William LoaderFirst Thoughts on Year C Epistle Passages from the Lectionary (abbreviated) Colossians 3:5 turns to the logical consequences of beginning this new life: the old must die. … there is still the need to give attention to well grooved habits and behaviours which conflict with the new life. … It also headed the list […]
by Rev Samata Elia Genesis 18:20-23In God’s confidence: God has declared his promise to make Abraham a great nation and Abraham had not portrayed that confidence. He had shown himself to be a man of integrity, compassion, and hospitality. Abraham gains God’s confidence so much that the Lord reveals his intention of taking action against […]
Luke 10:38-42 1. Over the last few Sundays, we have heard that Jesus means freedom in every area of life. What does it mean that Jesus means freedom when, in the words of Paul in Galatians 3:28, there is neither male nor female, that all are equal? 2. Bill Loader offers us the following insights: “The first […]
Luke 10:25-37The issue [in this text] is fundamental: how do we inherit eternal life? ‘Inherit’ assumes inheritance, promise. … ‘Eternal life’: focus is quality rather than quantity. It is sharing in God’s life. … Jesus affirms that to love God and to love one’s neighbour is indeed the correct answer. ‘Do this,’ he declares, ‘and you […]
Luke 10:1-10 In our Gospel text Jesus sends out his disciples into every town and place he was to visit. As William Loader reminds us, “it is important to imagine our way back into their setting”. Jesus’ pattern of engaging with his world was based on the wandering, itinerant teachers and healers. He relied on […]
Pentecost 3C 2019 : Luke 9:51-62 Our passage deals with the beginning of the journey, especially the call to discipleship and what it means. But first Jesus must make his way through Samaria. Given the mutual hostility, it is credible that in some Samaritan villages Jews would not be welcome. Racism, whatever inspired it, catches […]
In 1977, three Australian churches came together as one. The Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregational churches have been the Uniting Church in Australia ever since. We are the people of God on the Way, a diverse group of many cultures and understandings of faith that will bring us into deeper unity with others. Former UCA President, […]
The movie Leap of Faith starring Steve Martin as a roving con artist evangelist who doesn’t even believe in God. One of his trucks breaks down in a little town in Kansas, so they set up a revival there. There is a drought and the people are poor. Yet they put on a good show […]
Pentecost, 2019, John 20:19-23 But most people are only very little alive T S Eliot, After Strange Gods Issues from the hand of time the simple soulIrresolute and selfish, misshapen, lame,Unable to fare forward or retreat,Fearing the warm reality, the offered good T S Eliot, Issues from the hand of God, the simple soul A […]
Easter 7, John 17:20-26 “From love comes glory, not vice versa”, wrote Kosuke Koyama, the former Japanese missionary and Professor of Ecumenics and World Christianity at Union Seminary in New York. This is the core teaching of John’s Jesus in his last prayer in John 17:24: My parent God, I want those you have given […]