One year ago today, there were more news stories coming out about this strange new coronavirus that originated in a large Chinese city that I hadn’t even heard of – Wuhan. On 25 Jan the first 4 cases were reported in Australia. By 30 Jan the virus had spread to 20 countries. First cases were […] The post Astonishing Authority appeared first on rmhealey.org.

Last Sunday we heard the first words of Jesus in the Gospel of John “what are you looking for?” Such a powerful question that continues to haunt us. Today we hear the first words of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark. After John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the GOOD NEWS, saying: “The […] The post Come on Home – T’shuvah appeared first on rmhealey.org.

For many Christians, our faith is as people of the book. This is especially true as a result of the Protestant reformation. Yet the bible can sometimes serve to muzzle the active and dynamic relational quality of life with God. Many people relate to the opening line of 1 Samuel 3:1 – that the ‘word […] The post Called by Jesus appeared first on rmhealey.org.

O come to the water, all you who are thirsty!Though you have no silver, come, eat, and be satisfied! This is the invitation that God so longs for us to hear. A constant longing for us to hear the invitation to be in relationship with God. To have nothing hold us back from being with […] The post Baptism – The longing of God appeared first on rmhealey.org.

Do you know that I am weird? There is also a more than fair chance that I’m not the only weird person here today! Statistically, we talk about people who are most likely going to be surveyed by researchers. Unfortunately, most of them share something in common: they are weird. WEIRD is an acronym – […] The post Not so weird Magi (Epiphany) appeared first on rmhealey.org.

I must confess a certain dis-ease in celebrating the feast of the holy family each year. Although it is a wonderful thing to do, there is a certain degree of disconnect and contrast between the seemingly perfect example of the Holy Family and the lived reality of most people. When you zoom back out from […] The post Imperfect Family of God appeared first on rmhealey.org.

The church tonight – only half the number of people who had booked & many others would come. Glass of water: is it half full or half empty? Those who say the glass is half empty, we call a pessimist; those who say half-full we characterise as an optimist. As a follower of Jesus, should […] The post Biblical Hope at Christmas appeared first on rmhealey.org.

When Paul wanted to convey his most developed and longest letter to the half-dozen or so house churches in the city of Rome, he needed to find someone who understood exactly what he wanted to say, who perhaps was able to memorise the letter word-for-word and who knew how to interpret the letter and perform […] The post Taking human flesh appeared first on rmhealey.org.

Do you remember what it was like to learn English? The experience will be very different depending on whether it was your first language learnt as an infant, or much later in life. In any language, there are at least 4 main components: learning to hear and understand what is said, learning to speak the […] The post Joy and Delight appeared first on rmhealey.org.

Comfort my people, comfort them. Like the other 3 gospels, the one that we read from today – which we announce is “according to mark” is anonymous. The tradition that has named the author as Mark, or John Mark, dates to the second century. From the third century, it was believed that Matthew wrote his […] The post Returning appeared first on rmhealey.org.