The Narrow Path

  Saturday, April 26, 2025 Psalms 137; 138 Exodus 14:15-30 Mark 16:9-20 Proclaim The Gospel (Mark 16:15) And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” One of the highlights of my life in ordained ministry so far happened through our welfare ministry. I happened to be sitting with some people who were waiting to be served, and we were speaking about nothing of real consequence; merely talking about the general state of the world and our place in it. By a miraculous movement of the Holy Spirit, one of the people got a curious look on their face and asked, “so what is it that you Christians believe, then?” Believe it or not, we do get given opportunities to present the gospel to people. Jesus commands us to “go into all the world”, not hide ourselves away in caves, and through this lifestyle, “proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” So the question for us, is, have we prepared a gospel presentati...

  Sunday, November 17, 2024 Mark 13:10 And First… At the turn of the 21 st century, a great many exciting things happened. One of the most exciting was one that affected Brisbane pubs: the short-lived era of the cheap pub steak. If you were able to scrape together five dollars, you could go to one of any number of pubs and get a relatively decent steak. There was one pub in particular that had not only the cheap decent steak, but was also just a really nice old building. One day, that building’s owner changed hands, and the new owner apparently wasn’t too interested on owning a pub. Soon afterwards, the pub was closed, having been irreparably destroyed by a mysterious fire the night before. The shock and tragedy has long since passed, but the ruined building still stands there, a stark reminder that if you want to knock down every stone and build something new, there is a process that has to be followed. The entire created universe is more exciting than a pub ...

     Give It Away ... And Follow Me 21 st Sunday After Pentecost Hebrews 4:14-16 Mark 10:21 It is truly wonderful to be able to preach at a baptism. Very soon, our priest will take our two newest saints, baptise them in the name of the living God, and heaven will thunder with the sound of the angels rejoicing over these precious little lambs. Baptism holds so much for what it means for us to be brought close to God. Our second reading from the letter to the Hebrews describes Jesus as our “great high priest”. This is one of three titles given to him in this letter: the full, threefold position Jesus holds is prophet, priest and king. As prophet, Jesus speaks the words of God; he speaks for God; he speaks as God. As king, Jesus governs the church with spiritual prosperity and protection. And as priest, Jesus brings us to God, and God to us. In the years before Jesus of Nazareth walked the earth, a priest had a full-time job making sure everything was...

  Sunday, June 30, 2024 Sixth Sunday after Pentecost Mark 5:21-43 God's Greater Holiness When I was very young and I didn’t know how babies were made, I just assumed they came out of nowhere. I had some sort of logical process: that when a couple got married, God decided whether to give them babies, and how many. But it didn’t really go much further than that. It was all a mystery of God. But then I got older and learnt a bit more. And I began to realise just how many things can go wrong: as soon as that human being starts growing in the womb, every little stage needs to go just right. We look like a little fern slowly unfurling, except instead of green leaves, we have kidneys, eyes, fingers, toes, and all sorts of things that have to come out in a certain way at a certain time. Then there is the birth itself, full of new dangers. It is not for nothing that the old prayer book had a church service specifically to give thanks to God every time a baby was born...