New Times - Faith

Faith

Reflection of the Week - 7th November 2023

I believe that, right now, Jesus is asking us the question, couldn’t you watch with me even one hour?  How do we answer? Do we go back to sleep? Do we mumble excuses? Do we change the channel?

Faith

Reflection of the Week - 31st October 2023

Several years ago, I complained to a mentor that my relationship with God felt flat, distant and like I was going through the motions. On top of that, I found dealing with people increasingly frustrating and my patience waning.

Faith

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.

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.

Faith

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?

Faith

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.

Faith

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.

Faith

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.

Faith

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.

Faith

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.

Faith

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.

Faith

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.