Articles, thoughts, essays, and content from Brian as well as students – our budding theologians.
Blog Reflections: Most and least successful posts and all that…
With the new year moving along steadily, I thought it as well to write up some reflections on the life of this blog in 2015. For most of the year it lay dormant – an idea brewing and developing. Starting it was on my list of goals for 2015, and with the help of Ben O’Reilly, a domain name and basic site had been built early in the year. True, the domain name was not my initial choice – but the trouble with a name as common as Brian Harris is that more obvious choices like brianharris.com and brianharrisblog.com were already...
read moreFireproof and Crazy Stupid Love: Comparisons and Contrasts from a Christian Worldview Perspective – By John Mayne
The relationship between Christianity and the arts is fascinating. The arts were once a sphere dominated by the church, but they now often seem to be a ‘God free’ zone. However, underlying assumptions about the world and reality drive most artistic portrayals, and should be examined and discussed. John Mayne does this very helpfully in his comparison and contrast of two films, Fireproof (written with an explicitly Christian script) and Crazy, Stupid, Love – which while without a clear Christian mandate, often resonates with...
read moreGratitude and Giving Back: A theme for the New Year
Given that if you aim at nothing, you invariably achieve it, it is probably wise to set some goals for the New Year. In the past I have worked away at detailed plans, trying to set precise markers that will help me assess if the year can be classified a success or otherwise. But this year I have opted for an alternate strategy. Rather than great specificity (like lose 5kg, publish 2 articles, see Vose enrolment grow 7%) I am hoping to follow through on a theme, and to see where it leads. I have a gentle conviction (in other words, not a...
read moreHannah and Mary: Having the faith to let go… by Audrey Francis
I was shopping at Coles yesterday and noticed that they already have Easter hot cross buns on sale. Christmas has only been over for week, and we are already being rushed away from it. But it is better to ponder Christmas a little longer. Audrey Francis, a student at Vose Seminary who has contributed to this blog before, helps us to do so in this message she preached on Sunday 27 Dec 2015 at Rockingham Uniting Church. It is built around 1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26 and Luke 2: 41-52, comparing the sacrifice made by Samuel’s mother Hannah, and...
read moreReflections on a two funeral week…
Over recent years I’ve become fairly settled in my end of year routine. Vose Seminary, where I am principal, closes for the week between Christmas and New Year, so when I finish preaching the Christmas day message, I am off for the remainder of the year and for the first few days of the new one. Once Christmas feasting is over, the obligatory maintenance on the home gets undertaken – very poorly to be sure – but nevertheless all paving gets water blasted, our decking gets re oiled, and any other tasks I have been unable to...
read morePost Christmas Pondering…
It is unfortunate that New Year rushes in so quickly after Christmas. No sooner have we finished singing the final bars of ‘O Come, all ye faithful’ than our thoughts gallop forward to the promise of the year ahead. Worthy resolutions quickly spring to mind, and the babe of Bethlehem is tucked away for another year. The basic problem is that we are catapulted into thinking about what we are going to do, rather than being encouraged to spend time thinking about what God has done. Perhaps on this one we should join Orthodox...
read moreA somewhat sobering Christmas…
This is not the Christmas post I planned to write. In my mind, it was going to be jovial, generous, and filled with hope. Indeed, Christmassy. Perhaps I will manage the hope part. Sometimes things change quiet suddenly – like today. I am writing on the 23rd, with Christmas two days out. I set out into the day with gentle confidence and a lightness in my step. My must do list had been reduced to manageable proportions, and I knew that after speaking at our Christmas services on the 24th and 25th, I could contemplate 10 days off. The...
read moreIf Christmas hadn’t happened
A rather harassed looking student popped into my office a while back, claiming a mental block whilst doing an assignment. For some, that’s a permanent condition, but this student is usually pretty diligent, so I was indulgent. I asked what the assignment was about. ‘We’ve got to discuss the relevance of John 1,’ he said, as though it was a remarkable task. Now while I’m not able to recite all Scripture by heart, this is a familiar passage (‘In the beginning was the word…’ for those of you who never won any prizes for Bible memorization). As...
read morePrince of Peace? Really…
Last year I was part of a group finalizing a Christmas preaching series. We decided on the theme ‘Call Him’ and planned to look at a range of names given to Jesus. You know the ones I mean? He shall be called wonderful, counsellor, mighty God, Prince of Peace, Emmanuel and so on. Great names, they rightly inspire and motivate us. I landed up with the ‘Prince of Peace’ title, and dutifully set about planning a message on that topic. It turned out to be stretching. Of course the new atheists would snigger, ‘Jesus. Prince of...
read moreIs there a place for quiet leaders?
In 2013 Paternoster published my book, The Tortoise Usually Wins. It works from the simple thesis that while we often assume that leaders need to be larger than life charismatic figures, the reality often turns out to be different. There is a place for those who are quiet leaders. Sometimes they approach the task of leadership hesitantly, even reluctantly. But they often go on to make a significant difference. Many people have found the book helpful and it has now had a second print run and has also been translated into Indonesian. Here is...
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