Minister’s Blog 3 May 2020

If it’s not too much of an oxymoron, I have a bit of Calvinist humour that could possibly brighten your day. As a minister, I am sometimes asked, “why do bad things happen to good people?” As a Calvinist, my answer could be, “That’s an easy one, there are no good people”. Joking apart, it’s…

Minister’s Blog 26 April 2020

I reckon there is an awful lot of people around at the moment dealing with broken dreams and shattered hopes. I know I am. Chances are, you had plans or schemes in mind that have now been thrown into chaos thanks to the pandemic. Whether it was something major like a wedding or holiday being…

Minister’s Blog 19 April 2020

Tammy Wynette may have thought that sometimes it’s hard to be a woman but these days I’m convinced that sometimes it’s hard to be a Christian. When life is going well, when there’s money in the bank, food in the cupboard and toilet roll in the bathroom cupboard it’s easy to thank God for all…

Minister’s Blog Easter 2020

Easter is going to be very different this year. If we are honest, life in Australia has been pretty comfortable. We live in a safe society where we have freedom to meet, to worship. We can do pretty much as please. We have access to shops with plenty of stock and we know there is…

Minister’s Blog 5 April 2020

Palm Sunday marks the celebration of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. By all the accounts we have, it is a scene of unbridled celebration and joy. Jesus is being welcomed into the capital city both as a king and Messiah. There’s a wild display of national affection and religious fervour. It’s kind of like the…

Minister’s Blog 29 March 2020

There is no doubt that we are living in a very different world today than from even a few weeks ago. The impact of the corona virus is evident in our everyday life. Every day we hear of more infections, more deaths and more restrictions that are placed upon us in an effort to halt…

Minister’s Blog 8 March 2020

Week two of Lent has us considering the grace of God. In our first reading today, we look at the original example, the call of Abraham. We regard Abraham, quite rightly, as the father of our faith. But with this view of him, it’s easy to overlook the fact that when he was called, Abraham…

Minister’s Blog 1 March 2020

Oscar Wilde reckoned he could resist anything except temptation. We are now in Lent, this period of forty days that reflect the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness being tempted and tested. It’s a time when the church prepares for Easter by engaging in a time of self-reflection and we begin this week by…

Minister’s Blog 23 February 2020

In the Shakespeare play, “Twelfth Night”, a young woman, Viola, is shipwrecked and disguises herself as a man in order to enter into the service of the Duke of Orsino. The Duke despatches Viola, now disguised as a man, to the woman the Duke loves, Olivia, in order to convince Olivia of the Duke’s love…

Minister’s Blog 16 February 2020

“Where sits our sullen, sulky dame, gathering her brows like a gathering storm, nursing her wrath to keep it warm” Robert Burns, “Tam O’Shanter” (1790) It’s a powerful image that Burns creates here. A wife waiting up late at night for the return of her drunken husband in order to give him a piece of…