RSS FeedWHAT WAS THE CAUSE OF THE SEXUAL ABUSE SCANDAL IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND ITS REMEDY?
The release of a grand jury report on the Roman Catholic clergy sexual abuse over many years in Pennsylvania prompts me to post this diagnosis which I shared three years ago. The question to be asked is why bishops, and others in the world-wide Roman Catholic...
MY FAREWELL SERMON TO MY HOME CHURCH IN 1964
ALL SAINTS ANGLICAN CHURCH, HOKITIKA, NEW ZEALAND In August 1964 I was preparing to leave home to travel to Durham University, England for my theological education. You can imagine that it was a great adventure for a twenty three year old to leave all his friends and...
ARE YOU CONVINCED OF THE POWER OF CHRIST?
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our...
THE ANSWER TO OUR DEEPEST NEEDS
“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32) The good news of Jesus is that God did all that he could to meet our real needs. God demonstrated his astounding love...
LIFE IS A BATTLE AND GOD GIVES US THE VICTORY IN JESUS
Icon of St. George slaying the dragon This is Paul’s peroration in Romans 8: the concluding part of a speech in which there is a summing up and emphatic recapitulation. “What, then, shall we say in response to this?” (Romans 8:31) St. Paul has been arguing that...
WE NEVER KNOW IN THIS LIFE WHY ANYTHING HAPPENS TO US
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) How can God work for the good of those who love him in the midst of tragedy? How can trials be occasions of joyfulness? How can...
CICERO ON OLD AGE
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC), the Roman statesman and philosopher was once asked to address the subject of old age. He had no time for those who complained about their old age. Their fault was one of character, not of years. “Old men who exercise self-discipline,...
SUFFERING AS SOUL MAKING
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28 NIV) “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God.” Or “works together with those who love him to...
THE IMPORTANCE OF SPEECH
I came across this prayer of Michel Quoist as I was packing my books. It expresses what I often think as I prepare to preach, and when I am told to keep silent. Speech is God’s gift. We shall have to account for it. It is through words that we communicate with each...
THE SUFFERING OF CREATION
One of the most difficult challenges to faith is to be found in the suffering of the world. Skeptics ask, “How can a good God permit such terrible suffering? If he is good and powerful he would prevent it. If he doesn’t prevent such suffering he is either not good, or...
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