A Certain Ruler (Luke 18:18-30)
Classic Theology New
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1y ago
 This certain ruler must have been quite excited when Jesus said, "There is still one thing lacking." Great, only one thing! After a life of disciplined obedience to the commandments, maybe the ruler might be able to work himself into eternal life?This passage reminds me of Luke 17:5-6.  "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed ... (you could do the miraculous). Just that little bit of faith ..read more
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Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14)
Classic Theology New
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1y ago
 This parable is classic Jesus and stands as a warning to the critical spirit that lives in us and can take over if not combated. And it is entirely consistent with the biblical warning to beware the self-righteousness that can become the foundation of our identity.This parable provides us with a classic example of finding a (false) identity by not being someone else. (vv 11-12) The Pharisee ..read more
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Middle Anglicanism (Part 1)
Classic Theology New
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1y ago
I grew up in what I call Middle Adelaide Anglicanism. This church is what I call Middle Adelaide Anglicanism. There are still lots of churches like this. And not just in Adelaide, all over Australia Anglican churches and Anglicans would see themselves as in the middle, or perhaps moderate. 'Middle' doesn't mean grey, doesn't mean wishy-washy. The middle isn't defined particularly by the content ..read more
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Trinity Sunday Year C (Part 2)
Classic Theology New
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1y ago
In our baptism, joined in hypostatic union with the Son who stood abandoned for us, space is found for us to regain our identity as children of God, united with the Father through the Spirit.The Gospel of John can seem a bit confusing at times. It's because the language reflects the union of the three figures of the divine story, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (You can think of God as a story or a ..read more
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Trinity Sunday Year C (Part 1)
Classic Theology New
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1y ago
Readings for Trinity Sunday (Year C)  Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15. ‘He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:14-15)  The strange language of the Gospel of John: the three – Father, Son and Spirit – are interconnected in ..read more
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Kids' Talk on the Ascension
Classic Theology New
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1y ago
 Today the kids and I talked about the Ascension. I had two questions.1. Where is Jesus?2. Where is God?I started with the kids. They were unsure. So we wandered around the congregation a bit and asked some people to find some answers. We had a variety of answers, ranging from 'everywhere'; 'in heaven, although heaven isn't really a place like we usually think of a place to go'; 'seated on the ..read more
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Let's Not Reduce The Ascension
Classic Theology New
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1y ago
It is common for people to give up on the Ascension. ("Where did he go? There are just planets and stuff 'up' there.") But we could let the Ascension speak out of a thicker sense of reality than that, and not dismiss the ancients as pre-secientific simpletons and drongos. (For those reading from a non-Australian background, 'drongo' is an Australian term for 'fool'.)Thirty years ago I tried a ..read more
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Deeper into Sin to be Freed from it.
Classic Theology New
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2y ago
Walking the way of the cross during Easter is traditional. You can do it in Jerusalem (the via dolorosa), or closer to home you can do it at your local church. We are invited to 'walk' the path of the saviour each time we read the story from Gethsemane to tomb in dramatic form. I like the latter best when we (the congregation) take all the parts other than the role of Jesus. We walk the road from ..read more
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John 12:1-8 Mary, Jesus, and that Perfume
Classic Theology New
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2y ago
 “As the best thing is love itself, not the benefits which it confers, there must be no censure of its lavishness as disproportionate.” (William Temple, Readings in St John’s Gospel, p. 191.)  Imagine your brother has just died and three days later Jesus turns up. Jesus does miracles. “If you had been here he would not have died.” (Jn 11:32) That’s Mary of Bethany. She then goes off to mourn at ..read more
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 We are living through an intense period of c...
Classic Theology New
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2y ago
 We are living through an intense period of cultural self-flagellation, or, in other words, a cultural moment of criticism (directed at self and others), purges, confessions to all manner of 'sins', and virtue signalling. The gospel speaks directly to such cultural moments with its message of grace not works, universal sin, forgiveness, beauty and goodness (not perfection). But that is for ..read more
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