Events in the news have triggered my reflections on how I needed to shape today’s reading from John’s Gospel. It is hard to step aside from the stories of terror and political failure of nerve, especially to look at a Bible passage that on the surface seems almost trivial by comparison. The longer I reflected […]

The Gospel of John chapter 21 We have just read a very puzzling story. Even those who would like to understand that story literally must be confused by its strange references. What was so special about the number of fish? Why did Jesus need to ask Peter three times about his love? You begin to […]

Today we might have listened to Luke’s account of Jesus’ resurrection. If we had followed that reading we would have heard Luke’s repetition of the heavenly presences that tradition said accompanied the birth and triumph of Roman potentates. He turned on its head the imagery of Roman imperial power to explain that Jesus, ‘King of […]

Fire threads through our religious traditions: it is the universal symbol of judgement catastrophe new life. Fire is the continuity between our soul-search and our everyday living. Fire-flames consume the fragile environment. Fire-flames warm the living rooms of our homes. Fire-flames fan wartime terror. This bowl of fire becomes for us a symbol of the […]

Conversations often carry undertones. You think you understood what someone has said, then on reflection you realise something quite different was intended. These last days of national political manoeuvering have revealed quite a lot of double talk. The various media presenters have shaped their language to the ideological ends of each channel operator. Did Rudd […]