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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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Lady Cancer, Holy Sophia
Three weeks have now passed since my urologist visited my hospital bed to share with me the results of the biopsy on the tumors he had removed from my bladder some 36 hours earlier. Almost a week has passed since I sat in his consultation room to review the diagnosis and discuss treatment options. The…
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Dreams, nightmares and well-being
Pentecost 10 (A) 13 August 2017 Byron Bay Anglican Parish The readings set for today invite us to explore corners of our faith practice that sit uncomfortably with the prevailing outlook of our culture. This is often the case, and mostly it is a good thing. Being asked to imagine reality from a different perspective…
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Treasure, Pearls, Fish and Scholars
Pentecost 8 (A) 30 July 2017 Byron Bay We have four more parables this Sunday as we complete our series in Matthew 13. Not one of them involves farmers, so George can relax this week. Buried treasure (casual passer-by) Pearl of immense value (merchant) Fishing net (fisher folk on the lake) Scribe trained for…
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Feral weeds and rotting yeast
Pentecost 7 (A) 23 July 2017 Byron Bay & Broken Head Today’s readings offer us another serve of Jesus as the master of the parable. This is the second of three Sundays that we spend in Matthew 13. The lectionary wants us to focus on just the one parable this week: both the earliest tradition…
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Comfortable words, challenging words
Pentecost 5A 9 July 2017 Byron Bay The readings set for today each have their own logic, but taken together they fail to cohere in the way that we sometimes experience. We could pursue anyone of these three readings, and with sufficient time we would find that each offers us profound spiritual wisdom. Indeed,…
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An unacceptable tale
Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (A) Byron Bay & Ewingsdale 2 July 2017 As you may guess, by choosing to offer my sermon directly after the reading from Genesis 22, something is afoot. In our Wednesday morning Bible study group we reflected on this passage, and discussed how best to deal with it in today’s services.…
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