Mary was well into her eighties when I was asked to make a pastoral visit by the minister of the church I was attached to at the time. She had been attending the same church ever since her parents took her along to be baptised as a baby. It was there that she had met … Continue reading Mary’s Tale
‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests’. Luke 2:14 (NIV) This is one of the most well known, loved and quoted verses in the Bible, especially at this time of year. However, it is often misquoted (particularly by the media) by leaving out the … Continue reading A Different Kind of Peace
I’m sitting on the patio of our house, a place I often use for reading the bible, to pray and to work. It is very quiet, the only sounds being those of the nearby creek running full after much rain, some chirping Rainbow Lorikeets and the whisper of a gentle breeze stirring the Gum trees … Continue reading The ‘Cloud’
Now and again there are those ‘God moments’, the times when the majesty, power might and glory of God breaks into the often so mundane flatness of our daily routines and consciousness. Such a ‘breaking in of God’ moment occurred as I was travelling in the Canadian Rocky Mountains recently. The utter majesty of the … Continue reading When God Breaks In
One of God's great promises in the Bible is that of a life to come, a life of perfection, joy, peace, no pain, no death, no suffering or bereavement. This promise is one that Christians particularly at certain times need to hang on to, because our current life of course is not always like that. The reality … Continue reading When It Hurts There is God
The term ‘Cheap Grace’ was coined by the German pastor Deitrich Bonhoeffer. He was a man who sought to oppose the Nazis in World War 2 and paid for it with his life, being executed by them tragically only a few days before the war ended. Bonhoeffer defined cheap grace as: “Cheap grace is the … Continue reading Cheap Grace and the Dumbing Down of Sin
There are many human ‘Body types’-thin, fat, sturdy, slight etc. Most people when they look at themselves have ‘bits’ they would like to change and of course the ‘body industry’ always wants to help whether through plastic surgery, cosmetics etc. There is also the ‘spare part surgery’ option for the important ‘bits’ that don’t work … Continue reading Resurrection- You Too Can Have a Heavenly Body!
Among the offerings in the ‘spiritual supermarket’ that is Australia today there can be found this very attractive and popular package called ‘Christianity-Lite’ (C.L.). A characteristic of this belief system or ‘faith’ is that it is an ‘easy’ faith, a ‘comfortable’ faith where the spiritual journey is smooth and not too stressful; one into which … Continue reading Christianity-Lite A Deadly Poison
unbounded church 