On the last Saturday in September this year, the Brisbane Lions football club won their third Australian Football League (AFL) premiership in a row. Achieving the three-peat hasn’t been easy for the club. Ten years ago, they were sitting at the bottom of the AFL ladder with poor membership numbers and low attendances at their... Continue Reading →
Reputation (1 Thessalonians 1:1-10)
Most church communities have something that they are known for. For example, a lot of churches in the Barossa Valley are known for having old, beautiful buildings. The reputation of other churches can be based on a particular worship style, a ministry, a musical instrument like a pipe organ, or other things they have or... Continue Reading →
Dressed to Celebrate (Matthew 22:1-14)
Being invited to a wedding can be a great honour. Wedding receptions can be very expensive so often the number of guests is limited, and couples can’t invite everyone they would like. So people usually celebrate weddings by dressing up for the occasion. Men might either pull the suit out from the back of the... Continue Reading →
A Changed Mind (Matthew 21:23-32)
Do you ever change your mind? We all make lots of decisions in our lives. Some of these might be small things about what we will eat, what we will wear, or how we will spend the day. Other decisions can be more significant and shape the course of our lives such as what careers... Continue Reading →
Transformed (Romans 12:1-8)
Transformers is a media franchise that includes toys, animated television shows, comics and movies which feature robots in disguise. These robots have the ability to change or transform into other things such as cars, airplanes, animals and even dinosaurs. Transformers began with a line of toys in the mid-1980s that you could change from their... Continue Reading →
Undeserved Help (Matthew 15:21-28)
There are times in life when we all need help. Sometimes, problems can be so big that we can’t see our way through them, or we can’t resolve them by ourselves. These are the times when we can look to someone we trust and who has what’s needed to take care of our problems for... Continue Reading →
A Shared Meal (Matthew 14:13-21)
A long-standing tradition in a lot of church communities is the shared lunch. Many of us will remember halls full of people with long tables overflowing with casseroles, sandwiches, and homemade pies, pasties and sausage rolls, followed by delicious cakes, slices and cream-filled desserts. They were times when people would connect, talk about their lives... Continue Reading →
Super-Conquerors (Romans 8:26-39)
The FIFA Football (or what we might call Soccer) World Cup is one of the biggest sporting events in the world. The most recent World Cup began on 11th June and ran for 39 days involving teams from 48 nations. One hundred and four games were played in 16 cities across 3 countries with more... Continue Reading →
God’s Life-Giving Word (Isaiah 55:10-13)
Over the last few months, we have witnessed a transformation of the Barossa landscape. The hard, dry ground of summer has come alive with new growth as we have been blessed with better rain than we have had in recent years. It is amazing to see the change that good rain brings to the country... Continue Reading →
The Unforced Rhythms of Grace (Matthew 11:16-19,25-30)
When was the last time you learned something new? Some people find the idea of learning really difficult. It can bring up memories of long days at school, memorizing dates, facts and figures by rote, exercises that seemed totally unconnected with real life, or strict punishments if we stepped out of line. For others, learning... Continue Reading →