Mark 11:27-12:27 - Who do you listen to?
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Who do you listen to? audio
By What Authority 11:27-33
The story is told of a ship’s captain during the war, who was sailing along on a dark night and saw a light on a collision course. So he got his signaller to flash a message: “Alter your course 10 degrees west.” The reply came back “Alter your course 10 degrees east.” The captain then signalled “Alter your course 10 degrees west. I am a Commander.” The reply came back “Alter your course 10 degrees east. I am a seaman third-class.”
By this time the ship’s captain was getting furious. So he signalled: “Alter your course 10 degrees west. I am a battleship.” The reply came back almost instantly: “Alter your course 10 degrees east. I am a lighthouse.”
That story addresses the issue of our passage today. That is the issue of authority. Where does authority come from? Sometimes it comes from your rank or status, as the commander in that story obviously assumed. But sometimes it comes from something innate like the immovable nature of a lighthouse set above a cliff. So where do you look to for authority for your life? That’s not an easy question to ask in this day and age. Life has changed so radically in the last 50 years that what was taken for granted 50 years ago can no longer be assumed. Truth is all relative, we’re told. Alternative facts are the go. Authority comes in various shapes and forms.
Mark 11:1-25 - Jesus Enters Jerusalem
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Jesus Enters Jerusalem audio
I wonder how many of you were around for the opening of Parliament house in Canberra in 1988. We were living in Canberra at the time so it was a big event for us. The weekend before we took part in a prayer walk around the Parliament House hill with thousands of other Christians, but the big event was the arrival of the Queen for the opening ceremony. People flocked to Parliament house to get a look at her. Schools took their students along – in fact our daughter Katherine was in the front of the crowd and was able to give her a rose as she went by. That really impressed her grandparents!
Well that’s a bit like what it must have been like when Jesus entered Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday. The city was buzzing. The word had got around. Jesus, the great teacher and healer was coming to Jerusalem, despite the danger from the Jewish leaders. Word was that he'd even been talking about death, predicting that he was going to be crucified, and saying that people had to be willing to take up their cross if they wanted to follow him. But that hadn’t stopped him from teaching and healing people and he was still arguing with the Pharisees.
John 3:16-21 - Light on Darkness
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
At our Christmas carol service Steve was telling us about how much his son is enjoying the bright lights of London in the midst of the dark winter season. And it’s not surprising. We often associate light with feelings of enjoyment or safety don’t we? There’s something very peaceful about sitting in a room lit be candles or in front of an open fire staring at the flames. When we walk into a dark house the first thing we do is to turn on the lights because they give us a sense of safety.
Light for Judgement
But in fact light isn’t always about giving us a sense of peace and security.
When Di and I bought our last house we decided we’d put in an ensuite to the bedroom. So we had an architect draw up the plans, and then we went to a bathroom shop to see what fittings we should include. One of the must haves was a set of lights above the bathroom mirror. You may have something like that in your bathroom. Now you don’t put lights above your mirror for the sake of safety or peace. Nor do you put them there so you feel like a Hollywood star when you’re standing in front of it, like you’re standing in the spotlight for everyone to see? You don’t put them there so you can admire yourself in the mirror. In fact the opposite: those lights are actually there to show you all your faults; to show you the wrinkles in your forehead or around your eyes or lips, the spots that would be much better covered up, the hairs that need to be removed, or the moles that might need to be looked at by your doctor. A good light will do that for you, much as you mightn’t actually want to know what it’s telling you.
What’s being done about the church? (Making church safe)
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- Written by: Dianne Shay
By Dianne Shay, St Michael's Anglican Church North Carlton Included with her kind permission. Audio
Luke 12:1-3 and Matthew 5:1-11
Pre-sermon Dvd FIS chapter 4: care for little children, don’t hurt them https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK8VGOwu_wU&index=5&list=PLTj4KeEVypfD3QhiNDnphpYslSL083WLr (if scene setting is required can introduce DVD as chapter 4 of Faithfulness in Service, developed as a church wide resource with the assistance and talent of aboriginal and TSI Anglicans from around Australia.)
Introduction
Today, we’re going to talk about a topic that is not easy. In the Australian church, including the Anglican church, there have been instances of abuse of power by leaders in parish communities and, sometimes, a failure to respond appropriately when leaders in the church have been told about that abuse.
Awareness of the Royal Commission and the movie ‘Spotlight’ have focussed attention on institutional responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Parishioners have asked, “What is our church doing to respond to these abuses of power?” and many have also found the church and the gospel dismissed by people who aren’t members of the church on the basis that churches are not safe places.
Read more: What’s being done about the church? (Making church safe)
Phil 4:10-23 - Generosity and Joy
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Generosity and Joy Audio
I wonder whether you read the weekend travel lift-outs in the Age each week. I confess I do, just looking for the perfect holiday destination. What I’ve noticed, though, is the number of cruises on offer. Just imagine getting on a cruise ship in the south of Turkey and cruising around the Greek islands, along the coast of Turkey across to the Corinth canal and through to the Baltic Sea then on to Italy. Sounds idyllic, doesn’t it? Of course what I’ve described is something like the trip Paul’s just been on, though not with the level of comfort I’d be looking for. Paul’s journey certainly wasn’t a dream holiday.
But it did have something in common with what we might experience. Even if Paul’s travels were much more basic than ours might be, he still had to pay for them and the money he started out with would have been used up just as fast as ours would if we were going on that sort of trip. Just like us he had to pay for his transport and his food and accommodation.
We don’t read all that much about these sorts of details in the pages of the New Testament, do we? If we didn’t know better we could easily think that Paul’s missionary journeys just happened and he didn’t need to worry about money. But of course that isn’t how the world works. Even in the first century money made the world go round. If you had money you could travel. If you didn’t, you couldn’t. So the sort of ministry that Paul was called to do required funding from somewhere. As much as he may have depended on hospitality from people like Lydia in Philippi, he still needed cash to get to the places he was going (at least up until the stage where the Roman governor sent him on an all-expenses paid trip to Rome - in chains). So how did Paul fund his work? We know that on at least one occasion he worked as a tentmaker, but what about the rest of the time?
Acts 9:1-30
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Are you a Tool? audio
I have a great collection of tools in my work shed. Most of them came from my father and grandfather though some I’ve bought for myself. Of course the fact that I have them there doesn’t necessarily mean they get used; or get used well when I do use them. But the ones I do use and can use well are the ones I particularly look after. I enjoy woodwork and so I have some good quality chisels and planes. But as many of you will know, a chisel or a plane aren’t much use unless they’re sharp and without chips in the blade. So I sharpen them regularly.
But we’re not here today to talk about my hobbies, we’re here to talk about witnessing to the gospel. So what have tools got to do with that? Well, as we’ll see in a moment God’s tools are people and he chooses to use the most unlikely of people as his tools in that task of sharing the gospel
I mean, who could be more unlikely than Saul? He hasn’t got a clue has he? I wonder if you’ve noticed over the past few weeks how there’s something of a theme of blindness and sight running through these chapters
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