media
It has been awhile since a movie has grabbed my theological imagination quite like Ruby Sparks. A sleepy midnight viewing on an airplane was quickly followed by a visit to United Video and a more engaged viewing on terra firma. One synopsis of the movie goes like this: “Calvin is a genius novelist who begins…
READ MOREAnd so when I come across a you-tube video clip to use in this blog, what do I do? I click on share and then I select embed. The identity of the video clip comes up as a series of letters and numbers. I cut and paste this into my post. I click save, releasing the…
READ MOREI used to teach a course on movies which I called Windows and Mirrors. The idea being that movies can open up the critical area of worldview by providing a window on the world – and often an uncomfortable mirror for ourselves as well. One of my favourite exercises was to play with the same…
READ MORE‘Lest we forget’ is the refrain we associate with horrid history like the Holocaust. Keeping alive the memory is designed to help prevent history from repeating. Forgetfulness is just not acceptable. Yesterday I visited Cheoung Ek (The Killing Fields) for the first time and Tuol Sleng (the Genocide Museum) for the second time. It is…
READ MOREI thought Michelle Obama’s speech yesterday was sensational. The words, the imagery, the warmth, the emotion – and the conviction. It was compelling. But I am not dumb. I know what’s going on. The implicit barbs, dozens of them, aimed at Romney and his friends. The explicit, even desperate, attempt to have the American people…
READ MORE
I enjoy sport and so there is no time quite like the Olympics. But I am also a Christian wanting to participate in the mission of God in the world. I try to watch the Olympics with other eyes… Watch the Flags—and intercede With the incomparable Operation World alongside, an anthem here and a flag…
READ MOREFashion really is a bit of a joke. Afterall is there anything which provokes greater shrieks of laughter than poring over old photos? ‘Look at that hair’ … ‘Those glasses are terrible’. Then on it progresses to the likes of shoes and make-up and shorts… Here is my question. If these styles can cause so much mirth a…
READ MOREThis morning I received word that I have fulfilled all the requirements for my DMin… YIPPEE! It has been quite a story. It starts way back in 1985 when I was required, as a brand new ‘probationary’ minister with the NZ Baptists, to write an essay in my first year as a pastor. I was…
READ MOREAfter my grumps and glooms, I was watching the Footy Show out of Sydney (for the first time in years) with Barby last night and this segment appeared. May it bring you as many smiles and laughs as it has done for me – although that will be unlikely: http://tinyurl.com/7kmpskc Cut and paste and split…
READ MOREOnce upon a time the telephone would ring and either we would ignore it, or we’d encourage people to leave a message to which we’d give our attention at a later time. Why?! Because the people with whom we were sitting face-to-face took precedence – every time, every single time. It was seen as a…
READ MOREAbout Me
the art of unpacking
After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.