I turn on the radio and tune in to a news channel, then another and another, but all of them, the TV channels too, are covering the same story- ANZAC Day, 25th April. This is the Australian and New Zealand equivalent of what in the United Kingdom is ‘Remembrance Day’ on November the 11th. It … Continue reading Winning The War But Losing the Peace
I woke up on Easter morning, the day of all days when we celebrate the resurrection of the Christ the Son of God, the greatest event in history. It is the day we rejoice in God’s victory over sin and death, the forgiveness of sins, the removal of our guilt and the promise of eternal … Continue reading The Resurrection and the Outbreak of War
We live in a momentous time in western society, indeed a time such has never before been in human history, a time that can truly be described as unique. The characteristic that marks its uniqueness is rapid and constant ‘Change’. It is a time in which we are seeing the slow motion collapse of western … Continue reading Mission In Changing Times
A year or so ago I visited my great grandmother’s church. A very old stone building set in a stonewalled, grave-filled enclosure in an English hayfield. Weather-faded headstones spoke of centuries of ‘saints’ that had walked this place. But it was on the inside, in the cold, small space of worship that the ‘overwhelming’ happened. … Continue reading The Kingdom and the Darkness
I entered the large shopping complex and there He was, front, centre and large, enthroned in his palace. There He was, ‘the reason for the season’. The One who is always encouraging the children to come to him, and woe betide anyone who want to stop them. They know (for they have been taught) that … Continue reading ‘He is stolen and it is not harmless!’
The Cunard ship the Queen Mary was a floating palace when it started to carry the exceedingly rich across the north Atlantic before the second world war. It was fitted out in the most opulent and sumptuous manner, with the finest materials that money could buy, with staterooms that were fit for a King. Then … Continue reading Don’t Mention the War!
The apostle Paul in referring to the gifts he had received from the Philippian church to support him in his gospel work describes them as “a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God” Philippians 4:18 I meditated on this “fragrance” pleasing in the ‘nostrils of God when ‘church’ happened tonight. It was a week … Continue reading As ‘Church’ Happened Tonight
In his book ‘Mere Christianity’ the former atheist-turned-Christian C.S. Lewis writes: “One of the things that surprised me when I first read the New Testament seriously was that it talked about a Dark Power in the universe—a mighty evil spirit who was held to be the Power behind death, disease and sin...This universe is at … Continue reading Prayer and the Dark Power
Summer’s sun beats down, January days slip by, schools’ return looms near and down in the forest of parish-land there is the faint rustling of ministers stirring from their summer slumbers. First musings on sermon series seep into the consciousness, music leaders are planning their selections, Sunday school programs call for attention. A seemingly endless … Continue reading Planning to Fail In An Uberized Netflix World
The 5th Dimension-How the West Was Lost The second half of the biblical Book of Daniel (of Lions’ Den fame) paints an apocalyptic view of middle-eastern history through the period of the successive Persian, Greek and Roman empires. This, what might be called ‘the series of the collapse of the empires’ (Chapters 7-12), should be … Continue reading The 5th Dimension-How the West Was Lost
unbounded church 