Ezekiel | Preach to the bones

In places of death, speak words of life. (Listen here.)

How do you imagine the bones? Do you think of the news reports? The broken bones of young children at an elementary school in Iran, torn apart by an American Tomahawk missile. The bullet-riddled bones in Mexico’s streets left by paramilitary forces and drug cartels. The blood-stained bones in El Fasher; the bomb-shattered splinters in Ukraine; the charred fragments in Gaza. The bones of Rwanda, Cambodia, the Holocaust. Or perhaps you think of the bones which are dotted throughout this country, left to rot in lake, valley and hollow, abandoned in paddocks to dry out in the sun. Do you imagine the bones created by violent policing, by war, by genocide?

Continue reading “Ezekiel | Preach to the bones” →

John | Trans/formation

To encounter Jesus is to invite change. (Listen here.)

The crowd was in uproar. ‘It’s him,’ some said. ‘Don’t be ridiculous!’ said others. ‘It’s just someone like him.’ ‘I’m still me,’ she said, ‘and this is what happened.’ But nobody was listening. Instead, the religiously righteous weighed in. ‘He changed at church, but it’s totally against God’s law,’ said some. But others wondered; and so they were divided.

Continue reading “John | Trans/formation” →

John | Living into eternity

Transcending our secular age. (Listen here).

‘How can anyone be born after growing old?’ asks Nicodemus. ‘Can someone enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’ I’m someone who has given birth three times, and my children are now all bigger than me. The idea of shoving one of them back in is so grotesque, I suspect Nicodemus is playing for a laugh. Either that, or he’s a fool. Because everyone knows you can’t enter the womb a second time: what a nincompoop!

Continue reading “John | Living into eternity” →

Matthew | Baptised & beloved: Our lodestar

In which a Baptist pastor finds herself affirming infant baptism. (Listen here.)

This Sunday, I found myself in an interesting position. I have been born, bred, educated and ordained as a Baptist; we affirm mature or adult baptism. Yet I am now working in a Uniting Church, and was invited to preach at the baptism of an infant. In the piece that follows, I’ll call him ‘Ben’, which is Hebrew for ‘son.’

Continue reading “Matthew | Baptised & beloved: Our lodestar” →

Matthew | Trans/figuration

How a trans man shines bright like a diamond, and other stories. (Listen here.)

What a weird story. Jesus goes up a mountain with a couple of his mates. Then he cracks his neck like a glow stick and lights up, and his friends see him talking to a couple of dead dudes. This story raises about a zillion questions, like, How did Jesus’ face and body light up? What about his clothes? How did the disciples know the other blokes were Moses and Elijah, and why them? What on earth is a ‘bright cloud’? Why were the disciples terrified? Why did Moses and Elijah disappear? And why did Jesus want the experience to be kept secret until after the resurrection?

Continue reading “Matthew | Trans/figuration” →

Isaiah | To be like Birrarung or, To serve & thrive

In a world and media landscape which threatens to overwhelm, Isaiah offers a way of hope. (Listen here.)

‘Why have we fasted and you haven’t seen?’ the people ask God. ‘Why have we humbled ourselves and you haven’t paid attention?’ We’ve given up coffee, chocolate, alcohol and even social media: so why aren’t you answering our prayer?!

Continue reading “Isaiah | To be like Birrarung or, To serve & thrive” →

Genesis | Bunjil & the Order of Melchizedek

Content warning: This post names some of the violence of genocide.

My thinking has been shaped by insights from tralwooway man, Rev Dr Garry Worete Deverell, and from Bidjara/Kari Kari woman, Professor Anne Pattel-Gray. I first preached this in January 2025. Later that same day, a wedge-tailed eagle swooped down and flew alongside our car for a moment, peering in eye-to-eye at me. It was a deeply moving experience of affirmation and blessing, and I take it as a sign to keep sharing such interpretations. (Listen here.)

On 26 January 1788, the First Fleet landed in Sydney Cove. There, Captain Arthur Phillip raised the Union Jack and claimed half the continent for his king. It marked the beginning of the disruption, dispossession and colonisation of over 300 nations, and a devastating loss of life. Fifty years later, on this same date in 1838, over 200 Gamilaroi people were massacred at Waterloo Creek.

Continue reading “Genesis | Bunjil & the Order of Melchizedek” →

Christmas | Filling earth with the culture of heaven

Scene: The minister sits in the wooden throne behind the pulpit, gazing fixedly at her phone, while the congregation waits anxiously for her to begin the sermon … One from the archives. (Listen here.)

Whoops, sorry, is it me? I was just praying with an app. It’s awesome, it helps me be more spiritual. And it’s been recommending other apps: there are so many! There are apps for prayer and meditation. There are apps for reading the Bible in a year, and for memorising scripture, and for reading a single passage very slowly. There are apps to log my spiritual habits; apps with the Ignatian examen; apps with daily liturgies from monasteries; apps to frame silence.

Continue reading “Christmas | Filling earth with the culture of heaven” →

Matthew | Love in the shadows

God demands Joseph wake up to a deeper reality, where love takes priority over obedience to God’s law and scandal forms the womb of grace. One from the archives. (Listen here.)

This Sunday, in the midst of Christmas chaos plus a funeral, I brought out an oldie but a goodie for Manningham Uniting Church. You might hear it as a simple reflection personal faith, and that’s well and good. But for those who have ears to hear, it also has much to say about current events, whether the shootings in Bondi, the ongoing deaths in Gaza, or so much more. For, in Matthew’s story, God demands that notions of righteousness and holiness are set aside in favour of love. In such a faith, violence is impossible, not only the violence of holy war but the violence which demands we destroy the violent. This loving insistence on nonretaliation is one incarnation of the scandal of grace. But for now, let’s turn our attention to a man caught up in another aspect of scandal incarnate: Joseph.

Continue reading “Matthew | Love in the shadows” →

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑