The Reconciling Spirit
This week is recognised across Australia as Reconciliation Week: a week dedicated to acknowledging the oldest Australians – the Aboriginal people, and the relationship which those of us who are more recent Australians have with them; and we acknowledge the things that have not been good, and wrong, in that relationship, and the things that […]
Don’t Fence Me In!
“Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” (Jn 21:18) As […]
Hope for Everyone
Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Eph. 2:12-13)Without God means […]
Christ is Faithful!
I hope and pray that you are all well during the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. It’s been many weeks now, and in some ways we are probably getting used to the strange environment of social separation, and at the same time feeling the strain of it. We may have been able to keep in touch with […]
Trusting God In Difficult Times
The Prime Minister said, “For us, 2020 is going to be a year like no other.” This is certainly true! The COVID-19 pandemic has put us, and societies around the world, under threat, with restrictions and losses that we haven’t experienced before. We have some sense of hope now that “a corner may have been […]
Are You Stockpiling?
The media continue to reveal the many ways in which people have responded to COVID-19, a virus which the World Health Organisation has named a pandemic.To generalise, people have acted either in a positive or negative manner. Virtues of generosity, kindness and love have come to the fore. In contrast, features of fear, rudeness, impatience […]
Don’t Be Afraid
I cannot vouch for it, but someone stated that there are seventy-five references to fear in the Psalms ― more than any other book of the Bible. Most often these refer to fear of God, sometimes to fear of nature, and sometimes to fear of other people. Those who wrote the Psalms had neighbouring nations […]
Psalm 11
READ Psalm 11. 1. In the LORD I take refuge. How then can you say to me: “Flee like a bird to your mountain. 2. For look, the wicked bend their bows; they set their arrows against the strings to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart. 3. When the foundations are being […]
Lament
Biblical Scholar, NT Wright, has reminded us at this time that Christianity doesn’t just give us “nice, neat answers” to all of life’s catastrophes. A major theme in the Bible, particularly in the Psalms – the Bible’s prayer book – is one of lament. That is, a crying out to God in our suffering that […]
Learning Who Instead of Why
As all parents know, every child’s favourite question is why: ‘Why do I have to go to bed now?’ ‘Why can’t I watch TV?’ This is not just a passing phase that the child will grow out of, their why question will continue throughout life.In fact, the hard reality is, even as adults, they will […]