Author: Peter
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The Grace of Welcome
What’s the most interesting local custom you’ve encountered? The most interesting local custom I have encountered is not interesting because it is quaint. It is interesting because it asks something of us. I am thinking of Welcome to Country or Acknowledgement of Country ceremonies. They are not the same thing. A Welcome to Country is…
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The Library I Cannot Carry
If you had to describe your ideal life what would it look like? I was still in my teens when my grandmother looked at my bookshelves and declared that she had never seen so many books. At the time, I took this as a compliment. Or at least confirmation that I was becoming the sort…
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The Festival That Failed
What is the best concert you have been to? The best concert I have ever been to was Narara Music Festival, on the Central Coast of NSW, at the end of January 1984. It had a great line-up. INXS. Mondo Rock. Sandii & the Sunsetz. Simple Minds. The Pretenders. Talking Heads. Eurythmics. Cold Chisel. Australian…
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What the City Offers
Which is the best thing to do in your city? Because I live and work in a university residential college, there are always students coming and going. They come from rural towns, interstate, and all over the world. They arrive with suitcases, excitement, uncertainty, and sometimes homesickness. They have come to study, meet people, begin…
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The Glasses
What super power do you wish you had and why? Me:So this is the superpower? Super-Me:Yes. Me:A pair of glasses? Super-Me:You were expecting a cape? Me:At least something more dramatic.Flight. Strength. Deliverance. Super-Me:No.Just sight. Me:I already wear glasses. Super-Me:Not like these. Me:What do they do? Super-Me:They let you seewhat people are carrying. Me:Their thoughts? Super-Me:No.That…
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The Mystery of Grace
What’s a mystery from your own life that you’ve never solved? My father is ninety-six and still does not know why his mother left. He was seven years old. There was an argument in the kitchen. Plates and condiments went flying. His mother stormed out the door and walked up the road to stay with…
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Through Other People’s Eyes
List the people you admire and look to for advice… I have written a blog post every day for just under 400 days. That is long enough to form a habit. It is also long enough to notice that even a good discipline can start to repeat itself. So, starting today, I am adding a…
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Becoming – James 1:19-27
Once we know Jesus,we are not finished. We are namedchild of God,held by grace,given a righteousnesswe could never earn. But stillwe are becoming. James says,be quick to listen,slow to speak,slow to anger. Not all anger is loud.Sometimes it is composed,like the golferwho never swears,never throws a club,but where he spitsthe grass does not grow. Sometimes…
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Democracy Sausages
Do you vote in political elections? In Australia, voting is compulsory. If you do not vote without a good reason, a notice eventually arrives in the post asking you to explain yourself or pay a fine. So, for obvious reasons, I vote. But I would vote anyway. There is something wonderfully ordinary about election day…
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The Compass, Not the App
What gives you direction in life? I used to think direction meant knowing where I was going. Now I think it means knowing what I must keep facing. In the old days, we followed a map. We unfolded it across the steering wheel, argued about the best route, and tried to imagine the landscape before…
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The First Quote
Do you have a quote you live your life by or think of often? There are too many quotes to choose from. Some stay with us because they are beautiful. Some because they are useful. Some because someone we loved used to say them. And some because they arrive at a particular moment and never…
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Travelling Through Different Phases of Life
What is your favourite holiday? Why is it your favourite? When I think about my favourite holiday, I can’t narrow it down to one trip. What stands out instead is how each holiday reflects a different stage of life. Our next one will be Vietnam. We have been before, travelling from Hanoi to Ho Chi…
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The World Becomes Larger Again
Have you ever been camping? We love camping. Not because it is always comfortable. It isn’t. Sometimes the ground is hard, the toilets are basic, the weather turns, and the wildlife is more determined than expected. But camping gives us something we find harder and harder to come by: simplicity. No distractions. Limited device use.…
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When I feel most productive
When do you feel most productive? In a recent reflection on circadian rhythms and work, Lisa Leong makes a simple but important point: not everyone does their best thinking at the same time of day. Some people are sharp early. Some gather speed later. Some can make good decisions in the morning but should not…
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This Is How I Mean It
What are your favourite emojis? In years to come, what tales I’ll tell future generations — or anyone who will pause long enough to listen. Because all young people should know what shaped their world, and which small yellow faces were involved. “Call that communicating?” I’ll say. “You should have seen us before emojis.” They’ll…
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Where Our Wanting lives – James 1:12-18
James came lateto faith. Brother of Jesus,then servant of Jesus,steady in the early churchwhen the gospelopened its doorsto the nations. He knew this much:faith is not inheritedlike furniture. It is birth.Second birth.God giving lifeby the word of truth. So it is not enoughto say,my parents believed,my grandparents believed,I have known the songssince childhood. A chain…
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The Conversation I Keep Returning To
What topics do you like to discuss? This blog began as a way of paying attention. After church on Sunday, I often found myself still thinking about the sermon while the rest of life moved on: lunch, emails, conversations, Monday’s work. Writing gave me a way to sit with the message a little longer. It…
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On Risk and Honesty
When is the last time you took a risk? How did it work out? The last time I took a risk was a couple of days ago, when I wrote in my blog about a time I should have said no. Writing about it felt risky. Not dramatically risky. But still, it was a risk…
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When a Bold Step Was Needed
I have made cautious decisions all my life, which is probably why this one still catches me by surprise. When I was minister on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, there was a persistent idea that surfaced every now and then. There had once been a drive-in theatre on the beaches and, after it closed, one entrepreneurial leader…
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When I Should Have Said No
Write about a time when you didn’t take action but wish you had. What would you do differently? When I was in theological college, I worked on weekends as a student minister in a church. My senior minister was very conservative, authoritarian, and very forceful in his opinions. At the time, we were building a…
The Afterword 