Author: Peter
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Making a Text Live
If you could be a character from a book or film, who would you be? Why? About ten years ago we did a dramatised reading of Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead. I invited a university lecturer who had written his PhD on Milton’s Paradise Lost to come as a literary expert, and a friend who was a…
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The Shape of a Home
What animals make the best/worst pets? Pets have a way of revealing the shape of a household. We have usually had both a dog and a cat, and I have always liked the balance. Dogs are wonderful for people who want companionship and daily interaction. They ask something of you: time, training, exercise, money, presence.…
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What I Was Called to Do All Along
What job would you do for free? Some work pays the bills. Other work tells the truth about your life. I have been thinking for a while about what I would do for free. The answer, I think, is the work I was called to do all along. For all my adult life, in one…
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Why Swimming Is My Olympic Sport
What Olympic sports do you enjoy watching the most? Swimming is the Olympic sport I most enjoy watching. Part of that is cultural. As an Australian, I have grown up in a country where water is woven into ordinary life. We are surrounded by beaches, pools and waterways. Hundreds of thousands of people volunteer as…
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The King of Peace
He goes before usnot hurried,not turning aside,not shielding himselffrom what he knows is coming. We follow behind himinto the city of palms,into the trembling air,into the week that gatherslike stormlight at the edge of the sky. He is called king,but not the kindwho comes with horses,with iron,with banners snapping above the will of men. He…
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Telling the Truth Well
How would you improve your community? One way to improve our community is to help people tell the truth more gently and more clearly. That may sound like a small thing, but it matters a great deal. In any close community, people will talk. They will notice tensions, mistakes, weaknesses and struggles. Some information does…
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Holding More Deeply to What Matters
How have you adapted to the changes brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic? Covid required adaptation at many levels. I lead a university residential college of 300 residents. It is a higher-risk environment because people live in close community. Many could not return home because they would never be able to return. Some came from…
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The First Hour of the Day
What are your morning rituals? What does the first hour of your day look like? A good morning does not need to be spectacular; it simply needs to begin with what gives life order, attention, and energy. My day starts early, usually a couple of hours before sunrise. I begin by feeding the animals. We…
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What Makes a Person Unique
Which aspects do you think makes a person unique? What makes a person unique is rarely just one thing. It is more often the particular shape of their character. People are not simple. They carry a range of qualities that do not always seem to fit neatly together. A person can be strong yet gentle,…
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Enough Room to Think
If you could have something named after you, what would it be? What I would like is not so much to have something named after me as to help create something that reaches into the future. I would love to establish a scholarship that allows a postgraduate student to devote themselves fully to research for…
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Building Your Life – Matthew 7:15-29
We have listenedto Jesuson the mountain. Words of blessing.Words of life.Words gentle enoughto lift the weary. And thenwords that search.Words that warn.Watch out, he says. It is a surprise.He has called us blessed.What danger remains?Not only the danger outside.The danger within. Voices among the people of God.Pretenders.False guides.Wolvesin sheep’s clothing.They promise lifeand lead toward ruin.…
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The Comedy of Everyday Life
What makes you laugh? What makes me laugh is usually not a joke. It is more often the comedy of everyday life. A friend once remarked that young people are beautiful, and I think that is true. There is something wonderful about that stage of life. Teenagers and young adults are playfully establishing themselves in…
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What I Wanted at Five
When you were five, what did you want to be when you grew up? When I was five, I do not remember wanting to be anything in particular. No fireman, no astronaut, no train driver. What I do remember is wanting to be out of school. I can still remember walking to school with a…
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More Loved Than We Know
What’s something most people don’t understand? Most people do not understand how deeply loved they are. They are loved by God. Loved by family and friends. Some are even loved by people they would never think of, people who hold them in quiet affection, gratitude, or regard without ever saying much about it. And yet…
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When Work Lost Its Edges
How has technology changed your job? Technology has made my work faster, broader, and more efficient, but not lighter. There was a time when work had clearer edges. A meeting ended. A letter was sent. A file was closed. You might write to Perth and wait a week or two for a reply. There was…
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Going Deeper by Saying No
How often do you say “no” to things that would interfere with your goals? Probably not often enough. My mother’s summation of my life is that I take on too much. I have come to think she is right. I have spent much of my life assuming that I can fit one more thing in,…
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Knowing What Is Needed
What’s a secret skill or ability you have or wish you had? If I could name a secret skill worth having, it would be the ability to know what a person most needs in a particular moment. Whether they need encouragement, a careful question, practical help, or simply someone who will listen without rushing to…
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Warm Days, Cool Nights
What is your favourite type of weather? My favourite type of weather is warm days and cool nights. Not scorching heat followed by humid evenings. Not cold days and freezing nights. I like weather that feels moderate and easy to live in. That is why spring and autumn appeal to me most. Both offer that…
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Before I Speak – Matthew 7:1-12
Do to otherswhat you would have them do to you. A beautiful sentence.Simple enough for a child to remember,deep enough to follow for a lifetime. It sounds gentle on the tongue,but it reaches everywhere—into thought,into tone,into the private verdicts we passbefore we know the facts. How quickly we judgeas though we see everything,as though motives…
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The Teacher Who Let Me Learn
Who was your most influential teacher? Why? My most influential teacher was Mrs McLean. She was young, recently back from Canada with her husband, and drove a Mustang they had imported. To a high school student, that alone gave her a certain mystique. But that is not why she mattered to me. She mattered because…
The Afterword 