It’s a cliché I know, but it’s not a coincidence that so many stories end with “and they all lived happily ever after”. Writers know how important it is that the story they are telling ends well. When we read a book, we want to know all the loose ends are tied up, all the…
DetailsI’ve just finished reading a book about the “Wars of the roses”, a series of conflicts that took place between the rival houses of Lancaster and York in England from 1455 to 1487. There were many bloody battles fought between the sides to establish who would be king of England. Having staked a claim on…
Details“I’m only human, of flesh and blood I’m made. Human, born to make mistakes” So sang the Human League in their 1986 song “Human”. It has become widely accepted that if we are presented with an ethical or moral decision and we go the wrong way, we simply shrug our shoulders and point out that…
DetailsA film I really enjoy watching is “The Matrix”. In the film, humanity has been enslaved by machines who keep us in a dream like state in a computer-generated world. Because it is the only world we have experienced from birth, we simply accept that it is the world that we live in. However, some…
DetailsMany junior doctors I’ve spoken to say that the number of hours they have to work is unfair. However the system never changes as senior doctors think it’s unfair to change the system as they “had to go through it” even though they hated it at the time. Many students I speak to worry about…
DetailsEvery time I have to go somewhere new, I need to rely on a map. Despite having no idea where I am heading, I put my faith in GPS and Google to get to where I want to go. Sometimes the route takes unexpected turns, and sometimes I misunderstand the directions and have to get…
DetailsToday is a special day in the life of our congregation. We are fortunate to have several retired ministers among us and two of them have reached the milestone of having achieved over sixty years of ordained ministry. Rev Jack Goodluck and Rev Trevor Oates have served God and God’s church faithfully and this is…
DetailsIt seems that if you don’t like how things are, you can just create your own reality. We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are. If your team loses, it’s because “the others cheated”. If your candidate doesn’t get elected, the election was “rigged”. If you don’t like a protest,…
Details“It was a lang time ago, right enough – thoosans and thoosans o years since. There was nuthin whaur the earth is the noo – absolutely nothin at aw. “weel noo,” God says tae himself wan day, “I’ll fix a wee bit dod o land – doon there” (A Glasgow Bible – Jamie Stewart) As…
DetailsOne of the things about being a minister is that you get asked a lot of questions. We are faced with a lot of issues today and many Christians want to do their best to live as well as they can according to their faith. As examples, I’ve been asked the following at various times,…
DetailsBefore coming to Australia, I did some research. I watched “Neighbours” and drank a tin of Foster’s lager and was not impressed. I watched a video of Shane Warne’s greatest wickets and was impressed. I read a book by Bill Bryson about his travels in Australia which was funny and heart-warming. But he highlighted an…
DetailsLast week I was watching those unbelievable scenes from America on television. I tried to explain what was going on but found the only thing I could say was “you have to come and see this”. There are times when what we are experiencing is so unusual, or powerful, that we cannot really explain it…
Details
