Sermons on Social Justice (Page 4)
White Privilege
This morning I want to talk about white privilege. White privilege is a short phrase which encapsulates an enormous amount of social meaning. So let’s unpack it briefly. Privilege is anything that you have and take for granted that others don’t have. This may include finance, education, access to legal help, being able to vote, having a voice, being respected, being valued, freedom to move and to develop a career. If you are enjoying privilege, as we all are to…
Surely the Lord is in this Place
A sermon by Rob and Donna Ross Jacob’s Story This Sunday and next, Jesus tells parables about seeds – seeds that land on barren pathways; seeds thrown among rocks and brambles; seeds crowded out by weeds. Some seeds fall into good soil, becoming great trees that support the growing kingdom of God. This Sunday and next, the lessons begin with Jacob’s story – which I think we can hear as one of the “good seeds”. Jacob’s story has it…
Abundance in a world of scarcity
The parable of the sower is so familiar to us and yet also so problematic. Not only does Matthew tell us what the parable means, thus leaving little to our imaginations but he divides us, the ground upon which the seed lands, into the good, the bad and the ugly. Today I am continuing the sermon series on Slow Church. To be a Slow Church is to be a local manifestation of Christ, alert both to the diversity of gifts…
Work and Sabbath (Slow Church)
Today we come to the next sermon in our series based on Slow Church – cultivating community in the patient way of Jesus. A slow church is not one which is very slow to do anything or where the services are extremely long because they are so slow paced. No, slow church is a way of doing church that is locally sustained, sustainable and sustaining. It is a church which develops its own unique way of doing things and its…
The Light and Its Shadow
John 9:1-41 In the last hundred years a myth has arisen. That myth tells us that there is only one way to read the Bible. Yet as far back as the 2nd century, the Greek scholar and Christian theologian Origen claimed that scriptures should be read in three different allegorical ways. I mention that this morning, because today’s lengthy gospel passage can be read on several different levels and I am considering two – the surface or literal level and…
Prophets of Today
If I were to offer you a packet of peanuts, how many of you would prefer plain rather than salted? And how many of you would prefer salted? Now imagine that the salt had lost its taste – the salted ones would be slightly gritty; I think I’d rather have the plain. And Jesus says that we are the ones who make the difference. We are the ones who put the saltiness in the flavor and make the world a…
A Time of Change – A Pre-Inauguration Sermon
Tomorrow is a big day. For some of us it is a time of rejoicing, for others a time of sadness. For all of us it is a time of change. After 8 years of consistent leadership we are going into the unknown. It was a risk, eight years ago, to elect a young, relatively unknown black, President; a risk that paid off for many but not all. It is a risk again this year to have elected a President…
Hineni – I’m Ready My Lord
Luke 21:5-19 Lord give us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference. You want it Darker – Leonard Cohen This has been a difficult and emotional week. Many of the people who voted for Donald Trump as our next President did so for good reasons, perhaps because they wanted change, or because they are lifelong Republicans and couldn’t imagine voting for a Democrat.…
Zacchaeus meets Jesus
This is what I remember from Sunday School: Zacchaeus was a very little man and a very little man was he, He climbed up into the sycamore tree for the Savior he wanted to see, And when the Savior came that way he looked up into the tree, And said, “Zacchaeus, now you just come down for I’m coming to your house for tea.” This is such a great story of the little chief tax-collector’s encounter with Jesus and it has such…
Ocean Sunday
For most of the last two thousand years, theology has focused on our relationship with God and with each other. Now we are realizing that loving our neighbor includes loving the whole of creation. As a reflection of this we will be celebrating the Season of Creation during September. This is not yet part of the normal Anglican cycle but is a liturgical tradition started in Australia some twenty years ago. As we turn our attention more and more to…