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Nazareth Then and Now
Ancient Nazareth lacked the critical advantages for its development as a significant settlement: abundant water supply, an elevated site for defensive purposes, and strategic location adjacent to a major highway. The most comprehensive recent study of the archeology of ancient Nazareth and its local region was completed by Ken Dark over several seasons between 2004…
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The oldest hatred
Presentation to a panel discussion sponsored by the Jewish Council of Australia at St John’s Cathedral, Brisbane on Monday, 29 September 2025. The topic of the event was: Should anti-Semitism be exceptionalised or should we combat all forms of racism together? Co-hosts for the event included: Doykeit (a local Jewish group in Brisbane), St John’s…
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Confident faith in a post-Christian world
Reflections for a diocesan clergy retreat Cathedral of Christ the King, Grafton (17 May 2017) In the context of this clergy retreat we have been reflecting together on the text from 2 Timothy 1:7 passage: For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of…
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Thin places and deep wells
Easter 5A (14 May 2017) St Paul’s Church, Byron Bay This is the third sermon in our mini series looking at the attributes of spiritually confident faith communities. We have already reflected on the dynamic of spiritual confidence, which is not to be confused with arrogance or bigotry. Rather, as we saw, it is about…
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People of the Book
Easter 4A 7 May 2017 St Paul’s Church, Byron Bay St Columba’s Church, Ewingsdale This is the second in a series of sermons that are seeking to explore some of the attributes of spiritually confident faith communities. We began the series by thinking about what “spiritual confidence” might mean. Now we can look at several…
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Spiritual confidence
23 April 2017 Second Sunday of Easter St Paul’s Anglican Church Byron Bay My usual practice is to preach on the texts of the day, and especially the Gospel passage. However, during the extended Easter season—our ‘week of weeks’ celebrating resurrection—I want to preach a series of sermons with almost no link to the readings…
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Through resurrection eyes
16 April 2017 Easter Eucharist St Pauls’ Church, Byron Bay THIS past week we have walked the road to Calvary: Palm Sunday Maundy Thursday Good Friday Holy Saturday Today we begin our Easter celebrations. They will stretch through the next 50 days. Long after the shops have removed the hot cross buns—along with the ANZAC biscuits…
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None left behind
15 April 2017 Easter Eve Vigil Eucharist St Oswald’s Church, Broken Head TONIGHT we begin our Easter celebrations. they will stretch through the next 50 days. This ‘week of weeks’ is a symbol of prophetic fulfilment and cosmic abundance, with roots going deep back in time to the annual grain harvest in Palestine. As a vigil…
