St John's Darlinghurst

Christ the Source of Wisdom

Colossians 1.15–23

Preacher: Richard Glover

Sometimes it feels like all we can do in life is just barely hold it together. How can we move beyond that to live a life that works as a whole to bring us joy? 

The Letter to the Colossians tells us that what we need is wisdom. Wisdom is practical knowledge to live in the world in a way that works. And we find that wisdom in Jesus Christ, the image of the invisible God, "in whom all things hold together." 

Bible Readings: Colossians 1.15–23

The poem used as a prayer at the end of the sermon is Malcolm Guite's 'O Sapientia,' and can be found here. 

Delivered from Darkness

Colossians 1.1–14

Preacher: Richard Glover

The Apostle Paul's letter to the Colossians provides us with a spiritual topography: the terrain of the Christian life. Our life "in Colossae" is overlaid with our life "in Christ." 

But where is Christ? As the letter goes on we learn that Christ is seated at the right hand of God. He is in "heaven"—the place where God's will is always done. If you are in Christ, you are right there with him, too. And when we learn to live aligned with God's will, the life of heaven is being drawn into life here and now. 

The whole letter of Colossians is about the kind of life that a proper spiritual topography makes possible: a life in which God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven. 

As the letter begins, we are given three things to aid us in that calling: a location, a way, and a purpose. 

Bible Readings: Colossians 1.1–14

A One-Dimensional God

Jonah 4

Ninveh turns to God in repentance. God turns to Nineveh in mercy. Jonah says: This is evil." 

Jonah's anger reveals something about his soul. Our anger can do the same. Anger is not always wrong, but it frequently covers something deeper: fear, disappointment, or shame. 

Jonah's anger is a response to the question of whether God can be both compassionate and just. But underneath that, it's a response to a  one-dimensional God. He is miserable because his vision of God is too small. 

What about your vision of God? Might it also bee too small? 

Bible Readings: Jonah 3.10–4.11; Matthew 26.36–41

Waves of Mercy

Jonah 2

Last week we left Jonah adrift. The raging sea was calm; but it was still vast and deep. Jonah was drowning. 

Many of us—even most of us—have felt like we're drowning at one time or another. How do we get our heads above water? 

From the heart of the sea, in the belly of the fish, Jonah learns three things: that in the depths, we can pray, we can praise, and we can encounter God's presence. As for Jonah, so for us. 

Bible Readings: Jonah 1; Mark 4.35–41

Running from God

Jonah 1

We begin a new series in the book of Jonah, the Old Testament prophet who is sent to the "great city" of Nineveh. But he doesn't want to go. He runs from God, straight into a storm. 

We, too, are in a "great city," and God sends us to take his message to the world around us. Will we go, or will we run? 

We can run from God in all kinds of ways, for all kinds of reasons, but when we do we inevitably enter storms. Jonah teaches us why this is, and how the grace of God can get us through. 

Bible Readings: Jonah 1; Mark 4.35–41