blog

I Knew You'd Come

11.11.2022 Categories: All Written by: Neil Percival

During WWI, an Australian soldier in the trenches of France saw his friend fall in a hail of bullets out in no man’s land. He asked his commanding officer for permission to go out and bring him in. The officer refused, saying that no one could live out there and he would just lose another man.

Tags: Remembrance Day, John 15:12-13

Is Something Holding Us Back?

28.10.2022 Categories: All Written by: Neil Percival

In a nautical sense, an anchor is designed to stop a ship from moving. Its purpose is to stop a boat from drifting with the tide or current or being pushed around by the wind and waves and potentially running aground. An anchor is a crucial safety device.

An Attitude of Gratitude

14.10.2022 Categories: All Written by: Neil Percival

There’s a story in the bible about ten people with a debilitating illness who went to Jesus and, in desperation, asked for help. Jesus gave it, and miraculously cured their disease. Given the life changing nature of what had just happened, we would expect all ten to run back to Jesus and thank him, but only one could be bothered. That says something about human nature and the depths of human ingratitude.

Faith Matters

23.09.2022 Categories: All Written by: Neil Percival

Much has been said about the character of the late Queen Elizabeth II. Reviewing some of the many newspaper articles written in recent days, she was described as having a “cheeky sense of humour and a gentle ability to put others at ease.”

Tags: Queen Elizabeth II, John 13:15-17

Core Beliefs 4: Grace

19.08.2022 Categories: All | Gospel Written by: Neil Percival

I recently had COVID, which gave me a chance to watch some of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. As I was watching, and the Australian medal tally climbed, I began to reflect on the nature of winning. Victory comes in two forms, relative and absolute.

Tags: Grace, Salvation, Romans 3:23-24

Core Beliefs 3: The Resurrection

31.07.2022 Categories: All | Easter | Gospel Written by: Neil Percival

Christians believe some weird and wacky things. There’s that one we go on about at Easter about the man who died, was buried, and the three days later was alive again and talking to his friends. You might say, “I won’t believe that unless I can see it with my own eyes.”

Core Beliefs 2: The Cross

03.07.2022 Categories: All | Easter | Gospel Written by: Neil Percival

Back in 1970, Robert Greenleaf published an essay entitled “Servant Leadership” in which he explored issues of power and authority in the corporate world. He concluded that, from a moral perspective, the “only authority deserving one’s allegiance is that which is freely and knowingly granted by the led to the leader in response to, and in proportion to, the clearly evident servant stature of the leader.”

Core Beliefs 1: Who Is Jesus?

22.06.2022 Categories: All | Gospel Written by: Neil Percival

I’ve been thinking recently about unity amongst Christians. What unites us are not the ways we do things, or even some of the things we believe. If we had to be the same in everything, that would be uniformity, not unity. And if we spent our time insisting that everyone else become like us and think like us and act like us, there would never be unity, only conflict…

Controlling the Chaos

27.05.2022 Categories: All Written by: Neil Percival

I have a small triangle of grass outside my house that I mow each week. The edges are neatly trimmed. It has no weeds. The same can’t be said for the rest of the Church grounds (they’re really not that bad), but I do have this one small patch where I maintain order in the midst of chaos. When I’m finished, I just stand there for a while, admiring what I’ve done, and feeling good.

Easter Risk Management

08.04.2022 Categories: All | Easter Written by: Neil Percival

Over the last couple of years, as we’ve faced the COVID pandemic and devastating bushfires and floods, we’ve had to come to a greater understanding of the concept of risk. What is the likelihood of something bad happening us? What will be the consequences if that thing happens? How can we prepare so that we minimise, or eliminate, the chances of that bad thing happening to us? This is what risk management is all about.

Tags: Risk, Insurance, Romans 3:23-25

We’re All Cracked

25.03.2022 Categories: All Written by: Neil Percival

St. John’s Anglican Church is an old building and it’s full of cracks. We’ve tried patching them, but they always come back. Back in 2020, I started monitoring one crack to see what was going on. We were still in drought and, at the time, it was 3mm wide. Over the next few months it opened up to over 4mm. But then we had a wet year. At my most recent check, the crack had reduced to just over 1mm wide…

Be Extraordinary

18.02.2022 Categories: All Written by: Neil Percival

You might be familiar with the words of Jesus, “Do to others as you would like them to do to you” (Luke 6:31). Some call this the golden rule… The English author and philosopher, G. K. Chesterton, reflecting on these words, said that “Christianity isn’t just difficult – it’s impossible.”