Category Archives: Reflections

Shock an’ Awe

But … to the main strike point: what about the offensive way John greeted the crowds when they came to see him?! “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance … The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down …”

Bit rough!  Did he do this with every speaking engagement?  Or just on this particular day that One News was there taking notes?  Imagine if I’d started this reflection with, “You brood of vipers”!  Even to make a point.  For dramatic effect.  You’d be shocked.  … [For more, click on the title …]

Prepare the way for the Lord

Advent is a good time to remember that the Bible we read is not a peaceful read.  It is a text borne of trauma, displacement, and loss.  The ancient writers who penned sacred scripture — and the vast majority of characters who populate its pages — were not, by and large, history’s winners.  They were the persecuted.  The dislocated.  The enslaved. The desperate.  They lived through periods of famine, war, plague, and natural disaster. They suffered starvation, violence, barrenness, captivity, exile, colonization, and genocide. They were, in countless ways, the wretched of the earth.  Brave, lonely voices, crying in the desert. 

Jesus’s last sermon

What would you do if you knew that Jesus was returning at midnight tonight? How would you spend the next fifteen hours? Praying, asking for forgiveness for all the things you’ve put off doing?
What if you knew he would return a week from today? How would you prioritise doing all those things you haven’t got around to doing? What matters most? [More to come … click on Title]