France is one of Europe’s most deliberately secular nations with a strict separation between church and state. There is significant suspicion towards the Church. The Church, after all, was part of the Ancien Régime, which the French Revolution swept away. In a sense, the Church is now the most visible, though severely weakened, sign of…
During Lent we will depart somewhat from the normal Lectionary readings. Indeed, I have decided to preach on a two books of the Bible that are nowhere to be found in the lectionary at all: 1 & 2 Chronicles. It is generally considered that most of the content of these books is found in the Books of Samuel and Books of Kings.…
Late last year, the boundary changes to the tennis court land were finally completed, though the CPT (Church Property Trustees) lawyer had some additional work to complete earlier this year for the change to be finalised. That means that the sale of the tennis courts can now go ahead. After our experience with recent efforts, the real estate agent advised that an…
In the last few months many of us would have heard or read news from around the world. And we would have been somewhat alarmed. It seems that the world is getting increasingly more troubled and unpredictable. Old certainties are gone. Leaders are brazenly acting in self-interest, not even bothering to appeal to higher ideals.…
Even among non-Christians the phrase “having a road-to-Damascus moment” is commonly used to describe a sudden change of view and conviction that has significant effects in a person’s life. I’ve recently seen it in reference to someone realising that cycling is actually quite pleasant and advocating for cycle lanes after previously dismissing them as a…
The Camino de Santiago in Spain is a famous journey, a network of pilgrim walks to Santiago de Compostela, where according to tradition the remains of St James are buried. In recent decades the pilgrimage has become very popular, even among Protestants and those of little faith. It is often described as a spiritual experience.…
Recently I was in Timaru again visiting my parents and picking up my children after some days with the grandparents. While I come relatively frequently to Timaru, I get to some areas very infrequently. So as I was driving or walking through the city I did notice the changes: the little shop closed, that one taken over by another chain, a house…
These days it is very cheap to communicate. It costs hardly anything to send emails or to call someone in the same country. Even international phone calls are significantly cheaper than in previous decades. That should enable us to communicate quickly and effectively with many people. But sometimes it seems that communication has become too cheap. Our email inboxes are now so…
Sometimes the infancy narratives in the Bible are seen as just some stories written to bolster the claim of Jesus’ divinity, particularly the story in Luke Chapter 2. One of the details that is said to be strange is that Joseph would have to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem, because he belonged to the house…
This week I went to the annual meeting of the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Biblical Studies. Here Bible scholars from throughout New Zealand and a few from Australia gave presentations on various aspects of the Bible and then questioned each other about the presentation. Some of these were quite detailed, for example one presentation about “allusive soundplay in Job 9:17”, arguing…