A Sermon on Joy and Hope for Christmas

“I bring you good news of great joy for all the people,” says the angel, “to you is born this day a saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

We gather here this morning in the knowledge that we are one of the first groups of millions of Christians who will come together today to hear that greeting proclaimed again, as Christmas Day works its way around the time zones of the world.  It is extraordinary that nearly 2,000 years after the first followers of Christ gathered together to fashion their lives around this story, we should be continuing to do so today.  There are few other stories that have so constantly and powerfully inspired people throughout the generations between then and now to live in joy and hope.

A Sermon on Priesthood at Fr Garry Kerr’s First Mass

One of the questions that has regularly haunted me since my arrival in the Diocese is the question that goes something like, “is there a place for God, for Christ and for the Church in Australian society at all anymore?”

In various ways I suspect that many of us who have made a commitment to the life of the Church, in response to God’s overwhelming love for us,  have been faced by that question at some time or another,  whether we are willing to admit it or not.

A Sermon on Being Ready

I worked out this week, as I was reading and pondering the parable which we have just heard that I have been to over 200 weddings in the last 20 years.  I have been to a wedding in Oxford where the bride turned up over an hour late.  I have been to a wedding in Perth where the bride turned up so early that a previous wedding was still going on.  I have been to a wedding in London where a woman wandered in from the streets, uninvited, and danced up and down the aisle until the ushers removed her.  But I have never been to a wedding where the groom hasn’t shown up.

Try to imagine the scene in the Gospel story that we have just heard.  The guests are ready, the lamps are lit, but there is no bridegroom.  Even those of us who have very vivid imaginations will find it hard to picture the story which we have just heard, because it is so different from any wedding that we have seen before.  Just thinking about this story reminds us that people in the time of Jesus lived very different lives to ours.  Their culture, and their customs, and their traditions are not our culture and customs and traditions; and so we have to work hard every time we open our Bibles, to dig deeper, behind these kinds of stories to find out what’s really going on.

A Sermon on Blessing for the Feast of All Saints

I do not know how many of you have a favourite saint, or a favourite story from the lives of the Saints.  I suspect that we might surprise ourselves if we spent time today, on this festival celebration of All Saints, sharing with each other the connections that we have experienced with the Saints during our lives so far.
If we had the time to do that, my guess would be that there would be some of us here who would instinctively feel a little uncomfortable about Anglicans having a strong focus on and connection with the lives of the Saints;  and I know too that there would be others here who would be able to speak gratefully about a life lived in communion with those saintly heroes of our faith who have gone before us.  As ever, when we dig down into the reasons why we feel the way that we feel about this and so many other things, I suspect that we would discover that our own response to the idea of the communion of the Saints, on this All Saints Day Festival (for good or for bad), would have a great deal to do with what others – parents, priests, Sunday school teachers – have taught us to embrace or to be suspicious about in the past.

A Sermon on Giving Ourselves Back to God

For many people, probably including some of us (whether we like it or not) money is one of the high points of anxiety throughout our lives.  And just as it is for individuals and families, so too it can also be true for church communities, seeking to pay the bills and maintain the buildings which house our ministry and mission.
Broadly in our society the response to money is something like this: if we have a lot of it, we want to be sure that we will hang on to it; and if we don’t have enough of it we want to try as hard as we can to get more.

All kinds of pressures in our society offer us the dream of buying a nicer house, a better car, the opportunity to travel or the illusion of perpetual security – and whilst it must be said that none of these are bad aspirations in themselves, they can lead us to live our lives always looking ahead for something better (whatever our age), always being distracted by a desire for more, rather than living in a state of thankfulness for all that we have already.

A Sermon on Not Leaving Leadership to Chance

I have never been asked to be a ballerina. I have never been asked to attend time trials as a hopeful for the Olympic rowing team. I have a bad back and two left feet. No one has ever asked me to consider whether I might appear on one of those quiz shows which are reserved for the extremely intelligent. No one has ever asked me why I am not a boxer, or a chef or an accountant. Those people who know me would know that a disaster would not be far off if I sought to undertake any of those activities. It would not just be me who ended up in a mess, but all those who relied on me to undertake those tasks on their behalf.

A Sermon on the Coming of the Holy Spirit

When we hear the word ‘Pentecost’ most of us probably presume that it is a Christian word – a word that was developed by the first Christians to point to the coming of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church. We might be surprised to know that the word ‘Pentecost’ in its original usage refers not to our Christian celebration, but to a much older Jewish celebration called ‘Shavu’ot’ or the ‘Feast of Weeks’.

A Sermon on the Holy Spirit in the Life of the Church

Life in my household has been overtaken by the birthdays over the last few days, and it isn’t over yet. Malachi celebrated his seventh birthday on Friday, and Isaac will celebrate his ninth birthday on Tuesday, and between them (with their two other younger brothers in full agreement) they have managed to hatch a plan to ensure that their combined birthdays last for a whole week! As we have been celebrating these birthdays, I have been thinking back to the wonderful beginnings when they were welcomed (as babies) into the world and into the family.

A Sermon on Priesthood at Fr Chris Yates’ First Mass

One of the questions that has regularly challenged me since my arrival in the Diocese is the question that goes something like, “is there a place for God, for Christ and for the Church in Australian society at all anymore?”   In various ways I suspect that many of us who have made a commitment to the life of the Church, in response to God’s overwhelming love for us,  have been faced by that question at some time or another,  whether we are willing to admit it or not.  Speaking as an Anglican in the Diocese of Newcastle I find myself asking that question specifically of the life of our Diocese.

A Sermon on the Surprise of Easter

Christ is Risen!  Alleluia!  Christ is Risen Indeed!  Alleluia!

A young man rose from poverty and obscurity, to a place where he was known throughout the land, to a place where he had prominence and influence.  Crowds of people gathered wherever he was. They were fascinated by the things that he said, fascinated by the message behind his words.

A Sermon on Receiving Sight and Sharing Light

Have you ever had one of those experiences when because of something that someone has said or done, or because of something that you have read or experienced it feels like the light bulb has suddenly been turned on?  One of the great joys of having a household of young children (as it is for me) or perhaps being in close proximity to grand children as it is for some of you, is that those little light bulb moments are happening for children all of the time.