Rev's Ramblings

Sun 22 Jul

In our passage this morning Jacob’s uncle Laban tricks him into marrying his two daughters, Rachel and Leah. Laban did wrong – he sinned – when he did this, and Jacob also did wrong – sinned – when he agreed to marrying more than one woman.Looking at this story, the first thing to remember that God is in...

Sun 1 Jul

Our multicultural society holds many views of what happens at death. There is nothing after death, let’s eat, drink and be merry. Or we are reincarnated. Or many have no idea. They have not thought through what will happen to them once they enter eternity through death’s door. Then there is the Christian...

Sun 24 Jun

Throughout history there have been many suggestions put forward as to how one is right in God’s eyes. There were those who said you needed a certain knowledge. Others suggested you commit to doing certain actions. The followers of the Way indicated that it was belief and confession of Jesus as Lord and...

Sun 17 Jun

They say persistence pays off. If you want to get fit then persisting with exercise is needed. If you want to get your computer working then you persist with it. If you have a tree root in the garden then persisting with the shovel may see you get it out. What have you persisted with?When we read the...

Sun 10 Jun

The parable of the shrewd manager is a perplexing story. It is a story which raises puzzling questions. Is Jesus commending dishonesty in the manager? Is Jesus advocating that one can buy their way into heaven? It is a strange parable.However, it raises an issue of priority. What are we prepared to do to...

Sun 3 Jun

We all have lost stories we can share with others. Whether it be lost keys, lost book, lost superannuation. We also have stories of lost children, they may have been physically lost, but there is also the heartache of losing a child spiritually.The parable of the lost son focuses on a son who walks away...

Sun 4 Mar

"Judgement" is an interesting word to think about. We normally think of judgement as being in the negative. I sit for a maths exam and I am judged to do badly. Or the speed camera has judged me to be 5km/h over the speed limit. May be you have some interesting judgement stories you would like to...

Sun 11 Feb

Recently there was a train derailment in the USA. It occurred when a passenger train ran into a stopped freight train. The engine driver and the conductor were killed. How did it happen? This is what investigators want to know. How could a passenger train travelling at full speed suddenly find itself on...

Sun 4 Feb

Newspaper headlines don't seem to change much. I remember a minister saying in a sermon that he was in a waiting room and he picked up a magazine to browse through, and could not get over how accurate the headlines were in comparison to what was happening out there in the world. Then he glanced at the...

Sun 7 Jan

Murder, sin, and an uncaring attitude toward those in need could summarize our own culture, but it certainly summarises the events of Genesis 4 where Cain lures his younger brother, Abel, out into the fields and kills him. Why he took such action could be put down to a combination of apparent favouritism...