and the environment is not quite as easy to control…
Conversion of St Paul
25 January 2009
During the year of St Paul, we celebrate today the great feast of the conversion of Saul, scrupulous Pharisee, student of the synagogue of Tarsus in Cilicia and of Rabbi Gamaliel in Jerusalem. All that he knew, all that he had studied with such great fervour had only served to convince him that Jesus was…
Conversion of St Paul
24 January 2009
During the year of St Paul, we celebrate today the great feast of the conversion of Saul, scrupulous Pharisee, student of the synagogue of Tarsus in Cilicia and of Rabbi Gamaliel in Jerusalem. All that he knew, all that he had studied with such great fervour had only served to convince him that Jesus was…
Samuel and discipleship
18 January 2009
Discipleship, Season of Growth, Teaching, Year B
The call to discipleship is strongly expressed in these readings – Andrew inviting his brother Simon to meet the Lord. Having spent the week at Summer School of Evangelisation in Bathurst, many young people want to know how to discern the will of the Lord. In the first reading from 1 Samuel 3, we see…
Baptism of the Lord
11 January 2009
In the ministry of John the Baptist, the son of the priest Zechariah, we see the ritual washing (the mikvah) take on a new significance, as a sign of God’s new work of creation. Now the presence of God will not be confined to the temple – the curtain in the temple that separated the…