The Spirit that gives life: Audrey’s story
It is possible that at 75 years of age Audrey Francis is the oldest student at Vose – I am not sure. What I am sure of is that she is one of our most engaged and engaging students, and that her life speaks of the reality of God, or of the Spirit that gives life, which was the theme of her recent chapel talk at Vose where she shared her life story. I found it both inspiring and encouraging, and am confident you will too. As you read it, imagine it being spoken in Audrey’s gentle Irish voice. Perhaps as you do, you will hear the Spirit that gives life speak to you. Bible Reading:...
Read MoreAbout a book: Could it be God?
Yesterday I received the rather exciting news that a British publishing house, Bible Reading Fellowship, are offering me a contract to publish a collection of my articles from Perth’s Advocate newspaper. I have been producing a monthly article for the Advocate for over 10 years now, and they have selected their 90 favourite columns and will bundle them up into a book entitled Could it be God? The blurb about the book reads: In a series of pithy, poignant and profound readings, this book explores the intersection of faith and life. Spotting parables in the everyday, it equips readers to...
Read MoreConducting a Spiritual Audit: A First Fifteen of Questions…
Have you ever asked, “so how do you measure spiritual growth?” Sermon after sermon challenges us to commit to grow spiritually, or to become more like Jesus, but how do we know if we are getting there? Are there any signs we can spot that reassure us that we are heading in the right direction? Back in 1998 Fred Smith wrote a wonderfully insightful and oft quoted article on conducting a spiritual audit. In it he poses 12 questions we should ask. It is probably because I am writing this as rugby world cup fever heats up, and with the three countries I have the closest links to...
Read MoreOn being sure we are not the problem…
I spoke at the Baptist Union of Western Australia’s Annual Assembly yesterday, and thought you might be interested to read the text of my address. You’ll notice that I picked up on a few of the themes we have looked at on the blog in recent weeks. We had a computer virus hit our network at Vose this week. As we called the staff together to look at what had happened and to outline the plan to get it sorted, the natural question that was asked was, ‘So how did this happen?’ As the IT guru outlined it for us, and explained how someone had unwittingly opened an attachment that had...
Read MoreWhy Theodosius vs Ambrose really matters…
Heard about the dispute between the Roman Emperor Theodosius and Bishop Ambrose of Milan back in 390? I thought not… Before you yawn a little too obviously and quote Henry Ford’s ‘history is bunk’, let me assure you that this case finds its way onto the pages of this blog because in my judgment it is one of those critical turning points in history – a little ah ha moment after which we all understand some aspects of faith more clearly. For those who are at the ‘Theodosius who?’ stage, he was the Roman Emperor famously (or not so famously if you have never heard of him) credited for...
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