How to face the reality of evil

Psalm 4:1-8 Individuals associated with the federal government have, in defiance of a court order and without a trial or any form of due process, deported hundreds of people from the territory of the United States to El Salvador, where they will be held indefinitely in a concentration camp.[1] That was American historian Timothy Snyder, …

Regeneration, retreat, or decluttering? The many faces of Lent

Ask people what theyโ€™re doing for Lent, and youโ€™re likely to get a wide range of replies. Formally, Lent is a 40-day season in the Christian liturgical calendar intended to prepare the faithful to experience the ultimate meaning and resurrection joy of Easter. We take the word โ€œLentโ€ from the Anglo-Saxon lencten, meaning โ€œspring-time,โ€ which in the …

Mountains of Scripture (6): Mount Carmel

An address by Dr Rod Benson on 1 Kings 18:20-46 The Triumph of Elijah Over the Prophets of Baal (c. 1622)Domenico Fettiย (c. 1589 - 1623) The story is one relished by Sunday school teachers and enjoyed by their students โ€“ although someone who supports interfaith dialogue might be less than enthusiastic about some elements of …

First steps: Letter to a young Christian

By John McCrindle Last month I shared the text of a pamphlet that my grandfather, John Cree McCrindle, wrote many years ago to commend and share his Christian faith with fellow workers in the coal mines in Ipswich, Queensland. That was one of two similar undated pamphlets I possess. In the other, in the form of a …

One coalminer to another

by John McCrindle This is the text of an undated pamphlet written by my maternal grandfather, John Cree McCrindle (1897-1982), probably around the time of his wife Lily's death in 1956, to commend and share his Christian faith with fellow workers in the coal mines in Ipswich, Queensland. Dear Comrades, For the past thirty-four years …