Reflection of the Week - 17th October 2023
Because grief hurts it is often seen as a ‘problem’ that needs to be fixed, or got through, or ignored or made to go away. But grief is not a problem.
New Times - Faith
Reflection of the Week - 10th October 2023
God’s forgiveness is unconditional; it comes from a heart that does not demand anything of itself, a heart that is completely empty of self-seeking.
Reflection of the Week - 3rd October 2023
How can we live in the midst of a world marked by fear, hatred, and violence, and not be destroyed by it?
Reflection of the Week - 26th September 2023
Many of us have experiences of having God intervene in our lives to bring positive change, healing, protection, encouragement or even rescue.
Reflection of the Week - 19th September 2023
To befriend death, we must claim that we are children of God, sisters and brothers of all people, and parents of generations yet to come.
Reflection of the Week - 12th September 2023
From whom do you need forgiveness? What have you done? Have you hurt someone you love? Does the guilt or shame gnaw at you? Have you caused pain and anguish? Are you trapped in the wreckage of your actions with no visible means of escape?
Reflection of the Week - 5th September 2023
The older we become, the more we realise how limited we are in our ability to love, how impure our hearts are, and how complex our motivations are.
Reflection of the Week - 29th August 2023
I love the beauty and wonder of the natural world. Somehow the things I worry about feel smaller when I’m wandering in nature.
Reflection of the Week - 22nd August 2023
Are we lacking a daily prayer life or have we elderly relatives in nursing homes whom we never visit? Try and figure out what more we can do to gain eternal life and then put together a plan to do it.
Reflection of the Week - 15th August 2023
In many of Jesus’ stories, he uses excellent illustrations to point out who and how we are called to be God’s people.
Reflection of the Week - 8th August 2023
In this earthly life, we walk around blind to much of the world. While many of us are blessed to have all our senses, it isn’t until one or more of them are compromised that we become more in tune with both the light and the darkness surrounding us.
Reflection of the Week - 1st August 2023
I have many favourite passages in the Bible. The whole of Mark’s gospel is one of them. Matthew’s gospel (aside from the gnashing of teeth) is another. I also cherish the ancient hymn fragments embedded in the New Testament, such as the Colossians hymn 1.15-20.
Reflection of the Week - 25th July 2023
In all the bewildering maze of religions and faiths in the contemporary world competing for the allegiance of human persons, Jesus Christ stands solitary and supreme. He was genuine through and through. He was what he claimed to be.
Reflection of the Week - 18th July 2023
It’s been reported that two out of three Australians think that religion does more harm than good in the world.
Reflection of the Week - 11th July 2023
We can understand why people who are victims of oppression, violence, war, abuse, or terror of any kind, want the evil that caused their pain, eradicated. This is as true today as it was in the first century.
Reflection of the Week - 4th July 2023
The kingdom of God, Jesus said, is moved by a disrupting power. But not the kind of power that needs an empire or an army. The kingdom of God disrupts the way a mustard seed disrupts.
Reflection of the Week - 27th June 2023
As I have lived most of my church life primarily in Anglican and ecumenical settings, I have to admit to some bemusement about the annual marking of the Uniting Church’s founding.
Reflection of the Week - 20th June 2023
Jesus came and stood among his disciples and said peace be with you, then he didn’t try and hide the mark from the spear on his side. He didn’t wear gloves to conceal his scars. Jesus came and stood among his disciples and said peace be with you then he showed them his hands and his side.
Reflection of the Week - 13th June 2023
Trinitarian theology says that true power is circular or spiral, not so much hierarchical. It’s here; it’s within us. It’s shared and shareable; it’s already entirely for us.
Reflection of the Week - 6th June 2023
When the Holy Spirit arrived on the first Pentecost, it was not a quiet event; the sound was as if a great wind (breath) filled the room in which the disciples had gathered in their uncertainty and fear.