Tag: Genesis

Genesis | The hidden gifts of struggle

Through struggle, we are transformed. (Listen here.)

How often have you been there? Everything is ticking along nicely when, boom! you find yourself flat on your face. The longed-for thing is no more. The relationship falls apart. The lump you tried to ignore turns out to be cancer. Your children move away, your loved one dies, your house becomes shockingly empty. Things were going so well when it happened. It’s unlooked-for, unwanted, a burden. It’s a disruption to ‘real life’, and you struggle.

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Genesis | Daddy’s angel, mummy’s devil

Notes on sibling rivalry. (Listen here.)

A perceptive young girl said to me once, ‘I’m daddy’s angel, and mummy’s devil. But my sister’s mummy’s angel, and daddy’s devil. It’s a bit difficult, really.’ Then she shrugged dismissively, but I thought ‘difficult’ was the understatement of the year. Those sisters fought every day in every possible way as they lived out their assigned roles and competed for their parents’ affections. Things were more than a bit difficult.

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Genesis | Deep in the weeds with Jacob

On weeds, seeds, scoundrels and descendants like dandelions. (Listen here.)

What wonderful promises! God will give Jacob land to plant roots and descendants to spread across the earth like dandelions. God will ensure the earth will be blessed by him and his countless offspring. And God will bless him, protect him and stay with him until these promises are fulfilled. I should be all starry-eyed, but quite frankly this story annoys the hell out of me. Because Jacob is a complete schmuck. Whatever is God thinking, to grant such glorious gifts to a grifter like Jacob?

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Genesis | Isaac, Ishmael and the Red Menace

If God is as big as we claim, there is no scarcity in God at all.

In her recent address to the National Press Club, the Red Menace rolled out her usual poison about Islam. She reiterated a bunch of frightened and frightening tropes about Muslims. She claimed that Western civilisation and its values are under siege. She blamed migrants for shortfalls in housing and social cohesion. She insisted that Australia must be a monocultural society. And in all this, she reminded me of our ancestor Sarah.

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Genesis | The joint inheritance

Can a common story offer hope? (Listen here.)

‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household, and go to the land that I will show you… ’ says God to Abram. ‘I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse, and all peoples on earth will be blessed by you … To your descendants I will give this land.’ Then Abram entered the land with some process of negotiation and treaty. However, from the time of Joshua right up until last week in the White House, these same words have been used to justify driving people out.

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Genesis | Bunjil & the Order of Melchizedek

Content warning: This post names some of the violence of genocide.

My thinking has been shaped by insights from tralwooway man, Rev Dr Garry Worete Deverell, and from Bidjara/Kari Kari woman, Professor Anne Pattel-Gray. I first preached this in January 2025. Later that same day, a wedge-tailed eagle swooped down and flew alongside our car for a moment, peering in eye-to-eye at me. It was a deeply moving experience of affirmation and blessing, and I take it as a sign to keep sharing such interpretations. (Listen here.)

On 26 January 1788, the First Fleet landed in Sydney Cove. There, Captain Arthur Phillip raised the Union Jack and claimed half the continent for his king. It marked the beginning of the disruption, dispossession and colonisation of over 300 nations, and a devastating loss of life. Fifty years later, on this same date in 1838, over 200 Gamilaroi people were massacred at Waterloo Creek.

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Genesis | Bunjil & the order of Melchizedek

Christ is a priest in the order of an Indigenous creator-ancestor. Truth-telling and implications, as shared with Rosanna Baptist Church on 26 January.

On 26 January 1788, the First Fleet landed in Sydney Cove. There, Captain Arthur Phillip raised the Union Jack and claimed half the continent for his king. It marked the beginning of the disruption, dispossession and colonisation of over 300 nations, and a devastating loss of life.

Continue reading “Genesis | Bunjil & the order of Melchizedek” →

Genesis | Abraham and the teacher trees

An invitation to connect with the earth. (Listen here).

Down by the river, on a gentle bend, there is a quiet spot. You can rest there awhile and listen to the water rippling. If you turn your gaze to the sky, you will see branches. They corkscrew around, twisting and turning, bending and bowing in response to each other so that every leaf on every branch has its own space. No tree is crowding another, for they are crown-shy.

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Matthew | Called to be custodians

In a world racked by climate change, we need the wisdom of custodians. (Listen.)

This week, following the hottest, driest September on record, out-of-control bushfires have been raging in Victoria. Fires are also burning in New South Wales and Tasmania. Regions of New South Wales have been declared an extreme fire danger zone; and some regions of Victoria which were burning this week were flooded the very next day. Continue reading “Matthew | Called to be custodians” →

Genesis | Striving with God and men

Sometimes, you gotta fight for a blessing; sometimes, it’ll cost you. (Listen.)

A few weeks ago, I organised and hosted a ministers’ gathering. Near the end of the session, one of the ministers suddenly went on a rant about the failings of the church in the West. The church is collapsing, he said, because of the blurring of gender roles that began in the 1960’s and continues to this day. And there was I, sitting in a room full of men with my boots and jeans, close cropped hair, zero make up, and not a floral in sight—and all the authority which was conferred upon me through the rite of ordination (which in Baptistland is, admittedly, not much). Continue reading “Genesis | Striving with God and men” →

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