The book of Proverbs ends with today’s reading, which is a poem about a woman of courage. The passage shows that the woman’s worth is acquired from her character of godly wisdom, which is beneficial both to her family, and to the community as a whole. Traditionally, this poem was recited by Jewish husbands and children when they sat down on a…

I’m sure that we can all think of someone we have known in our lives who has been a very faithful Christian, but whose behaviour hasn’t always been consistent with what we would expect from someone who call themselves a Christian.  And we can probably also think of someone who is not a Christian, and who perhaps follows no religion at all,…

A few weeks ago, I was on a flight from Melbourne to Canberra, and not long after takeoff, I noticed one of the airline hostesses blocking off the aisle between rows 2 and 3 of the plane, by pulling a sash across from one side to the other. She was obviously doing this to stop people from the ‘economy class’ section of…

Readings: Zeph. 3:14–20, Rom. 8:33–39 & Jn. 12:20–32 Japan entered the fray of World War 2 when it launched an attack on Pearl Harbour on 7 December 1941. In January 1942 the Japanese army invaded Papua New Guinea, capturing the strategic city of Rabaul on 23 January.  At that time the Anglican Bishop of Papua New Guinea, Bishop Philip Strong, encouraged Anglican…