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baptist church
baptist church
Preacher: Garry Worete Deverell
At Open Icon Baptist Church, we value great preaching — preaching that engages deeply, humbly and honestly with Jesus, the Bible, and the pain and joy of living in the real world. And since going permanently online, we have been able to welcome great preachers from all over the world without having to wait for them to visit our shores. Click here to meet the inspirational preachers depicted in the gallery above, none of whom have preached for us!
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Garry Worete Deverell
The Revd Dr Garry Worete Deverell is a Trawloolway man from north-eastern Tasmania. He served as an associate pastor in our church from 2002 – 2007 while completing his doctoral studies through the University of Divinity, Melbourne. Garry has since worked within Uniting Church and Anglican congregations, and has worked in hospitals and theological colleges, all in Victoria and Tasmania. He served as Academic Dean, Lecturer, and Research Fellow in the School of Indigenous Studies at the University of Divinity, which he helped to found. He and his wife Lil have two adult daughters, and are now living back on Garry's ancestral country in north-eastern Lutruwita/Tasmania. Garry is the author of:
- The Bonds of Freedom: vows, sacraments, and the formation of the Christian Self, Wipf and Stock (2008).
- Gondwana Theology: a trawloolway man reflects on Christian faith, Morning Star Press (2018).
- Contemplating Country: More Gondwana Theology, Wipf and Stock (2023).
Sermons by Garry Worete Deverell
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12 October, 2003
Preacher: Garry Worete Deverell
Grace is the opposite of karma, that most ancient and persistent of human laws which proclaims that we get what we deserve. We do not get what we deserve, and thank Christ we don’t!
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13 July, 2003
Preacher: Garry Worete Deverell
Topic: Commitment, Fullness of Life, Gratitude, Jesus, Worship
Scripture: 1 & 2 Samuel, Mark
If we can lose ourselves in the worship of Christ, then Christ will come to fill our emptied egos with his own self which now dances in the freedom of God.
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8 June, 2003
Preacher: Garry Worete Deverell
Topic: Depression, Fullness of Life, Holy Spirit, Salvation
The day of Pentecost is the day when the Spirit comes to interrupt and call into question the inevitability of our despair.
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18 May, 2003
Preacher: Garry Worete Deverell
Topic: Jesus, Mission, Service, Spirituality
Scripture: 1 2 & 3 John, Acts, John
God has promised that if we stay connected to him, then he will give us the energy and the love to go out from our comfort-zones into the alien territory of those who need God’s love most of all.
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6 April, 2003
Preacher: Garry Worete Deverell
Topic: Culture, Discernment, Faithfulness, Grace, Hope, Incarnation, Suffering, Weakness
Scripture: John
God invites us to be immersed in another possible reality, to look at the world with the dark and contrary light that comes from the cross of Jesus.
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9 March, 2003
Preacher: Garry Worete Deverell
Topic: Conversion, Discipleship, Grief, Healing, Lent, Suffering
Scripture: Mark
Lent can be a dark night filled with tears and mourning and loss, but it is worth it, for God’s joy comes in the morning.
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22 February, 2003
Preacher: Garry Worete Deverell
Topic: Discipleship, Prayer, Resurrection, Vocation
Scripture: 2 Corinthians, Luke
By preparing ourselves to die with Christ, we are raised and transfigured, new people with a new vocation.
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9 February, 2003
The demonic forces of our culture and time colonise our lives but if we turn to Christ, he will drive away the demons and fill us with his Spirit. His truth will set us free.
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8 December, 2002
In the midst of horror and despair, Christ arrives with love enough, with peace enough, with hope enough to make things very, very, very different.
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3 November, 2002
Preacher: Garry Worete Deverell
Scripture: Matthew
Authority in the Christian community derives not from worldly status or popularity contests, but from a humble willingness to imitate Christ in his devotion to God and his service of others.
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13 October, 2002
We worship our God with words and images from the imagination of human beings, believing that God can take even what we say and do speak to us in a voice nor our own and images not our own.
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8 September, 2002
Preacher: Garry Worete Deverell
Topic: peace, Politics, Reconciliation, Ritual, Worship
There is no such thing as a ritual-free space, and performed well or performed badly, rituals change things, change people’s lives.