Weekly reflections

Dear Friends Sometime around my sixteenth birthday I became very worried about what is meant by 1 Thessalonians 5:17. “Pray without ceasing.” (By the way, if you thought “Jesus wept.”, John 11:35, was the shortest verse in the Bible, it has contenders -besides being longer in the original languages! 1 Thessalonians 5:17 is in the running, as you can see, but 16 is shorter still: “Rejoice always…”) But, coming back to my sixteen year old self, I can remember, because Read more…

Dear Friends We spent our holidays with our daughter and her partner in the top-end: first in Darwin, then Katherine where our daughter works as a nurse specialist in an Aboriginal medical clinic called Wurli Wurlinjang, and then camping in and around the district including Kakadu. It is haunting country, lush and harsh. Lil, our daughter, reminded us that during the wet season being outside can be overwhelming, if not because of the heat, but also because the mosquitoes are Read more…

Dear Friends  In my experience, nothing stirs the Sunday lunch conversation, among the women anyway, like a sermon on Mary and Martha! “Belinda,” I heard last week, “It doesn’t matter what people say, someone has to be Martha and do the work!” Or, “I still don’t get that story. It just isn’t fair! Why should Mary get to sit and contemplate while Martha does everything!” This sentiment is expressed in Professor of New Testament, William Loader’s commentary, He writes, “It’s Read more…

Dear Friends This week is NAIDOC Week, a week to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC is celebrated not only in Indigenous communities, but by Australians from all walks of life. The theme for NAIDOC Week 2019 is Voice. Treaty. Truth. and points to the longing for First Nations people to have their voice heard in Australian society, for a treaty to acknowledge their place in the history and future of our Read more…

Dear Friends The three synoptic Gospels record that, prior to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he was led (or as Mark writes, driven) into the wilderness where the emphasis focuses around Jesus’ temptation.  But we are not sure what this really means. Is it about formation? Is it about identity and recasting and repeating the tribulations that Israel endured but Jesus rendering the example of perfect obedience?  The symbolic numbering gives us clues, but we are still just stabbing in Read more…

 Dear Friends, Refugee Week has come to an end, but the challenge of refugees, and the challenges faced by refugees, continue around the world. The UNHCR’s 2018 Global Trends report released this week shows that the number of refugees and people seeking asylum increased by 1 million during 2018 to 29.4 million; 25.9 million of who have fled to neighbouring countries and 3.5 million who are seeking asylum in industrialised countries. And the numbers of refugees and asylum seekers are Read more…

Fifty-six years after the first airing of the 7 Up documentary, 12 of the 14 men and women first seen as seven-year old children in 1964 in the UK have returned to share the story of their lives. They have been interviewed every seven years and this recent screening on Monday night – as shown on SBS in the first of three parts – we see them at age 63.  As you can imagine a lot has changed for the Read more…

Dear friends, Last Thursday, the Pray-as-you-go app (the one Bev Galloway introduced to us during the Soul Feast series) was based on Acts 1:1-11 as last Thursday was the Feast of the Ascension. This time, between the Ascension and Easter, was, as the writer of Acts says, a time when Jesus “presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.” And in the reflection the question was Read more…