fbpx

Weekly Bible Reflection

Facing the Future…

Facing the Future…

"Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely," Lord Acton wrote in his correspondence with Bishop Creighton in England in 1887. Reflecting on the moral issues in writing a history of the Inquisition, Lord Acton considered that all people, including...

Rejoice in the Lord…

Rejoice in the Lord…

‘Thanksgiving’ in America is one of the delights Judith and I experienced when we moved to New York in 2001. Despite the evil events of September 11, 2001 people at our first Thanksgiving Dinner expressed their thanks for the way the Lord had used the events of 9/11...

Feed My Sheep…

Feed My Sheep…

Jesus’s physical resurrection from the dead is fundamental to the Christian faith. Without it, as Paul the Apostle says in First Corinthians, chapter 15, our faith is meaningless: we would have no assurance of our broken relationship with God being restored and no...

The Impossible has Happened…

The Impossible has Happened…

Back in 1995 Joan Osborne came and went with the hit, What if God Was One of Us? On the surface it asked the seemingly impossible question about seeing God face to face in human form. What would we do if we knew his name, saw his face, and his glory? It’s a song that...

A Life of Regret…

A Life of Regret…

In his Pensées Blaise Pascal, the 17th century French mathematician and philosopher wrote, “Everyone seeks happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end…” John the Gospel writer tells us of a woman at a well in...

The Jesus Story: The Ultimate Sign – Resurrection

The Jesus Story: The Ultimate Sign – Resurrection

‘Do you want to live forever?’ was the question leading into an article, ‘From Here to Eternity’ in The Weekend Australian magazine (May 27-28, 2023). ‘Coming back from the dead, then living as an immortal?’ the article began. ‘It sounds like science fiction, but the...

The Jesus Story – Sign #7: A Dead Man Raised

The Jesus Story – Sign #7: A Dead Man Raised

The subject of death is not something we usually discuss. It’s too personal and confronting. Yet it’s the ultimate certainty we all face. It’s why literature, film and philosophy so often dwell on the themes of our mortality. But it’s rare that anyone claims they can...

The Jesus Story – Sign #6: The Blind See

The Jesus Story – Sign #6: The Blind See

In March 1973, Pink Floyd introduced the line, ‘The dark side of the moon’. The album enjoyed great success addressing dark questions about life. The theme of darkness surfaced again with the 2013 movie, Gravity where Sandra Bullock is left untethered in space. The...

The Jesus Story – Sign #5: Walking on Water

The Jesus Story – Sign #5: Walking on Water

Jean Paul Sartre, the French existentialist, anticipated the sense of aloneness people today are experiencing when he wrote, ‘That God does not exist, I cannot deny; That my whole being cries out for God, I cannot forget’. I am not suggesting that we need to invent a...

The Jesus Story – Sign #4: Food for Five Thousand

The Jesus Story – Sign #4: Food for Five Thousand

There are many troubling issues around us today – the cost of living, the divisions in society, opioid and alcohol abuse, homelessness and the rising power and influence of autocratic leaders. Many long for leaders of integrity in the West who will promote impartial...

The Jesus Story – Sign #3: A Paralytic Healed

The Jesus Story – Sign #3: A Paralytic Healed

HG Wells, historian and author of The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds once commented: ‘I am an historian. I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ...

The Jesus Story – Sign #2: A Healing from Afar

The Jesus Story – Sign #2: A Healing from Afar

Christian faith is regularly considered to be ‘a leap in the dark’. Let’s think about this. Daily we take countless steps of faith – faith that the food we eat and the water we drink won’t harm us; the traffic will stop when we step out at a marked crosswalk or zebra...

The Jesus Story – Sign #1: Water into Wine

The Jesus Story – Sign #1: Water into Wine

In his book, God and Stephen Hawking (2011), Dr. John Lennox notes a current objection to miracles that says: ‘Now we know the laws of nature, miracles are impossible’. To which Dr. Lennox responds: ‘From a theistic perspective, the laws of nature predict what is...

The Jesus Story: A Renewing Interest…

The Jesus Story: A Renewing Interest…

In the aftermath of the events of September 11, 2001, leading new atheists such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Richard Dennett and the late Christopher Hitchens challenged the authenticity of religion. In 2007 The Sydney Morning Herald reported Richard Dawkins...

Songs for the Summer: A Searching Call to Worship…

Songs for the Summer: A Searching Call to Worship…

King Lear, one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies, tells the story of a king who voluntarily set aside his titles and property in favor of two of his three daughters, only to find himself reduced to poverty and homelessness because they reject him. “Ingratitude, thou...

Songs for the Summer: Anxiety…

Songs for the Summer: Anxiety…

In a world where there is so much uncertainty and tumult we need wise, cool and clear minds amongst God’s people, and prayer for leaders. Let me take the second point first. Prayer for Leaders. In his First Letter to Timothy, chapter 2, Paul the Apostle writes: I urge...

Songs for the Summer: How Long, O Lord…?

Songs for the Summer: How Long, O Lord…?

In April 2017, The Spectator (UK) carried an article by Douglas Murray who asked, ‘Who Will Protect Nigeria’s Northern Christians?’ Murray pointed out that the Fulani (militia) are watching everything closely from the surrounding mountains. Every week, their progress...

Songs for the Summer: Who Am I?

Songs for the Summer: Who Am I?

‘Who Am I?’ That is the question so many are asking today. Shakespeare’s Hamlet observed: What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! In form, in moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! In apprehension how like...