It has been said that religion should ‘comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable’. The theologian Amy-Jill Levine suggests that Jesus’ parables deliberately seek to do just this; afflict the comfortable. She writes: ‘If we hear a parable and think, “I really like that” or, worse, we don’t hear any challenge, we have not heard Jesus’ words’.
Jesus
Sermon for Pentecost 12
When we genuinely ask God for an opening of our hearts, love breaks in and we can trust that God will take us on the next step of our journey of faith, that will ultimately lead us joyfully from a good news that isn’t quite good enough yet, to a Good News that really is for everyone.
Sermon for Pentecost 10
We gather together, and I, with a great sense of gratitude, have been given the specific task of presiding at our gathering. But – and this is really important – we all celebrate the Eucharist together.
Pentecost 5 Sermon
Let’s pray for honest self-awareness, and remember that we are called to be the hand, the face of Jesus for one another. We are called to be workers in and for the building of the Kingdom of God here today.
Because, if not here, where? And if not now, when?