The essential theme of today’s Gospel reading is unity – to be one with each other as Jesus was one with God.  This morning I want to suggest a values rather than text-book meaning for these puzzling words. Church in my younger days was more formal, more doctrinally passionate than it is for most of […]

She was just one more street girl who overdosed. While she worked the streets her only friends and supporters were a small group of street workers, community carers, a scattering of nuns and members of our street café. At death, her family finally owned her and arranged a lavish funeral in a provincial cathedral. None […]

The journey from one bush station homestead to the next took longer than I anticipated – and in any case I was not expected till the morning.  So, there was no alternative but to sleep by the side of the road.   I found a clear patch away from the possibility of scattered dust or stones […]

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 […]