Weekly Bible Reflection

FAMILIARITY ‘Familiarity breeds contempt’. There are celebrations like Christmas that initially fill us with awe.  But as time goes on we become indifferent and sometimes even cynical about them. Whenever familiarity produces contempt we are potentially in danger. We...

FAITH IN THE MARKETPLACE 'Christians should not fear speaking about their faith at work and in public places,’ Theresa May said last week (Telegraph, UK, 11/30/16). In his article Steven Swinford reported that the (British) Prime Minister ‘said people should be able...

riting in The Spectator (UK) last weekend (11/26/16), Ysenda Maxtone Graham drew attention to the season of Advent. She spoke of Advent as ‘a season of death, judgment, heaven and hell’. Last Sunday, November 27, was Advent Sunday, the first Sunday...

he joys, the bustle, the fun, and yes, sometimes the bitter-sweetness of Thanksgiving are once more upon us. Yet when we pause to reflect, it is truly a wonderful season. I find that as a general rule thankful people tend to be happy people. If we...

eflecting on the American Presidential election last Tuesday my mind turned to Peggy Noonan’s Wall Street Journal article (11/05/16) that I quoted last week. In particular, note again: But he (God) is an actor in history also. He chastises and...

riting in The Wall Street Journal last week (Nov 5, 2016), Peggy Noonan concluded an article on the election with: A closing thought: God is in charge of history. He asks us to work, to try, to pour ourselves out to make things better. But he is an...

olus Christus (Christ alone) or Solo Christo (through Christ alone) is the phrase the 16th century Reformers used to speak of the unique and necessary work of Christ in reconciling us with God. Yet how often do we glibly pass over the reality and...

ext Monday, October 31, is the four hundred and ninety-ninth anniversary of the day Martin Luther posted his ninety-five theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The door served as a university notice board. ...

his Sunday, October 23, St Matthew’s Anglican Church, Wanniassa, in Canberra, Australia’s Capital, is celebrating its 40th Anniversary. From small beginnings St Matthew’s has not only grown in maturity and in number, but has equipped and sent out...

question we rarely think about is this: ‘What does Jesus expect of everyone who believes?’ A third part of the prayer Jesus prayed on the night of his arrest provides a vital part of the answer. In John 17:21a we read: “I ask … that they may all...

ow can we be sure about God? Christianity makes claims that can be hard to believe in the 21st century – for example, its exclusiveness, its supernaturalism and its age. To say that Jesus is the only way to God appears to be very narrow-minded....

ur prayers say a great deal about us. Are your prayers like that of AA Milne’s, ‘Christopher Robin’ who, in the midst of his child-like reflections of the day, prayed that God would bless his parents as well as himself? Or do your prayers reflect...

ow often have you asked, ‘How long, O Lord?’ David asked it in Psalm 13. Daniel asked it when God’s people were in exile. DANIEL'S PRAYER In Daniel 9 we read one of the great prayers of the Bible. In fulfillment of the words of prophets such as...

ing David was relaxing on the roof of the palace when he saw her. Probably in his early fifties, he was attracted by the beauty of the young woman bathing on a nearby rooftop. He invited her over. But she was the wife of one of his army officers....

his Sunday is the fifteenth anniversary of the events of September 11, 2001. As I reflect on our experiences in New York that day I recall the way New Yorkers talked to one another, caring for and supporting one another. Churches in the city were...

ost of us don’t find it hard to imagine a better world – a safer, happier and fairer world. The question is, ‘How do we get there?’  Many see solutions in terms of politics or economics – change the leaders, fix the political and economic systems,...

ith the many and varied changes in the culture around us – the pressures of secularization, the decline in church attendance, the changed attitudes to sexuality, the rise of militant Islam we might wonder about the future. We can feel powerless....

ometimes I am asked: ‘Can I trust God to hear my prayers and answer them? It is all very well to say we can call God, Father, but we know that parents are often preoccupied with other matters and do not hear us, let alone respond. And given the...