This is a complex passage, with a lot going on. Greeks want to see Jesus. But instead they go and talk to one of his disciples, who then finds another disciple, and then go to Jesus (with the Greeks?) Jesus then, instead of saying yes or no, makes the declaration that his hour has now […]
The opening line of the gospel spells out our theme for today: “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” This week we remember Jesus’ place in salvation history – the actual event of his coming into the world, in the context of the story of God’s dealings with the […]
What can the film Independence Day and 911 teach us about Jesus’ mysterious, not to say alarming, apocalyptic language in his prediction of the fall of the Temple? Is there anything more countercultural than hope?
What is the Gospel? This is a harder question to answer than you might think. Especially when you’re put on the spot. And especially when you have been studying theology for most of the last ten years like I have. It’s actually not a question that comes up much in one’s life in such a […]
A sermon I preached at Glen Iris Road Uniting Church on 19/11/2017 on the Parable of the talents – Matthew 25:14-30 The video I just showed is a trailer for one of my favourite comedy series – the Detectorists. It’s a gentle, wry comedy about friendship and love and the deep desire for buried treasure. […]
What is the church for? As you can imagine, this question often comes to me as I work my way through my three years of ministerial formation. There seem to be a lot of committees – and I don’t think renaming them “councils” makes them any more glamorous, a lot of OH&S, a lot of […]
Every age has its key dilemma, its key anxiety. For us in the post-modern west the key anxiety is the crisis of meaning. What is life really all about? Does it actually mean anything at all? All our traditional ways of finding meaning in life are disintegrating. Given that, I think we will find that, […]
This is a sermon I preached a couple of weeks ago about Mary and Martha. You can listen to it here (and marvel at how slowly I’m managing to speak) Or you can read it below. Luke 10:32-48 Sermon at Wesley Church Melbourne 16/7/2016 Life can feel very mysterious sometimes. Random, and often terrible, events fill […]
Alister Pate