The idle harpoonist
When I was about 10 years old I donated Herman Melville’s book ‘Moby Dick’ to my school. Each year there was a ‘Book week’ and the school hall would be filled with beautiful books – shiny, glistening, non-fiction, fiction, all…
Category Bible
Shut down the preacher
One more quote from H. Beecher Hicks Jnr’s Preaching through the Storm. (See previous entry). “The reason the society at large wants to silence the preacher may well be because the preacher is under orders to speak a word about morality.…
The Identity of Evil
Preaching through the Storm is a book by H. Beecher Hicks Jnr which I stumbled across a few decades ago. It’s based around a series of sermons through times of crisis and there were some parts that were so refreshing when…
The Divine Dance of Glory
Graham Cole has this to say about the glory of God in the Trinity: “In his famous high priestly prayer of John 17 Jesus prays to the Father, ‘I have brought you glory on earth’ (v 4), and, ‘Father, glorify…
The Bible’s Search for Order
In a recent post, I quoted some of the conclusion Graham A Cole’s book ‘God the Peacemaker’. Graham closes his book with a quote of the late Bill Dumbrell. Bill, like Graham, was one of my lecturers when I was…
Imagination and Conceivability
I came across this fascinating little footnote in Graham Cole’s ‘God the Peacemaker‘ book. He wrote: “In my view, imagination (at least in part) has to do with our ability to form a mental picture. Conceivability, on the other hand,…
Shalom and Sacrifice
In my last post, I briefly referred to Graham Cole’s book ‘God the Peacemaker – How atonement brings shalom‘. This is a marvellous book which is filled with gemstones worth quoting. I plan to share a few over time but…
Pontius Pilate in the Creed
“Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried.” As I write, it’s a few days before Palm Sunday. The start of what Christians often term ‘Holy week’. Each year, Pontius Pilate comes to the fore, as we read and…
Descended into hell
Reading around in preparation for Good Friday I returned to this old chestnut debate – the phrase ‘he descended into hell’ which we used to say in the Apostles’ Creed using the book known as AAPB (An Australian Prayer Book).…
Easter 25
Today marks 24 years since I began here at St Stephen’s Bellevue Hill in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. I’m very thankful to our God and Heavenly Father for his mercy and grace in upholding me through that time. It…