Fr Jim's (old) Blog

I've done Masses at the beach at sunrise with small retreat groups before, but I've never done a full parish Mass on a beach. I wanted to do an Easter sunrise Mass, both to bring prayer to a place where people already have an innate sense of awe and wonder, and because the ancient symbol of Christ's resurrection is the rising sun. Bishop Peter gave permission for us to give it a go. The day was perfect, still, clear and just a wisp of cloud. We had no idea how many people to expect, but we think there was 200-300 people of all ages. We stopped to watch the sunrise at 6.17am in silence, then sang Alleluia and proclaimed the gospel of Jesus risen. Eucharist continued reverently with people kneeling in the sand. At the end we baptised 4 primary school aged boys by full immersion, which for many people was the highlight of the day. I asked one of the boys the following week what he remembered, and he said "from the first time I went under, all I could ...

There was a disturbance the small town of Yoorana in country Victoria. 6 naked people, covered in dirt had been spotted in in the cemetery during the night. The town’s lone policeman was uncertain what he would find there, suspecting either a prank or a drug trip. He discovered instead 6 opened graves, some dating back decades, and concludes that these people have come back to life. So begins last year’s quirky TV hit Glitch . The subsequent episodes ask the question of how these people have come alive, and why. Why these six and not others, finding some answers by tracing the backstory of a different character each episode. What if this had actually happened? It would be a fascinating supernatural oddity. The cemetery would no doubt become a tourist attraction. But it wouldn’t change anything for you or me. These people would eventually die again, as they did on the TV show, and life would return to normal. It can be easy to gloss over Jesus’ resurrection from the dead ...

At the end of a particularly rowdy Year 10 commerce class our teacher had finally got us quiet when one of the boys made a particularly loud flatulent sound. “Who was that?” the teacher demanded. No one owned up. “You’re all staying in for 5 minutes at lunchtime” he exploded. We collectively groaned. “Ten minutes” he said, to which we all fell silent. After two interminable minutes Brett put up his hand and said “I didn’t do it sir, but can I take a punishment so that all the class can go?”. “Nice offer” said the teacher, “but no”. Brett’s offer to take punishment for the whole class still stands out for me thirty years later. It was such a rare thing to do- for an individual to take on a burden for the good of the whole. It is a stark contrast to the underlying principle of western liberal capitalism: that society as a whole does best when we act as individuals competing to satisfy our own needs. We are so well schooled in seeking individual happiness that a sacrifice like Br...

When facebook began around ten years ago one of its first features was “relationship status”. From single, to relationship, to engaged, to married. Part of the fun for younger people was to watch their friend’s relationship statuses change from “Jim is single” to “Jim is in a relationship with   X” sometimes back to “Jim is single” again, but hopefully on to engagement and marriage. Tonight I want to look at a different kind of relationship status and how Jesus’ Last Supper changed it. The Last Supper doesn’t stand alone. It doesn’t make sense on its own. It can only be viewed in conjunction with the crucifixion. It also becomes the lens though which the crucifixion becomes meaningful. Let’s look at that together. With hindsight we can speak of Jesus’ crucifixion as a sacrifice and as a spiritual event. But if you were standing on that hill watching it happen two thousand years ago you wouldn’t have recognised its significance. You would have thought you were wat...