This week we will be asked to listen to the tough, but life-giving Gospel message of forgiveness. In a world of conflict, terrorism, and serious inequalities the idea of forgiveness can sound naive. But without forgiveness, we doom ourselves to repeating cycles of violence, division and scapegoating of one another. The parable of the unforgiving...
Archives: <span>Sermons</span>
Sermons
MESSAGE – Sunday 6th September 2020
Remember, Restore, Renew God’s Covenant in community A vivid memory from childhood television viewing is the scene that always terrified me during my family’s annual viewing of the classic movie, “The Ten Commandments”: the Angel of Death passing over Egypt, killing every firstborn, bringing tragedy to every Egyptian household, including Pharaoh himself, but leaving the...
Sermons
SUNDAY – 30th August 2020 13th Sunday after Pentecost
What does God’s call mean for us? What can we expect when we receive God’s call? These are the questions at the heart of this week’s Lectionary, and they flow beautifully out of last week’s challenge. The clear progression is from Moses’ own personal salvation (last week) to his call to go back and save...
Sermons
Message: 23rd August 2020
Rev Tania writes: Following on from last week’s theme, this week offers us a new encounter with God’s salvation. “Salvation” is a word that is thrown around a lot in churches, and also in the work of evangelism. The readings this week encourage us to revisit this word, to delve deeper into its meaning and...
Sermons
SUNDAY 16th August 2020 (The conversion of Jesus to widen the circle)
Matthew 15, 21-28/ Psalm 133, Romans 11, 13-32 Friends, On Friday evening, I re-watched the film Invictus. Taking its title from the poem by the same name by William Ernest Henley, the film tells the impassioned story of newly-elected President Nelson Mandela, as he guides his closest entourage, the national rugby team and, ultimately the...
Sermons
SUNDAY 9th August 2020 – God is our trusted Anchor (Rev Tania Eichler)
NAVE – BOAT. This beautiful imagery did not take long to find physical form in the art and architecture of churches. For example, the area between the narthex and the sanctuary was called the “nave.” This word comes from the Latin navis, or ship and was meant to portray the reality that the Church is a ship, protecting those...
Sermons
SUNDAY 2nd August 2020 The Miracle of God’s Abundance
Church Catering – feeding of the 5000 What is the Kingdom of God – how do we live as Kingdom builders? Compassion Generosity Abundance Thankful Circumstances. All preaching should start with the circumstances, the real-life complexified contexts of the hearers. In this text, the crowd is comprised of people with food insecurity and no health...
Sermons
MESSAGE – Sunday 26th July 2020 8th Sunday after Pentecost
ASK QUESTION: The Kingdom of God is? Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52, Romans 8 Unexpected, unseen, perhaps subversive. The Kingdom of Heaven disrupts. The Kingdom of Heaven is not about business as usual, but is about a new economy of God’s justice that doesn’t make sense to the way of the world. At hand. Found in ordinary...
Sermons
THE MESSAGE – Sunday 19th July 2020 – 7th Sunday after Pentecost (by the Rev’d Kathrin Koning)
Matthew 13, 24-30 + 36-43 Dear friends, Recently, I delved deeper into BIOTOPES. Have you come across that concept? I’m not surprised if you haven’t because in English-speaking countries the word HABITAT is the more usual descriptor; and we all know what a habitat is: the living conditions or the place that a given species...
Sermons
SERMON 12th July 2020
Rev Tania writes: Two ideas that come together in this week’s readings are God’s Word and God’s Life – both of which are experienced through God’s Spirit. In Genesis, God’s word about the wrestling twins is seen to be true as their relationship works itself out as the two boys grow into men. In Psalm...