Weekly Bible Reflection

Studies reveal that Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world. Not that we should be surprised. Jesus warned his followers that this would be their experience because of their association with him. “If the world hates you”, Jesus says, “know that it...

Have you ever been resentful of people whose lives seem successful? They’ve achieved recognition; they have beautiful children, and they enjoy material riches. The very thought of them strips any sense of happiness from you. Now there’s nothing wrong with being...

Happiness is something we long for. But how can we achieve it? It’s elusive: one moment we can be feeling happy, but the next we’re not. Like moonlight it has slipped through our fingers. In fact ‘happiness’ can’t be a goal in the strict sense of the word. For a goal...

What do you think of prayer? Do you pray regularly? And if you do, do you pray with confidence? Can God, whom we call ‘Father’, be trusted to hear our prayers and answer them? In Luke chapter 11, verses 9 and 10, Jesus says: “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and...

I have a simple question: What is your ambition in life? The themes of royalty and service stand out in Dr. Luke’s record of the life and work of Jesus of Nazareth. Although he is demonstrably God’s king, he never used his divine powers out of self-interest or...

With the current geo-political upheavals many fear what the future holds. The uncertainty today is exacerbated by the angry divisions within societies. Vindictiveness has replaced respectful and serious conversation. And we can feel utterly powerless when it comes to...

In this world of turmoil and suffering, we long for a day when all will be put right. A scene in the public ministry of Jesus of Nazareth helps us. They arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As he (Jesus) stepped out on land, a man of the...

n his Screwtape Letters CS Lewis observes 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. In Ephesians chapter 6, verses 10...

In the concluding chapter of his book, Dominion (2019), Tom Holland draws together his theme of the ways Christianity has impacted “the rise and fall of empires, the actions of bishops and kings, the arguments of theologians, the course of revolutions, the planting of...

Everyone loves a story – the huge success of the Narnia books of CS Lewis, The Lord of the Rings from JRR Tolkien and, of course, JK Rowling’s, Harry Potter series, all come to mind. But fiction is not the only form of story people long for. There is always...

Can we help our broken and divided world find hope and peace? Or has the voice of God’s people been silenced? As I point out in my recent book, The Jesus Story: Seven Signs, Tom Holland in Dominion traces the influences of the Jesus story on the West, including the...

In his book The Holy Trinity (2004), Robert Letham commented on the impact of postmodernism on society: “In terms of instability and diversity,” he wrote, “the postmodern world of constant flux is seeing insecurity, breakdown, and the rise of various forms of...

Is there anything that can really make us different, that can shake us out of our apathy and anxieties? That can inject enthusiasm and joy, confidence and courage into our lives? Come with me to the events of Pentecost that we read about in Acts chapter 2. It was...

In the midst of the uncertainties and fears of the world around us, it’s worth pausing and reflecting on those all too rare moments when we experience a deep longing that we know nothing on earth can satisfy. We might experience such moments when our hearts are lifted...

During this Easter Season we have been touching on the reality of life and death. Three years ago I observed that Eugene Ionesco’s, Exit the King is a clever play about life and death. Reportedly the Romanian-French Ionesco who died in 1994, said about the play: I...

Writing in The Australian last year (April 23, 2024), Dr Greg Sheridan observed, ‘Politics, as they say is downstream of culture, and culture is downstream of faith. Having lost faith in any transcendental truth, the West now is in a permanent crisis of meaning, which...

The death of Pope Francis has attracted wide media attention with numerous outlets having representatives in Rome commentating on the events. Of the many reports one in particular caught my attention. A reporter commented that the Pope’s body was being laid to rest...

In The Return of the King, the 3rd volume in The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkein portrays the struggles Frodo and Samwise Gamgee faced on the final stretch of their perilous journey to Mt Doom. Utterly exhausted, Frodo is barely able to press on. Sam, despairing of...