blog
Lessons Learned from Ecclesiastes
Lessons Learned from Ecclesiastes This Sunday we come to the end of our study in the book of Ecclesiastes as we land our series, Chasing the Wind. And what a ride it’s been! I don’t know about you but I feel equal parts exhilarated and gloomy, excited and depressed. But I guess that’s exactly the way we should be feeling. After all, when we consider the totality of life in this world, as the Teacher has been doing throughout the book, it is equal parts exhilarating and depressing, exciting and sobering, joyous and painful, beautiful and tragic. This is my biggest personal takeaway from the book of Ecclesiastes. The complex, multi-faceted, nuanced experience of life. To put it simply, life is not simple, nor is it neat. In fact,
Learning from Our Aboriginal Friends
Learning from Our Aboriginal Friends I don’t know how much you know about the culture and history of our First Nations people, but I must confess that I have been ignorant for years. The only thing I remember from my school education was the movie, ‘Rabbit Proof Fence’. Over the past few years though, I have had a growing desire to learn more from our indigenous Australian family. Some things have sparked this for me. For example, Peter Adam (formerly principal of Ridley College Melbourne) taught me a Bible College subject in early 2019. I loved watching this brilliant, humble, Bible-loving Christian show so clearly that the church needs to be an advocate for indigenous Australians (you can read some of his articles here). Another thing that sparked this
A Poem for Father’s Day
A Poem for Father’s Day This weekend is Father’s Day. It is a day where many young children proudly make cards and hand-pick random gifts for their Dads. Older children purchase the never-fail Bunnings voucher, and weekends are filled with family catch-ups and meals. However, while many celebrate on this day, others find it a day filled with sadness, regret, pain, and other complex emotions. While we acknowledge that Father’s Day is a secular tradition, the Bible is clear that we are to honour and love our Fathers (Eph. 6:2). We will celebrate Dads in the service on Sunday by acknowledging some of the wonderful things our Dads have taught us. But we know that even the best earthly Fathers are only a shadow of our perfect Heavenly Father.
Come to ‘BECOME Youth Camp 2020’
Come to ‘BECOME Youth Camp 2020’ BECOME Youth Camp is less than a month away! Youth Camp is always a highlight of the year. We are excited that camp can go ahead this year, and we are looking forward to a weekend away at the Sunshine Coast with all our youth. BECOME is on the first weekend of school holidays, the 18-20th September. We are heading up to the Sunshine Coast Recreation Centre, a spot we have been to before and which has clean and comfy cabins, great food, and plenty of space. It is also located right next to the beach at Currimindi. Over the weekend there will be a series of ‘Tribe War’ challenges, games, chill time, and a series of sessions where we will worship God
Learning the Language of Lament
Learning the Language of Lament When life stings, what do you do? Where do you turn? Do you turn away from God in despair, spurned by the hurts of unmet expectations or unanswered questions? Do you turn to God, but hide your real feelings beneath a veneer of false positivity or denial that everything is OK? What if I told you it doesn’t have to be this way, and that God doesn’t want it to be this way. This year has stung many of us. Globally, we’ve endured the COVID-19 pandemic and all of its fallout. Personally, I’ve endured the unexpected loss of a dear uncle, and I know many of you have walked through your own hurts and sorrows. Even within our wider community, the recent death of
Building Strong Marriages
Building Strong Marriages The negative effects of the pandemic on mental health and families is already well acknowledged. Pandemics and in fact, all the crises of life highlight our great need to have strong relationships around us. Whether it’s with your spouse if you’re married, or with a close friend, or with your Growth Group. We all need strong, healthy, mutual relationships because we’re better together (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)! In this blog I want to highlight a brilliant resource that Michanne and I have been benefitting from. It’s called The Marriage Course and it’s created by Holy Trinity Brompton (the same church behind the Alpha Course!). We have already done 5 of the 7 sessions and they have been brilliant. They’re really practical and the videos are super professional and
What’s Happening at Youth
What’s Happening at Youth? BPCC Youth is back in full swing for Term 3, and we’ve had a great (COVID-Safe) start to the term! While we appreciate the resources that enabled us to meet online, it is so great to be back in-person, having lots of fun and many powerful discussions with our young people as we seek to equip them up to be life-long disciples of Jesus. We are meeting back in person on Friday nights, from 7-9pm. Our Friday night program is open to anyone in high school (Yr. 7-12), and while each night is different, each Friday there is plenty of fun, space to hangout, opportunities to ask questions, and a biblical message which anyone can engage with. If you are in high school, or you
Everybody Worships
Everybody Worships I love the quote Adam shared last Sunday about worship from late author David Foster Wallace: “There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.” It’s common for us to think that ‘worship’ is what we do only on Sunday when we sing. But singing is only one of the many ways that we worship (though it’s one of my favourite ways, for sure!). We also corporately worship God through giving, praying, reading God’s word, and so on. An accurate definition of worship is ‘extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object of esteem’. The car enthusiast who spends all their money on car parts and time watching car races; worships cars. The businessman who
