Sermons

Jesus’s resurrection was a sign which declared that Jesus’ cause was God’s cause, that Jesus’ values were God’s values, that Jesus’ people were God’s people.

The risen Christ is extravagantly generous and excruciatingly unwilling to settle for pious platitudes in return.

The experience of the resurrected Christ may not be as instantly transformative as we’ve often thought, but those who seek Christ’s self-revelation will grow into his mission.

Repenting of our past ways and following Jesus does not guarantee us safety from disaster, but it certainly opens the way to an abundance of life that is beyond what any disaster can destroy.

In the face of powerful evil, our choice like Jesus’s choice is between the natural human instincts of flight or fight, and the third way of obedience to God.

Extravagant grace can be terrifying because it asks nothing of us but a complete change of life!

God consistently favours love and acceptance over purity, so when we are not sure, it is better to take a risk on love and acceptance.

God’s love is like a refuge from the storm, like the hospitality of a generous host, like the continuing delight of a bridegroom for his bride, and like the alchemical power of the miracle-worker transforming even our fear and inconstancy into the power to love, forgive, and cherish.

In baptism Jesus submits himself to his God-given destiny and vocation, and it is by a similar submission to God, allowing Christ to live out his baptismal life in us and for us, that we have life and hope.

It is always a shock to realise just who Jesus is and what he’s on about.

A modern paraphrase of the Nativity Sermon of St John Chrysostom, first Preached in Antioch in 386AD

Advent faith believes in the possibility of surprise, and that our tragic and repetitive history has a punch-line which will overturn everything that we have been taught to expect.