Homilies
‘Little decisions are the kind we can make’
HOMILY: Rima, a mother of six, has been living in Jordan for 20 years after fleeing Gaza in 2004. Three of her children are disabled. Rima struggled with isolation and the burden of raising her family. But everything changed when she joined the Forsa project.
‘Call of the wild’
HOMILY: “We are all John the Baptists in our own way” (David L. Walker).
‘Look at the fig tree’
HOMILY: “Look at the fig tree, or any other tree” – the reign of God is about how we look … at trees, at one another. It has to do with how the world appears in the light of a Promised One.
‘The Most High, the Most Low’
HOMILY: Is revelation always ironic, always subversive? Our theme for today is certainly both ironic and subversive.
‘Hope and new life’
HOMILY: In today’s reading, which recounts Jesus’ final public act before his farewell speech to the disciples and subsequent passion, a poor widow gives “her whole livelihood” (literally, her “life”).
‘Your faith has healed you’
HOMILY: The key theme in today’s lectionary readings is that of passage or transformation. Passage from a place – variously described – of ignorance, fear or blindness to a place of repentance, trust and the enlightened following of Christ.
‘Feast Day of St Lydia’
HOMILY: Today our readings mark a celebration of the life, faith and legacy of St Lydia. Although there is only minimal reference to her in the bible, seven verses in Acts all up, she is a woman who has inspired a tradition connected to her open-hearted, responsive, courageous and generous faith, who crosses cultural boundaries and forges new relationships.
‘Let go the rope, pick up the thread’
HOMILY: William Blake’s etching of Job, his wife and his friends (1825) tells the story. Job seeks a God of goodness/justice. His friends try to help but can’t help blaming Job, the victim. Their theologies are rigid, their images of God fixed in place.
‘Rest for your souls’
HOMILY: After a vision at the ruined San Damiano Church, Francis began physically repairing the building, interpreting God’s command to “rebuild my Church” literally at first, before realising it also referred to spiritual renewal.
Where in this story do you rest (what appeals to you most)? How might it offer you deep or soulful rest?
Where in this story do you rest (what appeals to you most)? How might it offer you deep or soulful rest?
‘Jesus the Fire of God’
HOMILY: As we wind our way toward the conclusion of this Season of Creation next Sunday, with its celebration of Saints Clare and Francis of Assisi, the resources provided by the Uniting Church and, indeed, the global church, go missing in action. There are no specific liturgical resources provided for today, and no suggestions for a theme. That being so, I’ve decided to lead you on a pathway that begins and ends with fire.
‘Look to the mountains, listen and remember’
HOMILY: I look to the mountains, the psalmist sings … and as a Korean it is the mountains, those beautiful bosoms of my country that greet me and embrace me when I return home. Korea is full of bumps and hills and mountains.
‘On drawing and being drawn’
HOMILY: In January I had the opportunity to visit lutruwita/Tasmania (Launceston and Hobart) for the first time. Highlights included walking and drawing in the Tamar Valley, at Cataract Gorge where stone boulders are considered ancient sentinels, and at kunanyi/Mount Wellington, a dolerite mountain type rising more than 1200 metres above sea level.
‘And ask the sky …’
HOMILY: Paul writes: “… work out your salvation with fear and trembling … It is God at work in you that creates the desire to do God’s will” (Philippians 2:12-13). The good news: cooperation with God. The good news: gift and task. The good news: grace perfecting nature (Thomas Aquinas).
‘Rock my soul’
HOMILY: The priestly account of Creation in Genesis 1 sees Elohim creating human beings in the divine likeness, to be loving and caring toward the fish, birds and wild animals. Responsibility is the watchword. “Stewardship” is a faithful translation, though “subjugation” is a sadly familiar one.
‘I saw the inscape freshly …’
HOMILY: We have received a record number of entries for the Blak & Blu pen-on-paper art prize. This year’s theme, set by founding sponsor Blak Douglas, is “Deep within”. And so, we have entries with titles including “Joy deep within”, “Deep within the chrysalis”, “Gadigal land – deep within the garden”, “Seeds of courage” …
‘A dwelling-place for God’
HOMILY: John’s Jesus is a teacher of Wisdom. John’s Jesus is also Wisdom personified, Sophia incarnate. The offence, the “stumbling block”, has to do with this.
‘By some other magic’
HOMILY: “To believe in God is to eat bread not by yourself but by some other magic …” (Joseph Pintauro, 1968).
‘Hunger and nourishment’
HOMILY: John’s gospel refers to the miracles of Jesus (and there are seven in all) as semeia or signs. John understands them differently from the other three evangelists, the authors of the synoptic gospels, who call them dunamis, meaning powers. John is telling us that a mere fascination with the miracles misses their deeper significance. A sign, by nature, points beyond itself to a deeper reality.
‘Touch and other double sensations’
HOMILY: Philosopher Richard Kearney describes the sense of touch as double sensation – touching and being touched – a figure for much else, including tact, vibrant relation, interpretation …
‘Bearing noble witness’
HOMILY: Standing up for what’s right and compassionate is to risk/live your life. Paranoid powers – gluttons and abusers like Herod – deeply resent social and political criticism, and prophets like John the Baptiser are undermined, ridiculed, imprisoned.
