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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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11 August, 2002
The only thing which proves to be worth anything at all, the only thing that proves able to continually redeem our lives from the brink is faith in the crucified and risen one.
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14 July, 2002
It is only by letting go of our tribal need to define who is in and who is out, that any of us shall, in the end, show forth a kingdom which is from God.
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9 June, 2002
Preacher: Garry Worete Deverell
Topic: Blessing, Grace, peace, Reconciliation, Unity
If Abraham is our common father in faith, and like him we are justified and made whole by our faith in God’s mercy, then Christians, Jews and Muslims might find unity in sharing, humbly, in the wonder of that gift together.
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12 May, 2002
Preacher: Garry Worete Deverell
Topic: Abundance, Discernment, Healing, Jesus, Power, Resurrection, Spiritual Disciplines
The wound of abandonment which haunts every human being will find its healing in Christ who is everywhere present as the authority and power of God.
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14 April, 2002
Preacher: Garry Worete Deverell
Topic: Conversion, Formation, Liberation, Resurrection, Worship
Scripture: Luke
The resurrection of Jesus is about the in-breaking of something which is so new, so different, so unheard of, that it changes things so entirely that we will never again become captive to all that is predictable, or ‘necessary,’ or ‘fated’.
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10 March, 2002
We are called not to know, but to be known, not to see, but to be seen by God, who gazes upon us with a love so wide and long and deep that it surpasses all our imaginings.
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27 January, 2002
Jesus calls us to take the way less travelled, to leave behind the sin that entangles, to be welcomed by God, that we may have power to welcome and love even our enemies.
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20 January, 2002
The impossible life of peace, joy, justice centred in the other, only becomes possible because God makes it possible.
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28 October, 2001
The faith of Christ is about the redemptive power of wounds, so love your wound and befriend it, for it is probably an angel of God in disguise.
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7 October, 2001
Preacher: Garry Worete Deverell
Topic: Anger, Apocalypse, Depression, Faith, Love, Salvation, Suffering
Scripture: Jeremiah, Lamentations, Luke
When the world falls apart, God recognises the pain, the despair, and the anger, and gifts us with faith, with an assurance that God’s power of love will yet prevail, that God will accomplish the justice and the peace we long for.
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2 September, 2001
In the economy of God, there are no boundaries to the welcome we, all of us, receive by the unconditional gift of God’s grace.
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5 August, 2001
Preacher: Garry Worete Deverell
Topic: Conversion, Formation, Spirituality, Wisdom
Scripture: Colossians, Luke
God calls us to detach, to empty ourselves of desire, to die with Christ, so that we may truly welcome Christ when he returns to his appointed home in our hearts and souls.