Reflections from the belly
I was walking along the beach path when I noticed it: a vastness, bobbing like a bus doesn’t bob just below the breakers. It was a koontapool, or southern right whale, come to the birthing grounds just off the coast at Warrnambool. Continue reading “Psalms | Slow reading | Koontapool, God’s delight”
Jesus says, “As for the resurrection of the dead, haven’t you read what was said to you by God, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”? He is God not of the dead, but of the living.” (Matthew 22:31-32)
The night Great-Aunty Pete died, she came to my mother in a dream and said goodbye. After Lindsay died, he appeared in my kitchen while I was cooking dinner. In life, he was intellectually and emotionally limited; when I saw him after death, he was wise and mature and laughing. It was the same old Lindsay, only transformed: and he radiated reassurance into the room. I know some of you have similar stories, where the dead have presented themselves to the living and shared love and encouragement. Continue reading “All Saints | The god of the living”
The story of exodus points to the joy-filled possibilities of civil disobedience. (Listen.)
Have you heard of the Singing Revolution? Day after day, Estonians gathered to raise their outlawed flag, sing their national songs, and peacefully protest Russia’s violent occupation. After five years, a million people were regularly gathering and singing, such a vast, joy-filled experience I can barely imagine it: and eventually, the Russians left. Continue reading “Exodus | Agents of joyful rebellion”
The following is an homage to Targum, that is, a translation of scripture interspersed with additional material and commentary. Just as the Apostle Paul quotes and reinterprets scripture for a new context, this reading of Romans 8 quotes and reinterprets his words for our context, during the hottest month on record. (Listen.)
5Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh
Indeed, they set their minds on fulfilling their own desires, whatever the cost. They treat all people, indeed all creation, as a resource to be extracted, exploited, sucked dry. Continue reading “Romans | While Rhodes burns”
What if the Beatitudes describe the progress of discipleship? A back-to-school reflection. (Listen.)
At last, the summer holidays are drawing to an end. Some of us are heading back to school; others, to university. Some of us are setting goals for reading the Bible; some are planning their professional development; many are thinking about what we will be teaching others. And so, one way or another, almost all of us are preparing ourselves for another year of learning and growth. Continue reading “Matthew | Blessed discipleship”
Good health, good work, and good relationships come together to form a city of joy, and a people of delight. (Listen.)
A city of joy, its people a delight: this is what God promises through the prophet Isaiah. Sounds wonderful! So, what are the elements of this joyful city? First, says Isaiah, health and wellbeing. No child will die young; no senior die prematurely (Isa. 65:20). And we can imagine it. There are no coal-fired power stations; no rampaging wildfires; no unprecedented floods. There are no smouldering rainforests; no record-breaking heatwaves. No children or elders are struggling for breath through air thick with particulate matter; no one is sick from herbicides or forever chemicals because these are strictly banned; nobody is collapsing from extreme heat. Continue reading “Isaiah | The city of joy”
Resurrection life is all about justice and love; and it begins now. (Listen.)
Some of you might remember the quirky tv show, Northern Exposure. A young urban Jewish doctor is sent to small town Alaska to pay off his tuition debt; and there he encounters all sorts of eccentric inhabitants, including Maggie. Maggie’s a bush pilot whose boyfriends all happen to die in bizarre ways. For example, there’s Dave, who freezes to death on a glacier, then Rick, who is killed by a falling satellite. Continue reading “Luke | Seven brothers, a hapless widow, a falling satellite, and what it means to truly live”
Jesus says, ‘Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom-culture of God is near.’ (Luke 21:29-31)
What are ‘these things’ of which Jesus speaks? Well, he has just detailed them in the previous verses: earthquakes, famines, plagues, invading armies, the roaring of the ocean, terrible suffering, and people ‘fainting from fear and foreboding’. Once, these words referred to the brutal repression by the Romans of the Jewish Revolts, using cosmic imagery to allude to forces of violence and empire; now, as the living Word continues to speak into our lives, we might hear them as also referring to climate catastrophe and all that comes with it. Continue reading “Luke | In the face of climate catastrophe, seek signs of the kingdom”
The news is devastating, but we still have choices: so choose life. (Listen.)
This week, as cataclysmic floods pour across Pakistan, destroying farms, roads, towns and infrastructure and displacing over 30 million people; as unprecedented heatwaves and wildfires continue to threaten much of Europe; as long-term drought impacts water security for millions of people in the southwest United States; as we brace ourselves for the likelihood of another La Niña cycle and further devastating floods; as we learn that the catastrophic bushfires along the Great Dividing Range burned six metres deep in places, rendering regrowth impossible, the most famous words of Moses’ most famous sermon should ring loud and clear. Continue reading “Deuteronomy | In the face of climate catastrophe, choose life”
As the sole pastor in a small congregation, I’m a GP. That is, I’m not a children’s pastor, a women’s pastor, a preaching pastor, or any other specialist. Instead, I’m a general practitioner. So when I think about church, of course I think about adults, but I also think about children. I think about autistic people, and people with disabilities, and people who are non-readers. Continue reading “Faith | Orthodoxy, and the case for curiosity, wonder and love”
Alison and the whale 