Set Apart In Christ

Sonia and I have both moved house a lot. Both previously to being married together, and since, we have moved home a lot of times. When you move a lot, you realise just how much “stuff” you have accumulated and you can get good at getting rid of things. I think I’m pretty ruthless with unnecessary stuff; trying not to let sentimentality drive the decision on whether a particular “thing” is something I need to take with me to the next house. I have a fairly straightforward principal that if I haven’t used that thing since the last move, then I ask myself “do I really need it?” But then there’s the books. I have quite a few books. And I find it really hard to part with them. I’ve accumulated them over many years and I find it very difficult to think of getting rid of any of them. As an academic, books aren’t just for reading, they are for reference, and so I hang on to them because there may come a day when I need to refer to them. Maybe that’s just optimism, or idealism, or me trying to ...

  Are you the type of person who shops at the same supermarket every time? Do you do a “weekly shop” or do you shop as you need to? Sonia and I will shop anywhere for the meal that is just before us. In fact, since we’ve been together, I’ve learned a fascinating thing about Sonia. She has in her mind a kind of “supermarket categorisation system.” From time to time, we’ll be considering what shopping is needed, and where we’ll go to get it, and she’ll respond with a comment like “that Woolworths at such-and-such a place is no good,” or, “that Coles is completely disorganised.” She factors in things like the layout, how good the selection is, the “vibe” of the place. For me, it comes down to practical matters like parking. Can we get in and out easily? What if it’s raining? We work together well and we like shopping and cooking together, but I have to say I don’t know the full extent of the supermarket categorisation system that exists in my wife’s mind. I’m also pretty sure it inclu...

A little over three years ago Sonia and I first walked into this parish. We were tired and broken, and we needed a new church home, but more than that we needed to be loved. Everyone welcomed us warmly. Victor took us out for coffee that week and we sat with him, just across the road in the shopping centre, and we told him our story. He listened attentively and, at the end of it all, he said to us, “I hope this will be a place of healing for you.” I will never forget the impact of those words. Nor will I forward the reality of that healing coming through being loved by this church family. I don’t have to look far at all to see a group of Christians fulfilling Christ’s command from our Gospel reading today, “love one another as I have loved you.” I have seen and experienced the love of God from you. I have sought to love you in return. A lot has changed in those three years. For us personally, but also for this church. This church has had 15 baptisms and 4 confirmations and receptions i...

The Old Testament reading this week is an interesting passage. We have this story of the people of Israel, having been rescued from Egypt by God, now travelling through the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land, and they’re upset about the food. It’s amazing how short memories can be. It wasn't that long ago that they were the victims of slavery. I can’t imagine the Egyptians were serving up food that was much better under those conditions. Yet here they are, whinging and whining, and wanting to go back. The text tells us that, in response, the Lord sent venomous snakes amongst them. We just have to take a moment to sit with this statement. The Bible is written by multiple authors over many years and so we understand that there is not one singular understanding of God throughout the scriptures. Rather, there are many theologies that evolve over time. Here, the author has taken a strict monotheism, that is the belief that there is only one God and there are no other divine bei...

  Do you think you can keep a secret? I have an important secret. A secret so powerful that it will change your life forever. Can you keep a secret? You probably already know this secret, but I want to make sure you know it. Really know it. Can you keep a secret? Here’s the secret. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. It’s a good secret isn’t it? Do you know it? I mean really know it? Mark shares this secret at the start of his gospel account. “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (1:1). Mark wants to make sure you know this secret too. There is general agreement that Mark is the earliest of the four gospel accounts. It bears so many similarities to Matthew and Luke that scholars also agree that those other authors used Mark as a source for their own accounts. More recently, it’s been suggested that Mark wasn’t written to be read but rather to be performed. That makes sense given only a few people were actually able to read anyway. Mark is short, sharp, and...

This last Sunday the story of Jonah appeared in the lectionary readings. Specifically, it was John 3:1-10, which is the part of the story where the Ninevites express their belief in God. More importantly, they expressed that belief in a performed way. In my PhD I drew upon theo-dramatic theology (Hans Urs von Balthasar and others) and performance theory (Richard Schechner and others). In this part of the story, the Ninevites are warned about their behaviour and respond by seeking forgiveness. Actually, they want God to change God's mind.  In classical theism God doesn't change. It's one of the defining characteristics of the divine nature. Here, though, the King of the Ninevites expresses something that seems to contradict that kind of theology; "Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish" (3:9).  To seek this change they perform what we would call, in performance theory, an "offer." In impr...

I love questions. Many here would be aware that I’m working on a PhD in theology. I’ve also been a teacher of theology, worship, and critical thinking, for around 12 years. I love answering questions and I love asking questions. I suspect my students hate it, though, when I answer a question with another question. Theological questions tend to be quite simple. Who is God? Who is Jesus? What is faith? How do you get saved? The questions themselves are simple. The answers, though, can occupy a lifetime if you want them to. Jesus was a master of asking questions. To the scribe who asked him how to inherit eternal life he asked “What is written in the Scriptures? How do you read it?” (Luke 10:26). To the blind man who called out for mercy on the side of the road he asked, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mk 10:51). To Peter and the disciples, after they’d recounted what other people were saying about Jesus, he asked “But who do you say I am?” (Mk 8:29). I love questions. In our ...

 

I want to start today with a story. It’s about a minister of religion. He was very smart, capable, and well-loved within his church and the denomination he was part of. From the outside he was an outstanding preacher, a loving husband and father, a great teacher, and a shining example of successful ministry. When people had questions regarding their faith, about the bible, about life, quite often he was the first person they would turn to. As far as the denomination was concerned, he was on the rise; a future leader of the movement, and someone to keep an eye on. But it was all a shell. Hidden beneath the surface was a broken man. The image he had become accustomed to portraying to the world was not the reality of what was happening beneath the surface. One day, not so long ago, cracks appeared and the shell was broken and everything came crumbling down. He lost his wife, his family, his ministry. He lost everything.  Sadly, this isn’t an uncommon story. What makes this story a...

“Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it.” Jesus is on the move. It’s a journey that, according to Luke’s account of the gospel, began back at the mount of transfiguration. Immediately following Jesus’ encounter with the Father, along with Moses, Elijah, Peter, James and John, we’re told that Jesus “set his face to go to Jerusalem.” (Lk 9:51). From that point on Jesus is on the move. Progressing closer and closer to his destination. The cross and the tomb. Just moments before entering Jericho Jesus had reminded his disciples “we are going up to Jerusalem” (Lk 18:31). Now, he stops. “Zacchaeus... I must stay at your house today.” The shock for the crowd, and for us reading this story today, is who Jesus chooses to stay with – a “sinner.” Jesus is “welcomed” by a sinner, into his home, for a meal. Who does Jesus welcome to his table and to whose table is Jesus welcomed? In the context of Luke’s gospel this story fits with three other stories of rejection and welcome. F...

An interesting online conversation I was in the other day got me thinking about the relationship between "tradition" and "scripture." In my theological training there was much made of the Wesleyan quadrilateral and the inter-relatedness of "Scripture," "tradition," "reason," and "experience." What I've been thinking a lot about, lately, those is the fact that Scripture itself is a tradition . What do I mean by that? Well, no one alive today was there when the texts of Scripture were written. Every one of us receive the text(s) of Scripture from someone else, who received them from someone else, who received them from someone else... and so on. They are passed from person to person, or more specifically from peoples to peoples, as a tradition. When we receive them we accept that they are treated as Scripture  within the tradition in which we receive them and this we do so as an act of faith. That is, if they are indeed rece...

On Monday 7 August, 2017, I had the privilege of leading the Thanksgiving Service for my wife's Nana's funeral; Joyce Estelle Smyth. This was an immense privelege for me. I thought I would share here the sermon that I had prepared for that occasion. I hope you find it helpful. _______________________ I was 17 and Megan was 15 when we started going out at Music Camp in September of 1994. A week into our relationship Megan rang me to say she was going shopping for her Year 10 formal dress with her mother, Pam and Nana; would I like to come? Being young and in love I immediately said yes. Now, there are some here today who knew me at the time and you may recall that these were the days, being 17, when I had long hair, was tough and knew everything. Oh, the things that time robs us of.

One of my favourite writers, and one of the greatest Biblical scholars of our generation, N.T. Wright once wrote the following: I used to tell my students that at least 20 per cent of what I was telling them was wrong, but I didn’t know which 20 per cent it was: I make many mistakes in life, in relationships and in work, and I don’t expect to be free of them in my thinking. But whereas in much of life one’s mistakes are often fairly obvious – the short cut path that ended in a bed of nettles, the experimental recipe that gave us all queasy stomachs, the golf shot that landed in the lake – in the life of the mind things are often not so straightforward. We need other minds on the job, to challenge us, to come back at us to engage with our arguments and analyses. That is how the world goes round. Here is a man who has years of research under his belt, countless books from his own pen lining bookshelves all throughout the world, a former Oxford professor, Bishop of Durham...

Anyone who spent any amount of time anywhere near a Sunday School has heard the story of Jonah. For whatever reason it’s seems to be a very popular story to share with children. I suspect anything to do with animals saving the day is attractive to kids. I’m sure you know it well. Jonah gets told by God to go to Nineveh and “preach against it” (1:2), he runs away, ends up on a boat in a storm going in the opposite direction, he gets thrown in the ocean which seems to appease God, he’s swallowed by a “huge fish” (1:17) in which he spends three days and three nights. From inside the fish he realises the errors of his ways, prays to God and determines to obey instead, so the fish vomits him up onto dry land. Jonah goes to Nineveh and proclaims the message God gives to him; “Forty more days and Ninevah will be overthrown” (3:4). Immediately a remarkable thing happens – “The Ninevites believed God” (3:5). The king calls a fast and demands the people and animals be covered in sackcloth to...

I've started a new series of bible studies at church this year called "Questions?". Here I  choose a particular question of interest, present some material on it, and then the group discusses it. The first of these questions was "How do you read it?"; a question that Jesus asked of the "expert in the law" in Luke 10:26. Whilst not addressing the passage directly, I find this particular question to be one of the most important for Christians to consider. Here's the material I presented for discussion below. ________________________