Desert Fathers and Mothers 3

It was said of Abba John the Persian that when some evildoers came to him, he took a basin and wanted to wash their feet. But they were filled with confusion, and began to do penance.

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Removing Garfield

“Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life?”

Here is a blog that removes Garfield from the Garfield cartoons, and creates something wacky and hilarious. (I think it’s a great idea, if [...]

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The Challenges and Opportunities of Islam in the West

Next week, our student minister Kerry and I will be attending a three-day conference at South Bank, Brisbane, called “The Challenges and Opportunities of Islam in the West: The Case of Australia”. The keynote speaker will be Professor Tariq Ramadan, President of the European Muslim Network, based in Brussels. Professor Ramadan holds an MA in [...]

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Jesus, barrier-breaker

Sermon for the Third Sunday in Lent

John 4.5-42

(Before—and after—this sermon, we watched the video mentioned in the previous post.)

1 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, ‘Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John’—although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized—he left Judea and started back to Galilee. But [...]

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Woman at the Well

Since the Woman at the Well (John 4) is the Gospel reading this Sunday, a friend pointed me to a great video on GodTube. I really like its take on the story! View it here.

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A bit of harmless fun…

… I leave it to those who know me to judge how accurate it is…

See what colour your mind is at What Colour is your Mind?

 

Your Mind is Green

 
 
 Of all the mind types, yours has the most balance.You are able to see all sides to most problems and are a good problem solver.You need time to work [...]

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A new birth, a Spirit-wind

Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent
 
John 3.1-17
 
A bus crashed. Three men died. They opened their eyes, and found themselves outside the Pearly Gates. One was a mystic; another, a Uniting Church minister; the last, a fundamentalist.

St Peter said to them, “Before you come in, you’ll have to have a chat with Jesus in [...]

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Sayings of the Desert Fathers and Mothers 2

One day some old men came to see Abba Anthony. In the midst of them was Abba Joseph. Wanting to test them the old man suggested a text from the Scriptures, and beginning with the youngest, he asked them what it meant. Each gave his opinion as he was able. But to each one the [...]

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Sex saves Devil

(Well, stranger things have happened…)
 
 
 
A FURTIVE rustling in the undergrowth at the Australian Reptile Park on the Central Coast holds the key to the survival of Tasmanian Devil.
The fractious beasts have been coaxed into copulation this week, in the hope that captive breeding can help sustain the genetic diversity of the threatened population.
“If we don’t [...]

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“‘Sorry’ means ‘respect’”

Personal stories help us to ‘get’ the big stuff. Here is Evonne Goolagong-Cawley’s, from The Australian:
 
TENNIS great Evonne Goolagong-Cawley used to hide under her bed when a stranger came to the door of her childhood home.

It was a knee-jerk reaction for an Aboriginal girl, living in southwestern NSW, repeatedly warned of the dangers of unknown [...]

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