Testing times

(Luke 4.1-14) Lent 1 10 March 2019 – © Neil Millar Deserts are beautiful places. A few years ago, when backpacking in Morocco, I had an opportunity to enter the Sahara Desert and sleep in a Bedouin camp, to climb one of those amazing sand dunes on a moonlit night and sit on the lip … [Read more…]

Craft and Remnant Sale

It was exciting to see so many people from the surrounding community join St Ninian’s for this sale held on Saturday 2nd March. Lots of people came along to buy very resasonably priced craft materials, enjoy a workshop on making cloth coasters and knitting and crochet lessons and relax over refreshments including St Ninian’s famous … [Read more…]

Strange glory

(Luke 9.28-36) Transfiguration 3 March 2019 – © Neil Millar This Sunday marks an ending in the church’s liturgical calendar. Over the past two months in the season of Epiphany, we’ve been reflecting on events in the gospels that reveal Jesus’ divinity – the coming of the Magi, his baptism in the Jordan, the miracle … [Read more…]

And the WHAT fell on WHO??

(Acts 1.12-17, 20-26) St Matthias, Apostle and Martyr 24 February 2019 – © Neil Millar In the Western church’s calendar, February 24 is designated as the feast day of St Matthias who, as you’ve just heard, was chosen to replace Judas Iscariot as apostle after Judas died. Of course, not everyone will be celebrating St … [Read more…]

The Abundance of the Heart

(Luke 6: 39-45) (Epiphany 6)17 February, 2019 – © Sarah Bachelard Becoming a disciple of Jesus means being inducted into a whole new way of seeing and being in the world; it means learning to live out of a different relationship to reality. Chapter 6 of Luke’s gospel sets out the key elements of this … [Read more…]

Close encounters of the ‘third kind’

(Isaiah 6.1-8; Luke 5.1-11) Epiphany 5 10 February 2019 – © Neil Millar The title of today’s sermon is no doubt recognised by some of you as the title of the 1977 American sci-fi classic: Close Encounters of the Third Kind, written and directed by Steven Spielberg. Have any of you seen the film? It … [Read more…]

Great expectations (or Faith for Grown ups)

(Luke 4.22-30) Epiphany 4 3 February 2019 – © Neil Millar God give us rain when we expect sun.Give us music when we expect trouble.Give us tears when we expect breakfast.Give us dreams when we expect a storm.Give us a stray dog when we expect congratulations.God play with us, turn us sideways and around. Amen … [Read more…]

Holy Dreaming

(Luke 4.14-21) Epiphany 3 / Australia Day 27 January 2019 – © Neil Millar ‘Poor bugger whitefella got no dreaming’ is the arresting title of a research thesis written by Mary-Anne Gale. This observation of an Aboriginal person may be casually dismissed by some, but the more I talk with indigenous brothers and sisters, the … [Read more…]

Quiet Day – Saturday 16th February 9.30am-3pm

Not knowing when the dawn will come I open every door Emily Dickinson. Quiet Day Saturday 16th February 9.30am-3pm Chambers Pavilion Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture 15 Blackall St Barton (Entry and parking first driveway on left after King’s Ave) https://stninians.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Quiet-Day-Flyer-Feb-2019-.pdf

In vino veritas

(John 2.1-11) (Epiphany 2) 20 January 2019 – © Neil Millar In vino veritas – in wine truth. The title of todays’ sermon was inspired by a cartoon by Michael Leunig (see bulletin). It may have you a little concerned about where I’m heading today, (after all, I did come from a denomination known for … [Read more…]