Episode

  The Kingdom of Heaven is like… Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 (NRSV) Introduction Today’s Bible passage includes 5 parables which all begin with “The kingdom of heaven is like…” The kingdom of heaven is Matthew’s term for what the other Gospel writers term the kingdom of God. The terms are synonymous. Read more…

Surely God is in this place – Genesis 28:10-19a, Psalm 134:1-12,23-24   By any measure, here in our Genesis passage, Jacob is not in a good place. He has taken his brother’s birthright, those firstborn’s rights that Jeanette spoke about last week, and, in Genesis 27, his brother’s blessing (the Read more…

  You’re Invited – Reading is Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 (NRSV)   Introduction Decisions, decisions, decisions! Life is full of them, isn’t it. Some are small and relatively insignificant such as what to have for breakfast, or what socks to wear for the day. Other decisions are bigger with greater implications such as Read more…

Welcoming in Christ’s name – Matthew 10:40-41 I love that story about graffiti of a cat meaning ‘a kind lady lives here’; that the woman who lived in that house would give food to hoboes or people ‘down on their luck’, but before the fact checkers in the congregation tell Read more…

21 June – Refugee Week (Psalm 86, Genesis 21:8-21) This Sunday marks the end of Refugee Week and when I was thinking of all the amazing connections CBC has with refugees (Glenn, Meryl & Kelli’s support of the men on Manus, Nagaraj being able to worship with us over Zoom, Read more…

Reading               Matthew 9:35-10:8 (NRSV)   Introduction Last Sunday afternoon, we had a very important Church Meeting. It was held over Zoom – not ideal, but we felt that was better than delaying it indefinitely. The main item was the Deacons’ Report on the conflict management review. There was prolonged discussion Read more…

7 June – Trinity (Psalm 8, Matthew 28:16-20) Twenty one and half years ago – I know this because I was pregnant with Miriam – I was invited to help organise a ‘Baptists Today’ conference, a gathering of Baptists from all over Australia – many of you know them well Read more…

31 May – A tongue rested on each of them Last week in Sunday School (which is still – for the time being – meeting on Zoom at 5pm) we were learning about today’s reading from Acts, about the coming of the Holy Spirit to the first group of Christian Read more…

Readings             John 17:1-11 & Acts 1:6-14 (NRSV)   Introduction – Acts 1:6-14 I mentioned at the start of the service that Thursday was Ascension Day in the Church calendar. And today, being the closest Sunday, is celebrated as Ascension Sunday. That’s why that passage from Acts 1 is one of Read more…