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21.01.2022 Life changes so fast, so unexpectedly that the ability to change and reinvent oneself is a vital skill in today’s world. Jobs that in the past were jobs for life disappear or become part-time, casual and insecure. Relationships break up. The breakdown of a marriage or long term relationship is traumatic, not just for the couple involved, but also to those who know and love them. Divorce can dislocate you from your whole friendship network and require reinvention. The closur...e of a business can force unwanted career change or longterm unemployment. Disease or accidents can mean that life can no longer continue on your chosen course. There is a story of a man coming to Jesus at night. He is wrestling with the idea that he too should become a follower of this strange man but he is afraid. Jesus says to Nicodemus, You must be born again to which Nicodemus asks How can a man be born again when he is old? The term ‘born again has been hi-jacked through overuse by some conservative Christians but it is about a fresh start, a chance to start again, reinvention. One of the weights that press on our shoulders in times of stress is the feeling that we are inadequate or unsuitable to do what is necessary to reinvent ourselves. We tell ourselves that we are too old, unskilled, too scared and would be even worse off if we tried and failed. We start to feel we have too much to lose. Jesus spent his life working with people who thought that they were too old, too young, too unqualified or too evil. They weren’t! Thrugh grace, anything is possible. We can break free. We can start again. Failure is never permanent.

18.01.2022 There is a saying that blood is thicker than water. It is usually said to indicate that family loyalties will always win over the loyalties of friendship. Some would argue that the modern usage of this saying is the exact opposite of the original usage, which was that the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. This means that the loyalties between the friends we choose are stronger than those of the family we happen by chance to have been born into. ...Bonds formed though common experience and struggle are stronger than those formed by the accident of birth. We seek out those of kindred spirit: Returned service men and women share bonds that are often too deep for words; Footballers gather for reunions celebrating bygone premierships. Maybe it’s because I’m from a pretty dysfunctional family that this interpretation seems to make more sense to me, but I do believe that it is vital to building a cohesive community. Since the early days of white settlement in Australia, survival and success depended upon one’s ability to form friendships with those not from one’s own family. Early settlers (both convict and free) did not have extended family networks to fall back on. The shared experience of hardship and isolation created an ethos of mateship. The idea of mateship grows from the necessity of giving and receiving loyalty from people we encounter in work, in war and in the community. We rightly condemn nepotism in the workplace. A fair go means that we are treated on our merits and that others will not be favoured just because they are relatives. This was important for the early church where becoming a Christian often meant being cut off from one’s family of birth. The bonds of common faith and mission needed to replace those of birth. The Christian community became the new family, where people were born of the spirit not of water (the womb). This can be traced back to Jesus himself, who when he in the midst of teaching and healing was infor

15.01.2022 Jesus compared the Kingdom of God to a tiny mustard seed which though small has the potential to grow into something significant which not only serves the needs of the person who planted it, but benefits the wider ecology. With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrub...s, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade. (Mark 6 : 30-32) I wonder what parables Jesus might have made of the Covid19 virus. The kingdom of God is like a tiny virus, so tiny that it is invisible to the human eye, yet it can bring nations to a standstill. From it’s beginnings in an obscure part of the world it spreads throughout the entire world. As the virus needs people to spread, so too the kingdom of God needs people to carry it to the world. Maybe not, but we understand clearly that things don’t have to be big to be significant. This week’s readings are an encouragement to all of us who feel small, insignificant and powerless. God works through us and with us. Join us this Sunday as we celebrate the power of small things.

01.01.2022 Pentecost! Sunday 23rd May 9.30am Streaming from Murchison. Join with our congregations at Tatura, Rushworth or Colbinabbin, or join us via Zoom or Facebook Wind: think gale, hurricane loud! powerfilled! Flames: think bushfire capricious, spontaneous, uncontrollable?... This Sunday our service will be led by Joan McRae. Joan invites us to think of a Power that brings disciples out from behind locked doors. Peter delivering a strikingly powerful sermon. Seven weeks earlier, he had remonstrated with Jesus for talking of suffering and death; had slept in a garden when asked to keep watch; had three times said he didn’t know the man had been entrusted with caring for lambs and sheep. This man preaches with power, with astonishing courage, with converting grace. No, not drunkl This is what Joel talked about: ‘I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh’. Three thousand were baptised that day. Is this what we are expecting to happen, 2021-style, on Sunday? What has the Church done to Pentecost? When we pray ‘Pour out your Spirit’ do we really mean this exuberant, super-powerful, re-directing, Spirit? ‘Holy Chaos’ as a favourite writer of mine terms it. Do our Pentecost celebrations ‘keep that wild and wonderful Spirit at safe arm’s length? I wonder whether we are prepared for what happened to Peter and the others to happen to us. Or alarmed by the possibilities of God’s Spirit let loose in our lives? Perhaps red candles and special prayers might be enough, though the candles may well be LED these days. When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. (Act 2: 1-4) Join us this Sunday as we celebrate the c