Articles, thoughts, essays, and content from Brian as well as students – our budding theologians.
Permanence, Pervasiveness and Agency: Three Questions that help to get things into perspective
The old ditto goes “Two men looked out through prison bars, the one saw mud, the other, stars”. I have always been intrigued by the very different responses people have to the same situation. What is a catastrophe for one, is an exciting adventure for another, what leads to a response of indifference from one person, sees another almost besides themself with indignation. While the difference in people’s responses is interesting, I have come to realise that far more is at stake. Some responses are life serving and lead to...
read moreOn Beauty, Tragedy and New Possibilities…
Being in a brief nomadic phase, the final touches still being added to our new home, we decided a trip to Tasmania was in order. It’s been a great decision. I’ve only been here once before, and that was on a speaking tour which allowed limited time to explore the natural beauty. For Rosemary it is a first time visit. Each day has been filled with “wow”, “wow” and “wow” again. The natural beauty of Tasmania has to be seen to be believed, and I’m saying that during a winter visit, the time it’s least...
read moreOn saying goodbye to a loved home…
As I write, our home packers are filling boxes and blanketing furniture. Tomorrow the removal van will whisk our earthly goods into storage for a month as we wait for our new home to be completed. When you read this it’s likely that our possessions will be in storage and we will be in our nomadic month, housed courtesy of family, friends and timeshare. Yes, our house (no, our home) of 17 years is sold, and will soon be part of an earlier chapter in our life. True, each ending is also a beginning and Rosemary and I have much to look...
read moreBuilding in a Pause: Observing, Welcoming and Naming as a Path to Spiritual Growth
I’ve spend a fair amount of time thinking about spiritual formation – perhaps not too surprising since I’ve written a book on it (Stirrers and Saints) and have spent most of my life as a pastor or trainer of pastors. Naturally I always point people back to the tried and trusted resources of scripture, prayer, confession, worship, study, service, church involvement and the like. More recently I have been paying attention to what fosters deep inner growth – not simply the change of a few obviously unhelpful behaviours,...
read moreMaking Virtue Virtuous Again…
It would be unnecessary to say that it is good to be good if it weren’t that we are living in such strange times. After all, the world has been so impacted by the message of Jesus that for many centuries we have not questioned the wisdom of his parable of the Good Samaritan. Who is your neighbour and what is the right thing to do? This parable has provided a direct answer. Your neighbour is anyone who needs your help, and you should provide it, even if that person is not part of your in-group and it costs you something. It has been a...
read moreDesign, Discipline and Delight: The D’s that Drive Difference
You’ve probably heard that discipline is one of the most accurate predictors of long term success. And it is – especially if it is the resilient kind of discipline that accepts that life has its disappointments and lows, and that not everything runs to plan. Having the resilience and discipline to persevere during those times is crucial, and without them people give up too easily, and then wonder why their longed for dream does not materialise. How do we get this kind of discipline? Opinions vary. Many of them are of the...
read moreBecause you are born looking like your parents, but die looking like your decisions…
This week’s blog looks at a throw away comment I heard somewhere I no longer remember, but the words made an impression and I jotted them down. The speaker (or was it a preacher? I’m not sure) was stressing the importance of taking responsibility for our life and using the agency at our disposal to build the life we most want. And then he rattled out the words “because you are born looking like your parents, but die looking like your decisions.” The argumentative part of me immediately wanted to swing into action. Many...
read moreExile: As Event and as Emotion
My home church is working through a preaching series on the big themes of Scripture, and one of the slightly less common themes chosen is that of “Exile” – which I get to preach on. It’s a fascinating topic. I’m planning to talk on two kinds of exile in the Bible. The first is the historic exile from around 586-536BCE after the collapse of the Southern Kingdom of Judah and the captivity in Babylon. The second is harder to pin down, but no less real. It is a sense of being in exile, that nagging feeling that you...
read moreThey also serve: Appreciating the extraordinary ordinary…
A slightly different post this week, and why not? Most of my writing flows from what I’ve been thinking about, and this week it has been around the work that goes into making anything happen, and the number of people whose fingerprints turn up on any successful event. Most commonly I work with professionals – well educated people who are expert in their area and are used to being acknowledged and appreciated for the work they do. But more recently I’ve spent more time with those whose skills are sometimes taken for granted,...
read moreWhat I’d tell my younger self…
I’m preaching at Ellenbrook Baptist on Sunday and have been asked to speak on “What I’d tell my younger self.” The problem is not what to say, but what to leave out. Realistically, would my younger self have listened to what my older self wishes to say? Probably not. You learn along the way, and while forewarned is forearmed, some things simply take time and experience, and it is as well not to beat yourself up too much for not having anticipated them in advance. And there you go – my older self is already...
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