Weekly reflections

Dear Friends,Reading the start of Mark’s gospel (as we have been doing so far in 2024) it is clear that, for Jesus, proclaiming the good news of God went hand in hand with casting out demons. It seems you cannot proclaim a life-changing message and not see lives changed! All this talk of demons and casting out (dare I mention ‘exorcisms’) is challenging for us as twenty-first century, and Western, Christians. We want to turn references to demon possession into Read more…

I was tempted to take a picture of the Australia Day offerings in my local Coles this week. That whole brouhaha seemed a seriously flawed response to an ongoing discussion in our nation. Australian test captain, Pat Cummins, did a far better job, in my view, of speaking into this discussion. “I absolutely love Australia. It is the best country in the world by a mile,” Cummins said. “We should have an Australia Day, but we can probably find a Read more…

Dear Friends, It was fascinating to delve into the history of ‘How great thou art’ last week. Several people have commented on that part of Sunday’s sermon. It’s amazing that a hymn that looks so seamless took nearly 70 years to craft into its current form! (Carl Boberg wrote the original Swedish hymn in 1885 and Stuart Hine finalised his English version in 1949.) And I know one or two people who have continued to add to ‘How great thou Read more…

Dear Friends, I was remiss last Sunday! I forgot to pass on a special invitation from a friend of Lyle Hingley’s, at the Baha’i Community, to come together to pray for peace for our world. As I mentioned last Sunday in the sermon, according to data from the Uppsala Conflict Data Project, there are 56 violent conflicts taking place in the world right now – the greatest number of violent conflicts since WW2. As International Relations expert Paul Poast explains, “We Read more…

Today I’ve been re-reading the Sunday-to-Sunday messages for the year. What a year! We have lost loved ones, but we know that love goes on! We have welcomed new friends and welcomed new friends into membership! And we have continued to pour out energy, creativity, faithfulness (and a willingness to sometimes fall on our faces), day by day by day, showing love to our community. During the year, a wise young woman in our community said to me, “I feel Read more…

Dear Friends On Sunday, many of you also heard the sad news that Doreen Henson passed away early on Saturday morning. There will be a Service of Thanksgiving for her life on Tuesday, 19 Dec, at 10am at the church, followed by morning tea. On Sunday I also discovered that Miriam is not alone! There are many people who think the service of Lessons and Carols is their favourite service of the year! And – after the beautiful singing last Read more…

“It’s my favourite church service of the year!” Miriam announced to our, somewhat surprised, family last night while we were talking about this Sunday’s Lessons and Carols Service. “What!” said her partner, Dan, “Better than the Blessing of the Animals?” “Oh, yes!” said Miriam, firmly, “It my absolute favourite service of the year!” So, there you are. The Lessons and Carols Service, this Sunday, 10 December at 10am, is Miriam’s favourite service of the year. I know she is not Read more…

In my family (thanks to my American auntie, Auntie Melea) the rule was that Christmas decorations could not go up until after Thanksgiving! In Christian tradition, however, Christmas does not begin until the 25th of December! The period leading up to Christmas, that begins this Sunday, is Advent – a time of expectant waiting and preparation for Christ. (That, however, does not stop us from referring to church events as ‘Christmas’ events! 😊 Like the Church Christmas Party next Saturday Read more…

Dear Friends, Our series on joy has come to an end, but, as I mentioned on Sunday, joy goes on! It fills our prayers for one another.  It is our strength in difficult times. It sustains us as we model Christ’s humility. It is our confidence that we are ‘in Christ’. It accompanies (and enables) our grace and our generous giving to one another. Joy goes on! One way we can continue ‘rejoicing in the Lord’ is through our Advent Read more…