Gordon Burley
Thirteen years ago, when I first suggested writing these life coaching spots for radio, there was one guy who stepped up to mentor and join me in this project. He wrote 10 of the first 50 spots and gave me valuable insights and wisdom for the task. Telecommunications towers in South Australia’s Outback. PICTURE: John […]
Raising a family
As a radical teenager, we used to talk about giving our life for God. Changing the world. Telling others about Jesus. Righting injustice. PICTURE: standret/iStockphoto We would also say – “Don’t become conventional; 9 to 5 job, raising a family, paying a mortgage. No way man, stay radical!” Well, my kids are grown up now […]
Weird animals
If you study animals, humans really are odd. Our bodies and instincts mesh with the natural world, but our conscious thought, logic, morality, and love are bizarre. PICTURE: alice-photo/iStockphoto It’s like something, or someone, dropped a conscious soul into our fleshly bodies. We have all sorts of weird theories to explain this – alien seeding, […]
Resurrection
I simply don’t get people who want to accept Jesus’ teachings as wonderful, but think belief in Jesus’ resurrection is woeful. Follow Him but don’t worship Him? PICTURE: artplus/iStockphoto. “Would you take investment advice from someone who went bankrupt?” Why would you take life advice from someone whose life was an abject failure? It doesn’t make sense. If Jesus’ […]
Teach your children
There are some in our society who believe you shouldn’t teach religion to children – “let them learn it later when they can make up their own mind”. PICTURE: gpointstudio/iStockphoto Most people in history would think such a view is crazy. Isn’t your faith integral to who you are? Your identity? Your culture? Of course, it is! […]
Outsourcing care
We’ve in danger of outsourcing care in Australia. PICTURE: shironosov/iStockphoto Once in Australia there were few community services, charities and caring concerns. Families looked after their own. Neighbours called on each other. Communities rallied around a cause, and churches did the heavy lifting of charity. As we’ve got richer, we’re become specialised. We’ve developed nursing homes, […]
Abandoning community?
Numerous studies have begun to point out the seismic shift happening across Western society. It’s being noticed in all our once great cultural icons – Rotary, scouts, sporting groups and churches: the abandonment of community. PICTURE:Nilotpal Kalita/Unsplash That leaves me in a cold sweat. Westerners are abandoning community!? We are a human species, we only […]
Worship
Worship is in decline across the western world. There are all sorts of reasons we give for this; abuse scandals, leadership fails, judgemental faith – and there is merit to each of these. PICTURE: Jantanee Rungpranomkorn/iStockphoto A new book called The Great Dechurching found that the real reason churches are shrinking is because Westerners are abandoning […]
Where do you head?
Uni students, having found their freedom, either head to the books, or the bar. PICTURE: Alejandro Luengo/Unsplash When there are no restraints, where do you head? To the bar, casino, opium den, only fans. I head to the buffet! Where we head reveals something about where we are at existentially. Perhaps we have more constructive habits […]
Community
Are we losing the ability to live in community? PICTURE: Kylie Lugo/Unsplash Once we were forced to live together. Small houses, large families. You had to make it work, there was no-where else to go. Now we don’t join communities. We look for people who are the same as us online, and hang out with them. […]