Loving God, we know that both your tender compassion and your fierce anger are aroused by what is occurring today in Syria, Iraq, Israel, Gaza, and other parts of the world where people are wounded and displaced by political violence. Our hearts long for peace, that full-bodied peace pictured in the Scriptures in which warfare gives way to harmony, hatred to love, tears to laughter. Bring enemies...
In recent weeks Facebook has been filled with anti-Muslim diatribes. They all share the conviction that there is only one form of Islam in the world, that it aims at the imposition of islamic law on all people, and is not afraid to resort to violence to achieve this objective. Anyone who is a committed Muslim is seen to share this conviction, and if they appear not to it is simply a clever ruse...
There’s an interesting episode in the Gospels where a woman brings a jar of expensive perfume, cracks it open and pours it upon Jesus. His followers, who have caught his concern for those living in poverty, grow indignant, protesting to the woman that the perfume could have been sold and the money given to those who were struggling. Jesus stops them, telling them that this woman has done a...
Any God that is a spirit will be elusive, knowable only by her “fingerprints”. She may well act in my life and world, but I will only ever see the effects of her action, never her. When I gaze at the rich hues of the setting sun I choose to see the creative genius who called forth the laws of physics. Her fingerprints are all over it, but it is the fading sun I see, not her. When my...
Sometimes I wonder if the Christian church would do well to read nothing in the Scriptures but the Gospels for the next twelve months. No Moses, no Isaiah, no Paul, no Peter. Just Jesus. It seems to me that one of the more detrimental consequences of a high view of the Bible is that we tend to treat every part as having the same status. If Leviticus is the word of God, then I expect it to be as...
I sit on the Sydney to Newcastle train and feel like I’m living inside a Peter Allen song. This is the final leg of a journey home from Izmir, Turkey that saw me pass through Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur, and Sydney. I can’t wait to see Sandy and the kids. “I still call Australia home” is running through my head and I feel like bursting into song. I find there is nothing like...
Istanbul is a heady mix of the ancient and modern, of the religious and the secular. My day began with a visit to the famous Blue Mosque. Four hundred years old it is a very impressive structure. Massive columns support a multiply domed roof that is designed to evoke a sense of the greatness of the universe. Throughout the visit there are constant reminders that this is a revered place of worship...
According to this year’s Lowy Poll 48% of Australians see asylum seekers arriving by boat as a critical threat to Australia’s national interest. It is somewhat ironic then, that the greatest threat currently comes not from refugees but the Minister who oversees the refugee program, the Minister for Immigration, Mr Scott Morrison. Two things lie at the heart of a liberal democracy...
After twenty-four hours in the air, Sydney to KL, KL to Istanbul I arrived in Turkey. I am here for a conference but have come a couple of days early in order to see some of the city of Istanbul. My motel is in the “old city”, a beautiful network of narrow, cobbled streets and old buildings. A short walk and I’m in the tourist precinct. The attractions are a series of old...
I know politicians can be cold and calculated, but footage of Immigration Minister Scott Morrison addressing asylum seekers detained on Manus Island and Nauru is chilling. With sombre, determined tones he advises asylum seekers that they are where they are because “you entered Australia illegally”, that “you will be here for a very, very long time”, that “you will...