As we near the end of the readings from Luke’s Gospel we hear challenging words from Jesus for his generation about the Temple. These are heard as words relevant for us living in times before the return of Jesus which will be challenging for followers of Jesus.
After offering many teachings and engaging incidents along the road south Jesus arrives in Jericho on his way to Jerusalem. In Jericho he surprises local tax administrator Zacchaeus with an unmerited offer of relationship and acceptance that melts the heart and transforms the mind of this legal crook. That’s the power of grace to lead…
Two went to pray… What could be wrong with that? It all depends on what they pray and why. Francis draws out key Gospel issues from Jesus’ story of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.
Jesus constructed a story to bring teaching to his disciples and those missing the main thing in his message of the Kingdom. After some opening comments about discipleship and setting the context, Francis takes us to meet the Judge and the Widow. The Widow is Jesus’ example of a disciple sharing God’s priority on righteousness…
Hsiang Ling opens up Jesus’ parable from Luke 17 of ‘The Richman and Lazarus’ in technicolour detail. She breaks through any assumed familiarity we may have about this to show how the human heart is rightly judged and draws us to reconsider the glories of God’s grace in Christ that lead to heaven.
Today’s guest preacher was Paul Vrolijk our archdeacon. Paul spoke around Jesus’ story of lost sheep and the shepherd who went looking for it.
Mark Hill picked up the story of Jesus healing a woman bent double during synagogue worship on Sabbath as told in Luke 13:10-17. This is rich gospel at several levels. It is only available here as an audio.
Following Good, Better, Best comes another message about God’s values and how we either get them or miss them. We engage the Philosopher of Ecclesiastes, Pastor Paul commending Christ and the Farmer/businessman with a bumper harvest -‘Mr. Bigger-Barns’- who Jesus described as a ‘fool’.
On Resurrection Sunday we read Luke’s account of the empty tomb and pondered on just that story. This involved some interaction with the congregation considering reasons to believe or doubt the account provided of Jesus not being in his tomb. Text and Audio are similar but are not the same.
On the 5th Sunday of Lent we meet Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus and friend of Jesus as Jesus came by for the last time on his way to Jerusalem and the cross. In this message Francis reviews the relationship among these people especially the opposite relational styles displayed by Mary and Martha. When…