Author: alison

Luke | In the midst of life

A reflection on baptism, shared with Coburg Uniting Church. (Listen to a really terrible recording here.)

I am a Baptist, which means I have a hearty appreciation for believers baptism. So hearty, that I was 25 before I felt remotely ready to take the plunge. Given many of you were christened as infants and confirmed as tweens, I’d feel slightly embarrassed telling you how old I was, except that Jesus was thought to be about 30 when he turned up on the banks of the Jordan.

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Matthew | This Epiphany, let us be wise

A reflection for Epiphany, or the visit of the wise.

Like many who grew up in the church, I learned to be wary of different knowledges. We never read our horoscopes, for they were considered to be devilish astrology. We avoided some Asian restaurants, because their shrines of incense and oranges looked like sacrifices to idols. We didn’t learn Indigenous stories, because we suspected they might open us up to demonic forces. We knew that the people of God have an abhorrence for pagans, idols and foreign gods: and we were faithful. And yet every year we set up our nativity scene with wise men from the East. Continue reading “Matthew | This Epiphany, let us be wise” →

Luke | Heaven’s bread

A Christmas encouragement for the Flemington Ark People’s Pantry and any food share project!

Sometimes, heaven’s banquet is set out on wonky old trestle tables. And always, the food is a gift. You know how it goes. There’s the collection of food which would otherwise go into landfill: for nothing is wasted in God’s economy. There’s the sorting, the setting out, the packing, the delivery. There’s the volunteers hungry for food, for work, for meaning, for a people and a place to belong to. And there’s the blessed reality that, through waste redemption and food sharing, all these people are fed. Continue reading “Luke | Heaven’s bread” →

Isaiah | The politics of love

A fascinating pairing of texts from Isaiah and Philippians, and an invitation to speak on love in a troubled world, from West Preston Baptist Church. (Listen here.)

“Today Christians stand at the head of this country … I pledge that I will never tie myself to those who want to destroy Christianity … We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit—we want to burn out all the recent immoral development in literature, theatre, the arts and in the press—in short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of liberal excess …”

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Luke | Where God’s word comes

The word of God comes to the one who relinquishes privilege and works for justice. (Listen here.)

Once upon a time, long, long ago, I lived in America. My mother was a pastor, and she had been called as parish minister by the First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, DC. First Baptist had once been Harry Truman’s church, then Jimmy Carter’s. Older members had fond memories of President Carter teaching Sunday School up in the balcony, protected from sniper shots by a vast stone pillar

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John | Revelation at Armageddon

Military violence never ends, whereas Jesus’ way of nonretaliation leads to a true and lasting peace. (Listen here.)

To get to Armageddon, known in Hebrew as ‘Megiddo’, we drive past an airfield. Our Israeli guide tells us about the Syrian fighter pilot who defected there in 1989. He was flying a Soviet-made MIG-23. The plane provided Israel with valuable intelligence, adding to what was already one of the most sophisticated military forces on earth.

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Mark | The widow’s gift

In a nation living with the legacy of a powerful church, the widow’s gift offers a way forward. (Listen here.)

Many years ago, a student Christian group I knew ran a community lunch in the borrowed hall of a local church. A few had left fundamentalist congregations, and were haunted by vivid depictions of a vengeful God, a burning hell, and a faith built on fear and control. Another had left a church whose senior pastor had unchecked power, and was on a mission to destroy.

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Matthew | What must I do?

‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’ the young man asked in Matthew 19. These days, you might hear it phrased as, ‘How do I get into heaven?’ The answers come cascading down. Believe this, live that way, and don’t, whatever you do, act gay. But what was Jesus’ reply? Keep the commandments, more specifically reject murder, rape, theft and lies. Honour elders. Love your neighbours in this world now … Read here.

A reflection on the closure of the School of Indigenous Studies and, by implication, the church in this land more generally, written for Zadok Perspectives one year on from the referendum and featured on the Ethos blog. Image shows graffiti of Aboriginal flag at Camperdown Memorial Rest Park at Wiki Commons. Graffiti artist unknown.

Job | On suffering and shimmering joy

Suffering is indiscriminate, but then again, so is joy. (Listen here).

There is a story in the gospel according to John which begins like this: Jesus was walking along when he saw a man who had been blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Teacher, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ These days, we’re not quite so quick to blame people for being differently abled or ill. And yet when my mother, Ruth, had multiple sclerosis, I lost count of the number of people who became frustrated, even angry, with her.

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