Category Archives: Q/A

The Sorting Hat Dilemma!

Sorting Hat

In J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter the new students at Hogwarts are sorted into houses by a talking ‘Sorting Hat’. Clever! If anyone has an issue, then don’t blame it on the faculty, blame it on the ‘Sorting Hat’!

On Sunday I received this anonymous question: ‘Can we please keep the same Home Group next year?’

Sure! Easy for me (Can’t believe we are already thinking about next year!). I love that you have enjoyed your Home Group so much this year that you would like more of that next year.

But before we lock that down, it may be helpful to consider some factors.

Continue reading →

Question: What does Ephesians 5:21-33 say about how men should relate to other women who are not their wives?

question mark

Thanks for the question.

Your question however is not really answered by the passage. Notice that Ephesians 5:21-33 is using an exclusive relationship to illustrate a point for the whole church. This passage is not saying ‘Women, submit to Men’ or ‘Men, love Women’. It is saying ‘Wives, submit to the husband you have married’ (my paraphrase) or ‘Husbands, love the wife you have married’ (my paraphrase again).

Continue reading →

‘Why do we seem more concerned by the same sex marriage debate, then the treatment of asylum seekers?’

question mark

Good question. And here is a brief answer that by no means considers all the ‘issues’.

Australia’s polices and treatment of asylum seekers is not good (although I can recognise it is not a simple issue). The way that we are handling this humanitarian crisis  (in my view) is driven more by protecting our sovereign rights (mostly our level of wealth) than it is driven by compassion for those who are vulnerable – for the myriad of reasons that they are more vulnerable.

Continue reading →

Question: A ‘fruit of the Spirit’ is ‘peace’ yet sometimes even Christians experience personal conflict – where is peace when engaged in conflict??

question mark

The second characteristic of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22) is ‘peace’ and for Christians it may be helpful to consider the idea of ‘letting go and letting God!’ Often the reason why we are not ‘at peace’ in situations is because we are holding the reigns too tightly as if that was the way to ensure we get our own way. Whether you get your own way or not is secondary to the attitude which we bring to any conflict situation. What we need to ensure we do in all circumstances is honour God and so ‘letting go and letting God’ is a good rule of thumb.

Three questions you may find helpful to ask yourself:

  1. In conflict – have you thought about why the conflict has arisen?
  2. How do you approach conflict – avoid it, embrace it or treat it as a godly challenge?
  3. Above all, in whatever you do, do you honour God – in the home, in church, in the world?