Every Groan We Make
We’ve done a fair bit of groaning recently! Much of our groaning has been very understandable, given the COVID-19 pandemic. And for many around the world, the groan has signified a teetering balance between been life and death! The Bible also acknowledges this reality: it says that “we groan”, and that the “creation itself groans” […]
What if the worst happened?
Will SA continue to remain largely free of a major surge in COVID-19 infection, or, at some point, succumb, similar to the experience of the Eastern states? Things are feeling a little poised on a knife-edge at the moment. The truth is, we cannot know; it could go either way. Whichever way things do go, […]
Holy Insecurity
In South Australia, we’re feeling like we’ve ‘dodged a bullet’ to some extent, as far as COVID-19 infections and fatalities are concerned. Numbers of us have received at least one jab of a vaccine, and we hear of the daily numbers of vaccinations rapidly climbing. Yet for all that, vaccine hesitancy is still widespread, and […]
The Lord’s Prayer
A member of the congregation recently asked me why there are different versions of the Lord’s Prayer. Of course, the words of the Lord’s Prayer are Jesus’ words from the Bible, found in Matthew 6:9-13, and Luke 11:2-4. This means that the traditional version of the Lord’s Prayer is the Aramaic (the language Jesus spoke), […]
Linus: Jesus is the answer!… Snoopy: What was the question?
We have many questions. For example: “Am I going to pass my exams?”; “Can my family really afford this mortgage?”; “Will I survive this breast cancer?”; “How can I cope with my marriage breakdown?”; “What does my life mean now that my wife has passed away?”; “Will our society ever be free of COVID-19?”; or – on the more positive side – “How did […]
Reaping the Whirlwind
Decisions are increasingly made by governments in our Western society that move further and further from God’s good will for humanity. These developments are promoted in the name of “choice”, “progress” and “freedom, but they are actually without substance (like ‘empty breath’, ‘wind’). This year in South Australia, new legislation on abortion and euthanasia have […]
So, Who’s Crazy Then?
Have you had moments in this COVID-19 era when you’ve felt a little crazy?…. If you have, you’ve got plenty of company. The Bible, and Jesus, tell us that a certain kind of craziness is actually a sign of the greatest wellbeing! Jesus is accused by people, and even His own family(!), of being insane, […]
Bringing Them Home
E.T., with aching longing written all over his alien face, and his elongated finger pointing to outer space, says, sonorously, “E.T. home phone”!… These words automatically struck an emotional chord with every human being who heard them. We always remain in the grip of heart-breaking longing for our true, ultimate ‘home’. If we are ‘sheep’, […]
On the Inside of God
A grandmother nurses her baby granddaughter. She is overwhelmed by the love that she feels for her. Delight and tenderness radiate from her face, as she hopes and dreams for the best for this child that is so precious to her. Her tiny granddaughter, however infantile, senses, soaks up and responds to the adoring attention. […]
God On the Inside
We can grow up learning about the good news of Jesus Christ in the Bible and have read and heard it many times. Yet it can still seem distant from us, like it’s out of reach, “floating above our heads”, or somehow unreal and separate from our experience. Or it may once have been very […]