Weekly Bible Reflection

e often hear the words, ‘God is love’, but what do they really mean? I ask this because too often our understanding of God’s love is shaped more by our culture rather than the Bible. In 1 John 4:10 we read, In this is love, not that we loved God...

letter turned up in The Australian newspaper last weekend, reiterating in just a few lines that ‘religion is the problem’ with the world. The myriad cynical voices around us today may tempt us to doubt the truth of God’s gospel. How important it...

ne of the questions I am often asked at present is ‘Why doesn't God stop the terrorists?’  While there are no simple answers to this question, we need to remember that it is not God who has carried out these acts or even encouraged them.  Indeed,...

mongst the Christmas gifts I received is a book by Michael Horton, Christless Christianity. In it Horton presents a hard-hitting analysis of churches in America, arguing that many present a faith that is ‘trivial, sentimental, affirming and...

2014 WAS A TUMULTUOUS YEAR ll too frequently we have been reminded of the fragility of life – through the actions of political power play by Russia over Crimea and the shooting down of a passenger airliner in Ukraine; there have been the actions of...

CAROLS riting in the Weekend Australian Magazine eleven days ago, Nikki Gemmel noted that Christmas carols are slipping away from our culture. She commented that this is a loss, for ours is ‘the age of loneliness; of fear and flinch’....

nly ten days to Christmas and Sydneysiders were shocked and horrified by the hostage-taking in Downtown Sydney in Martin Place. Our hearts go out to the families of the two hostages who died. The evil that shook the world on 9/11 has now reached...

n the aftermath of September 11, 2001 there was much discussion on the subject of evil. While most people agreed that it exists, there was a strong opposing voice, especially from the world of academia. However, in the light of the recent killings...

hrist has died; Christ has risen; Christ will come again’ forms part of many a liturgy. But how many of us really believe that there will be an end time when Jesus Christ returns? And, if we do believe it, how many of us live as if it is a...

he American ‘Thanksgiving’ is a holiday Judy and I have especially come to appreciate, for it resonates with the theme of thankfulness that we find in the Bible. Indeed, as our first Thanksgiving followed the events of 9/11, it was a particularly...

orgive us our trespasses… (Matthew 6:12). How necessary this is! Daily, even hourly, we need to come to God with a deep repentance for those thoughts, words and actions that dishonour his name. Like Isaiah (in chapter 6), we feel our unworthiness...

s we continue to plumb the riches of the model prayer that Jesus gave his disciples we read: Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. His words give us pause, because there is so much in our world that is wrong and we are...