Reflections

Name Your Nemesis Today I want to explore the intriguing first lesson, but I need to go back a bit to Jacob’s youth, where he steals his brother Esau’s birthright. I spoke a bit about this on the 12th of July. Esau is “a hunter, an outdoorsy guy,” think of the Leyland brothers. Jacob, on...Continue reading→

What’s “angertainment?” This new word came from Ed Coper. In his book Angertainment, he outlines the theory that with the internet, we were promised a global village. Instead, we got a gladiatorial arena where our strongest emotions of fear and anger are manipulated for the profit and entertainment of those who should know better. These...Continue reading→

Our Happy Places. It was about 1969 when we moved to the family farm at Sheep-hills just outside of Warracknabeal. Christ Church was our parish church, as the Sheep-hills Church had become defunct and had subsequently moved to Halls Gap, where it continues a faithful, welcoming ministry to tourists and locals alike. I was baptised...Continue reading→

26/7/26 Love Has No Transaction Fees. Today’s first lesson about Rachel and Leah is one of my favourites. It raises several questions, has lots to teach us and is just a jolly good romping story. Here’s the go. Laban has two daughters. The older one is Leah, and Leah has weak eyes. Rachel, on the...Continue reading→

19/7/26 The sin of certainty … The holiness of doubt … Today I would like to explore the possibility that Certainty is a sin and that doubt is actually a holy thing. This concept should be quite liberating for us, for we all struggle with doubts and we can all fall into the sin of...Continue reading→

Allow Yourself to Learn It was an incisive phrase I snatched from a sparkling conversation. The other person was of more mature years, but time had not dulled their mind or blunted their wit. The glitter of the conversation was nurturing and enjoyable. ‘Allow yourself to learn.’ In a rare moment of lucidity, I caught...Continue reading→

12/7/26 Hairy and Grabber Usually in the homily we go straight to the gospel reading and have a bit of think and play there. Today’s first reading, however, is a cracking story about a family with all its sparkle, joy, failings and contentions. As such, it is a good story for us, for we all...Continue reading→

PS: I’ve Got Warts. Apparently there are things called dating apps. You can post a picture of yourself and a few notes. Eg. “I’m bright, witty, intelligent and fun to be with. When I’m not winning marathons, I’m completing my PHD in metaphysics. I’m impossibly good-looking and part owner of that famous winery/restaurant that people...Continue reading→

The Ragamuffin Invitation 5/7/26 Today’s gospel offers an invitation, but it is only to a select group of people. In fact, if you were going to be snarky, you could argue that the invitation is actually discriminatory. It’s not for everyone and is, in fact, only for ragamuffins. I’ve pinched this Ragamuffin idea, of course,...Continue reading→

An Attitude of Gratitude I went to school a long time ago, like several decades ago, but some of the teachers are still memorable for very good reasons. I guess we all had a Mr Grumpy who would come in, stomp around the classroom and toss the occasional well-aimed duster (remember those) at a student...Continue reading→

28/6/26 St. Peter  The deal of a lifetime. The usual path for the preacher on St. Peter’s Day is to point out that Peter wasn’t quite the steadfast and reliable rock that we would expect in a gold-class apostle. The apostle. The rock on which the Church is built. Sometimes St. Peter wasn’t rock-like at...Continue reading→

Nobody Wants This ‘Nobody Wants This’ is a Netflix series. The plot revolves around young aspiring Rabbi Noah, who is set for promotion to his first big synagogue. However, he falls passionately in love with Joanne, a vivacious and attractive young woman who is of no faith. The rub, of course, is that if Noah...Continue reading→

21/6/26 Today, the Mothers union has a birthday of 150 years. It’s an organisation that is especially concerned with family life in all its trickiness and sparkle. Today's Old Testament lesson is all about one such family with a smorgasbord of messes. We learn… sometimes… Today’s first lesson about Hagar and her child Ishmael requires...Continue reading→

Go slow - think more, talk more, see more. Just lately I’ve had to change gears as I go round the lake. I used to tear around as fast as I possibly could, and that helped with the bathroom scales and ego. Now, I have to go around in first gear. Whilst this is a...Continue reading→

Would It Be OK if I Just Listened? This reflection comes from a powerful memory of long ago. I wasn’t in the best place at the time, and my friend, knowing this, sought me out and just sat beside me. For about 2 hours, nothing was said. Nope, not one word. Which was peculiar because...Continue reading→

When God Makes You Laugh. There are parallels between the story of Sarah in our first lesson today and the story of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They are both about God doing the impossible for His people. They are also mirror images of each other. One is about a young girl, the other about an...Continue reading→

In Praise of the God who Prods us. In today’s readings, we have God giving two people a bit of a prod. Abraham and Matthew are nudged out of their comfort zones and asked to go somewhere else, do something else and BE someone else. To take up new tasks and different work. The Almighty...Continue reading→

The Parable of the Archer’s Target. Far too often, I have found myself distracted by ‘other’ things that I thought were absolutely vital and essential to the church of God. The sad reality is that they were not. They were petty distractions, and to my shame, I wasted far too much time and energy flirting,...Continue reading→

What’s a LIG? Last time I went to confession, it was just before Christmass. To my great comfort and joy, I discovered not a squeaky clean plaster saint, but a shabby sinner just like myself. Fancy that! Someone who had faced the same delectable tempting scenarios and made the same mistakes as I had. Who’d...Continue reading→

What’s a ‘Synod’? At our Parish Annual Meeting this year, we will be required to elect 4 Synod representatives and 2 supplementaries. A Synod only meets once a year on a Friday night and Saturday, usually in late October. The people go once a year for three years. So time-wise, it’s not a huge commitment....Continue reading→