When human rights fail us

Psalm 12:1-8 Australian navy personnel rescue asylum seekers from a sinking boat off Christmas Island in 2001.ย  I have had the privilege of sitting with asylum seekers at Villawood Immigration Detention Centre in Sydney, and at the Curtin Immigration Detention Centre in remote north-western Australia,  as the asylum seekers shared their stories of oppression, fear, …

Even greater things

John 11:21-27; 14:12 Teaching, training apprentices, rebuking religious leaders. Healings, exorcisms, turning water into wine, calming a storm, feeding a crowd with five loaves and two fish. And then the biggest of all: raising a widowโ€™s son from death to life, and then raising Lazarus from the dead. Jesus was one of the most unusual, noteworthy …

Mountains of Scripture (8): Mount Hermon

One of the less well-known mountains of the Hebrew Bible is Mount Hermon, the highest mountain in Israel. With a snow-capped summit of 2,814m (9,232 ft), Mount Hermon is 586 metres taller than Australiaโ€™s tallest peak, Mt Kosciuszko (Kunama Namadgi).ย  The mountain range is located at the north-eastern border of modern Israel, between Syria and …

Mountains of Scripture (2): Mount Ararat

Ivan Ayvazovsky, "Descent of Noah from Ararat," oil on canvas, 1889. National Gallery of Armenia โ€œAlmost from the beginning of the Bible, mountains are sites of transcendent spiritual experiences, encounters with God or appearances by God.โ€[1] In Genesis 8:4, after what must have been a terrifying and tumultuous experience navigating the Great Flood, Noahโ€™s Ark …

Mountains of Scripture (1): Mount Eden

A sermon by Rod Benson Image: Erastus Salisbury Field, "The Garden of Eden," oil on canvas, c.1860. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. This is the first of a series of addresses on mountains mentioned in the Bible. You wonโ€™t find Mount Eden on Google Earth, in an atlas, or even in the Book of Genesis. …