The Afterword

Author: Peter

  • Fish Amok

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    Peter
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    What’s the best local dish you’ve ever eaten while travelling? Cambodia gave us plenty of unforgettable experiences. Angkor Wat was extraordinary, as were the ancient temples slowly being reclaimed by enormous trees and roots. Phare Circus in Siem Reap was another highlight: energetic, creative and deeply Cambodian in the way it combined circus, music, storytelling…

  • The Smallest Book – Obadiah

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    Peter
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    ObadiahThe smallest bookin the Old Testament. A prophetwe know almost nothing about.Only his name:Servant of Yahweh. He speaks after Jerusalem has fallen,after Babylon,after exile,after people have lostalmost everythingexcept God. And the word comes:Edom will be judged.Edom—the children of Esau,brother of Jacob.Family. Yet when Judah fellthey stood aside.They watched.They despised.They looted.They blocked the escapeof those fleeing…

  • What I Wish Schools Actually Taught

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    Peter
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    What’s a thing you wish schools actually taught? The greatest thing a school can teach is character. That is why I am involved in the Sydney Character Initiative, a group of academics, school leaders and teachers asking a deceptively simple question: what kind of people are our schools producing? Education is never simply about knowledge…

  • Always Ready to Play

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    Peter
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    Share a photo of your pet and tell us one thingthat makes them uniquely them. Yesterday our marketing team decided Nia needed a College hoodie for Open Day. She was perfectly happy with the arrangement. The photograph catches her in her characteristic crouch, ready for the game to begin, while I stand there laughing. She…

  • Better Slightly Uncoordinated Action

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    Peter
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    What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? The best advice I have received may be this: Better slightly uncoordinated action than fully coordinated inaction. I am a pragmatist at heart. I often begin with a hunch rather than a plan. I have a glimpse of something that might be worth exploring, even when…

  • No Need to Catch Up

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    Peter
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    What’s something you used to worry about but don’t anymore? I used to worry that I had started late and needed to catch up. While other people were getting married, buying houses and settling down, I was still studying. Their lives seemed to be moving according to the usual timetable, while mine appeared delayed. But…

  • What Am I Here For?

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    Peter
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    What’s a quote that perfectly describes your outlook on life? Abraham Joshua Heschel once wrote: “It is not enough for me to ask questions; I want to know how to answer the one question that seems to encompass everything I face: What am I here for?” Few questions have stayed with me as persistently as…

  • My Entirely Biased Travel Awards

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    Peter
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    What are your top 10 travel destinations? Ranking travel destinations is impossible, but here are my entirely subjective awards. Best Organised Chaos: HanoiCrossing the road is less a traffic skill than an act of faith. Best City for Pretending Life Is a Film: ParisEven buying bread can feel like a scene in a beautifully shot…

  • Not Safe, But Good

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    Peter
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    What is your favourite quote? Yesterday’s sermon briefly mentioned one of my favourite passages from C. S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia. When Lucy hears about Aslan, the great lion who represents Christ, she asks Mr Beaver: “Is he safe?” “Safe?” said Mr Beaver. “Who said anything about safe? ’Course he isn’t safe. But he’s…

  • How Can I Give You Up? – Hosea 1:1-9, 11:1-11

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    Peter
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    Hosea is a bookthat defies common sense.God remains faithfulto a faithless people,steadfast toward thosewho have given their heartsto almost everything else. Most systems tell usto improve,to climb higher,to bring something impressive. But the Lord is not like that.We have erred and strayedlike lost sheep.Prone to wander.Still pursued. Hosea is toldto marry betrayal,to build his homeinside…

  • Decide What Enough Means

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    Peter
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    If you had to give one life changing tip what would it be? If I had to offer one life-changing tip, it would be this: decide what “enough” means. Unless we define it for ourselves, the world will keep defining it as more. More money. More possessions. More recognition. More achievement. Donald Trump once said…

  • Learning to Sit with Suffering

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    Peter
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    What’s a skill you consider basic, that most peopledon’t actually know how to do? Sitting with someone who is suffering seems like a basic human skill. It is also one of the hardest. As a young man in my twenties, I regularly visited people in an oncology ward. They were experiencing all kinds of emotions.…

  • John Ames

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    Peter
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    Who is the fictional character you relate to the most? Of all the fictional characters I have encountered, John Ames in Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead may be the one I relate to most. Ames is an ageing minister writing to his young son. He is gentle without being sentimental, devout without being coercive, and deeply attentive…

  • Presence

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    Peter
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    Do you think everything happens for a reason? I have written before about Kate Bowler, the Duke University professor whose doctoral research examined the North American church’s obsession with wealth, health and success. Then, while still a young academic, she found herself living inside the questions she had studied. She was diagnosed with Stage 4…

  • Warm Minimalism

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    Peter
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    What’s your home decoration style? Warm minimalism is probably the best description of our home decoration style. I increasingly prefer fewer things, but I do not want to live in a house that feels like a showroom. I like light, space, timber, artwork, books and enough warmth to suggest that people actually live there. Artwork…

  • The Ideals We Keep

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    Peter
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    What’s a song lyric that has stuck with you forever? I was at university when Jackson Browne released The Pretender. There was a music room where people supposedly went to study, although Jackson Browne’s For Everyman and Joni Mitchell’s Court and Spark seemed to be permanently playing. I often went there when I had a…

  • Groundhog Day for Readers

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    Peter
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    If you could rewrite any book’s ending, which one would you choose? This question seems familiar. On 25 June, the prompt asked which book ending I would change. I wrote the following in response https://theafterworddotblog.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=3491&action=edit Exactly one month later, I was asked which book ending I would rewrite. Either the prompt writer has a very…

  • Rend Your Hearts – Joel 2:12-32

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    Peter
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    Return to mewith all your heart.Not with torn garments,careful wordsor borrowed sorrow.Rend your hearts. Israel had returned from exilebut had not returned to God.The old sins remained,deep in the soil,deep in the people,the ancient fracture of the gardenrunning through every kingdomwe build for ourselves. And still God lets them stand.Still he toleratesour empires,our violence,our hunger…

  • A Dream for the Future

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    Peter
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    What’s your biggest dream? I suspect most of us want to build something that outlives us. For some, that happens through children. For others, through writing: a story, poem or reflection that may one day offer someone courage, comfort or a new way of seeing. For me, it is people. That is why I do…

  • A Promise Kept

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    Peter
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    What’s a promise you made to yourself that you’ve actually kept? A couple of years ago, I started writing again. I had always loved it, but somewhere in the busyness of life, that love had been crowded out. Writing became something I hoped I might return to one day. At first, I wrote occasionally and…