Tag: god
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Encountering the Holy – Psalm 91, Hebrews 1
We live in an agewhere demons intrigue usand angels are dismissed as nonsense.Yet Psalm 91 whispers—they watch over you.Hebrews 1 declares—they are sent to serve. Natasha bought a baguette at Heathrow,a sesame seed hidden in the crust,an EpiPen, CPR,and her father’s arms could not hold her soul.He saw them—five figures, thin, winged,moving around her,and cried,…
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The Difference Between Grace and Guilt
The last thing I searched for was an article called “The Broken Grace of Leonard Cohen.” I was thinking about Cohen’s views about God after a funny mix-up in conversation. Someone said that “Into My Arms”—the song about an “Interventionist God”—was Leonard Cohen’s. It isn’t. It belongs to Nick Cave. And while it mentions God,…
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That They May Be One – John 17:20–23
There is something holyabout being one—the swell of voiceshearts caught in a single rhythm.Or friends,who have carried one anotherthrough laughter and lament,their lives stitched together.Or a song that names a nation:We are one, but we are many.And for a momentthe fragments belongto something larger. On the night before his death,Jesus prayed for us:that we would…
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Once Common, Now Rare
When I was a kid, Peter was everywhere. It was a widespread boys’ name — unremarkable, ordinary, as common as peanut butter sandwiches in a school lunchbox. In the classroom roll call there were always a few of us, and at sport you could shout “Peter!” and three heads would turn. My parents didn’t choose…
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Telos
I’ve often thought that what motivates us is not simply about the present moment but about where it all leads. The Greek philosophers had a word for this: telos. It means the goal, the end, the purpose toward which something is moving. Money has never been my telos. It provides comfort and security, but by…
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What We Were Told to Carry
What’s the most important thing to carry with you all the time? Most of us reach for the obvious: keys, wallet, phone. A water bottle. Maybe snacks. Maybe a backup plan. But in Matthew 10, when Jesus sends His disciples out into the world, He strips away the checklist. He tells them not to carry…
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God the Father – 1 John 3:1-3
Before you were,before there was a you to be held or known,Love was already moving—circling in light,whirling in joy. The Father has always loved the Son.The Son has always delighted in the Father.And the Spirit breathes that loveback and forth between them—unbroken, unbound,a circle never closed to outsiders. He is not like your father—unless your…
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Not Just Morality
We went to Sunday School when I was a kid. Most weeks. But we never went to church. Not even at Christmas or Easter. At the time, I didn’t think it was odd. A lot of Australian families I knew did the same. I think my parents thought Sunday School gave us something. A kind…
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Overflow – Mark 1:9-13
A Sermon on the Holy Trinity We say:three persons,one God.And already our minds flinchlike startled birds. It is not easy—but it is true. The preacher might jokeabout coming down with influenzarather than preach this mystery.But still—here we are,looking into the cockpit,lights blinking,dials glowing,a thousand unseen systemsmaking flight possiblethis doctrine is the cockpit. This doctrine is…
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To Be With Me Where I Am – John 17
The world keeps score.Finland, for seven years, sits at the topof happiness rankings—clean air, quiet lakes, long days.Australia is close, they say.But we know better.We who live saturated lives,bright with choices,but dimmed at the edgesby a restlessness we cannot name. Where is the joy the Bible speaks of?Where is the peace that surpasses?We scroll. We…
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To Walk With God – Leviticus 26
He is not silent.He is not distant.He is the Onewho split the sea,who broke the yoke,who carried you out of Egyptwhen your arms were too weak to lift. You didn’t earn rescue.You were just there—and he came. Forty-nine timeshis name pulses through Leviticus:I am the Lord.This is not legislation for its own sake.It is the…
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Worried About the Future, Anchored in Hope
What am I most worried about for the future? At the moment, it’s the rise of autocratic leaders in various parts of the world. That’s what keeps pressing on my mind. The ease with which power consolidates around a single figure. The dismantling of institutions that were meant to outlast any one person. The echo…
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The Jubilee – Leviticus 25
This is an odd book for us in 2025—regulations, rhythms, sabbaths, soil—but liberty is etchedon the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia:“Proclaim liberty throughout the landto all its inhabitants.”Leviticus, of all things. We want to be free.God wants it more.He etched freedom into the calendar—every fiftieth year,a holy reset,a factory restorefor a fractured world. Imagine Sarah,her cupboards…
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Not What I Expected: On Spirituality, Surprise, and the Shape of Faith
Spirituality is very important in my life. That probably sounds predictable—I’m a minister, after all, and have spent my entire adult life in one form of ministry or another. You’d expect spirituality to be central to me. But the truth is, I didn’t grow up in a particularly spiritual household. Ours was a solid, reliable,…
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Set Apart: A Candle in Leipzig – Leviticus 21
In Leipzig, the pews whispered fear.But Christian Fuhreropened the church anyway.He expected ten.One hundred came.He read the Sermon on the Mount alouduntil it filled the arches like wind.Stasi eyes stared from the pews.The state said no god but power.By year eight—seventy thousand candlesglowed against tanks and roadblocks.They walked the streets with light in hand.No rocks.No…
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Under Renovation – Leviticus 18–20
Jesusmoved into the houseI barely cleaned. He started in the living room—gentle with my excuses,quietly moving the clutterthat I’d convinced myselfwas furniture. He opened the doorsI’d kept sealed for years.Even the one I’d labelledDo Not Enter: Shame Inside.And he did not flinch. This house—my life—is under renovation.Room by room.Corner by corner.No part off-limits. He is…
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Before the Days Draw Near
A reflection written for Robert Menzies College, Valedictory Dinner 2024 Remember your Creator in the days of your youth—when light poured freely, even in early mornings,and the world felt carved just for you,like soft clay in young hands. Before the hard questions come,before the weight of wondering presses in,find joy in laughter echoing down long…
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Unsettling Gifts: Three Books That Shifted My Ground
Some books entertain. Others inform. And then there are the ones that rearrange the furniture of your mind. These three books didn’t just give me new ideas; they unsettled me in the best possible way—disrupting old assumptions and making space for a truer way to see the world and live within it. 1. The Grapes…
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Clean – Leviticus 12–15
We don’t preach these chapters.Rashes, discharges, childbirth blood—who puts that in a sermon series?It’s gross.It’s weird.It feels irrelevant—until BBQ Man got sick. He just wanted a snag with friends.Went to the movies,BBQs Galore,the butcher—and then the city shut its doors.Unclean, they said.If you’ve been where he’s been,stay home.Don’t touch.Don’t come near. And suddenly, Leviticus makes…
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Loss, Yearning, Transcendence
“Religion is spirituality with rigour,” Nick Cave says, half-laughing, half-serious. But beneath the quip lies a depth of insight that names something essential: that the spiritual life is not only about yearning, but about consenting to be shaped by the weight of that yearning. In a world often suspicious of structure and reverence, religion can…
The Afterword 