The Holy Spirit, poured out on the church, opens pathways of communication, breaking down barriers to enable us to communicate with one another and with God.
An Open Table where Love knows no borders
An Open Table where Love knows no borders
Sermons on Gifts
God is passionately in love with us and longing to give us every good thing if we will respond to his love.
In Jesus, the truth about God’s ways and means is brought to light and we are called to so reflect that light that all might be drawn to it.
Instead of leaving unsaid the things that could cause conflict and division, we are called to listen intensely, slowly, intentionally, allowing all to speak their truth, so that we can find a way to move forward together in love and humility.
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 Holy Spirit breaks out of the boxes that our limited languages construct, surprising us with new messages of hope and freedom and life.
El Espíritu de Jesús nos une a través de límites previamente hostiles y nos enseña un lenguaje de amor liberador.
(The Spirit of Jesus unites us across previously hostile boundaries and teaches us a language of liberating love.)
The gift of tongues can be a valuable part of our private spirituality, but the needs of public worship require something more than the private intimacies of our spirituality.
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.
I want to look today at the story Jesus told in today’s gospel reading. It’s a story set on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho, and apart from the usual interpretations we bring to it, it is for me a story about chance encounters and being open to what happens. I’d like to start by…
The new humanity formed in the death and resurrection of Jesus speaks a language of love and compassion that transcends linguistic and cultural differences and celebrates unity in diversity.
Love names, creation, joyful service and gifts for the common good can be signs of the nature and culture of God.
What is the legacy you will leave? Live into life and love the way you want it to be, because whatever you choose will live on after you.
Sexual Intimacy is an exquisitely beautiful gift from God, but attempts to control and repress it frequently distort it into a hypocritical and malevolent force.
The Holy Spirit fills the church with gifts, not only for its own sake, but so that it might be a gift to the world.
God has promised the whole world to all God’s children, but not exclusive rights to some bits of it to some people.
Our freedom in Christ renders the law irrelevant as a factor in our relationship with God, but we are set free to grow into union with Christ, not to fall into new slaveries.
While we are called to be a sharing community and thus to have no need of worry for tomorrow, you can’t look to others to provide you with the fruits of a life lived in generosity and prayerfulness.
Being truly alive is a gift so extravagantly rich and wonderful that it can’t even be meaningfully contrasted with simply not being dead.
God’s self-giving is to all of humanity, all of the time, and we are called to lift our eyes beyond our immediate concerns and stand in solidarity with the faithful who have gone before us.