Today is the Queen’s Birthday holiday. Yet I suspect that not many of my fellow Australians will give much thought to the Queen nor her birthday. For most today is just another public holiday. Nonetheless, this public holiday always arouses my republican inclinations. I find it odd that...
Thank goodness for all that debt!
There’s a lot of angst in our community about the levels of debt we acquired during the global financial crisis. Yes Australia invested a lot of money stimulating the economy. What if we hadn’t? Listen to what happened elsewhere. Joe Stiglitz, a Nobel prize-winning economist writes in...
On the occasion of Sandy’s birthday
A Jesus I Can Follow #3. Prophet of Social Justice
One of the perplexing things about Jesus is that he critiques the Pharisees for neglecting justice, mercy and faithfulness, but appears to do the same himself. Mercy? Yes he has that in spades. Faithfulness? You can tick that box too. But justice? If justice is getting what you deserve, whether...
A Jesus I Can Follow
The last decade or so I have really enjoyed reading the works of “Jesus scholars”. They are part of a movement often described as “the quest for the historical Jesus.” The quest starts with the assumption that the Jesus pictured by the biblical writers and church tradition...
Pursing the Common Good. Where Christians are Getting It Wrong and How They Can Get it Right
Why I Need Good Friday
Good Friday is the painful vision of humanity at our very worst. I am horrified by what I see there. A good man extinguished. A man who devoted his life to doing good, to healing the sick, welcoming the outcast, forgiving those broken by their guilt, honouring the shamed, standing with the poor and...
There Goes the Neighbourhood
Natalie Jean Wood died in her Surry Hills home sometime between 2003 and 2006. Her body lay undiscovered until July this year. For more than eight years no-one noticed she was gone, no-one missed her, no-one mourned her passing. I wonder if the same thing could happen in my street. I live in...
It’s Not About Us
Does it blow your mind that the image you are looking at is 28 million years old? Well, not the image precisely – that was taken by the hubble telescope just a few years ago – but the moment it captures. The Sombrero Galaxy is 28 million light years from earth. That means it takes 28 million years...
Who Needs A Happy Christmas Anyway?
This year when I wish people a happy Christmas, this is what I will mean. I wish you the deep happiness that comes from knowing and being known by your Creator; that comes from living thankfully, acting hopefully, and loving lavishly as you join your God in creating a world where injustice yields...