Soar We Now
At the end of three years of pandemic, a whole year of war in Ukraine, a cavalcade of horrific natural disasters, and increasingly difficult economic conditions, (not to mention our own particular trials) it would not be surprising at all if we found ourselves on a bit of a “downer” this Easter. Yet, in light […]
Loser
We can be committed to the cause that faithfully serves God and upholds His truth, yet false forces that undermine Him can seem to win out and defeat us. This is understandably painful and demoralising. Yet we should neither be overly surprised, nor despair. The One we follow as Lord was the greatest seeming loser […]
Death is Horrible
There’s a heresy that says that death is just an ordinary, natural part of life, and that we can learn to accept it and feel OK about It. This is usually the main message spoken at funeral homes – i.e., that we shouldn’t think of the person as dead but rather as still with us, […]
Awakening
The language of awakening has a great place within the traditions that formed the Uniting Church. It has been used to describe times of significant revival in the spiritual life and mission of the Church. Awakening is also about individual believers becoming fully aware of the truth and power of Jesus Christ and being transformed by it. […]
You Can’t Shut Up
Every person, all the time, is proclaiming a message to those around them. It comes out in our actual words, and in how we live our lives. Jesus said that what comes out of our mouths tells what is most important to us in our hearts (Mt 15:18,19); and the Bible teaches that what we […]
Lent
Lent is a period of forty days prior to Easter that is recognised by many Christian traditions. It was designated as a time for fasting and prayer to help believers prepare to celebrate the great events of Easter, and to be enriched spiritually. However, at times the practice of Lent has been approached – consciously […]
Hurt
It gets harder to watch the TV news. The tragic scenes from the Turkiye and Syria earthquake become more and more devastating. Human beings cannot see other people in pain and distress and feel no different; some of the pain transfers to us. One of our gut reflexes is to look away and try not […]
Earthquake
We are stunned by the devastation from the earthquakes this week in Turkiye and Syria. We’ve watched scenes of untold destruction to cities, towns and homes, bodies broken, families and lives torn apart. How can we respond?…. We’re to love our neighbour as ourself; that must mean in the first instance empathizing – i.e., imagining […]
Vision
A couple of weeks ago we did a bit of a tour of the Murray River in flood. It was amazing to see it up close and personal, but we couldn’t really get a sense of how much water was flowing through and affecting the whole river system. The same week a friend flew over […]
Be Reconciled
In Australian society today there are few more important issues than reconciliation. This is particularly prominent around Australia Day, which tends to highlight a range of unresolved justice issues between Aboriginal Australians, and non-Aboriginal Australians. The Bible says that, through Christ, God was reconciling all nations to Himself, not counting their sins against them (2Cor 5:19; […]