God created the earth and gave it to us, but mistreated, it rebels. Jesus, rising form the earth, redeems the earth, so that if can again be our true home.
An Open Table where Love knows no borders
An Open Table where Love knows no borders
Sermons on Matthew (Page 3)
Jesus calls us to prayerfully persevere for what is right and what is good, to never give up on our quest for the promise of life, and to always hold on to hope for the fulfilment of God’s will and purpose for our lives.
Until our eyes are opened to discern the dog-domination and pig-powers that oppress us from within our culture, we will continue to be trampled underfoot by them
Where affluence creates consumers, abundance creates neighbours. It is the ethic of possessions which Jesus commends to us as a promise of how God deals with us.
The stories of Moses, Elijah and Jesus on various mountain tops reveals a process of God’s self-revelation as the one who loves us and suffers for us.
The things we have we are to hold with open hands, looking with a generous eye for the oppotunities to share our resources in ways that make a difference.
In the midst of our world, with its trials, sins, hunger, and longing for the rule of love, the prayer of Jesus leads us back to our loving God and Father.
God knows our tribulation and will keep us in the right way if we will trust to do right without fuss and without favour.
Jesus calls us to face hostility, not as doormats, but by boldly and creatively standing in our freedom and extending unexpected love and generosity.
The abusive use of anger to manipulate other people’s behaviour is, Jesus says, on the same spectrum as physical violence, and Jesus calls this preacher to repent of it.
Jesus reinvigorates the Covenant so that his Word of liberation and life is integrated into our lives, & we can live the Covenant in a new way in the world.
In the culture of Jesus, the very conditions that create discomfort, struggle, suffering and even scorn, paradoxically are transformed into the essential ingredients to inherit and inhabit the kingdom of God.
As Woody Allen said, 90% of success is just showing up, and in the resurrection, Jesus really shows up!
The COVID-19 scare can reinforce our Lenten call to prepare our hearts by facing up to our mortality and the real limits of our control over the world.
The forgiveness encountered in Jesus is extravagant and all-inclusive, but those who determinedly reject and demonise the Spirit’s winds of change can cut off their own access to it.
Our generation is very good at identifying evils and calling them out, but if our hearts are not occupied by God’s love and mercy, the results can be disastrous.
Jesus calls us to follow his lead in bringing healing, hope and positive leadership to others, and not to be too worried about anxious and vexatious criticism.
Jesus calls us to neither conservatism nor iconoclasm, but to a faithful reckoning with the gifts and the sins of the past as we welcome and adapt to the new.
Godly love and respect doesn’t prevent disagreements in the church community, but it should enable us to address them without having to call in the lawyers.
God’s people are called to generously share their gifts, but also to humbly receive the gifts that are offered to us from unexpected sources.