Homilies
‘Rock my soul’
HOMILY: The priestly account of Creation in Genesis 1 sees Elohim creating human beings in the divine likeness, to be loving and caring toward the fish, birds and wild animals. Responsibility is the watchword. “Stewardship” is a faithful translation, though “subjugation” is a sadly familiar one.
‘I saw the inscape freshly …’
HOMILY: We have received a record number of entries for the Blak & Blu pen-on-paper art prize. This year’s theme, set by founding sponsor Blak Douglas, is “Deep within”. And so, we have entries with titles including “Joy deep within”, “Deep within the chrysalis”, “Gadigal land – deep within the garden”, “Seeds of courage” …
‘A dwelling-place for God’
HOMILY: John’s Jesus is a teacher of Wisdom. John’s Jesus is also Wisdom personified, Sophia incarnate. The offence, the “stumbling block”, has to do with this.
‘By some other magic’
HOMILY: “To believe in God is to eat bread not by yourself but by some other magic …” (Joseph Pintauro, 1968).
‘Hunger and nourishment’
HOMILY: John’s gospel refers to the miracles of Jesus (and there are seven in all) as semeia or signs. John understands them differently from the other three evangelists, the authors of the synoptic gospels, who call them dunamis, meaning powers. John is telling us that a mere fascination with the miracles misses their deeper significance. A sign, by nature, points beyond itself to a deeper reality.
‘Touch and other double sensations’
HOMILY: Philosopher Richard Kearney describes the sense of touch as double sensation – touching and being touched – a figure for much else, including tact, vibrant relation, interpretation …
‘Bearing noble witness’
HOMILY: Standing up for what’s right and compassionate is to risk/live your life. Paranoid powers – gluttons and abusers like Herod – deeply resent social and political criticism, and prophets like John the Baptiser are undermined, ridiculed, imprisoned.
‘Belonging’
REFLECTION: This is an exciting and challenging time for the SSUC congregation-community-garden.
‘Kin and clay … stories and spirit’
HOMILY: The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) says that a person is both spirit and matter, eternal and temporal, and that despair (Kierkegaard’s word for sin) consists in clinging to one or the other.
‘Lasting fidelity and mutual affection’
HOMILY: My heart is like a singing bird ...
‘Death and Bleeding: Gaza and Israel in Mark’s gospel’
HOMILY: You will all be aware of the conflict that is happening in the middle west (middle east) at present. How could you not?
‘This much at least … much more’
HOMILY: A poetic utterance by Jesus (in the context of friends troubled, bewildered) evokes all manner of settings. Rooms, mansions …
‘The beautiful shore’
HOMILY: A voyage to the other side may evoke curiosity, connection, communication; reaching out for help, overcoming confusion, affirming differences; transition, translation.
‘Bread broken and given’
HOMILY: “[W]e must not seek Christ’s presence in the dense reality of unbroken bread”, writes theologian G.P. Ambrose (The Theology of Louis-Marie Chauvet, 2012).
‘In praise of the Holy Spirit’
HOMILY: What Jesus says today about the Holy Spirit and about inclusivity/family can help us with our table talk about church repairs and future directions.
‘Stretch out your hand’
HOMILY: Our icon for today is a Byzantine mosaic which depicts Jesus healing a person with a withered hand. “Stretch out your hand,” says Jesus.
‘Love shared in the power of love’
HOMILY: “Perichoresis”, from the Greek peri, “around” and chorein, “to make room for” or “to dance” (as in choreography), is one of the oldest and most important words in the history of trinitarian theology …
‘The Unknown, the Not Yet, the Possible’
HOMILY: Today is Pentecost! The icon for this festival is known as the Descent of the Holy Spirit.
‘To safeguard the integrity of creation …’
WORKSHOP: This week each table group will read, engage and respond to one of the Gospel readings from Mark, or another reading that points us to what is truly of value. Each group will in turn, read, engage then offer the treasures found within.
‘All the while withdrawing from our grasp …’
HOMILY: Today is Ascension Day, the 40th day after Easter, which commemorates Jesus’ ascension into heaven and the promise of the Holy Spirit. One mode of revelation concluding, something new happening. We might reflect on letting go, starting again, seeing and feeling again.
