A sermon by Rod Benson Psalm 1 When I was growing up in Papua New Guinea I attended a school where religious education was taught every Friday, and I remember a Swiss missionary, Mrs Jungen, who with her husband Erwin had been pioneer missionaries in the highlands in the 1950s, teaching us to memorise this …
What is communion, or the Lord’s Supper?
A sermon by Rod Benson As Michael Collins orbited the moon, and as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin prepared to step out of the lunar module of Apollo 11 onto the surface of the moon on 20 July 1969, Aldrin unstowed a small plastic container of wine and some bread. He had brought them to …
Being Australian, being Christian
A sermon by Rod Benson Matthew 22:15-22 “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oi, oi, oi!” Brothers and sisters of the Australian soil, I greet you. On Tuesday Australia celebrates its birthday, in recognition of that defining event of national history, the arrival of the First Fleet of British ships at Port Jackson, New South Wales, on 26 …
Sex, marriage and social change
A sermon by Rod Benson It’s fair to say that, around the world, marriage is in a mess. Many couples today cohabit for years before marrying, or never marry. Married people divorce, as I have done, and some go on to remarry. Same sex couples want to marry each other, and there is strong political …
Stop the boat!
Matthew 8:18-22 When things are going well, life gives you crowds. Early in Jesus’ public ministry, crowds often accompanied him – out of curiosity, out of boredom, out of intrigue, out of a real thirst for knowledge or spirituality or change (e.g. Mt 5:1; 7:28; 8:1, 18). But as they discovered what it meant to …