Reflections

The Incarnate Jesus is God’s ‘Yes’ to us At the start of our readings, the disciples have been out-and-about healing, teaching, solving the world's problems, sorting out the Church of God and trying not to create any new issues. They report to Jesus who can tell by their stories, probably the lines under their eyes...Continue reading→

Rectories … A house or a home? It is an undeserved privilege to live in a rectory, especially the one I happen to be in now. Someone thought carefully about the life we clerics live and set things out accordingly. I have lived in 8 rectories now and each one has been a joy. On...Continue reading→

Dear Sebastian, Thank you very much for your letter enquiring about prayer. This is a rather fulsome topic and it sounds that you, like me, struggle with your prayers. So I hope these few lines might be of some help to you. If I had to reduce prayer down to one sentence I would say...Continue reading→

In your backpack … July 7th 2024 Mark is very clear about the where and when in today's gospel. The day is the sabbath, the place is Jesus home synagogue in Nazareth and He is guest superstar preacher for the day. Many are amazed at what he has to offer. It’s all going so very...Continue reading→

“Throwing bombs over my shoulder” It was a little line that caught my attention. It slipped past very quickly but it made me stop and think; the words rattling around long after the words had finished making a sound. I’ve known people who have left organisations and on their way  ‘out’ have thrown a bomb over...Continue reading→

Of Faith and Doubt. When we think about the faithful worshipper we swiftly jump to the conclusion that they never have questions, doubts or dry prayer days. Their book of life is all sorted and has been read, digested and enjoyed with no tricky bits to negotiate. But to claim that we have all the...Continue reading→

“Hope is optimism with a broken heart”. Nick Cave Today's story is about several different people from every parish I have been in. It is about all of them in general and none in particular. I have watched this drama play out frequently, always trying to tread gently and listen to their words rather than...Continue reading→

The Manual for World Peace. I’ve been trying to work out why the sharing of food is so powerful. Think about all our life milestones and you will discover that there is often a sharing of sustenance as part of the package. After a funeral… The cuppa, the sausage roll, the lamington and that tomato...Continue reading→

23 June 2024 Four stormy questions The usual path for the preacher today is to point to the reassuring reality that the Master is always with us in the storms of life. ‘The boat’ can be interpreted as our parish, community, nation or life. And it is true... The master is always with us. Often...Continue reading→

Of Regrets. Regrets are something that we tend to accumulate along the way as we journey through life. It’s just part of the stuff we put in our suitcase of experience. I don’t think many of us sit down over our assorted breakfast fare and plot our day deliberately in order to make a mistake...Continue reading→

16 June 2024 Freddy; the incompetent Gardner. In today’s gospel, we are given two short parables for the price of one. Please don’t feel cheated, a lot is going on here within just a few short verses. I have to say that I am not much taken with our friendly gardener who for privacy reasons...Continue reading→

Of winners, losers and antagonism And so we came to Budget night. There were many images on different size screens. Smartly dressed people, exquisitely manicured, tenderly holding microphones. Countless people spoke a lot of words and wrote even more. Somewhere an unnoticed tree gasped and fell writhing to the ground. Ink was sprayed upon it...Continue reading→

What is going on here? The year is 1976 and I am boarding at Horsham so that I can attend Horsham High School. I come back to the farm at Warracknabeal for weekends and school holidays.  Horsham High is a much happier place than my previous school. 1976 is a great year and I feel secure,...Continue reading→

June 2nd, 2024 A pack of ‘undesirables’. Today’s gospel begins in an idyllic rural setting. The sun is shining, the birds are tweeting, and the corn is standing tall and gently swaying in the breeze. Dark clouds are a distant memory. It’s a sabbath day so there is no activity, no hurlby burly, all is...Continue reading→

“People of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.” Leonardo da Vinci 1452. This explains a lot about why Leonardo is still being talked about, why we still look up to him and why exhibitions and his drawings can be admired and gawped at. The...Continue reading→

Of first-world responsibilities. In another place, I made the point that we have first-world luxuries like peace, the internet and motor vehicles. It has occurred to me since that we also have first-world responsibilities. There is a responsibility to ourselves. We have this amazing thing called a body which needs feeding, cleansing and exercising. Like...Continue reading→

The story of the burning coal. The first reading today is an absolute corker and as always there are at least two ways of looking at it. First, there is the literal sense of the passage—what the words mean in their original, historical context—Isaiah’s encounter with the Living God. The second way is to look...Continue reading→

“Numbers are people” A reflection inspired by Nicole Van Berkel - a family friend of Hannah McGuire. I have known for some time now that on average, one woman dies every four days at the hands of another. I don’t have strong numeracy skills but that means 7 this month and thus a humiliating 84...Continue reading→

May 19th Pentecost 2024. Guard the Holy fire. There is something mysterious, alluring and powerful about fire. There is something quite charming about staring into some flames in an open fireplace, but in rural Australia, we also understand how fickle and brutal fire can be. We are somehow both attracted to and in fear of...Continue reading→

Praise to the God who disturbs us. May 12th 2024. Today I want to try to unpack the story of the election of Matthias in the second reading. Here’s what we know. Peter stands up in front of about a hundred and twenty folk and gives a little speech. He lets them know that there...Continue reading→