St. Paul’s Bridgetown

07/09/2026

07/09/2026

Pentecost 15. Second chances…Ezekiel 33.7-11; Psalm 119.33-40; Romans 13.1-10; Matthew 18.10-20
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable to you, our Lord and redeemer. Amen
I have had the distinct privilege of spending the last 6 years working alongside Fr. Brian Newing OAM, former Dean of the Cathedral, Archdeacon of the Diocese and, for the last 23 years, chaplain at Bunbury Regional Prison. One of the key reasons he has lasted so long at the prison is his humility and wisdom, and his primary message is one of second chances. He will tell anyone who will listen that our God is a God of second chances. For those that find themselves in prison this is a powerful message. But it’s not just for them. Don’t we all need second chances?
Our scriptures repeatedly tell us that God is rich in grace, mercy, forgiveness and love. We are all, in one way or another, much like the sheep in todays gospel- we wander off, we go astray. God reaches out to find us and rejoices greatly when we return to the fold, forgiven and ready to go again. Not just once, but over and over again. It is in God’s nature to have the mercy to forgive us, the grace to welcome us back in, all wrapped up in the love that makes it meaningful.
This is not, however, some hedonistic idyll! God’s ways are in stark contrast to the ways of the world in which we eventually reach a point of no more chances. Relationships breakdown, you might lose your house, your health, your livelihood, your life. There are consequences to our choices. God gives us the free will to make our choices and so we bear the consequences. But crucially, God offers us a different way.
Let’s listen to the voices we heard today. Chronologically the psalm was written first. Psalm 119 is the longest psalm in the bible (176 verses) and is concerned with the ‘Glories of God’s law’. In today’s section we hear the psalmists desire for God’s law. That he should have deep understanding, a desire to fully inhabit God’s ways, and to turn away from ‘vanities’, the conceits and emptiness of the world. In the psalmists view the only antidote to the world is a turning towards God’s realm. And far from the laws and statutes being a burden, he sees them as the way towards true life.
Ezekial, a 5th century Hebrew prophet, lived during the Babylonian exile. The Babylonians had conquered Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple sending the people of Israel and Judah into exile. God commissioned Ezekial to warn the wicked to turn from their ways. Not the Babylonians but the Israelites. The consequences of their ‘transgressions and sins’, have caused them to waste away. But God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from their ways and turn back to God. Then they will live. Second chances. It is a second chance because they already knew all this about God. There had been countless prophets with their warnings, and they lived with the words of the psalm that we heard. It’s been there for thousands of years. But they still went astray.
Matthew’s gospel. Jesus is speaking to his disciples about true greatness and stumbling blocks. He makes his point with a small child: “Truly, I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven.” Then the parable of the lost sheep. I wonder about the similarities between sheep and children? Jesus spoke of the humility of children and I think that sheep are also pretty humble creatures. I mean this in the sense that they have fairly simple needs- food, protection, boundaries, guidance; children are curious and can get so absorbed in something that they lose all sense of what else is going on and perhaps forget what they are supposed to be doing and go astray. Much like the lost sheep- I imagine her head down following some good food then realising that everyone else has disappeared. The lost sheep was deliberately sought out and returned to the flock. She received a second chance.
The next bit of the gospel reading is also all about second chances- “it is not the will of God that one of these shall be lost”: If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. Chance number 1; If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. Chance number 2; If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church, chance 3; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector. Chance 4. Please note that this last instruction isn’t about some kind of ex-communication- Jesus didn’t reject the gentiles and tax-collectors- he went out of his way to welcome them, to offer them the same benefits of God’s kingdom as the Israelites.
God knows that we are going to make mistakes. Some of them will be small, some not so small. The possibility of mistakes is part of the gift of free-will but so is the chance to turn around. There are people that will take advantage of this, continually stuffing up because they know that God will forgive them. The trouble is that even as God forgives us and gives us another chance, and maybe even the people we have harmed may forgive us and offer us a second chance, there will still be consequences to our choices and actions. We will eventually run out of second chances with our family, friends and community, and the consequences may be very difficult to live with.
Finally, St. Paul, in his letter to the Romans reminds us of Jesus’ command: Love your neighbour as yourself. Paul says, ‘Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law’. God’s law, laid down thousands of years ago, is love. It’s what the psalmist desired more than anything, it’s what the sheep experienced as it was found and welcomed back, it’s what God continually offers to us.
Amen.

23/08/2026

Thank you to the Bridgetown Hub

23/08/2026

Mission Focus for September and October. It may seem a little early to be thinking about Christmas but this outreach takes some planning!


When you give an Angel Tree gift, you remind a child that they are loved and not forgotten this Christmas.
Children in the Extraordinary Lives program receive a gift at Christmas time from their parent in prison.
This helps to build and maintain the critical parental connection and lets a child know their parent still loves them and is thinking of them.
Reverend Susanna ministers 2 days a week at Bunbury Regional Prison and knows firsthand how important Angel Tree is to the prisoners and their families.

When you give an Angel Tree gift at Christmas time, you remind a child with a parent in prison that they are loved and not forgotten. Each Christmas across the country, thousands of children unwrap Angel Tree gifts – presents given to them on behalf of their mum or dad in prison who can’t do [.....

23/08/2026

Pentecost 13, Matthew 16:13–20: “Who do you say that I am?”
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable to you, our Lord and redeemer. Amen.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus asks a question that has never stopped echoing through the world: “Who do you say that I am?” It is not only a question about Jesus’ identity. It is also a question about ours. Because the way we answer it shapes the way we live, the way we pray, the way we suffer, the way we hope, and the way we see one another.
Jesus asks this question in the district of Caesarea Philippi, a place known for pagan worship and imperial power. It was not neutral ground. It was a landscape crowded with competing claims about gods, rulers, strength, and salvation. In that setting, Jesus first asks, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” The disciples answer with the rumours and expectations already circulating: “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” These answers are not insulting. They are respectful. They place Jesus among the great figures of Israel’s story. People see in him courage like John, prophetic fire like Elijah, lament and compassion like Jeremiah. They recognise that Jesus is not ordinary.
Yet even good answers can be incomplete answers. The crowd names Jesus according to categories they already know. They reach for familiar labels, familiar stories, familiar expectations. They are trying to understand him by fitting him into what they have seen before. That is often how perception works. We do not simply see what is in front of us; we see through the lens of what we expect. If we expect a prophet, we may see only a prophet. If we expect a teacher, we may hear only moral instruction. If we expect a miracle-worker, we may look only for what Jesus can do for us. Our expectations can help us recognise something true, but they can also prevent us from seeing the whole truth.
Then Jesus turns from public opinion to personal confession: “But who do you say that I am?” There is a holy pressure in that “but.” It is not enough to repeat what others have said. It is not enough to inherit a label or borrow someone else’s faith. Jesus invites his disciples into a direct answer. Peter replies, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” In that moment Peter sees more than the crowd sees. He does not merely place Jesus among the prophets; he recognises him as the fulfilment of God’s promise, the Anointed One, the living presence of God’s saving purpose.
Jesus answers Peter not by congratulating his intelligence, but by naming the source of his insight: “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.” Faith is not the result of clever analysis. It is not something Peter worked out by collecting evidence and drawing a conclusion. Revelation is involved. Grace is involved. God opens Peter’s eyes. This matters because Christian identity begins not with our achievement, but with God’s gift. We know Christ because Christ makes himself known. We confess because grace has already been at work within us.
But Peter’s confession is also complicated. Immediately after this passage, when Jesus begins to speak about suffering, death, and resurrection, Peter resists. He can confess the right title and still misunderstand what that title means. He expects a Messiah of victory, perhaps power, perhaps national restoration. Jesus reveals a Messiah who walks the road of the cross. Peter’s expectation affects his perception. He can see that Jesus is the Christ, but he struggles to see what kind of Christ Jesus is.
That is where today’s Gospel becomes very close to home. Who do we now think Jesus is? We may answer with the creeds: Lord, Saviour, Son of God, Word made flesh. We may answer with songs and prayers. We may answer with the faith handed down to us. These answers are precious. But Jesus still asks, “Who do you say that I am?” Not just at baptism, not just at confirmation, not just in church, but in the daily places where our expectations are tested.
If we expect Jesus mainly to make life comfortable, we may miss him when he calls us to courage. If we expect Jesus only to confirm our opinions, we may fail to hear him when he challenges us. If we expect Jesus to bless our divisions, we may not recognise him in the stranger, the wounded, the difficult neighbour, or the person whose story unsettles us. If we expect Jesus to come only in obvious holiness, we may overlook him in humility, weakness, patience, forgiveness, and service.
Our expectations do not merely shape what we think about Jesus; they shape what we think about ourselves. If Jesus is only a distant moral example, then we may imagine ourselves as spectators trying to behave better. If Jesus is only a problem-solver, then we may approach faith as a transaction. But if Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God, then we are not spectators or customers. We are disciples. We are people called, forgiven, sent, and built together into his church.
Jesus says to Peter, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.” Notice the movement: when Peter names Jesus, Jesus also names Peter. Identity is received in relationship. To know who Christ is is to begin discovering who we are. We realise that we are not actually defined by the crowd’s opinion, by failure, success, age, usefulness, fear, or reputation. We are defined by the living God who calls us by name and gives us a place in God’s purpose.
So perhaps the invitation today is to let Jesus question our assumptions. Who have we allowed him to be? Have we narrowed him to fit our comfort, our politics, our fears, our habits, or our wounds? Have we mistaken familiarity for faith? The question “Who do you say that I am?” is not an exam we pass once. It is more like a doorway we keep walking through. Each season of life asks us the question again: in grief, in joy, in conflict, in uncertainty, in ordinary service.
And by grace, our answer becomes more than words. We say Jesus is the Christ when we trust him beyond what we can control. We say he is the Son of the living God when we seek life where the world sees only endings. We say he is Lord when we allow his mercy to reshape our seeing, our speaking, and our loving.
May the Father reveal Christ to us again. May our expectations be cleansed, widened, and made humble. And may our lives confess, with Peter and with the whole church: You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.
Amen.

23/08/2026

PENTECOST 12. BELONGING AND FAITH
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable to you, our Lord and redeemer. Amen
Part of my role as a Chaplain at the prison is to be part of PRAG. PRAG, the Prisoner At Risk Group, is chaired by the Assistant Superintendent, and includes other senior uniformed officers, prison psychologists, mental health nurses, peer support officers and chaplains. The groups’ role is to manage prisoners at risk or self-harm and su***de. We meet as frequently as required, often daily, to assess risk and make a plan that supports the prisoner to feel and act safely. Once upon a time one of the psychologists used a great term to describe the issues of one of the fellas: ‘thwarted belongingness’. Basically he didn’t fit in. In any attempts he had made to make friends, to join groups, to mix with other people, both in prison but also in community and family settings he somehow missed the mark. I can’t remember why. Perhaps he had a mental health issue, a developmental or intellectual disability, anti-social tendencies. Whatever it was he wanted to belong but never fitted in and this was the cause of his distress. Thwarted belongingness.
Belonging is a basic human need. It is the deep drive to feel accepted, valued, and connected to and by other people and groups. This feeling keeps our minds and bodies healthy. When we lack connection, we not only feel lonely and stressed, but it can have negative effects on our physical health including and increased risk of heart disease and strokes, and weakening our immune system.
In any given situation, who decides who does and who doesn’t belong? In western societies where education is a common factor, even kindy kids start to sort themselves out into those that belong in a group and those that don’t. Often this is amicable and mutually decided- you play with the kids that play like you. But even here there is usually one or two that don’t quite fit. By the time we reach adulthood we have usually worked out several ways in which we belong. Friends, workplace or study, family, sporting clubs, church.
What about the Canaanite woman from this morning’s Gospel reading? I have to say that this particular passage has to be one of the most difficult to hear- Jesus essentially called a woman a dog and refused point blank to help her or her daughter. She is, unsurprisingly, not named, but we are told that Jesus and the disciples had travelled to the region of Tyre and Sidon. It’s a good 80-90km from Gennesaret which is on the inland Sea of Galilee to this area which is on the Mediterranean coast. It is also gentile country populated by Canaanites with their pagan practices. I wonder about this woman’s sense of belonging as she approached a Jewish healer, but also Jesus’ sense of belonging as he travelled into an essentially foreign land. The disciples didn’t want to know about her and urged Jesus to send her away- she clearly doesn’t belong with them. Jesus compounds this by telling her that his mission is to the house of Israel, to which she doesn’t belong. He tries to ignore her because she doesn’t belong to the family of God. She persists but he continues to refuse even likening the Israelites as children and the gentiles as dogs! I imagine that most of us would feel pretty shattered by this and the constant rejection. This woman is desperate- her daughter is suffering and this is probably her last resort. She swallows her pride and continues to persist asking for just the crumbs. Jesus recognises her faith, and at that moment her daughter is healed.
Let’s pause and backtrack a little. I said that she swallowed her pride. That’s how it’s seems to me. How many of us would continue to engage with someone who has been so rude and dismissive. It would be normal to feel shamed and belittled, tempting to just slink away with your tail between your legs. It’s even worse in her context- a gentile woman daring to shout at this Jewish teacher and healer, to heal a girl. She doesn’t belong in this situation in so many ways but nevertheless here she is. I wonder how far out of our comfort zones we would go? I wonder if there are any limits to us swallowing our pride? Would we be able to show such persistent faith in the face of such rejection?
This whole scenario is really quite perplexing. Our post- resurrection image of God is that there are no boundaries, no exclusions. Love your neighbour, love your enemy as yourself. And it is a very old Jewish ideal too. In our Old Testament reading Isaiah speaks of bringing in the foreigners, of gathering the outcasts of Israel alongside the others. Inclusion for all. No boundaries. The psalm also speaks of ALL the nations and people praising God and being blessed by God. Jesus knew this.
So, I think he was deliberately making a point. He had spent a considerable time healing and teaching in his homelands and now he has deliberately gone to gentile country. His reputation would have proceeded him so of course someone would ask for healing. Jesus put himself in a place where he didn’t belong. Perhaps by showing that he is willing to cross cultural boundaries he invited the woman to also cross some boundaries. She addresses him as Lord. And it turns out that true faith, shown in her persistence and willingness to put aside her own pride or ego, knows no ethnic boundaries.
I started off talking about belonging and about the deep psychological harm that occurs when we profoundly don’t belong. We all need to belong, and yet there are so many written and unwritten social rules about who’s in and who’s out, that way too many people get left out. This is not what God’s kingdom looks like. God desires to gather all people together. The only criteria is faith, and the only judge of our faith is God. As Christians we are commanded to love. Let us do all that we can to break down barriers, to be a people and a place where everyone can belong.
Amen.

27/07/2026

FOODBANK - TUESDAY 28 JULY 2026 - ST PAULS CHURCH, Bridgetown
A reminder that Foodbank is on today again, from 10.45 - 11.30am. at ST PAULS CHURCH - Cnr Philips and Hampton St.
Make sure you bring your own bags and remember that Eftpos is preferred. No cash or change carried.
The Bridgetown Hub will NOT be on site tomorrow. If you need a referral please call into the Hub at the corner of Steere and Roe and Steere.
If you need any emergency assistance, please call 1800 979 777.

27/07/2026

Pentecost 9 Matthew 13.44-58; 1 Kings 3.5-12
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable to you, our Lord and redeemer. Amen.
“Prophets are not without honour except in their own country and in their own house. And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief.”
I wonder how Jesus was feeling. We speak about Jesus as fully divine and fully human. I cannot even begin to imagine how hard that is to inhabit! He’s been around for a little while now travelling around teaching and healing, even calming storms and walking on water. And yet, in his hometown, amongst the people who he thought he knew, his divine powers were limited. What is going on here?
Jesus, fully divine, fully human, simultaneously inhabits two worlds or kingdoms. The kingdom of Heaven, sometimes referred to as the Kingdom of God, and this earthly world or kingdom. Unfortunately, as soon as we hear the word heaven we start thinking about the afterlife. This is not what Jesus is referring too at all. I prefer the term Kingdom of God. This helps us to see God’s kingdom as something that is in someway next to us. Eternal life, or eternity life. Not dependant on whether or not our bodies are still alive. These two worlds are constantly clashing- in his hometown the people in the synagogue are amazed at what he was saying, his wisdom and his miraculous power. And then they are offended- he is just the carpenter’s son. In other words, he has no authority to teach in the synagogue. They were blind to his power because they had a preconceived idea of who he was. And it deeply affected his abilities- ‘he did not do many deeds of power there because of their unbelief.’ Jesus’ power was limited by the people’s unbelief.
This is quite astounding. It seems that we are not merely observers of or unwitting recipients of God’s power. We are part of it.
Let’s talk about the kingdom of heaven or the Kingdom of God because this is where we started in todays Gospel. Jesus says: God’s kingdom is like treasure hidden in a field- it is treasure, but it is hidden. It is capable of being found because the man in the parable did find it. I wonder why he didn’t just carry it off? I guess he could be accused of stealing it. Maybe then he would have to continue to keep it hidden. Instead, he sold everything that he had and bought the field. Now it is his. He can openly get it out and enjoy it, use its wisdom. He has also sold everything else, so he now has less to distract him from this great treasure. I wonder what treasures we might stumble across and what we are prepared to exchange for this treasure- God’s kingdom?
Similarly, the merchant and the pearl. In this case the merchant was actively looking for fine pearls. He found one and sold everything he had and bought the pearl. What might we find if we are actively looking. What fine pearls of wisdom are out there? What will we let go off in order to immerse ourselves in God’s Kingdom.
God’s kingdom, the realm in which God resides, is the finest environment we can imagine, but it’s not necessarily easy to find. We have to be looking for it, and we have to be prepared to let go of worldly concerns to possess it. Not only can we not serve two masters, but somehow God needs human participation to work God’s power.
Then we have a fishing parable not unlike the seeds and weeds that we had last week. This time a net is lowered into the lake and all sorts of fish were caught. But not all of them were suitable for eating so the fishermen sorted them out. They collected the good fish and threw the bad ones back in. It doesn’t say why they were bad- perhaps they were simply too small or were injured or diseased in some way. If that was the case it is possible that in future catches they may be considered good. Regardless- this is how it will be at ‘the end of the age’- the angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous.
And finally, Jesus says, “every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old”. I found this a bit random at first especially sitting in between parables about the kingdom and a disappointing experience in his hometown. However, I think he is talking about himself. He is a teacher of the law especially when that teaching occurs in the synagogue. Ancient teaching methods were fairly rigid. Teaching directly from scripture, the Law and the Prophets, and it relied heavily on repetition and memorisation. This is the old treasure. It is still treasure but the teachers who are disciples of God’s kingdom, as taught by Jesus, will also bring out new treasures.
The people in Capernaum were amazed by Jesus’ teachings. He got to the very heart of the matter and created real changes in people’s lives. He bought something new alongside the old. Afterall, he said that he came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets, not abolish them.
But then they got distracted by what they thought they knew about Jesus. They got stuck in the old.
The man who bought the field in order to get the treasure made huge changes- he sold everything. The man who found the fine pearl made huge changes- he also sold everything. If we don’t make changes in response to God’s kingdom we risk being sorted out like the fish.
I hope that we don’t become blinded by what we think we know. I hope that we are open to seeing new wisdom alongside old wisdom. I hope that, like King Soloman, we are able to discern what is useful and what is not. I hope that as we embrace what God’s kingdom is we can work alongside God to make changes in our own and other people’s lives.
May the Lord be with you.