Contending not contentious
Church bulletin: Jude 1:3, “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend …
A prayer for the new year
Church bulletin: Our heavenly Father, thank you for 2022 – for Your continual provision and protection. We wanted for nothing. You ministered day by day, spiritually and physically. What was …
The glory of touch
Church bulletin: I sometimes think that Christians don’t make enough of Christ’s humanity. We rightfully stress the deity of the second person, but is it done in such a way …
Receiving is as important as giving
Church bulletin: Everyone is familiar with the words of the Lord Jesus, quoted in Acts 20:35 “it is more blessed to give than to receive.” The blessing of giving to …
We should all be counsellors
Church bulletin: It can be greatly beneficial to receive words of counsel from a fellow Christian. Obviously, we must be careful what we take on board as not all counsel …
2002 – 2022
Church bulletin: In February 2017, I wrote a piece in the bulletin reflecting upon our arrival in Sydney 15 years earlier. Later that year we thanked God for 15 years …
Chronological snobbery
Church bulletin: One of C.S. Lewis’s most quoted expressions is “chronological snobbery”. Lewis did not coin the phrase, that distinction belongs to Owen Barfield, a fellow Inkling and one of …
The engine room
Church bulletin: Our famous Baptist predecessor, C.H. Spurgeon, enjoyed showing visitors around the Metropolitan Tabernacle. At the end of the tour he would ask if they wanted to see the …
God saved the Queen
Church bulletin: I grew up in a house of royalist paraphernalia – tea towels, cups and saucers, teapots, display plates, books, etc. This was due to my mum not my …
Must we unreservedly forgive?
Church bulletin: We have seen on the news after a murder or an accident caused by negligence that the family of the victim forgives the culprit. This is before any …