The way of imagination

·         Text : Gospel of Luke, chapter 9      Destination: Jerusalem.   Once more, it’s time to take to the road.   Lent begins this coming Wednesday – Ash Wednesday – the day which signals the start of a 40-day season which will prepare us to celebrate Easter… in Jerusalem , as it were.   If we’re going to celebrate in Jerusalem, we have to get there.   We must embark on a kind of pilgrimage, a thoughtful journey during which we will open ourselves once again to the power of the Holy Spirit to transform – transfigure? – us into the image of Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 3.18).   Let us join Jesus as he sets out to walk to the capital of his nation to celebrate the Passover festival, yes – but also to be the Passover lamb (cf. 1 Cor. 5.7).   Indeed, Jesus has several reasons to go to Jerusalem, and none of them are pleasant.   Today, we are going to begin to explore the “dark side” of Jesus’ ministry – t...

  ·         Text : Philippians 3.2-11       Think, for a moment, of your most successful, conventional, respectable, upstanding, “normal” friend.   You know, the predictable, dependable one – the one with a steady job (or perhaps retired after an honourable career), the one who gives you a sense that all is well in the world.   Now, imagine the phone ringing this afternoon, picking up the receiver (if you’ve got a land line) and hearing your friend’s voice say – “I’m in jail. Can you please come and post my bail?”   Several things might go through your mind at that moment – is this a joke? …a prank in poor taste?   Then again, that kind of chicanery would be completely out of character for my serious, respectable friend.   What could they possibly have done? …has there been a mistake?   Should I just hang up, forget my friend’s existence, and carry on with my quiet, pleasantly boring life?  ...

Listen to the sermon here: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/cedarparkunited/episodes/Letter-from-an-Ephesian-Jail--Sam-Farrugia--January-4--2026-e3dfih6/a-acdi12g       Other people’s mail.   I don’t know about you, but I really enjoy reading other people’s mail.   Just to be clear, I mean to say that I enjoy reading letters that some people (or, more often, their literary executors ) have chosen to publish for public consumption.   Whether it be the correspondence of Henri Nouwen, J.R.R. Tolkien or Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I always find it enriching to read these personal dispatches, which were most probably not composed with their eventual publication in mind.   All this to say that a good part of the New Testament is made up of just this type of communication.   Paul’s letter to Philippi is a brief, personal piece of writing, composed in a buoyant and affectionate spirit and addressed to people whom Paul knew well and whom he obviously...