Be kind. No Exceptions.

I was ordering a hamburger from my local fish and chip shop. I felt like a few chips with it, but when I looked at the menu board it said, “Minimum chips $4.00”. There are some things in life that don’t make sense, but I’m glad that they exist. One of these is the...

A tantrum at the breakfast table

It was a quiet tantrum but a tantrum nonetheless. My wife and I had gone away to Melbourne to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary.  When we were married we had both come out of unhappy marriages and recent divorces so the experts decreed that the prospects of us...

The communion of coffee

The other day I was at a regular meeting we have for Uniting Church ministers to reflect on aspects of ethical practice. It varies between being a boring bureaucratic requirement and valuable discipline. As part of the morning activities we pair up with someone and...

The terror of Easter

The crucifixion of Jesus was an act of terror. The Romans beat, mocked, and degraded Jesus in front of the eyes of hundreds of onlookers. They paraded his bloody body through the streets of Jerusalem, carrying the very means of his own torture and death on his...

Everyone needs to be loved

Everyone needs to love and be loved. For most people this is primarily expressed in a committed and loving relationship, but it also extends to a wider family and social network. Love and belonging are part of being fully human. But how do we express our love and how...