A Different Kind of Prayer

When I first invited God into my life, it was all new and strange. I had so many ideas about being a Christian that I had to overcome just so that God could show me the better way. Prayer for instance. I loved talking to God about all sorts of things as a teenager but I never knew that that was prayer. I thought prayer was what Ministers in churches did- prayers that had “Thee” and “Thou�...Read more »

A Telling Response

Last week Graeme was telling us about the way God's solutions are commonly surprising to us. God doesn't follow our logic is relation to power, peace, hope or salvation. The ultimate surprise is told in the Christmas story. God sent his son as a human baby, that he would call shepherds, the poorest of the poor, to the manger side and wise men with expensive gifts to a simple home, and expect tha...Read more »

Incarnation

What is the incarnation But God's embodied presence? A complete divine infilling. A sync of God with us. To Mary came a promise, That the a baby would be born, By the Holy Spirit's power, He would be the son of God. From Mary came acceptance, And the child began to grow, 'Til in a borrowed room one day The son of God was born. A collision occurred in Mary, Between the carnal and...Read more »

Who Aspires to be Humble?

Humility has got a bit of bad press lately. For many people humility goes with words like “self effacing”, “weak”, and “poor self esteem”. For men it is seen as the opposite of ‘being a man and sticking up for yourself’. But humility looks totally different in the Bible. It somehow looks courageous and heroic. Paul looks at Jesus’ example of humility as something worth copying...Read more »

The Story of Christmas

It's Christmas again and we are telling the story of the baby Jesus born in a manger. This is a beautiful story and we tell it each year under the Christmas tree, as we hang up our Christmas stockings, hoping that Santa Claus will come down the chimney and bring us beautiful and expensive presents. At the same time we say that we have to get back to the true story of Christmas. How terrible...Read more »

What If?

What if Jesus came again? And it all happened as we imagine except for one little difference. Everyone was raised from the dead, we had the last judgement and the world was set to rights, and everyone who desires God ‘bends the knee’ to Jesus and everyone who rejects God gets their wish and is sent to an alternative reality where God is fully absent (it sounds like hell to me!). But then j...Read more »

Pr Berlin Guerrero

This is an extract from a sermon presented by Pastor Berlin Guerrero at St John's Uniting Church in Essendon on October 2, 2011. The Philippines, the country where I come from, is known to be the only Christian nation in Asia. Its leaders in government, past and present, are known to be faithful Roman Catholics – from Marcos to Corazon Aquino, Estrada to Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and now Benign...Read more »

The Sheep and the Goats

Today we look at the third in this series of parables of the Kingdom. Remember they are parables and we have to look beyond the obvious to get their meaning. Because they are all about the Kingdom of Heaven/God, they will have something to do with the nature of life under God's rule. This parable is about the Judge/King who sits on his throne at the end of time with the nations of the world g...Read more »

Risk, Response, Reward

This week we are looking at the story we call, “The Parable of the Talents” from Matthew 25. Remember this is a parable, an illustration of the Kingdom of Heaven. In both Mark and Luke it is called the Kingdom of God. For us the word “heaven” can set us on the wrong track from the beginning. It is not about “heaven” after we die, but God's Kingdom which is past, present and fut...Read more »

Real or Imitation Jewellery

I’ve walked past those booths at the big shopping centres which say “cash for gold”. It always seemed to me to be out of place- as if a pawn shop had moved in to encourage desperate people to part with their heirlooms for very little cash. But of course the time comes when amongst all the old jewellery you end up with after the passing of your aged relatives you look at the old fob watch ...Read more »