The pathway to a life of joy and gratitude is to imitate Jesus in filling our minds with things which are worthy, honourable, merciful and loving.
A sermon on accepting the gifts of God
The self-emptying of Jesus reveals both his divinity and the pathway to our full humanity.
We want to be rewarded as we think we deserve, but God wants to give us everything.
Are we, individually and together, focused on the things that we can be doing, that will enable us to embrace and nurture the growth of Christ’s values, withstanding opposition to them?
We have to choose between being squeezed into the world’s mould or re-moulded from within by God.
Jesus and the Canaanite woman bring us along with them into a new understanding of what defiles, and what makes us clean and whole.
God gives extravagantly and abundantly, but in order to experience it, we need to begin sharing it.
The good news of the Kingdom always seems disreputable and dangerous and unwelcome, and it asks of us a whole new way of being God’s gracious people in a world of hatred and violence.
Jesus has sown the seeds. It is up to us to respond and even though we may get excited and the interest dissipates, or we get distracted and let the other priorities take a hold of us, or we actually feel nothing, the challenge for us is to continue our walk with God.
Staying true to the disciplines of ordinary faithfulness is part of our calling as we follow the way of Jesus Christ; and engaging in them eases our burdens considerably.
It often feels as though faithfulness is going to cost us everything, but God is a God of wonderful surprises.
The crucified and risen Jesus reveals the truth about the triune God’s grace, love and communion, and calls us to reflect those relationships in our communal life.
The Spirit is there for us where ever we gather in the one place for that one purpose.
The gratuitous mercy made known in the resurrected Christ requires us to rethink the nature of God all the way back to creation.
Jesus offers himself to the world from a vulnerable place on the margins, and he calls us to trust the Holy Spirit and do likewise.
We have a distinct and privileged identity as God’s chosen people, but it does not turn us away from other people, but leads us to offer ourselves to and for them that all may share in the grace that has made us who we are.
United with Christ in baptism we cross the threshold from death to life, and in Eucharist we continue to touch the scars which nourish our faith and inspire our worship.
Social labels and divisions keep us parched and thirsting for intimacy and community, but Jesus seeks to break through them and give us the living water of love and acceptance.
God’s promised protection can only be understood through the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection.