Refresh: Easter Cancelled. They’ve found the body…
Today’s Refresh is suited to the post Easter period. It’s wonderful to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, but how likely is it that it happened? The blog is a light taster of this important topic – if you want to read some of my more developed thoughts on this and other apologetic subjects, see my book Why Christianity is Probably True. But for now, enjoy this post from Sept 11, 2015. It was part of a short series on apologetics. Refresh: Easter Cancelled. They’ve found the body… Graffiti was an art form during my university days. It adorned three of the walls...
Read MoreEaster 2025 – Why Timing Matters
To be honest, it’s been a really busy week and so I asked myself, “Why not just use an old Easter post for resurrection Sunday? After all, it’s not as though the message of Easter 2025 is different to Easter 2024 or Easter 1924.” At a certain level that is entirely true – and at another level, entirely false. To some extent it depends on if you view Easter as primarily a comfort, or as a challenge. If you see Easter as essentially a comfort, there is a timelessness about the message. Easter is the reminder that even death by crucifixion could not destroy Jesus....
Read MoreRemembering the Friday…
We are sometimes a little uncomfortable with Good Friday, and tend to rush past it to arrive at Easter Sunday as quickly as possible. Yet unless we feel the weight of the Friday, we will miss much of the mystery of Easter. If you are a theologian you might say that a theology of suffering must precede a theology of glory, lest the latter becomes trite and superficial. So this Good Friday I have been noting the things I need to remember… I need to leave the last supper and walk to the Garden of Gethsemane. I need to pause – is that Jesus, crying out to God, “Father if it is...
Read MoreRefresh: On doing what you can…
As we gallop towards Easter, today’s Refresh post is a haunting reminder to do what we can – even when it is clearly not enough. Refresh: On doing what you can… Perhaps this Easter you will read the Mark 14 account of the woman who pours perfume over Jesus. Lest that doesn’t sound like an especially exciting story line, grab hold of this. She used the entire bottle which had cost more than a year’s salary. While we are not certain how many dollars that was in AD33, if she was on Australia’s minimum wage, it would now translate to about $40 000. Gulp! A tad extravagant,...
Read MoreFour Postures of Faith: Knowing your Season
If you are a person of faith, I imagine you find your faith works out differently as circumstances and life chapters change. I find it helpful to think about the posture that my Christian beliefs invites me to take, and to live more intentionally in light of what lies before me. If this sounds a little obscure, let me outline what I think are the four most common postures of faith we are invited to adopt – and you might have some others to add to the list. Of course, sometimes there is a mix and match – but let’s not over complicate things. Posture 1: Faith as intercession....
Read More