Get ready! As we come to this second Sunday in Advent it’s time to start getting Christmas preparations underway. In my family, emails are starting to fly around – what are we doing, who’s house, how do we organise presents this year, what about the children? Perhaps cards are being written and posted, meals are …
This week we begin a new liturgical year, the year of Luke, and at the same time we enter into the rich and ancient season of Advent. For most Australians, Advent passes virtually unnoticed, as the celebration of what has become the very commercial feast of Christmas dominates everyone’s thinking and time. Yet taking time to …
Last week we were reminding ourselves about time and how time seems to fly by. Well, believe it or not, here we are the the final week of the church’s liturgical year with the Feast of Christ the King, a feast day that celebrates Christ’s messianic kingship and sovereign rule over all creation. We stand right …
Today’s Gospel reading reminds us how close we are to the end of the church year and to Advent. Several people have said to me lately – I can’t believe it’s nearly Advent! Time certainly flies, and it is indeed hard to believe where the last year has gone. We live in a world that …
This Sunday, November 11th, marks one hundred years since the end of World War 1, which was classified at the time as the war to end all wars. Of course, this was never the case, and the horror and devastation of war continues to end lives and displace people from their homes, who then flee …
All Saints’ is the Feast Day when we mark and remember the whole body of faithful men and women, known and unknown, those remembered or forgotten, those we have known and loved, who have been gathered up to God. It’s a day set aside in our church calendar to remember all the saints of God, …
Although I’m not a particularly committed sport-viewer, it’s been impossible to not be touched by some of the stories coming out of the Invictus Games this week. We have heard tales of great courage in the face of adversity, and of a determination to turn lives around from complete loss of hope in the face …
Today’s Gospel is once again, very familiar. We encounter it regularly as it’s reported in all the Gospels. It’s a story that’s fundamentally about our human need to be important. The last time he gathered with the disciples in the upper room before he was led out to his death, Jesus demonstrated what he understood …
Have you ever been challenged to step outside your comfort zone? I like to watch cooking shows like Masterchef, and if contestants are to have any hope of winning they have to continually push themselves and take risks that can either succeed or fail. The same goes for Survivor; contestants push themselves to …
I have a book on my bookshelf that I inherited from my Dad, called ‘The Hard Sayings of Jesus.’ Even though we like to fit Jesus into the ‘Gentle Jesus Meek and Mild’ mould, because that feels convenient and easy, these hard words of Jesus can trouble and disturb our equilibrium. Today’s Gospel is hard …