Weekly Bible Reflection

Aspects of Christianity can seem far-fetched to our 21st century minds. The miraculous elements can make it feel like the story of Santa Claus or fairies at the bottom of the garden. But before we dismiss the supernatural events of the Bible as fiction, it’s worth...

At a time of economic challenges and inflation, how easy it is to be consumed with anxiety about money and possessions. As his Sermon on the Mount moves on, Jesus exhorts us to view life and the material world from a bigger perspective. In Matthew chapter 6, verse 19...

Human relationships on the personal and international level must rate as the greatest challenge for the world’s future. The invasion of Ukraine four years ago last month, the attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023 together with the heightened divisions marked by...

“This world has no importance and whoever recognizes that wins his freedom. And that's just it—I hate you because you are bound. I alone am free. Rejoice, for you finally have an emperor to teach you freedom…” So speaks the Emperor Caligula, in Albert Camus’ play of...

In his Screwtape Letters CS Lewis says that there are two equal and opposite errors that people fall into regarding the dark powers. One mistake is to disbelieve in their existence; the other is to believe in them to excess. Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of...

Loud voices today insist there is no God, leaving us adrift on the ocean of life without an agreed moral compass. Persuasive voices appeal to our basic, albeit unthinking instincts, while the profounder, wiser voices that speak to the depths of our souls are drowned...

Great leaders are often remembered for their speeches as well as their accomplishments – George Washington for his Inaugural address as President, Abraham Lincoln for his iconic Gettysburg Address, Winston Churchill for his 1940 speech, “We shall fight on the...

In this first month of the new calendar year, we’re looking at Ecclesiastes, one of the wisdom books of the Bible. The wisdom books stand apart from the main narrative of the Bible, asking questions about our experiences of life. Jobasks how do we make sense of...

Another year has passed, and now another has begun. With the rapid and seemingly endless passing of the years and seasons, and with our experiences of life, how do we make sense of it all? Back in the 1960s The Byrds and Pete Seeger with the song Turn, Turn,...

Much in life today is politicized. So much so, that anyone who reflects on life will ask, ‘What’s it all about?’ The Book of Ecclesiastes is one of the wisdom books of the Bible. It is a strange book and it’s rather surprising to find it in the Bible. It doesn’t seem...

An op-ed on Christmas Eve in The Australian (12/24/18), referenced a lecture by Dr. George Weigel. The article noted that Weigel “argues that Christianity, including the values highlighted at Christmas, has an important role to play in revitalizing democratic,...

Catastrophic events such as occurred on Sunday, December 14 at Bondi in Sydney, give us pause and challenge us to see life with new eyes. Many are now looking for their leaders to chart a course to preserve life and secure livelihoods. Throughout the ages people have...

The appalling and deadly attack against Jewish people celebrating the beginning of Hanukkah at Bondi Beach on Sunday, December 14 raises many questions – not least the question of ‘Why?’ Why, in this age of so much scientific and technical achievement, is there still...

Last Sunday afternoon, when many churches were beginning the celebration of the birth of Jesus, at least fifteen Jewish people were killed by gunmen and some twenty-nine injured at a Hanukkah event at Bondi Beach, Sydney. A great anti-Semitic evil was perpetrated. How...

Once again, I’ve been intrigued by the promotion of Advent calendars, online and in large retail stores. The calendars are becoming a pre-Christmas accompaniment, advertising wine, coffee pods and chocolate and, of course, the calendars themselves. Back in November...

Inscribed on a clock-case in Chester Cathedral, England, is a poem, Time’s Paces, attributed to Henry Twells. It reads:   ‘When as a child I laughed and wept, Time CREPT;    When as a youth I waxed more bold, Time STROLLED.    When I became a full-grown man, Time RAN....

Uncertain times challenge us with the bigger questions of life and whether a good and caring God exists. Come with me to Jesus’s words in Matthew chapter 5, verse 17: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have not come to abolish, but...

Hallelujah is a wonderful word! It’s a compilation of two Hebrew words: Hallel which means praise and Jah which is a contraction of God’s name, Jehovah or Yahweh. Hallelujah is an exhortation: ‘Praise the Lord’. It’s the word that forms the bookends of the last five...