Opinion

I am not good with the sight of blood; it’s not that I feel queasy, faint, or experience any other physical reaction; it’s simply that the sight of blood causes my brain to create horrific images that I just don’t need to imagine. Similarly, ‘wounds’, such as those suffered by Jesus on the cross, invoke those same shocking images. However, ...

John 20 is one of the Gospel chapters I cannot escape in trying to understand and perhaps encourage new communities of faith. In this chapter, we meet four very different people as they encounter the risen Christ in ways that speak, to me at least, of Jesus’ tailor-made love for each and all of us. We have Mary, who ‘wears ...

Did you know that when you get a wound, and your body heals itself, the tear is never actually fixed? Scar tissue – made of collagen – closes the wound and holds it together – forever. Your skin does not merge; you are permanently broken but held together. During World War II, they studied the effects of vitamin C deficiency ...

John 20:24-29 – on doubt and belief It seems that sometimes Thomas gets a bit of a bad rap. “Don’t be a doubting Thomas,” we say. As if we’ve analysed the story and all agree that doubt is wrong, and Thomas has failed.  “He couldn’t even believe in Jesus without seeing and touching…that wouldn’t have been my story” might be another ...

My daring hope is that the Church is not dying but being transformed in the great unravelling. Institutional unravelling and decline may be the work of God leading to transformation and renewal. Renewal of our institutions included. Could God be freeing the church to participate more joyfully in the work of Christ in the world? Could weakness and uncertainty be ...

A little while ago, I was travelling and using the car’s GPS to help guide my path. I had a rough idea where I was going, but the GPS knows everything, right? So, I had the destination plugged in, and that lovely, calm voice was chattering away in the background, offering instructions to take the next exit, turn right, turn ...

The world today seems to go from chaos to tragedy in a matter of minutes. We have lurched through a worldwide pandemic only to be confronted by war in eastern Europe. This constant lack of certainty has caused many people much anxiety and whole nations to behave in bizarre ways. The future can look very hopeless.  It is at this ...

Several years ago, I complained to a mentor that my relationship with God felt flat, distant and like I was going through the motions. On top of that, I found dealing with people increasingly frustrating and my patience waning. I was still doing the ‘stuff’, like attending church, reading my Bible, praying and serving, but somehow the joy, love and ...

Our thinking about human freedom is critical to our engagement with a range of ethical issues including end of life issues. From a theological perspective, the argument is often put that God created human beings to make their own decisions, to have capacity for self-determination and to accept responsibility for themselves, including decisions regarding life and death.  How might we ...

‘Until we are all free, we are none of us free.’- Emma Lazarus The poetry of Emma Lazarus was immortalised on a bronze plaque on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in 1903. In her sonnet, The New Colossus, Lazarus inspired a generation with her well-known call: ‘Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe ...