thinking honestly about life and faith
For a long time I have imagined that when God handed out the genes, I was at the end of the queue when it came to the ‘Praise and Worship’ gene.Everywhere I visit the local churches, the emphasis is on … Read More »
It’s the mid-year ‘break’—which means for students a time of no classes. This week we’ve had our annual ‘School of Ministry’, a three day conference for pastors and church leaders. It has been an excellent time of relationship, stimulation and … Read More »
Thousands of books, lectures and sermons have addressed the theme of God’s word, or what God has to say to us. What we learn from these sources is about a God who declares things we should believe, or … Read More »
Letty Russell’s book Church in the Round is one of the most valuable sources for thinking about what it means to be church today.Her basic image is that of a round table—a table where there is no priority, no place … Read More »
A friend, who has recently begun a new job working in a university context, wrote to me about the idea of the church with fuzzy edges.Here are some of her comments: "In my new job, I have been asked much … Read More »
Fred Schepsi’s film The Devil’s Playground tells the story of his own growing up, through a Catholic boarding school, and of his own struggle to find faith. At one very poignant moment, the boy of 12 or 13 years, torn … Read More »
The church, I believe, is meant to be an open community. This doesn’t mean that the church has no standards or no direction. No, it means we stand against everything that excludes and divides. We stand against everything that says … Read More »
There is a wide-spread search for meaning in contemporary society, taking many forms, only some of them relating to traditional forms of religion. For many people, ‘the church’ and ‘religion’ are not meaningful, even if once they were. Now, people … Read More »
Today I finished teaching for this current semester, and in the energy which comes from that positive arrival (yes, it is a real joy to teach, and to see how my students —most of them, anyway—engage so constructively with doing … Read More »
This week the Australian government announced its annual budget. With much fanfare, they have announced a spending spree. The government coffers are sloshing with money, and so there’s an income tax cut for everyone: for about 90% of workers, it … Read More »