Christmas Day as we experience it, and the roller-coaster preceding it, have evolved into a festival that is part cultural, part commercial, and part Christian. This is true throughout the Western world, from Santiago to Seoul, from Helsinki to Hobart. And especially here in Sydney. At the centre of our celebrations stands a season of generosity …
The quiet dawn of redeeming grace
A Christmas Eve sermon based on Luke 2:1-20. Luke’s Gospel slows the world to a hush as it tells the story of the birth of Jesus. Empires rise and fall, decrees are issued from distant palaces, caravans move across desert trade routes, shepherds settle in for another night’s work out in the hills, and angel …
Seeing salvation
Simeon and Anna greet the baby Jesus as Joseph and Mary look on. In the year 2000, the National Gallery in London held an exhibition of classical art depicting the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth. The BBC produced an accompanying television series and a beautifully illustrated book, which I purchased and which remains a …
How to become a nice person
It’s easy to shake our heads in disbelief at the apparent failure of world leaders to contribute to measures aimed at world peace. It’s also easy to shrug our shoulders at our own inability to negotiate peace within our family or faith community. The good news is that the Bible has a plan for world …
Seeking the peace of the city
In 2007, on my first visit to Israel, I spent several hours at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, including a tour of the Dome of the Rock, where the Jewish Temple stood during Jesus’ life, until its destruction by Rome in AD 70. Beneath the great gilt dome on the Temple Mount today is a …
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