You may have seen the BBC sitcom “Keeping up Appearances concerning the efforts of a lower-class woman to impress those she considers her social betters in order to be accepted by them. The comedy comes from her ostentatious efforts to be seen as upper class herself and her frequently being brought down to earth by…
DetailsI wasn’t always a minister, I used to be a schoolboy. But seriously, I have served time on the pews myself and I remember the panic of frantically tidying up the living room when I knew my minister was coming round to visit. You’d set out the best cups and saucers along with a lovely…
DetailsA question I hear a lot is, “What’s in it for me?” It seems that we make some decisions based on the sole criteria of what the perceived benefit to ourselves will be. It’s a trait that carries over into human relationships too. Some only consider being a friend with someone who will benefit us…
DetailsAccording to the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, on average, one woman a week is murdered by her current partner. One in three Australian women have experienced physical violence and one in five have experienced sexual violence since the age of fifteen. One in four Australian women have…
Details“No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main” John Donne, Meditation 17 “Devotions upon Emergent Occasions”. As a society, we have become increasingly individualistic in our outlook. We tend to only consider things in terms of how they affect us rather than…
DetailsRight in the middle of Victoria Square in the city stands a statue bearing the image and likeness of Queen Victoria. It was commonplace to erect a statue of the monarch in the far-flung parts of the empire so that the good citizens living there could see what their monarch looked like. No doubt this…
DetailsThis Sunday is the first Sunday in the Seasons of Creation where we will be focussing on Planet Earth. According to “National Geographic”, scientists estimate there to be around 8.7 million different species of plant and animal life in this world. What is remarkable is that they have only identified 1.2 million species so far!…
DetailsThomas Jefferson is widely credited with being the main author of the American Declaration of Independence. Of note, in an extremely famous passage, he wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty…
DetailsI love a story with a surprising twist at the end. You’ve been gripped by it all the way along and you reckon you’ve got a good idea of what’s going to happen at the end. Then there’s the change and you’re left shocked; you never saw that coming! Movies like “the Sixth Sense” or…
Details“A fool thinks he is wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool”, William Shakespeare, As you Like it. We value wisdom as a trait and would take is as a compliment to be called wise and an insult to be called unwise. But what is wisdom? It has been explained that…
DetailsI saw an advert that simply said “Admire, Aspire, Acquire” and it struck me how accurately these three words can sum up life for many these days. Advertisers are constantly pointing out how empty our lives are without this or that thing and how our lives will be complete if we get it. We are…
DetailsI have a difficult relationship with social media. Maybe it is because when I was growing up, one of the worst things you could be told was to “stop showing off”. It was hugely embarrassing to be told that your behaviour was simply a ploy to get people to pay attention to you. Yet there…
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