How to live in the end-times

Writing on how Revelation chapter seven applies to Christian life today, British theologian Ian Paul suggests that The perennial question for anyone thinking seriously about the Christian life and our place in the world has two parts to it. First, we need to think about the world we are in, and try to make sense …

Iron, silver and gold ethics

On Thursday, I attended a Prayer Service for Peace at St Stephenโ€™s Uniting Church in Macquarie Street, Sydney, led by my colleague, Rev Dr Manas Ghosh, a champion of interfaith dialogue and minister of Wahroonga Uniting Church. Manas is Chair of the Abraham Conference, a group of Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders that formed after …

On contrition and compassion

Alasdair MacIntyre, one of the worldโ€™s great twentieth-century philosophers, died on Wednesday. He is best known for reintroducing virtue ethics as a viable alternative to consequentialism. He also saw his faith and his philosophy as mutually enriching.  Reading the obituaries, I was reminded of this quotation from one of MacIntyreโ€™s twenty books: Man is in …

I believe in miracles!

A sermon by Rod Benson When I typed the title of todayโ€™s sermon into an internet search engine, the first link that appeared was the Hot Chocolate song, โ€œYou sexy thing,โ€ which played as the recessional for our wedding in January (2017). The first line goes, โ€œI believe in miracles.โ€ โ€œYes, I do!โ€ (as I …

What to do about asylum seekers

A sermon by Rod Benson on Psalm 145 Muriel was a professor of art at a major university.ย  She used to leave her office door unlocked so students and colleagues could walk in and leave messages on her mural-sized bulletin board, a collage of clippings, photographs, sketches and notes. For about a year, two items …