It’s been interesting to have to run worship services two weeks in a row recently without the benefits of technology when the power was off in our area.   That meant no amplification for either the guitar or for the voices of readers and preacher.   It meant having to dig out the hymn books again – just as well we didn’t get rid of them!   It also meant there were no recordings of the worship services for the sick and the shut in on that Sunday. In the first instance our guest preacher was our visitor from New Zealand,...

Last Sunday our visiting preacher, the Rev. Andrew Nugteren, used a phrase in one of his sermons that has stuck with me during the week: He mentioned that “seeking the Lord” was not something that we can do on auto-pilot.   Andrew was referring to the fact that sometimes we get very comfortable in our routine of worship – so much so that we go through the routine of worship without really engaging our minds. Worshipping on auto-pilot is very easy.   We sing a well-known song during worship and then at the end of it we realise that while we...

As we come to the close of the holiday season and the start of the school year it will also be back to Children’s Church and Church Ed groups.   It’s easy to kick that off with the assumption that the church will look after the instruction of your children in things Christian – aided of course by the Christian School. Wrong!   That task begins with you, the Dad and Mum.   Not only does that task begin with you – there is a sense in which you are never absolved from your responsibility in that task.   You once...

Interesting!   Driving through town yesterday I passed two teenage girls standing on the footpath waving placards that read, “The End is near”.   I wondered whether I should join them and add my own placard, “Prepare to meet your God”. This morning I’m writing these lines on the day when the Mayan calendar ends and many people therefore believe that the world will end – today. I confess I’m underwhelmed.   In my lifetime of three-score-plus years I’ve heard so many of these predictions – often from people claiming the name of Christ.   Remember “Family Radio” founder, Harold Camping?...

During these last three weeks of annual leave I spent some time doing something I haven’t done for a few years – sorted out some of my stamp collection.   That brought home to me a fact that most stamp collectors today know: that it’s impossible to keep up with production. In the year that I first started collecting postage stamps, Australia’s postal department issued just six (6...!) new stamps.   In the catalogue for 2009 I counted 109 new stamps issued in that year.   But that’s not the end of the story.   Variations for that year amounted to...

Last Friday morning in her devotions at the Ladies’ Craft Morning, Marleen Ellen led another morning-devotion on the “names of God”.   She pointed out to the ladies, that although she is a Christian, things don’t always go smoothly for her and that might make some of them ask: so why should we bother with Christianity?   Good question; especially so in the light of our recent spate of bereavements, injuries and illnesses. Marleen compared life to a journey in a boat.   Sometimes it’s a wonderful trip with smooth seas, wonderful sunrises and sunsets and gentle, refreshing breezes.   At...

This particular blog could get me into big trouble.   It may get me in trouble with some members of my church who disagree with me.   It could certainly get me in trouble with the authorities in Queensland. My problem is with an article that appeared in Brisbane’s Courier Mail at the end of August.   The headline read, “Court stops parents from smacking child”.   That headline conjured up for me visions a court official being appointed to move in with a family and overseeing the discipline administered by the parents and that court official then physically restraining those...

Last week I pointed to the very significant debt we are building up at the various levels of government and suggested that as a nation we are living beyond our means.   Cutting back on government spending will not be popular and it will create hardship but tough decisions will need to be made if we are not to have the kind of meltdown that is threatening some European countries. One of the big ticket items for governments is welfare.   Of course it’s only a couple of generations ago that there was no welfare.   I recall the story of...

I’m not an economist.   What I know about the economy could probably be written on the back of a postage stamp – make that a small postage stamp, please.   Yet when it comes to the economy there is one factor that every family knows – or should know – from experience: you cannot continue to live beyond your means.   If I spend more than I earn I’m going to be in big financial trouble if I don’t deal with that situation. We learnt that lesson also as a denomination in the previous inter-synodical period – we spent more...

There’s an often-told story of a man from a Pentecostal background visiting a Reformed Church.   Part-way into the preacher’s sermon the man said a heartfelt, “Praise the Lord”.   A man sitting in front of him turned around and said, “Shush!   We don’t do that here!” Over the years I’ve often seen newcomers struggling with our more sober style of worship.   I’m glad that those days are gone where we tell someone off for raising their hands during a praise song.   I certainly hope we wouldn’t turn around anymore to rebuke a visitor who expresses a sincere...

The very public break-up of movie stars Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes has a very prominent religious dimension to it – if the tabloids and scandal mags are to be believed.   Tom Cruise is well known for his membership of Ron Hubbard’s Scientology cult.   Katie Holmes is a Roman Catholic.   Apparently some of the issues surrounding their separation have concerned the upbringing of their daughter, Suri.   Should she be raised as a devout Roman Catholic or as devout scientologist? In last Thursday’s Toowoomba Chronicle there was an opinion piece by Merryl Miller on the subject.   Ms...

I have fond memories of the Girl Guides.   No!   I was never a member – in case you’re wondering.   However, in my years in the CRC in Howrah, Tasmania, we regularly had the Girl Guides and the Brownies participating in worship service as they held their ‘Church Parades’.   Several other local churches were similarly involved but there was a time when the presence of the Guides in our church was an annual event. What brought back recollections of those special Sundays was a recent news item in the local paper that the Girl Guides have dropped both...

Some years ago a man commented that he appreciated the affection that his adult daughters showed him.   He related how he would often get a text message from one of them that would end with the letters LOL.   It rather deflated his ego somewhat when he learnt that LOL did not mean ‘lots of love’ but ‘laugh out loud’.   Those three letters are really the verbal substitute for a smiley face. I was thinking about that this week as I cleaned out some files.   Amongst the paperwork were some notes from a marriage counselling course about communication....

The most recent Australian census figures show that the number of non-believers is growing.   The proportion of people who reported no religious affiliation grew to 22.3 per cent in 2011 from 18.7 per cent from the last census in 2006. At first glance that would seem to be a pointer to the growing secularisation of society.   There are however a few things that we should keep in mind. First of all, in the lead up to the census atheist and humanist associations waged a fairly intense campaign for people to mark their census form as having “no religion”.  ...

When the manse became vacant earlier this year no one gave much thought to the problem that people might want to phone the church.   We discovered some weeks ago that people were finding it a little frustrating that no one answered the church phone when they called.   So I diverted the manse phone number to our private number – but that’s when the abusive phone calls started.   I still get them.   On average there is one every day.   Last week I had three in one day. Before you get the wrong idea I’d better explain myself....

Recently I asked a colleague how an acquaintance of mine was doing who is a member of his church.   He commented how this man and his family are a real asset to the local church and that it’s great to have some gifted people around that the church can draw on.   However those encouraging words were followed by a ‘but’.   My colleague commented, “But the sad thing is that we see them in church, on average, only every other Sunday”.   When I asked what the reason for that might be his comment was cryptic but telling, “Too...

This past week a Facebook ‘friend’ posted a clip about Atheism.  It defined Atheism as “The belief that there was nothing and nothing happened to nothing and then nothing magically exploded for no reason, creating everything and then a bunch of everything magically rearranged itself for no reason whatsoever into self-replicating bits which then turned into dinosaurs.”  A somewhat cynical postscript added, “Makes perfect sense!” I’ve often used a somewhat different approach to show the foolishness of the atheistic view of the origins of human life.  There’s the well-known story of the princess who kissed a frog and the frog turned...

Liberalism in the church was a huge problem when my parents came to Australia in 1950.  The local Presbyterian Church that we joined had a good evangelical preacher.  He was of Welsh stock and was loved as a man who faithfully preached the Word.  A year after our arrival the man left and his successor had different views.  I have childhood recollections of my father arguing with the preacher almost every Sunday.  Later I learnt that he didn’t believe in miracles.  So, no virgin birth and no resurrection either!  And the miracles of Jesus were ingeniously explained away.  What particularly made...

Recently Ivana Trump was interviewed on television.  Ivana is the ex-wife of Donald Trump, one of the wealthiest men in the US of A. Somewhere along the line the interviewer asked this lady what she had learned in life.  She replied, “I’ve learned that money doesn’t grow on trees.” When I picked myself up off the floor I couldn’t help but wonder about the priorities of the rich and famous.  Here is a lady who reportedly received some twenty million dollars as a settlement of the divorce proceedings from husband Donald.  Then asked what lesson she has learnt in life the...

This is now the final part of the story – a parable – that involves farmer Joe.Joe had begun to question the validity of what had become known as the restructuring of farming methods. Though he was reassured by those who were all for it that the science behind it was sound, Joe had become convinced that the methods were being used to decide the science.So it proved to be. Though the Coalition for Rural Change in Australia was seeking to enlist as many farms in its membership, and the pressure on Joe to conform was immense, Joe decided he simply...