Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Read more

This review of Michael Jensen’s Sydney Anglicanism is by Arthur Davis, meetjesusatuni.com Sydney is another country A good friend of ours, a Sydneysider, was en route to Melbourne when she stopped at a roadhouse. Casually making conversation, she mentioned, ‘I’m from Sydney’. The response: ‘Ah, too bad!’ Our friend was a bit dumbfounded: it’s not that she necessarily sees Sydney as the be-all and end-all, yet Sydney was her world, and to find indifference and even hostility in another Australian... Read more

From Dr Michelle Borba: 4 Signs Your Kid May Be Over-Praised In all fairness, for years parents have been encouraged to “praise” their kids — and to do so lavishly. Reams of parenting books stress the value of giving kids all those accolades and acknowledgements–al those “Good job!” comments help our kids develop self-esteem! In fact, this weekend I picked up a flyer from at a parenting event with this advice: “Praising kids is the best way to boost their... Read more

From Mary Elizabeth Fisher: I just watched the mid day news…a hundred plus elderly men, really, nearly, all white, all walking in slow procession, dressed in red and I was grateful… Grateful for John’s record of Jesus going through hated Samaria and talking to a woman whose life of sexual intimacy was not one of wisdom… And she is a major witness to who Jesus is… Someone with a dodgy sexual background, a hated Samarian, and a woman… Then I... Read more

Our weekly post From the Shepherd’s Nook by John Frye A Great Suspicion While at Fuller Theological Seminary studying the history and practice of the spiritual disciplines, an opening statement by Dr. James E. Bradley, church historian, jolted me by its simplicity and frankness. “Most Christians think that true spirituality began with Martin Luther and John Calvin.” Bradley went on to explain a deep-seated suspicion in the church about anything to do with Christian formation prior to the Reformation. Bradley’s... Read more

From Sarah Bessey: “God wants to use you.” I have had to yank that lie right out of the ground, burn it like chaff. I know we mean well, of course we do. We say things like: “oh,  I just want to be used by God!” We sing songs: “use me, Jesus!” and we mean so well. When we say “used by God” we mean that we want our lives to count for something bigger than ourselves. Perhaps it’s because we... Read more