Sermons

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Here are a selection of sermons from St Andrew’s.

  • God’s thundering “Yes!”  
    Fifth Sunday of Lent Jeremiah 31.31-34 Psalm 119.9-16 Hebrews 5.5-14 John 12.20-33   ©Suzanne Grimmett As we join ourselves to the escalating tension in our journey to the cross we find St Andrew making one of his rare Gospel appearances, gathering up some Greeks who “wish to see Jesus”. This is, after all, the disciples’ role- to help others to see Jesus. Here in the community of St Andrew, we are always inviting others to journey with us and come and ‘see Jesus’, particularly as we approach this most Holy Week. It is also a time which should make us think … Read more
  • Sermon for Lent 4
    John 3:14-21 ©Marian Free In the name of God, Earth-Maker, Pain-Bearer, Life-Giver. Amen. Snakes alive! Today’s gospel is so dense and so filled with complex ideas that it is easy to overlook the almost throw-away line that likens Jesus to a serpent and his crucifixion to a bronze serpent placed on a pole to ward off death. The image of a serpent in today’s gospel is disturbing to say the least. Even though our lectionary gives us the OT Testament reference – the plague of snakes and the bronze serpent as the cure, it can be difficult to see the … Read more
  • The power of paradox     
    3RD Sunday in Lent Exodus 20.1-17 Psalm 19 1 Corinthians 1.18-25 John 2.13-22 Sunday 3 March 2024    ©Suzanne Grimmett The thing about paradox, is that it doesn’t get resolved. The thing about paradox is that we get to sit in the tension between opposites, letting that tension challenge our certainties and lead us towards the precious gift of humility. It is hard, after all, to have a sure sense of superiority in how right one is, when the deepest answers are paradoxical. The life of Christian faith requires us to hold much in tension. If your religion eases you over … Read more
  • The sovereignty of love  
    2nd Sunday of Lent Genesis 17.1-7, 15-16 Psalm 22.24-32 Romans 4.13-25 Mark 8.31-38          ©Suzanne Grimmett We are used to the sight of crosses everywhere, not only in cemeteries and  in our places of worship but around people’s necks, on t-shirts or tattooed on bodies. The cross can symbolise the centre of the tension between between opposites. The point where there is a meeting of life and death, transcendent and imminent, divine and human. We can think of the cross as a sign of the vertical relationship between God and humanity and the horizontal relationship with one another and all … Read more
  • Lent 1
    Mark 1:9-15 ©Marian Free In the name of God whose love is our beginning and our end. Amen. I wonder, if we only had Mark’s account of Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness would our practice of Lent any different? Mark simply tells us: “The Spirit immediately drove him out (literally cast him out) into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.”  There is no mention here of fasting, no reference to Jesus being famished and no elaboration of the temptations. It … Read more
  • Trading away our freedom
    A homily for Ash Wednesday What might it look like for us today to “store up treasures in heaven”? I think we all can agree on that old saying that “you can’t take it with you”, knowing that material possessions are meaningless in the face of death. But I wonder about things that deny our souls and rob us of life in the here and now? I wonder about how our concerns to be somebody, to impress others, be successful or be seen with the right people can drive us in ways that ultimately cost us life and freedom? I … Read more
  • “After the Mountain”
    Transfiguration Sunday 2 Kings 2.1-12 Psalm 50.1-6 2 Corinthians 4.3-12 Mark 9.2-9 Sunday 10 February 2024   ©Lauren Martin This Sunday we stand in the liminal space, the space of the in-between. The celebration of Epiphany is over, on Wednesday we arrive at the start Lent. We are in the liminal space between seasons. Today our readings also situate us in these in-between moments. This is not a comfortable or easy space to be in. It might feel like the calm before the storm, with all the build-up, discomfort, and uncertainty it brings (as the weather has so kindly reminded us … Read more
  • Incarnating miracles 
                           Fifth Sunday after Epiphany Isaiah 40:21-31 Psalm 147:1-11 1 Corinthians 9:16-23 Mark 1:29-39  ©Suzanne Grimmett What is ours to do? What in this age, in this culture mostly hostile to religious faith, does it mean to be the Church? Australia, as we know, is currently one of the most secular countries in the world. We know the Church has, with very real justification, lost credibility as a moral authority. Sexual abuse in the church has been a horror that the courage of survivors and supporters has brought to light enabling actions to be taken to prevent such violence … Read more
  • The fearfulness of conversion
    SERMON Fourth Sunday after Epiphany Deuteronomy 18.15-20 Psalm 111 1 Corinthians 8.1-13 Mark 1.21-28 Sunday 27th January 2024   ©Suzanne Grimmett “He commands even the evil spirits and they obey him!” What has changed in the two thousand years since such encounters with ‘Holy One of God’…this man Jesus who came teaching with authority and proclaiming that the kingdom of God is within and amongst us? In this uncontrolling Divine project of incarnation, followers of the risen Christ have been called ever since to bring the healing, liberating Word to birth through their lives, by the Spirit. If you are thinking … Read more
  • “I knew you would do that!” 
    Jonah 3.1-10 Psalm 62.5-12 1 Corinthians 7.29-31 Mark 1.14-20 Sunday 21 January 2024                                      ©Suzanne Grimmett “I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,” Jonah rages, explaining why he ran away from God’s mission in the first place. This is the Jonah we know, of course- the one with the big fish. “Go and cry out against the great wickedness of the Ninevites” said God to Jonah and Jonah tries to run away over the seas, later complaining that he knew all along that God would not act outside God’s … Read more
  • “Shun fornication!”
    SERMON 2nd Sunday after Epiphany 1 Samuel 3.1-10 Psalm 139.1-5, 12-18 1 Corinthians 6.12-20 John 1.43-51 ©Suzanne Grimmett “Shun fornication!” You would be forgiven a little eye roll or two here, and you may be thinking this is St Paul at his most puritanical, and this reading would be better ignored….but that would miss an opportunity to address one of the great mistakes in popular Christian understanding; when we demonise the body and spiritualise the life of faith. Preaching is a risky business. Quite often I will think I was speaking of one thing, it is heard completely differently by … Read more
  • Made to be image bearers; called to be peace bearers
    Baptism of our Lord Genesis 1:1-5 Psalm 29 Acts 19:1-7 Mark 1:4-11 ©Allana Wales In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptised by John in the Jordan. Had you the necessary means, and made the necessary arrangements, you could visit Yardenit. Yardenit is the official Israeli site for baptism, famous for being a pilgrimage site to over five hundred thousand people each year. It is a visitor centre just south of the river outlet of the Sea of Galilee, with long baptism rails built directly into the Jordan river. One tour company advertises that if you … Read more