Pen and Ink Reflections
  • Blog
  • about
  • other reflections
  • contact
  • Sunday 27 June 2021

how do you want the story to end?

4/24/2022

0 Comments

 
Picturephoto: Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash
How do we want our stories to end?  Whether it is our own story, or that of our community, our nation, our world, much is up to us.  Now, we may not have much room for manoeuvre.  All kinds of forces help shape our lives, internal and unconscious, as well as external and recognised.  Yet we still have power to shape our stories, even if only by our attitudes, and by how we receive and respond to what happens to us.   This truth is at the very heart of the Gospel and the power of love, forgiveness, and justice seeking.  For, however you view the Resurrection stories, a common feature is their open, unfinished nature.  The tomb is not sealed.  The body is not there or is transformed.  The end is a new beginning.  So how do we want the story to continue?...

Resurrection as open

The openness of the Resurrection is not only expressed in the different striking Gospel stories and symbols but in their very shape and variety.  For, significantly, the Resurrection narratives simply cannot be smoothed out.  This, in my view, should give us confidence in Christ’s Resurrection.  For if they were easily reconcilable, we might have reasonable suspicion of ideological interests at play – much as we see in some interpretations of the Resurrection, and Christian Faith more widely, among some today.  Instead, we have a cluster of stories which collectively speak of a mystery and a power of transformation which just cannot be reduced.  For the Resurrection busts our attempts at straightforward understanding and, at every turn of the Gospel endings, breaks open fresh possibilities of seeing, experiencing, relating, and, crucially, living into the future.

the endings of John's Gospel

The ending of Mark’s Gospel is particularly striking in illustrating the open character of the Resurrection.  No wonder much scholarly attention has been given to the differing length and content of its endings in its original Greek texts.  Yet consider also the ending of John’s Gospel, or more accurately the endings of John’s Gospel, part of which we hear today, and more of which we will hear next week.  These also reflect a wrestling with the mystery of the Resurrection which is clearly not limited to any straightforward set of stories and symbols, and which remains continually open to the future and development.  For, as John’s Gospel puts it, in its final verse today, its narratives are written so that others ‘may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Beloved One of God, and that through believing you (they) may have life in their name.’  Note well, this is not closure, nor even certainty, but life through Jesus. 
 
This is probably part of the original version of John’s Gospel, although today we have a further chapter, adding fresh resurrection stories.  There however, the same openness and emphasis on new beginnings and not endings is displayed.  As the next chapter puts it, in its last verse: ‘ But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.’  For all those who come afterwards, like you and I, are to be new stories of resurrection, living our lives as living witnesses to the power of God’s Love.
 
Even then we may wonder theologically.  As one of my old Oxford lecturers, Professor John Macquarie, used to say, John’s Gospel can also be read as a theological tragedy, in the deepest, dramatic, classical sense.  It is thus possible to see its real ending as the death of Jesus itself, without the resurrection stories.  For John places great emphasis on the cross, the lifting of Jesus, as the moment of greatest revelation of divine love.  It is here that John says that divine victory is won, the time is fulfilled, and, in Jesus’ words from the cross, ‘it is finished’.  All else is mopping up.  Love has been fully displayed in human form, not only in living – in healing, serving and teaching – but, crucially, in suffering, and in dying.  Right to the end, and to whatever lies beyond, Love has been revealed, and has won through.  In the power of that Love, living and dying, in all things, even suffering and death, we can trust and be transformed.

de-centring and re-centring faith and resurrection

So why did John, or the wider early Christian community, add (next week's) chapter 21?  It is a little odd, if you want clear, dramatic, endings.  For, in today’s story, Thomas proclaims ‘My Lord and my God’.  What a powerful way to conclude the revelation of Christ.   But no, there is more to be known about the Resurrection.  John’s Jesus makes this point.  “Have you believed because you have seen me?” he says to Thomas.  Resurrection is so much more.  For as Jesus tellingly adds, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”  Later faith stories of faith, including our own, are also key to what faith, the Gospel, and Resurrection itself, are all about.
 
Do we see what is happening here in the scriptures themselves?  The writers and their communities are de-centring the events of Jerusalem and Galilee long ago, and the experiences of the first disciples.  They are not to be over-privileged, as Christians have often done.  Yes, extraordinary things happened back then.  Spiritually speaking, we can draw wonderfully on these stories and find renewing life in reflecting on them.  Yet, as John’s Gospel especially affirms, eternal life is always ‘everywhen’ – then, now, and to come.  Resurrection is a story to be lived, now and into the future.  It is not just an old story, still less one to cling to.
 
Just as Jesus relativises Thomas’ experience and that profound Christological declaration, so too, in the Gospel’s second ending, in chapter 21, John’s Jesus relativises Peter’s importance, when he upbraids him about his betrayal, commanding him to love and feed God’s people.   As in Mark’s Gospel, this expresses deep early Christian struggles over power and truth and how Jesus’ mission is to be carried forward.   Peter and the Twelve, including Thomas in today’s today, do not therefore emerge as glowing examples of Resurrection in its fullness.  Rather their claims to privileged places in the Christian story are corrected at the very outset by the Gospels’ insistence on needing to include, and keep on adding, other stories, not least of those on the margins. This is one reason, surely, why Mary Magdalene and other women appear so centrally in the Resurrection narratives.  They too are not to be over-privileged as ways into Resurrection.  Instead, they call us to our own recognition of the living Christ among us.  For the key truth of Resurrection is that God in Christ is still alive.  The real challenge is not, as in Thomas’ story, to reconcile spirit and materiality, but to live in Christ, as Christ, with Christ, today.

on not ending faith or history

The openness of the Resurrection is so vitally important not just to help us understand faith, but also to help us live in the world, and make history.  For there are always those who will tell us that history, and politics, are closed.  Back in 1992, for example, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall and old-style Soviet Communism, the American political scientist Francis Fukuyama wrote a famous book entitled The End of History and the Last Man.  He argued that humanity had "not just ... the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of history as such:  That is, the end-point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.”  Well, that worked out well, didn’t it?!  
 
At the time Fukuyama’s thesis embodied the striking arrogance among Western liberal elites that their form of life is the only real and universal truth and will conquer everywhere.  In some ways, that repeats the mistakes of imperialist forms of Christianity.  Aside from the sexist use of ‘man’ and mankind’, which immediately symbolises the relegation of other gendered experience – the majority of humankind – actual history has also not been very kind to this ideology.  Firstly, various forms of Islam have proved remarkably resistant, steering their own paths through postmodernity in different ways.  Secondly, China, and to some extent India, also follow their own distinct pathways.  Meanwhile, thirdly, and currently most disturbingly, Russia has simply refused to fall in line with Western assumptions.  In doing so, it has indeed helped inspire the rise of autocratic politics in Western countries – not least, most troubling of all, in the USA itself.
 
The reality is that, like faith, history can never be simplified, nor closed – whether it be the history of a nation, or of the planet as a whole, or our own personal lives.  Certainly the continuing power of Christ’s Resurrection does not allow it.  For we can try to shape faith and politics, and our own lives, by nurturing chosen symbols and narratives.   That is how humans forge necessary life-giving meaning and purpose, as well as seek power and privilege for ourselves.  We will also often find that unwelcome symbols and narratives will circumscribe our hopes and lives, perhaps at every turn.  However we, as human beings, can never control faith or history.  If we try, we will be frustrated and kill the goodness in our own symbols and stories.   For Resurrection Love is always changing life, changing faith, changing history, with new stories and new possibilities.  To live as Resurrection people is to share in this.

what about our stories?

To summarise, the Resurrection proclaims that there are always new possibilities in both faith and history, life and politics.  So much depends upon what we see, what we privilege, and where, and with whom, we want to walk onwards.  At present in Australia, we are very much at a crossroads in this, and not just because we have a federal election.  For we have many narratives thrust urgently upon us, some quite disturbing in origin, character and purpose - and, I have to say, so less nuanced, elegant, and intelligent than Fukuyama’s ‘end of history’ thesis.  Meanwhile other vital narratives are hard to hear at all, or have yet to be given birth or voice.  So which stories will we see and hear?  Which new stories will we help birth and voice?  Which resurrection stories will we live into?
 
I hope that many of us will stay for the short film being presented by our Earthweb group today.  For ‘Regenerating Australia’ is part of what I have described: a re-imagining, a pathway to new ways of seeing and being – a fresh and open invitation into how we may live into God’s Resurrection, and be resurrection stories ourselves today.  Similarly, I hope we may reflect upon the new stories being lived, and, literally, danced, on this ANZAC Day Eve, as represented by the photo on the front of our liturgy sheet, from the Frontier Wars Ceremony in Gimuy, Cairns.  Like the Gospel, this resurrection story emerges from suffering, yet embodies hope and new life, encouraging us to find resurrection in our own journeys.  Our first reading today indicated how First Nations people understand such ceremony, but let me also conclude with words of a Later-comer, Margaret Pestorius (see also, and further here):
 
“We start with the story telling of the Frontier. And we perform a lament in response… (with) no words. It is a cry from our hearts and our bodies as we dance and play music. We then are led in song by First Nations performers from neighbouring tribes or from across the seas. And we process to the great shields of renewal created by the artist Paul Bong, a Yidindji man.”

“Why can’t Australians think about resisting war and Australia’s increasing militarism? Is it related to the silence and denial we have wrapped around the wars of invasion on this continent?... We must tell the stories of the Land. And we must tell the stories of the many families and tribes and nations that suffered the atrocities of colonising warfare. We need to build these real events in our minds…”

“We have noticed that when we tell frontier war stories in partnership with Aboriginal people around the time of ‘ANZAC Day’, we also jam a spoke into the pervasive militarism that continues here. We disturb the manufactured ‘national narrative’ that overseas wars created this nation.” 

Like John, like Mark, like so many of the early Christians, and many since, how will we also disturb manufactured narratives, jam a spoke into them, and tell our own life-giving stories of transformed suffering and hope?  How will we sing and dance, and live, the Resurrection?


by Josephine Inkpin, for Easter 2 Year C, Sunday 24 April, at Pitt Street Uniting Church
Picture
photo of Frontier War Ceremony on ANZAC Day Eve in Gimuy, Cairns, from Wage Peace
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Authors

    sermons and reflections from Penny Jones & Josephine Inkpin, a married Anglican clergy couple, recently serving with the Uniting Church in Sydney

    Archives

    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014

    Categories

    All
    2 Peter
    Abide
    ABM
    Aboriginal
    Abraham
    Abundance
    Abuse
    Active
    Acts Of The Apostles
    Adam And Eve
    Adultery
    Advent
    Advocacy
    Aelred
    Affirmation
    Affliction
    African American
    African-American
    Agency
    Aidan
    Alan Webster
    Albanian
    Albert Wendt
    Alex Pittaway
    Alice In Wonderland
    Alla Renee Bozarth
    Allegory
    All Saints
    Alma López
    Amazing Blondel
    Ambiguity
    American Pie
    Amos
    Andean
    Andrew
    Angel
    Angela Santos
    Angels
    Anger
    Anglican
    Anglican Method
    Animals
    Anna
    Anne Askew
    Annunciation
    Anoiniting
    Anselm
    Anthony Bloom
    Antioch
    ANZAC
    Apartheid
    Apocalyptic
    Apology
    Apophatic
    Archbishop Of Canterbury
    Aristotle
    Armenian
    ARRCC
    Art
    Artist
    Ascension
    Ash Wednesday
    Asian
    Asylum Seekers
    Atonement
    Attraversiamo
    Augustine
    Aunty Ali Golding
    Aunty Rosalie Kunoth-Monks
    Australia
    Authenticity
    Authority
    Awaken
    Baby
    Baha'i
    Bakerwoman
    Balmain
    Baptism
    Barabbas
    Barefoot
    Barnabas
    Barnard Castle
    Barth
    Bartimaeus
    Basis Of Union
    Battle Of One Tree Hill
    Beach
    Beatitudes
    Beatrice Bruteau
    Becoming
    Bede
    Being
    Believing
    Bells
    Belonging
    Beloved
    Benjamin Oh
    Berlin
    Bethleham
    Betrayal
    Bible
    Bill Bryson
    Binary
    Birmingham
    Birth
    Bishop
    B.J.Hipsher
    Black
    Black Theology
    Blessed
    Blessing
    Blessing Of Animals
    Blessing Of The Waters
    Blood
    Boat
    Boaz
    Bob Dylan
    Body
    Bones
    Bonhoeffer
    Border
    Borg
    Born Again
    Boudicca
    Boundaries
    Bowl
    Breach
    Bread
    Bread Of Life
    Breath
    Brexit
    Brian McLaren
    Brian Swimme
    Bride
    Bridegroom
    Bridge
    Bridges
    Brigid
    Brisbane
    British
    Brixton
    Brokenness
    Bronski Beat
    Bruegemann
    Buber
    Buddha
    Buddhist
    Buderim
    Bunyan
    Byard's Leap
    Caesarea Philippi
    Call
    Calvin
    Cambodia
    Camino
    Campfire
    Cana
    Canaanite
    Candle
    Candlemas
    Cappadocian Fathers
    Care
    Careers
    Carefully
    Carnival
    Carol
    Carter Heyward
    Cathedral
    Catherine LaCugna
    Catholic
    Celtic
    Centurion
    Challenge
    Change
    Charismatic
    Charles Wesley
    Charmaine Lyons
    C.H.Dodd
    Cheesemakers
    Chelsea Watego
    Chess
    Chick
    Child Of God
    Children
    China
    Chosen
    Chosen Family
    Christ
    Christian
    Christian Aid
    Christianity
    Christmas
    Christology
    Christ The King
    Church
    Church Of England
    Circumcision
    Citizen
    City
    Class
    Clay
    Climate
    Climate Change
    Climbing
    Cloak
    Clobber
    Clothing
    Cloud Of Unknowing
    Coin
    Colonialism
    Colossians
    Come
    Commandment
    Common Good
    Communion
    Community
    Companion
    Compassion
    Condamine
    Confession
    Confirmation
    Conflict
    Confrontation
    Confucius
    Congregationalist
    Connect
    Contemplate
    Contemplative
    Contemporary
    Context
    Conversion
    Conversion Therapy
    Corinth
    Coronavirus
    Cosmology
    Cost
    Councils
    Country
    County Durham
    Courage
    Covenant
    Covid 19
    Covid-19
    Crack
    Cranmer
    Create
    Creation
    Creed
    Creek
    Crib
    Cricket
    Criminal
    Critical
    Cromwell
    Cross
    Crossan
    Crossing Over
    Crucifixion
    Crumbs
    Csg
    C.S.Lewis
    Cuddesdon
    Culture
    Cunnamulla
    Cuthbert
    Cynthia Bourgeault
    Cyprian
    Dalai Lama
    Dales
    Dame Edna Everage
    Dance
    Darkness
    Darlughdach
    Dave-andrews
    David
    David And Elizabeth Inkpin
    David Bowie
    David Jenkins
    David-mach
    David Steindl Rast
    David Steindl-Rast
    David Whyte
    Day Of Mourning
    Deacon
    Dean Inge
    Death
    Death Row
    Delight
    Demon
    Demonic
    Denial
    Denise Levertov
    Desert
    Desire
    Desmond Tutu
    Deuteronomy
    Devil
    Dharug
    Dianella
    Diarmaid McCulloch
    Difference
    Disability
    Disciple
    Discipleship
    Dispossession
    Disruption
    Dissident
    Disturber
    Diversity
    Divine
    Divorce
    Docetism
    Doctrine
    Don Cupitt
    Donkey
    Dorcas
    Dorothy McRae-McMahon
    Dorothy Soelle
    Dostoyesky
    Doubt
    Dragonflies
    Dragonfly
    Dream
    Dr Who
    Duncan Andrews
    Duns Scotus
    Durham
    Durkheim
    Eagle
    Earth
    Earth Bible
    Easter
    Easterfest
    Eating
    Ecology
    Ecopella
    Eco-theology
    Ecstasy
    Ecumenical
    Eden
    Education
    Egg
    Ego
    Egypt
    Elder
    Eli
    Elijah
    Elisha
    Elizabeth
    Elizabeth Johnson
    Elizabeth Stuart
    Elton John
    Emancipation
    Embodiment
    Emerging
    Emily Dickenson
    Emmanuel
    Empire
    Empowerment
    Empty Tomb
    End Times
    Energy
    Engagement
    Entry
    Environment
    Ephesians
    Epiphany
    Equality
    Esau
    Eschatological
    Eternal
    Eternal Life
    Ethics
    Ethiopian
    Etty Hillesum
    Eucalyptus
    Eucharist
    Eudaimonia
    Eugene Peterson
    Eugene Stockton
    Eunuch
    Evangelical
    Evangelism
    Evelyn Underhill
    Evil
    Evolution
    Exile
    Exodus
    Exorcism
    Express
    Extinction Rebellion
    Eyes
    Ezekiel
    Failure
    Fair Trade
    Faith
    Faithfulness
    Fame
    Family
    Famine Of Grace
    Fast
    Father
    Father George Grainger
    Fathers Day
    Fear
    Feeding Five Thousand
    Fellowship
    Feminist
    Fig Tree
    Figurative
    Filipino
    Fire
    First Nations
    Fish
    Fisher King
    Fishers
    Flesh
    Flora And Fauna
    Flourish
    Flourishing
    Follow
    Foolish
    Footwashing
    Foremothers
    Forgiveness
    Fountain
    Fox
    Francis
    Franciscans
    Frankincense
    Frederick Barker
    Freedom
    French
    Friend
    Friends
    Friendship
    Fruit
    Fruits
    Fukuyama
    Fulfilment
    Fundamentalism
    Fundamentalist
    Funeral
    Funk
    Future
    Gadigal
    Galgala
    Galilee
    Galileo
    Game
    Garden
    Garry Deverell
    Gary Deverell
    Gate
    Gateshead
    Gaudete
    Gay
    Gaze
    Gazelle
    Gender
    Gender Identity
    Gender Variant
    Genealogy
    Generosity
    Genesis
    Gentile
    Gentleness
    George Fox
    Gerard Manley Hopkins
    Gerasene
    Ghost
    Gift
    Gifts
    Gil Bailie
    Glennie
    Glenn Loughrey
    Gloria Kapinsky
    Glory
    Gnosticism
    Goa
    God
    Gold
    Golden Rule
    Gondwana Theology
    Good Friday
    Goodness
    Good News
    Good Shepherd
    Gospel
    Grace
    Graeme Rutherford
    Graham Greene
    Graham Warren
    Grain
    Grandchamp
    Grandchild
    Grandmother
    Gratefulness
    Gratitude
    Great Commandment
    Great Commission
    Greenham Common
    Greening
    Greenness
    Green Way
    Greenwood
    Gregory-of-nyssa
    Grief
    Growth
    Guanyin
    Gungor
    Habel
    Hackney
    Hagar
    Haggai
    Hanna Cheriyan Varghese
    Happiness
    Harry Potter
    Harvest
    Headlam
    Healing
    Heart
    Heaven
    Hebrew
    Hebrews
    Hedgerows
    Helder Camara
    Hemorrhaging Woman
    Hen
    Henri Nouwen
    Henry Scott Holland
    Henry Vaughan
    He Qi
    Heresy
    Herod
    Hesitation
    Hijra
    Hildegard
    Hindu
    Historical
    History
    Holding
    Holiness
    Holy Saturday
    Holy Spirit
    Holy Trinity
    Holy Week
    Home
    Homophobia
    Honour
    Hope
    Hosea
    Hospitality
    House
    H. Richard Niebuhr
    Humanity
    Humility
    I Am
    Icon
    I Corinthians
    IDAHOT
    Identity
    Ilia Delio
    Illuminare
    Image
    Imagination
    Imagine
    Immanence
    Imperialism
    Incarnation
    India
    Indigenous
    Indooroopilly
    Inn
    Inspiration
    Interbeing
    Interfaith
    International Women's Day
    Interplay
    Interpretation
    Intimacy
    Invitation
    Iona
    Irenaeus
    Isaac
    Isaiah
    Islam
    Israel
    I-Thou
    Ivana Demchuk
    Jack Haas
    Jack-in-a-box
    Jacob
    Jairus
    James
    James Alison
    James Haire
    Jamie Beck
    Jamie Dunk
    Jan Berry
    Janet Morley
    Jan Richardson
    Jar
    Jarel Robinson-Brown
    Jarowair And Giabal
    Jarrow
    Jeremiah
    Jeremias
    Jerusalem
    Jerzy Nowosielski
    Jester
    Jesus
    Jesus Christ
    Jesus Prayer
    Jewish
    Jews
    Jezebel
    Jihad
    Jim Leftwich
    J.Kameron Carter
    Joan Chittister
    Job
    Joel
    Joe Primo
    John
    John-17
    John Arlott
    John Bell
    John Coleman
    John Lennon
    John Naish
    John O'Donohue
    John's Gospel
    John The Baptist
    John Wesley
    Jonathan
    Jordan
    Josef Zacek
    Joseph
    Joseph Butler
    Josephine Butler
    Josephus
    Journey
    Joy
    Jubilee
    Judaism
    Judas
    Judgement
    Judith Wright
    Jujitsu
    Julian
    Julian Of Norwich
    Jurgen Moltmann
    Justice
    Jyllie Jackson
    Jyoti Sahi
    Kairos
    Kaleidoscope
    Kataphatic
    Katherine Appleby
    Keble
    Kenosis
    Kerry Holland
    KIerkegaard
    Kindness
    King
    Kingdom
    Kingship
    Kite
    Koan
    Kosuke Koyama
    Krishna
    Labyrinth
    Lamentations
    Land
    Language
    Lantern
    Laotzi
    L'Arche
    Last Supper
    Laughter
    Law
    Lazarus
    Lead
    Leadership
    Leap
    Leap Of Faith
    Learning
    Leaves
    Legion
    Leichhardt UC
    Lent
    Leonard Cohen
    Leonardo Da Vinci
    Leper
    Lesbian
    Les Murray
    Levertov
    Levite
    Lewis Carroll
    LGBTI
    LGBTIQ
    Liberation
    Liberty
    Life
    Light
    Lightness Of Being
    Liminality
    Lincoln
    Lincolnshire
    Lindisfarne
    Lion
    Lionel Blue
    Lismore
    Listening
    Literalist
    Liturgy
    Living Dance
    Living Stones
    Lloyd George
    Logos
    London
    Longing
    Lord
    Lord's Prayer
    Lore
    Love
    Love Of God
    Love Your Enemies
    Luke
    Luther
    Lutheran
    Lviv
    Lyuba Yatskiv
    Macarthur
    Macrina
    Macrina Wiederkehr
    Mad
    Magi
    Magic
    Magic Realism
    Magnificat
    Mahatma Gandhi
    Makaratta
    Malcolm Guite
    Manchester
    Mandala
    Manger
    Mantle
    Maori
    Maranatha
    Maranoa
    Marcella Althaus Reid
    Marcella Althaus-Reid
    Mardi Gras
    Margaret Silf
    Marginalised
    Marianne Williamson
    Mariology
    Mark
    Mark 13
    Mark Copland
    Market Rasen
    Mark Jordan
    Marriage
    Martha
    Martin Luther
    Martin Luther King
    Martyr
    Mary
    Mary Crowther
    Mary Magdalene
    Mary Of Bethany
    Mary Oliver
    Mary Poppins
    Mary Sumner
    Masculinity
    Materiality
    Matthew
    Matthias Gruenewald
    Maundy Thursday
    Maya
    May C.Popa
    MCC
    Meaning
    Meditation
    Meewah
    Meister Eckhart
    Melbourne
    Melchizedek
    Melodrama
    Memory
    Men
    Mental Health
    Mercy
    Merry Clayton
    Messiah
    Metanoia
    Methodist
    Michael
    Michael Cook
    Michael Leunig
    Midnight Oil
    Midwife
    Migrant
    Mikko Harvey
    Milton
    Mind
    Ministry
    Minster
    Miracle
    Mirror
    Mission
    Moab
    Moltmann
    Monastery
    Monk
    Morality
    Moses
    Mother
    Mother Hen
    Mothering
    Mother-in-law
    Mothers Union
    Mountain
    Movement
    Multicultural
    Multifaith
    Multuggerah
    Munoz
    Music
    Muslim
    Mustard Seed
    Myall Creek
    Myrrh
    Myrrh Bearers
    Mystery
    Mystic
    Myth
    NAIDOC
    Nakedpastor
    Name
    Naomi
    Natalie Adams
    Nathaniel
    Nathan Tyson
    Nativity
    Nature
    Nazareth
    Neighbour
    Nelson-mandela
    Net
    New Age
    New Creation
    New Life
    Newman
    New Year
    New Zealand
    Nicene Creed
    Nick Cave
    Nicodemus
    Night
    Nikita Gill
    Noah
    Noel Preston
    Nonbinary
    Nonjudgement
    Nonviolence
    Norman
    Norman Habel
    Numbers
    Nungalinya
    Oasis
    Obed
    Obedience
    Ocean
    Offering
    Oil
    Oppression
    Ordination
    Origen
    Orpah
    Orthodox
    Oscar Romero
    Oscar Wilde
    Other
    Otter
    Our Lady
    Outcast
    Overcoming Violence
    Oxford
    Pablo PIcasso
    Pacific
    Pain
    Palestine
    Palm Sunday
    Pamela Lightsey
    Parable
    Parable Of The Angry Master
    Parable Of The Talents
    Parent
    Parish
    Parsifal
    Participation
    Party
    Passion
    Pastor
    Pathway
    Patience
    Patriarchy
    Patrick
    Patrick Oliver
    Paul
    Paul Yore
    Peace
    Peacemaker
    Penitence
    Penny Jones
    Pentatonix
    Pentecost
    Pentecostal
    People Of God
    Perfume
    Persecution
    Perseverance
    Persistence
    Peru
    Peter
    Peter Millar
    Pharaoh
    Pharisee
    Pharisees
    Philip
    Philippians
    Philippines
    Pig
    Pilate
    Pilgrim
    Pilgrimage
    Pink Floyd
    Pitt Street Uniting Church
    Plague
    Plato
    Plautilla Nelli
    Play
    Poetry
    Poland
    Political
    Politics
    Polyamory
    Poor
    Pope
    Pope Francis
    Possibility
    Post Colonial
    Potentiality
    Poverty
    Power
    Praise
    Prayer
    Preacher
    Preaching
    Pregnancy
    Presbyterian
    Presence
    President
    Pride
    Priest
    Prince Of Peace
    Proclamation
    Progressive
    Promise
    Prophecy
    Prophet
    Prophet Mohammed
    Protecttion
    Protest
    Protestant
    Proverbs
    Providence
    Psalm
    Puppet
    Purification
    Purity
    Purity Of Heart
    Purpose
    Quaker
    Queer
    Rabbi
    Race
    Rachael Mann
    Rachel Collis
    Racism
    Rage
    Raiinbow
    Rainbow
    Ramadan
    Rapture
    Ravenna
    Reason
    Rebekah
    Recapitulation
    Reconciliation
    Redemption
    Reformation
    Reformed
    Refugee
    Rejection
    Rejoice
    Relationality
    Relationship
    Religion
    Religious Experience
    Religious Freedom
    Remembrance
    Repentance
    Republic
    Resilience
    Resistance
    Resource
    Rest
    Resurrection
    Reveal
    Revelation
    Revolution
    Richard Baulkham
    Richard Rohr
    Rich Young Man
    Righteousness
    Risk
    Rita Mae Brown
    River
    Rock
    Roman
    Romans
    Rose
    Roses
    Rowan Williams
    R.S Thomas
    R.S.Thomas
    Rumi
    Russia
    Ruth
    Sabbath
    Sacrament
    Sacramental
    Sacrifice
    Sadducees
    Safe Church
    Safety
    Saints
    Salt
    Salvador Dali
    Salvation
    Samaritan
    Samuel
    Sanctification
    Sanctus
    Sanguin
    Santa Claus
    Santiago De Compostela
    Sarah
    Sarah Bachelard
    Satan
    SBS
    Scarcity
    Schism
    Schleiermacher
    Scholasticism
    School Of Hard Knocks
    Science
    Scotland
    Scott Stevens
    Scripture
    Sculpture
    Sea
    Season Of Creation
    Second Coming
    Secularism
    Security
    See
    Seed
    Sense8
    Sermon The Mount
    Service
    Seth Godin
    Sex
    Sexuality
    Shadow
    Shakespeare
    Shalom
    Shame
    Shannon Kearns
    Sheep
    Sheep And Goats
    Shell
    Shelly Rambo
    Shema
    Shepherd
    Shepherds
    Shirley Erena Murray
    Sibyls
    Silence
    Simeon
    Sin
    Sinner
    Slavery
    Smalltown Boy
    Snake
    Socrates
    Soil
    Solae
    Solidarity
    Song
    Son Of Man
    Sophia
    Soul
    South Africa
    Sovereignty
    Sower
    Spirit
    Spiritual
    Spirituality
    Spong
    Sport
    Stan Grant
    Stanhope
    Statement From The Heart
    Steff Fenton
    Stendahl Rast
    Stendahl-Rast
    Stephanie Dowrick
    Stewardship
    St Francis College
    Stillness
    St John's Cathedral
    St Luke's
    St Mary's In Exile
    Storm
    Story
    Strangeness
    Studdert Kennedy
    Subversion
    Success
    Suffering
    Suffering Servant
    Sufficiency
    Sunflower
    Sydney
    Sylvia Sands
    Symbol
    Synagogue
    Syrophoenician
    Tabitha
    Table-fellowship
    Taize
    Talents
    Tall-poppy
    Tanya Marlow
    Teacher
    Tears
    Teenager
    Teilhard De Chardin
    Temple
    Temptation
    Ten Commandments
    Tennyson
    Tension
    Test
    Text
    Thanksgiving
    The-glennie-school
    The Land Song
    Theodicy
    Theology
    Theosis
    Theotokos
    The Way
    Thomas
    Thomas Aquinas
    Thomas Berry
    Thomas Merton
    Threeness
    Threshold
    Thunderbirds
    Tillich
    Time
    Tomb
    Tongues
    Toowoomba
    Torah
    Torres
    Torres Strait
    Tractarian
    Tradition
    Transcendence
    Trans Day Of Visibility
    Transfiguration
    Transformation
    Transgender
    Transition
    Trash
    Trauma
    Treasure
    Treaty
    Tree
    Trinity
    Trump
    Trust
    Truth
    T.S.Eliot
    Tufty
    Tutu
    Tweed
    Tyehimba Jess
    Tyne
    UAICC
    Ukraine
    Uluru
    UN
    Unclobbering
    Uniting Church
    Unity
    Universe
    Ursula Le Guin
    Usury
    Vaclav Havel
    Valwyn Wishart
    Vanstone
    Vatican II
    Veridiitas
    Victory
    Vincent Van Gogh
    Vine
    Violence
    Virgin Birth
    Virgin-mary
    Virgin Of Guadalupe
    Virgins
    Viriditas
    Vision
    Visitation
    Vivid
    Vocation
    Voice
    Wachowski
    Waiters-union
    Waiting
    Waking
    Wales
    Walking
    Walking On Water
    Walls
    Walter Wink
    War
    Warrego
    Warsaw
    Watch
    Water
    W.B.Yeats
    Wear
    Weardale
    Wedding
    Weeds
    Welcome
    Wellness
    Wellspring
    Wendell Berry
    Wesleyan-quadrilateral
    Westminster Confession
    White
    Whiteness
    White Ribbon
    Wholemaker
    Widow
    Wild Bird
    Wilderness
    Will
    William Countryman
    William Temple
    Willliam-blake
    Wind
    Wine
    Winston-halapua
    Wisdom
    Woe
    Wolf
    Woman
    Woman At The Well
    Woman Bent Over
    Womanist
    Womb
    Women
    Wonder
    Wonderwall
    Wontulpbibuya
    Word
    Word-of-god
    Works
    World-council-of-churches
    World Pride
    World-youth-day
    Worship
    Wounds
    Woy-woy
    Wrestling
    Xenophobia
    Yabun
    Yahweh
    Yes
    Yoga
    Yoke
    Zacchaeus
    Zebedee
    Zechariah
    Zogron
    Zwingli

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly