By the Well

The universal embrace of the gospel is embodied in the Ethiopian Eunuch in the Acts 8 passage. The usual social barriers are no barriers to his baptism and the joy of faith. We talk about the communal context of interpretation of scripture, the importance of teaching, and the proclamatory, spoken nature of the good news. The John passage includes the final I am statement and centres on vine imager...

Robyn and Fran unpack the good shepherd imagery used for God in Psalm 23 and Jesus in  John 10:11-18. We discuss the complexity of “laying down one’s life” and its afterlife in the way we talk about veterans and self-sacrifice (noting it is Anzac Day in Australia this Sunday). We refer to a discussion of sacrifice in Rutledge’s The Crucifixion . Kylie Crabbe returns to  look at Acts 4:5-12 where q...

Kylie Crabbe returns to discuss the reaction to Peter healing a man with a mobility impairment in Acts 3. This is a conversation between Jews (Peter and other Israelites) about the nature of God’s power and the continuity between God’s action in the past and in Jesus. Glorifying God and the invitation to repentance are themes here. Repentance is response not a pre-requisite for faith in both these...

Kylie Crabbe joins the podcast to unpack the Acts passages this week and in the weeks ahead. We discuss the dating and authorship of Acts, the key themes, and genre. Resurrection is the key theme in the speeches of Acts, indicating how important resurrection theology was in the preaching ministry of early Christianity. In Acts 4:32-35 this theology transforms communities to be places where all nee...

We begin talking about preaching Christ is risen by looking at 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, an account of the resurrection that predates the gospels. We note Paul’s  repeated use of ‘appeared’; how this passive voice places the initiative with Jesus, not Paul’s capacity to ‘see’. We explore the different emphases in Mark and John’s account of the ‘third day’, and touch on ways of talking about ‘resurrec...

Rev. Carolyn Francis, Pastor at Collins Street Baptist Church , joins us to unpack preaching on Palm Sunday. We explore the Markan emphasis in this well-known story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem where he is lauded as king in the Davidic line. Jesus’ kingship will ultimately subvert worldly notions of kingship, rejecting military might and power that dominates. Power, expectation, and hopes for a...

God’s faithfulness to the people of Israel is manifest in the Jeremiah reading with the promise of a new covenant that will not be broken – thanks to God’s radical forgiveness. Christians understand Christ partly through the lens of Jeremiah’s new covenant; in the paradoxical way the brokenness (of Christ’s body) makes up the un-breakability of God’s covenant with all humanity.  Themes of sufferin...

Dorothy Lee joins us to unpack the themes and theology of John 3. We begin with the Numbers reading, looking at the people’s grumbling, the difficulty of transition, and the strange use of snakes as both punishment and redemption from punishment. Metaphorically, the lack of trust in God is poisonous for the community. John 3 picks up this remarkable imagery of snake healing and compares it to the...

Dorothy Lee joins us as we talk about the liberating force of the Ten Commandments as a grace-filled way to live out salvation. We touch on Paul’s counter-cultural theology of the cross in Corinthians: God goes with shame and undercuts our notions of strength and power. Dorothy outlines how worship and market places operated in the temple, highlighting a key way John 2 has been misinterpreted. The...

God comes to Abraham with the promise of a new future, one where God is present and faithful. We talk about covenant, the paradox of walking before God and following the call. We mention the nature of human response to God: Abram falls on his face – laughing, Peter (in Mark) rebukes Jesus. God’s faithfulness in Genesis is the backdrop to the sharp call to discipleship found in Mark 8. We explore w...

Echoes from the first creation story ring throughout Genesis 9 as God establishes a renewed covenant with Noah and ‘every living creature’. We note the emphasis on God being the main player in this covenant; there is nothing expected of Noah or creation, except to receive God’s faithfulness. God’s faithfulness is in remembering God’s people. What is the human experience of being forgotten and reme...

Brian Kolia joins the podcast to discuss the unusual succession story in 2 Kings 2 and the Transfiguration in Mark 9. Whether it’s chariots of fire, separating water, heavenly ascent, or discovering God is in the dark shadow, these stories are rich with imagery and preaching themes.

Authority and identity emerge as key themes in Mark 1:21-28 as Jesus is portrayed as one powerful enough to cast out evil and liberate people from the power of evil. This is Mark’s Good News! We unpack ancient ideas of ‘unclean spirits’ or demons and discuss how our preaching and teaching might aspire to be transformative and healing in ways similar to Jesus’. Other options this week are Pauline e...

The book of Jonah is deceptively simple. It is often reduced to a children’s tale when, using the vehicle of humour, Jonah delivers challenging themes about the abundant mercy of God – mercy that sees not only our enemies blessed, but that we, like Jonah, might actually be the instrument of that blessing. Repentance, while an implicit theme in Jonah, is more explicit in the Mark passage (1:14-20),...

Rev. Sharon Hollis , President-elect of the Uniting Church, joins the conversation for Advent 4. We discuss how Mary is portrayed as a prophet in Luke 1 and the surprising agency she has (for that time) in speaking her consent (1:26-38) and her song of praise and protest (1:46-55). Her particularity as a young Jewish girl living in occupied territory makes her song the song of colonised women ever...

Dr Angela Sawyer returns to speak about Isaiah 61, a passage that reflects the concerns of returned exiles, the difficulty of life under colonial rule, and hope in God reversing the fortunes of the marginalised. The alternate to the Psalm this week is Mary’s Magnificat, a song that continues these themes hundreds of years later. And the gospel reading gives us another view on John “the Baptist” pr...

Dr Angela Sawyer joins us to explore the tender and powerful image of God in Isaiah 40, as well as the cosmic and personal hope the end of exile represents to Israel. We talk about suffering and the yearning for freedom and fulfilment in Israel’s foundational story, and how it informs and shapes ours (communally). In a few short phrases Mark 1 outlines the subversive character of Mark’s writing, a...

The lectionary readings at the beginning of Advent invite us to ponder the inbreaking of God. What might it mean to live as watchful Christians, to raise our eyes above the fray and look for the presence of God in our world? We acknowledge that the cry for divine justice in Isaiah 64 is a cry of both lament and hope. It comes  from a colonised people and continues to echo in our current world. Mar...

On the last week of the lectionary year, Fran and Robyn delve into the way the reign of God is described in these readings. Ezekiel 34:11-24 imagines God as a shepherd who protects the sheep, unlike the priests Ezekiel condemns as having failed as leaders. Matthew presents the Son of Man as a judge who will separate humanity as a shepherd divides the sheep from goats on the basis of ethical or rig...

This week is the only chance in the RCL to preach on the book of Judges, specifically on a section about Deborah, the only female of the 6 judges named. We are joined by Monica Melanchthon, who talks about the importance of preaching from Judges, both in spite of its difficult, violent themes, and because of them: much of the conflict in the world echoes the dynamics in the book. The persistent gr...

This week preachers are invited to think about taking the opportunity to talk about resurrection and what happens at “the end” through the parable of the ten wedding attendants in Matthew (25:1-13), which is a way to talk about entrance into the future kingdom of heaven, or Paul’s assurance to the Thessalonians (1 Thess 4:13-18) that even the dead will be included in the resurrection. We combat so...

Rev. Dr. Sunny Chen joins us for a conversation about the Greek words for love, resurrection promises, preaching for All Saints (All Souls) day, and Christian leadership.  The All Saints readings discussed are: 1 John 3:1-3, Revelation 7:19-17, and Matt 5:1-12. Those following the regular Sunday passages can hear a discussion of the Matthew 23 passage in the second part of the episode.  Hyperlink:...

Rev Dev Anandarajan joins us for a conversation about Moses’ humble leadership in the story of his death in Deut 32. Moses is not heard bargaining with God over not getting into the promised land. The story stresses, instead, the centrality of the journey of obedience for a people ‘on the way’. Dev explores psalm 90 for our (covid) context. We note differences in leadership between Moses and Paul...

Kylie Crabbe returns as guest co-host to discuss Moses’ request to see God (Exod 33:12-23), Paul’s opening thanksgiving and affirmation in 1 Thessalonians (1:1-10), and Jesus’ “test” about paying Roman taxes (Matthew 22:15-22). Exodus invites us to explore how we discern divine presence - how do we know God is with us? Jesus’ teaching to “render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s…” is not an argum...

Kylie Crabbe steps in as co-host to discuss the episode with the Golden Calf (Exod 32) and the difficult parable of Matthew 22. No one in the parable gets it right. Many are invited to the wedding banquet but few are “chosen,” inviting us to ponder what a response worthy of acceptance would look like?  Find out more about Kylie Crabbe and her scholarship here: https://www.acu.edu.au/research/our-r...