What to do with your one wild and precious life: Alcuin’s Answer
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do With your one wild and precious life?” asks Mary Oliver in her poem The Summer Day. It’s a haunting question. Psalm 90:10 tells us that “Our days may come to seventy years, or …
On full stops and commas…
Let me start with a brag, and follow it with a confession. I won the English prize at school. True, that was not far off 50 years ago but I haven’t forgotten the thunderous applause as I walked up to receive my …
Thinking about Fixed and Growth Mindsets
While Carol Dweck’s 2007 book Mindset is no longer new, it continues to spark rich conversations about the difference between fixed and growth mindsets. The basic thesis is simple: Some people approach life with a fixed mindset, assuming that they are born …
Because God is like a mother…
If you are reading this post on its day of publication, its Mother’s Day – or at least it is in Australia, though date conventions are different around the world. What’s also true is that in Australia (and some other countries) the …
Scripture on Sunday – James 3:2
James 3:2 For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. (NASB) The opening sentence of this verse continues the first-person plural …
God and Politics: Election Reflections, and 11 things that matter…
Relax – I’m not going to tell you how you should vote, but I thought I couldn’t let the upcoming Australian election pass without a mention. That would imply that Christians are unconcerned about the well being of the state and good …
Scripture on Sunday – James 3:1
James 3:1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. With this verse James begins a new topic—or does he? It is possible to read the …
From Platforms to Altars: Rediscovering Servant Leadership
You know as well as I do that the list of fallen Christian leaders is growing at an alarming rate. Many have been high fliers, leaders who were widely lauded and greatly respected until – well until it all came out. It …
Easter as challenge more than comfort…
Back in 1950 Sir Norman Anderson famously wrote: “Easter is not primarily a comfort but a challenge. Its message is either the supreme fact in history or else a gigantic hoax.” Anderson goes on to explore the evidence for the resurrection forcefully …
On doing what you can…
Perhaps this Easter you will read the Mark 14 account of the woman who pours perfume over Jesus. Lest that doesn’t sound like an especially exciting story line, grab hold of this. She used the entire bottle which had cost more than …