The People Jesus Met
In his gospel the Apostle John sets characters side by side, inviting the reader to compare and contrast. One such couple is Nicodemus (Ch 3) and the woman by the […]
The Jesus People Met
In the first chapter of John’s gospel the disciples of Jesus, with one exception, come to him via another person. Andrew comes via John the Baptist, Peter comes via Andrew […]
Oh for a Haircut!
Today is day 50 of the lockdown in NSW with no end in sight. Coincidentally I am preparing a series of sermons on the book of Judges and at the […]
The Model
How refreshing to watch Ashleigh Barty’s demeanour and sportsmanship on display at this year’s Wimbledon Tennis Championship. Ash’s speech commending her opponent, thanking her team and the crowd, exuded down […]
The Story beneath the Story
No matter the story, there is usually a story beneath the story. Every news item is seldom as straightforward as it seems, whether it be domestic violence, fraudulent practice or […]
JULY
This is the month of Julius Caesar’s assassination, the seventh month of the year, the first month of the new financial year and the middle month of winter. Despite its […]
The Unstoppable Gospel
The book of Acts is well suited to be studied in a year of what we hope will be recovery like 2021. The affect of Acts is to bring about […]
On Being Pope for the Sake of Rural Parishes
My father used to imagine what he would do if he were King for a day, so today I want to reflect on what I would do if I were […]
Preaching Conference
In 1993, during my tenure as Principal at SMBC, a biennial Preaching Conference was established. The preacher at that first conference was Dick Lucas from London. Other preachers through the […]
The Unpublished Letter
After I was appointed Moderator General of the Presbyterian Church in 2013, I thought I ought to get a national perspective on the news, and so I have been a […]
The Ten Truths
I am a post war, ‘baby boomer’, I have never known any other state than freedom, including the freedom to speak my mind. Since 1968 I have been a Christian […]
Preaching Clubs
Ulrich Zwingli, the Swiss Reformer, preached his sermon on ‘The Shepherd’ in 1523. The sermon and its publication was widely influential in the developing role and model of ministry in […]
On Death
Robert Dessaix is the latest prominent person to give us advice about death and dying. Like Kerry Packer before him, Dessaix reports that in 2001 following a heart attack, he […]
EMPTY
‘Empty’, ‘vacuous’, ‘meaningless’, ‘unsubstantial’, ‘nothingness’ – these are just some of the nouns and adjectives which my Thesaurus provides to describe the lead photo in the Australian of the weekend […]
Science and Reformed Theology
In June, 1977, the Uniting Church in Australia deliberately adopted the nomenclature, ‘Uniting’ rather than ‘United’, because it was believed that the ecumenical process was to be an ongoing one. […]
The Vulnerables: Our Heritage Builders!
Attending a recent investment seminar with a group of retirees, I was asked whether I was a skier. I was astonished that many of my fellow attendees said they were […]