“When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord” (Luke 2:22) Hi Fighter, It’s the first Sunday after Christmas – that not-quite-so-special time when the magic of the Yuletide season starts to fade and when everything starts to return […]
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
Finding the Infinite in the Everyday Read More »
“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Matthew 22:2) Most of us will recognise this line from the Gospel of Matthew. Indeed, ‘Render unto Caesar’ has become something of an aphorism for many Christians and is regularly used to defend the ‘Two Kingdoms’ doctrine in Christian
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
Render Unto Caesar Read More »
“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.” (Matthew 22:2) And so begins another of Jesus’ great party parables. ‘The Kingdom of God is a party’. It’s a familiar theme. Jesus talked a lot about parties. Jesus attended a lot of parties. Jesus evidently loved
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
The Kingdom of God is a Party Read More »
“Hear another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.” (Matthew 21:33) Thus begins the ‘Parable of the Vineyard’ – quite honestly, my favourite parable, though
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
Making Sense of the Chaos Read More »
So, the last will be first, and the first will be last.” (Matthew 20:16) Greetings, Fighter. I’m introducing this week’s Gospel reading with the last verse rather than the first. That seems appropriate in this case, of course, but my reason for doing so is solely because I feared losing your interest if I began
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
The Kingdom of God is Full of Surprises Read More »
“Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbour as yourself.” Love does
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
Love is all you need Read More »
“They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal devoured him, and we shall see
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
Everything happens for a reason… NOT Read More »
“He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field” (Matthew 13:31) Thus begins the Parable of the Mustard Seed, which is one of a series of short stories featured in this week’s Gospel reading from Matthew 13. In sermons past I’ve
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
The Kingdom of Heaven is a Mess Read More »
“[Jesus] put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So, when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well.”(Matthew
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
Sorting the wheat from the weeds Read More »
“God said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.” (Genesis 22:2) Greetings, Fighter. So begins the story of Abraham’s journey to sacrifice of his son, Isaac. It is
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
Fear and Trembling Read More »
