The light of a star

We may have packed away our tinsel and Christmas trees for another year, but the Christmas story doesnโ€™t end with Christmas Day. The Gospel of Matthew tells us that โ€œAfter Jesus was born โ€ฆ wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, โ€˜Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For …

The first place was a voice

No galaxies, no sun, no Earth, no oceans, no flora or fauna, no history, no you or me. Only the living God, who is Spirit.ย The Bible begins with this breathtaking sentence: โ€œIn the beginning God created the heavens and the earthโ€ (Genesis 1:1). Those words serve as a doorway through which every conscientious reader of …

Carried by grace

What kind of year has it been? What have you learned? How have your challenges shaped you? How have you grown and changed? How would you personally rate the year 2025 on a scale of 1-10? For me, this year has been one of new experiences and new learning. I have been enlightened and inspired …

The grace that has appeared

Christmas Day as we experience it, and the roller-coaster preceding it, have evolved into a festival that is part cultural, part commercial, and part Christian. This is true throughout the Western world, from Santiago to Seoul, from Helsinki to Hobart. And especially here in Sydney. At the centre of our celebrations stands a season of generosity …

The quiet dawn of redeeming grace

A Christmas Eve sermon based on Luke 2:1-20. Lukeโ€™s Gospel slows the world to a hush as it tells the story of the birth of Jesus. Empires rise and fall, decrees are issued from distant palaces, caravans move across desert trade routes, shepherds settle in for another nightโ€™s work out in the hills, and angel …