Jun 3, 2021 | EXPLORING THE BIBLE, NEWS
All three passages contrast human ‘common sense’ and ‘pragmatism’ with God’s wisdom and vision. 1 Samuel 8: 4-20. Samuel is getting old and the sons he appointed as judges are corrupt. Israel is surrounded by enemies. A strong leader is needed to restore law and order...
Jun 3, 2021 | EXPLORING THE BIBLE, NEWS
There is a one voice probably everyone here in Melbourne knows intimately now – Dr Brett Sutton. We came to know his face during Dan Andrews’ daily COVID-19 briefing and now Brett Sutton’s voice can be heard on the public transport network reminding us to wear masks....
May 20, 2021 | EXPLORING THE BIBLE, NEWS
The writer of Acts tells the reader “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8 NRSV) and echoed “then everyone who calls on the name of God shall be saved” (Acts 2:21 NRSV). As I was reflecting on this, I...
May 12, 2021 | EXPLORING THE BIBLE, NEWS
I am writing this the same day the guilty verdict was handed down on the killer of George Floyd. There is rightly much relief, much soul searching to address systemic racism and to reconnect broken communities. 9 mins 29 secs for the world to see; horrific, shameful...
May 4, 2021 | EXPLORING THE BIBLE, NEWS
Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths, The blue and the dim and the dark cloths Of nights and light and the half-light, I would spread the cloths under your feet: But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you...
Apr 26, 2021 | EXPLORING THE BIBLE, NEWS
We love those we know and who are like us. We hold no fear. There is nothing to muddy our sanitised world views. It is easy to be the person of faith in that place. But we are not given that luxury. We must love the invisible ones, the ones who are different from us,...
Apr 19, 2021 | EXPLORING THE BIBLE, NEWS
If there is one image associated with the Christian faith which has found an enduring and endearing place in the collective life of the church for centuries, it is the image of Jesus as the good shepherd. In the Bible there are over 500 references to sheep. In Psalm...
Apr 12, 2021 | EXPLORING THE BIBLE, NEWS
The disciples are huddling together and have just heard Simon’s account of his walk with Cleopas to Emmaus, and how a stranger had started walking and talking with them. He is talking about how they were surprised that this stranger did not seem to know what had...
Apr 7, 2021 | EXPLORING THE BIBLE, NEWS
Imagine how it must have been for Mary, weeping outside the tomb, to then look into the tomb and see two angels sitting where the body of Jesus had been laid. Not an absence, but a presence – messengers from God; but they weren’t Jesus! And what anguish...
