One Point of the Compass

Whose image?

2011-10-16T17:14:00.001+11:00

What happens when we come to church? What happens when we walk in through this front door and sit ourselves down in this place? What do we bring with us? What do we leave outside? In the last couple of years we have had news headline after story after opinion piece after editorial about the global financial crisis. News of civil war and natural disasters and plagues have continued to happen –

Weaving connections: the sounds of St Pancras

2011-09-18T15:05:00.002+10:00

Imprisoned in a cage of sound Even the trivial seems profound. John Betjeman "Uffington" Railway stations are hardly the quietest places. I know very few people who seek out the railway platform for a little solitude. Which makes it somewhat ironic to find this quote inscribed near the feet of the great poet at St Pancras. And so my thoughts have turned to just how full our world is with noise

Weaving connections: the surprises of St Pancras

2011-09-10T21:52:00.000+10:00

And in the shadowless, unclouded glare Deep blue above us fades to whiteness where A misty sea-line meets the wash of air. John Betjeman "Cornish cliffs" St Pancras is a surprising station. For a start, there is good coffee to be had while waiting for the train. Second, there are no rubbish bins to dispose of the empty cups! And surprisingly there is no litter. Apparently London has embraced

Weaving connections: Janine's thoughts #4

2011-09-09T06:09:00.000+10:00

Juggling mess, hope and trust Churches, even traditional ones, do exist in messy places. As a bunch of Tasmanians in a crowd, reportedly, of 1 million, we found ourselves in a very strange place. The Notting Hill Carnival was an explosion of noise, colour, movement and, above all, people. It was a celebration of West Indian music, food and culture. Some of the colourful floats were sponsored by

Weaving connections: whirlwind or haven?

2011-09-08T19:54:00.000+10:00

It's been a couple of days now since our last encounter with Whirlwind Andrew, a couple of days with space to reflect upon all that we saw and experienced at St Paul's Way, the Bromley by Bow Centre, and the House of Lords. Our first meeting with Reverend Lord Andrew Mawson was in a crowd outside the Tube station at Mile End; our last in the café at Bromley by Bow. I'm pleased it was there

Weaving connections: Janine's thoughts #3

2011-09-04T06:26:00.000+10:00

Eucharist Service at St Martin-in-the-Fields While we may have experienced a traditional Anglican liturgy, we also discovered not so traditional forms of pastoral care and outreach. From conversation over very good coffee I learnt that this physically dispersed congregation has an unusual bulge of 20s-30s. This group, in particular, use social media to keep in touch, check on members'

Weaving connections: a church at both ends of the road

2011-09-03T10:00:00.000+10:00

What we have seen since Kent has been provocative, challenging, comforting and inspiring. We have spent the last three days in the company of the pocket dynamo that is the Reverend Lord Andrew Mawson. After the first day I have to say that I wasn't quite sure what to think. We had spent our time in Tower Hamlets, a place of depressed housing estates separated by St Paul's Way. At one end of the

Weaving connections: the Willow Centre and Saint Paul's Way

2011-09-01T08:40:00.001+10:00

Yesterday and today have proven to be quite confronting - the former because it raised questions about the nature of the link between a congregation and its mission, the latter because... well, let's just say I discovered some tender spots I didn't know I had. Ashford in Kent was once a market town until after WWII; then England's post-war economic needs meant the establishment of industries and

Weaving connections: Janine's thoughts # 2

2011-08-31T08:05:00.001+10:00

It became clear after our visit with Robin Gill that there are yet more tensions to be juggled. At one level there is the clear evidence from observation and from Robin's detailed research that church attendance is and has been, over many more years than most realise, in decline. While this may seem a given, Robin's research findings helped put flesh on the bones of what we thought we knew.

Weaving connections: Janine's thoughts #1

2011-08-30T07:46:00.000+10:00

Tradition seems to dominate much of what we have seen and experienced in the first few days of arriving in England, but what is the value of tradition as such if it does not touch the lives of people today? Awe, splendour, breathtaking are just a few of the words that describe St Paul's, Westminster Abbey, Canterbury Cathedral; even the central Methodist church is imposing in its size and

Weaving connections: the interface between church and community

2011-08-29T20:57:00.000+10:00

How do we understand the interface between church and community? What do people see when they see the church? Westminster Abbey on a Thursday morning was swarming with people, most (like me) armed with a camera. The question is, "Were they seeing the church?" We understand the difference between "Church as the Body of Christ" and "church as a building", but we only have that understanding

Weaving connections: a cathedral, a market, an art gallery, and a pub

2011-08-26T08:50:00.000+10:00

A big day today with much to reflect upon. But... the problem with big days is they're very tiring and tomorrow is a very early start. So it's quick thoughts only. What do a cathedral, a market, an art gallery and a pub all have in common? Among many possible answers is: people! In today's experiences it means lots of people. St Paul's was chockers with tourists (from a dizzying array of places)

Weaving connections: arriving in London

2011-08-25T01:10:00.000+10:00

The plane gets in on time: a grey 6 a.m. Immigration, luggage retrieval and customs all negotiated without hitch, and on to the Tube. Out the window is England - strangely familiar after nearly four decades; terrace houses, green parks, communal allotments all speaking of past and present. I find myself grinning in the press of early morning commuters and wonder what Janine and Rod might make of

Where does Jesus take us?

2010-06-22T11:02:00.002+10:00

During the week, I was listening to someone having a little rant. That happens from time to time. On this occasion, they were ranting about the English language, or more accurately the way the English language sometimes gets used. And their particular gripe was to do with the word “journey”. “Everyone’s been on a ‘journey’,” they complained. “These reality programmes like MasterChef, the

Taking up mat and cross: a narrative sermon on John 5:1-13

2010-05-13T14:24:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I watched him, as I have watched him for a long time.Old now, and dragging himself more slowly than ever across the cobbles.Each night, past my gate, out of the city, clutching whatever meagre coins he's managed to beg, out to spend the night huddled against the city wall. Outside with all the other undesirables – the dung collectors and stinking tanners and sailors and cursed

We watched this in church a couple of weeks ago...

2010-05-04T21:32:00.002+10:00

I was wanting people to think about how we celebrate Easster; how we invite them to share with us in our celebration. And it occurred to me that there was a whole lot in this video which summed up what I was trying to say. What do you think? [It doesn't fit the column, but if you click on the video it should take you to the YouTube page.]

What's been happening...

2010-05-03T13:45:00.000+10:00

Much, much delay... while I've been trying to work out how to make this a little more user friendly. I don't know how much success I've had, so any feedback is welcome. For a start, rather than posting the whole sermon, there should be just an introduction with a "Read more" option - for the diehards who really do want to read more! The other feature is a "Search this blog" option, so that

Touch and see

2009-04-27T17:38:00.004+10:00

A reflection on Luke 24: 36b-48, Sunday 26 April 2009 There are some conversations that just stick in the mind. I may have already shared this story with some of you before, but this just sticks in the mind so please excuse any repetition.Three or four years ago, I was out shopping and I bumped into an old workmate. Twenty-five years is a long time between drinks and so he invited me to his

Witnesses to life

2009-04-14T17:25:00.003+10:00

A reflection for Easter Day, 2009 based on Mark 16:1-8 When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land… Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”… Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. Mark 15: 33-37The world is full of nails: big nails and little nails.The world is full of people who cry out, “My

Cry "Hosanna!"

2009-04-14T17:16:00.005+10:00

A narrative sermon preached on Palm SundayO Lord, how much longer?Hosanna! Hosanna!I mean we’ve been doing this for hours now. Two steps forward, one step back, wave that palm branch and, all together now, Hosanna!And the crowd pushing and shoving. Everyone’s having a grand old time, shouting and screaming, laughing and carrying on as if there’s no tomorrow. A grand old time of it, except for

Between the dying and the rising

2009-04-03T23:31:00.003+11:00

A reflection on John 12: 20-33[When this was preached, it began with a story about a friend of mine whom I referred to by the name Zoe – the Greek word for life. Zoe’s story is one of abuse, great pain, and her eventual emergence into the light of life. Zoe’s great insight is that: the glory lies between the dying and the rising.]In today’s gospel reading Jesus speaks of a grain of wheat having

Created for good works

2009-04-03T23:20:00.001+11:00

A reflection on John 3: 16-21 and Ephesians 2: 1-10There are three kinds of people in this world: those who can count, and those who can’t.Actually, there are two kinds of people in this world: those who are good, and those who are not; those who are saved, and those who are damned; those who know Christ in their lives, and those who have rejected Christ; those who are going to heaven, and those

A light shines in the darkness

2009-01-08T11:04:00.006+11:00

A reflection on John 1: 1-5, 10-18, Jeremiah 31: 7-14 and Ephesians 1: 3-14, preached Sunday, 4 January 2009I’ve been rereading some of my recent sermons. “Why on earth would he do that?” you’re thinking. Well, I wanted to check just what it is I’ve been saying to you in the last few weeks. We had four weeks of Advent – the Sundays of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love – and then

It's a miracle

2009-01-05T16:28:00.006+11:00

A reflection for Christmas Day 2008It’s a miracle! It is, isn’t it? That helpless infant lying in the manger is God come to earth, God born as one of us, Love made flesh. The tiny squalling child, entirely dependent upon his mother, is the Creator of all things, the Alpha and the Omega, the Lord of all, yet somehow one of us, flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone? It’s a miracle, but I’m not

"Peace" and its meanings

2008-12-10T19:04:00.005+11:00

A reflection on Isaiah 40:1-6 and Mark 1:1-8According to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, “peace” can mean one of three things:Freedom from disturbance, orFreedom from or the ending of war, orWithin the Christian Church, the peace is an action such as a handshake, signifying unity, performed during the Eucharist The dictionary also tells me that “peace” is used in a number of common English

Watch, wait, be ready

2008-12-01T15:54:00.005+11:00

A reflection on Isaiah 64:1-9 and Mark 13:33-37 A patient wakes up following an operation to find the doctor standing beside him. He’s not feeling at all well, but he manages to ask, "Doctor, how did it go?""I have good news and bad news", says the doctor."Give me the good news. I feel terrible and I need cheering up" "The good news is that we managed to save your kidneys.""

Stomach problems

2008-06-19T14:50:00.004+10:00

A reflection on Matthew 9:35 - 10:8My friend and his gutsI have a friend who once went to hospital. He wasn’t a well boy. And the reason he wasn’t well was because his stomach had tied itself in knots. Literally. According to the doctors who know about such things, this can be a very serious matter: evidently the stomach tying itself in knots is something to be avoided wherever possible. Now, how

Whispering the lyrics

2008-05-05T10:16:00.003+10:00

Jimmy Reed was a musician – a black musician. In the late 1950s and into the 60s, Reed was one of the most influential blues guitarists in the United States, a black man shaping the future of white music. One of Reed’s biographers draws attention to the fact that on recordings of his music there appears to be an unidentified voice, a voice so quiet as to be indistinguishable. While Jimmy Reed

Throwing stones

2008-04-25T12:58:00.008+10:00

I can hear, very clearly, my mother telling me not to throw stones. I loved throwing stones. I still do love throwing stones. Well, actually, it’s not throwing stones I love; it’s throwing anything: cricket balls, boomerangs, Frisbees, sticks, discuses, anything, anything at all. If it can be thrown, I like throwing it.And my mother was always telling me not to throw things. Somebody might get

Catching up

2008-04-25T12:51:00.002+10:00

For anyone who might be wondering why this site hasn't changed in a long time:Towards the end of last year, I changed computers. "So what?" you ask. Well... for some reason or other, the new setup doesn't want to hold formatting when I copy material into the blog, which then makes the new blog very, very difficult to read, and very, very strange to look at.From time to time, I try again. Who

Mustard Seed Faith

2007-10-28T15:38:00.000+11:00

A sermon preached on Sunday 7 October by Rev'd Dr David Pitman, Moderator of the Uniting Church in Australia, Queensland Synod: based on 2 Timothy 1: 1-14 and Luke 17: 5-10. David Bussau, founder of Opportunity International, was in Brisbane a few years ago and spoke at a function that I attended. In his address, David made reference to the fact that he owned 67 slaves, and he told us this

"by faith..."

2007-08-15T10:26:00.000+10:00

A reflection on Hebrews 11: 1-3, 8-16 and Luke 12: 32-40I had breakfast yesterday morning. This is not, in itself, particularly remarkable. I have breakfast most days; but yesterday I had breakfast with friends, and what is remarkable about that is how we talked with one another. The food was fine but unimportant; the coffee was not up to the usual standard but that too is unimportant; what we

Where to begin?

2007-08-05T15:15:00.000+10:00

A sermon preached at West End Uniting Church on Sunday, 5 August 2007 In 1994, I spent a fortnight on a little island called Futuna, one of the islands of Vanuatu. 400 ni-Vanuatu people, 6 villages, 7 churches and one white person, me. I was there to do some English teaching in the local primary school, but I was the one who did the learning. Among my more memorable experiences was going to

The better part?

2007-08-02T15:06:00.000+10:00

A reflection on Luke 10: 38-42, preached on Sunday 22 July 2007 at Goondiwindi Uniting Church Mary and Martha: a protest Once again, Jesus of Nazareth, you offend our Aussie sense of a fair go. Martha’s our preferred saint, not your friend Mary who sits like a drone when in the end the boring work must get done. Once again, Jesus the troubler, you make light of all those extra

Jokes - old and new

2007-08-02T14:54:00.000+10:00

A reflection on 2 Kings 5:1-14 and Luke 10:1-11, 16-20, preached Sunday 8 July 2007Question: What do you have when you have seventy preachers buried up to their necks in sand? Answer: Not enough sand. I think I have mentioned before that the Bible is not renowned for its jokes. What is a joke? What makes a joke? In my experience, a joke is a joke because the answer or the punch line

What's been happening...

2007-08-02T10:58:00.000+10:00

It's hard to believe that I haven't posted anything since Easter! Still, there have been one or two things going on which may provide an explanation if not an excuse:the death of my father Jackthe very next day, our youngest child Helen's wedding to Adama brief holidaynegotiations over the purchase of a house in West End for us to live inpacking, moving, settling incomputer crashing, router

"just as you imagined it would be"

2007-04-09T21:41:00.000+10:00

A reflection on Luke 24: 1-12 and "The red tree" by Shaun Tan - Easter Day, 2007“Just as you imagined it would be.” And therein lies the problem. The problem is our imaginations, or rather our lack of imaginations. It is too easy to imagine some things but not others. We can imagine crucifixion, but find it hard to open our minds to the possibility of resurrection. Our imaginations, it

Good Friday, 6 April 2007

2007-04-07T20:39:00.000+10:00

First reading John 18: 1-40 Reflection1 we convince ourselves that we would not act as Jesus' friends do in this story, but lest we forget: we are the ones who slip quietly away when asked to stand beside the poor and oppressed; lest we forget: we are the deniers of Jesus

Hosanna! Come and deliver us!

2007-04-07T20:32:00.000+10:00

A reflection on Palm Sunday“The Donkey’s Owner” by Clive Sansom. Snaffled my donkey, he did --- good luck to him! Rode him astride, feet dangling, near scraping the groundGave me the laugh of my life when I first saw him,Remembering yesterday --- you know, how Pilate comeBouncing the same road, on that horse of hisBig as a house and the armour shiningAnd half of Rome trotting behind

Prodigal God

2007-04-07T20:18:00.000+10:00

A reflection on Luke 15: 1-32 - Sunday, 18 March 2007 On our first trip from Darwin to Alice Springs we camped one night at what was then called the Devil’s Marbles. There were four adults and six young children in our group. We pulled up at about 5.30pm, set up our tents, got a fire going, cooked dinner, fed the children and got them to bed. When all was calm we sat under the stars and

In the wilderness

2007-04-07T20:05:00.000+10:00

I came to Australia as an almost ten year old, and I began my Queensland education in grade five. Memory suggests that grade five social studies was all about white explorers lost in the wilderness: Sturt; Burke and Wills, Ludwig Leichhardt. Story after story from our brief white history of what happened in this strange new continent. It seemed to me that there was an awful fascination with the

Attending... worshipping... serving: becoming the people of God

2007-01-23T11:38:00.000+11:00

A reflection on Nehemiah 8: 1-10 and Luke 4: 14-21: Sunday, 21 January 2007How many times have you been to church in your life? Is that a calculation you have ever made? If I do some rough maths (and it is very rough maths), if I have averaged church thirty times a year (only thirty to allow for those teenage years when I was not quite the little angel I was earlier), thirty times a year for

To each . . . for the common good

2007-01-20T01:36:00.001+11:00

A reflection on John 2:1-11: Sunday, 14 January 2007Over the years, Carol and I have been to the cinema on quite a number of occasions to see movies which are all about weddings. There was My best friend’s wedding, and Four weddings and a funeral; there was the very Australian Muriel’s wedding, and the remake of an old favourite Father of the bride. These movies are all comedies and the

Things to come...

2007-01-11T11:16:00.000+11:00

First of all, apologies to anyone who has been looking for new material in the last few weeks. For a variety of reasons, I haven't managed to post anything since December. However, normal transmission looks set to resume in the near future.Please note that at the bottom of each post, there is an icon for comments. I would love to have feedback on anything that appears here on this blogspot, so

Peace - beginning here

2006-12-12T13:44:00.000+11:00

A reflection Luke 3: 2-6: Sunday, 10 December 2006The second Sunday of Advent is the Sunday for Peace, and you might be forgiven for wondering just how today’s bible readings talk to us about peace. Well, they don’t – at least, not directly. What they do talk to us about is “change”. Malachi is about change. John the Baptiser is about change. In the Hebrew Scriptures, we hear the prophet

Hope - stars in the darkness

2006-12-05T13:25:00.000+11:00

A reflection on Jeremiah 33:14-16; Luke 21:25-36: Sunday, 3 December 2006Yesterday, I was reading the letters to the editor in The Weekend Australian magazine. A number of people had written responding to an article the previous week about global warming. I’ll share some of those responses with you in a moment, but first I want to point to a reality: the world is no longer the way it used to be.

Hannah - keeper of the faith

2006-11-19T16:45:00.000+11:00

A reflection on 1 Samuel, chapter 1: Sunday, 19 November 2006Once upon a time in a land far away there lived a woman all on her own. Perhaps I should explain: about the time - long before you and I were born, or our parents, or even their parents; about the land - it was far away, far enough for us not to have visited, even though some have tried; about the woman - because there is no story

Poverty and abundance

2006-11-13T15:43:00.000+11:00

A reflection on Ruth 3:1-5,4:13-17 and Mark 12:38-44: preached on Sunday, 12 November I’ve spent a fair bit of time in the last few days trying to work out where to start with this reflection. Initially, I was drawn to the scandalous bit. You know, start “shock and horror” and go from there. But then I thought, if I was going to talk about poverty and abundance, perhaps I should open by

A time for prayer

2006-11-05T15:54:00.000+11:00

A reflection on “Water… a time for prayer”, Ruth 1:1-18, and Mark 12:28-34; preached Sunday 5 November 2006 We arrived in Clermont in January 1997, when the country was displaying all the signs of the longest dry spell in recorded history. Our last hundred kilometres was through “the long paddock” – the cow cockies’ shorthand for the roadside where cattle had been turned loose to graze

To give sight to the blind

2006-10-29T23:08:00.000+11:00

A reflection on Mark 10: 46-52, preached Sunday, 29 October 2006Here’s a silly question. You will have heard it before; you will probably have asked it yourself on more than one occasion. I know I have. So, here it is: “Is anyone sitting here?” Now think about that for a moment. There’s a vacant chair next to you and someone comes up and asks, “Is anyone sitting here?” As silly

2006-10-24T22:37:00.000+11:00

What do we ask of Jesus? A reflection on Mark 10:35-45, preached Sunday, 22 October 2006From time to time – but not very often, it seems to me – along comes a bible passage that doesn’t really need a lot of hard work to comprehend. Frequently, bible passages use language which has no modern equivalent or refer to social structures which we don’t understand; sometimes they lend themselves to a