Traditions can be good.
Everybody is influenced by tradition! Well, at least to some form of established tradition that may have evolved (intentionally or not) in the families that we come from.
Adelaide the most livable city!!!
The two newspapers I most often read online are Adelaide Now and The Sydney Morning Herald. This week I had to laugh.
Front Page on Adelaide Now was ‘[Adelaide] City most livable for three years running’ (3/3/12) while front page on the Herald was ‘Sydney second least livable city in Australia’ (3/3/12).
Should we really care about this?!! I mean, what makes a city ‘livable’ will vary from person to person in the same way that our individual preferences change over which ice cream we may each like to eat! If you are interested, Adelaide tops the list because it is the most affordable place to buy a house (because of course that is the most important measure), has a good standard of living (compared to what?) and is clean (obviously Sydney has not been cleaning their toilets as regularly!).
I wonder what assessment God would hand down if asked?!
Death of the Wicked
You may not know this. I was born in the USA. I still hold my US passport and defend my heritage although I have lived in Australia since I was 10.
This week I have felt very conflicted and it would not be hard to work out why. The news of the killing of Osama Bin Laden has been greeted with relief, praise and joy. He has been the figurehead of evil in the minds of many for the past decade. For those who have been connected in any way to the terrorist attacks in Nairobi (1998), Yemen (2000), New York (2001), Washington (2001), United Flight 93 (2001), Bali (2002 to 2005), Iraq (2003), Madrid (2004), London (2005) and elsewhere, his death in many ways will allow another stage of healing in the cycle of grief.
Anzac Day & Easter
There is a strange tension in the way that our world relates to both Easter and Anzac Day
Anzac Day quite rightly asks us to pause and remember the sacrifice of our forefathers who went to battle and in many cases never returned. They fought for the freedoms that we now enjoy and willingly laid down their lives to keep the enemy at bay. It is a good thing that our society protects and honours our Anzacs.
Easter asks us to pause and remember the life, death and resurrection of Jesus who went into battle to deal with our rebellion and returned to confirm that he had achieved what he promised. He died for the forgiveness of our sin, but not just our sin, that of all people – family, friend, neighbour, and even foe.
churchcentralonline.com 