Weekly Bible Reflection

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...

2020 has been so turbulent and horrible that we may be asking what’s the point of Thanksgiving this year. Well yes, with the announcement of an imminent release of a vaccine for Covid-19 – which is an answer to our prayers - there may be light at the end of the...

2020 has been a turbulent year. Many have been hurt; many are suffering. How can we pass on God’s good news of hope? Today we come to Jesus’ words, “You are the light of the world…” His words are blunt, for in speaking of his people as ‘the light of the world’ the...

People who are honorable and dependable are sometimes said to be ‘the salt of the earth’. The expression comes from Jesus’ teaching in his Sermon on the Mount, where he said to his followers: “You are the salt of the earth”. What does he mean? People in Jesus’ day, as...

In his book, Have No Fear, Dr. John Lennox, Emeritus Professor of Mathematics, Oxford University comments, ‘The pressure to silence the public witness of Christians … is very real. Indeed, in many parts of the world the secular and religious opposition has intensified...

Peace is never easy to achieve in our troubled world. Indeed, peace is increasingly in short supply in the secularized, divided democracies of the West. Angry mobs constantly make their presence felt on the city streets. So what does Jesus mean when he says in his...

In his book, The Big Ego Trip, Glynn Harrison, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, University of Bristol, UK, writes of the way the self-esteem ideology has led to a culture of narcissism and entitlement. Dr. Harrison observes, ‘On almost any measure you care to mention...

In his book, God is Good for You, Dr. Greg Sheridan an Australian commentator writes: ‘… Christianity has been marginalized in the popular culture in the West …’ He notes that there are ‘very few Christian celebrities, or rather celebrities whose primary fame is due...

Many people today grieve over the extremes of political divisions in a world that has turned away God. The bitter hatred and vitriol stand in stark contrast to the words and actions of Jesus Christ who came to earth to bring us to God. In his fourth Beatitude recorded...

We don’t normally like to think of ourselves as being meek. These days meekness is usually associated with someone who is weak and submissive. Someone who is timid and easily pushed around. Yet in the third Beatitude in his Sermon on the Mount Jesus says, “Blessed are...

The world loves to laugh. Comedians will always have an audience. People don’t like kill-joys who ruin the party. Yet Jesus says, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Mt 5:4). He doesn’t mean that God’s people are always to be...

Happiness is something we long for. Yet happiness is elusive and, at best, momentary. Where then can we find the riches of a lasting experience that satisfies the depths of our soul? Today we turn to the first of Jesus’ Beatitudes found in Matthew 5:3 – “Blessed are...

Heraclitus the 5th century BC Greek philosopher wrote: Unless you expect the unexpected you will never find truth, for it is hard to discover and hard to attain. He was commenting on the creative thinking required to understand the nature and meaning of life. His wise...

Most of us don’t find it hard to imagine a better world, but the question is, ‘How do we get there?’ History is littered with the theories and experiences of political and economic ideas. But history shows that whatever the system, there is still fraud, injustice,...

Two thousand years ago the angels sang at Jesus’ birth, “and on earth, peace …”  But the world hasn’t got any better. Indeed, while peace is something we all long for, it is one thing the world does not have. So, where is the fulfilment of the angelic promise? Before...

Bitterness and anger are the playbook of life around us today - from the bedroom to the corridors of power, from social media to the unrestrained looting in the streets. How should we respond? Back in 1979 the historian and social critic, Christopher Lasch, published...

Augustine of Hippo, one of the great minds of the late Roman Empire, wrestled with the notion of God and the question of evil, before coming to believe that Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God. He goes on in his Confessions to say that as a young adult his prayer...

At midnight in Sydney as the year 2000 and the new millennium began, the word Eternity lit up on the Harbour Bridge. The back story is the personal story of Arthur Stace. Born in poverty to alcoholic parents, he had little education and became a petty criminal, an...