Weekly Bible Reflection

Most people sense that beyond the visible and material world another world exists. The attraction of Star Wars and the level of interest in Harry Potter, especially amongst the young, are indicators that the notion of the supernatural abounds. Despite what cultural...

Alienation is a word often used to describe our human plight. Everywhere relationships are broken. While people may speak of ‘the power of love’, there is often no substance to it, for love is subjectively defined. It has more to do with your love for me – whoever and...

Everyone loves a story. Stories grab our attention and draw us in. Some stories don’t satisfy – perhaps because there’s no conclusion, or injustice and evil succeed. Great epics, such as Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings stir our imagination and touch our inner longings for...

What on earth does God promise us? Health, wealth, success? Confusion often arises amongst God’s people, as well as in the wider community, because many of us think we have a right to expect to be healed and blessed with material riches and success. And there are...

Helpless. Over the last seventeen months millions have watched helplessly as loved ones have died from Covid-19. For many there has been no comfort or hope. In recent times our culture has made a habit of setting aside the wisdom of the past, and especially the wisdom...

There are times in life when we feel utterly helpless. The morning of September 11, 2001 in Downtown New York City close to the twin towers, was one such moment for me. You may have experienced such a moment in your own life – a moment when you felt alone and...

Personal identity is the subject of much robust discussion today. Is our identity defined by what we feel about our color or gender or something else? There are white people who say they ‘feel’ black. And I recently heard of someone who didn’t ‘feel’ their legs were...

As we start a new season we will be addressing contemporary questions in the light of the life and work of Jesus of Nazareth. In recent decades the uncertainty of postmodernism has echoed throughout the West – in academia, the media, the school classroom and in the...

Robert Letham in The Holy Trinity (2004) commented on the impact of postmodernism on society: ‘In terms of instability and diversity, he said, ‘the postmodern world of constant flux is seeing insecurity, breakdown, and the rise of various forms of terrorism… As...

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...

Welcome to this Word on Wednesday for Ascension Day. It is great to have you with us. In his article in The Spectator (UK), ‘The China model: Why is the West imitating Beijing?’ (May 8, 2021), Niall Ferguson writes: ‘In a revealing essay published last year, the...

Being Mother’s Day this Sunday (May 9), let me highlight little-known or oft-forgotten words to men in their relationship with women. It’s most important that we keep before us biblical principles in our relationships. In setting out features of the marriage...

Fruitful outcomes are something we normally expect from worthwhile endeavors. So, we look for measures of productivity in the corporate world – a measure of life and growth. Why then do we often overlook the fact that Jesus is concerned with productivity? He lived in...

Elections and the resulting political discourse remind us how much most people long for a leader who will bring us justice and peace, protection and prosperity. However, on every occasion our aspirations are dashed as leaders reveal their flaws and failures and...

I’m told that the golden arches of McDonald’s and the swirling script of Coca Cola’s logo are more widely recognized throughout the world today than the Christian cross. Millions around the world have never heard of Jesus Christ. Is the cancel culture that is keen to...

Writing in The Weekend Australian (April 3-4, 2021), John Carroll, emeritus professor of sociology at La Trobe University, Australia, comments ‘Immortality has become the great question mark… For the secular modern age, belief in any form of life after death is in...

No one likes failure. You may not have experienced it, but it happens, even to the smartest of people. We can experience failure when we let others down or when we fail to meet our own expectations. It can happen in unexpected moments when we like to feel we are in...

Towards the end of his finest book, The Cross of Christ, John Stott draws from the playlet, ‘The Long Silence’. At the end of time billions of people are found in the presence of God’s throne. While the majority stand back against the brilliant light, various groups...