Remembering 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 MoreRefresh: From Theodicy to Theophany…
Today’s Refresh clearly wins the prize for “Most obscure blog title in 2022”. Sorry about that! But the journey it discusses is important, perhaps even liberating. I hope you find it helpful. This was first posted on 13 Feb 2022. Refresh: From Theodicy to Theophany Ok, I admit the title of this post is not exactly catchy! But you are still reading, so let me quickly say why I think it matters. You probably know people who have suffered greatly – perhaps you are one of them. All suffering is hard to watch, but it is especially devastating when it seems to be senseless...
Read MoreOverplanning as Procrastination: Cultivating a Bent Towards Action
You’ve probably heard the quip: “When all is said and done, far more is said than done.” If you have sat through one talk fest too many, you will know that many a true word is spoken in jest. Are there times when our zealous planning and “let’s test that one more time” simply become an excuse for procrastination? Those of you who know me will be aware that I’m alert to the counter to any argument – it’s an art I developed back in my days in the school debating team, and it has served me well. If I had to oppose what I have said, I would...
Read MoreRefresh: Road Rage in London. Reflections on having to give way…
Today’s Refresh post is from 2018, when Rosemary and I got to spend some time at Spurgeon’s College in London while I was on Sabbatical leave. It was an amazing time – rich in so many ways. But I still remember this one jarring incident of road rage which we got to watch (not at all characteristic of our time), and still think about what it has to teach us… Road Rage in London: Reflections on having to give way… Let me start this post with some disclaimers. No, the road rage I am about to talk about was not my own. I have not driven a car in the now 10...
Read MoreWhy Sufficiency Matters…
Perhaps you have heard the story of the wealthy businessman who on a brief holiday to a lonely island encounters a poor fisherman, and buys some fish from him. The fish is magnificent, better tasting than anything the wealthy man had eaten before. He immediately interrogates the fisherman – where did he catch this, was it unusual? The fisherman assured him that it was a typical days catch – nothing out of the ordinary. Quick to see the commercial potential in this find, the businessman gets deeper into conversation with the poor man and asks how he spends his time The man replies...
Read MoreRefresh: What to do with your one wild and precious life? Alcuin’s answer
I do love it when I stumble upon a relatively little known character from history and suddenly realise how much we all owe to them. Alcuin definitely fits into this category. Read on for more of his 8th century life… including his role in devising modern punctuation and the question mark. It’s definitely worth a refresh of this post which originally appeared in May 2022. Wonder what to do with your one wild and precious life? Alcuin’s answer… “Tell me, what is it you plan to do With your one wild and precious life?” asks Mary Oliver in her poem The Summer...
Read MoreBecause the Goal of the Journey is the Company…
I’ve often heard it said that when we are young, we think that the goal of the journey is its destination. It’s about getting somewhere. As we get older (and hopefully wiser), we see that the goal of the journey is the journey. In other words, what we do is good in itself, and we find pleasure along the way, regardless of if we finish up at some desired endpoint, or fall short of that target. More recently I heard this extended one step further, “the goal of the journey,” said the speaker, “is not the destination, or the journey, but the company we have along...
Read MoreRefresh: From FOMO to Hello to Here…
It can be hard to be “here where my feet are” – especially if we are driven by anxiety over what we might be missing out on. This reflection was originally posted in Dec 2019, and I thought it more than met the requirements to appear as a Refresh… From FOMO to Hello to Here Do you, like me, often want to be somewhere else? It’s not that I’m unhappy where I am, it’s just that in a world filled with many options and possibilities – well, why wouldn’t you explore them all? Those younger than me tell me it’s FOMO, aka fear of missing out. Here’s the irony. FOMO can...
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