Riders in the Tour de France (remember….the reason I’m tired and cranky this month!) spend a lot of time cycling in a peleton – from the french word for ‘herd’.  A peleton is like a moving, living, breathing animal, snaking its way around the roads of France.  In it are 180 individual cyclists, moving, riding, racing as one.

So why do it?  Why not leave the front of the peleton and ride off to victory and glory? Continue reading →

I’m going to be tired and grumpy for the next three weeks.

It is of course not my fault.  The blame lies fairly and squarely at the feet of the organisers of the Tour de France for putting their event on in such a different time zone, and of course I also partially blame SBS for telecasting the whole race live.  21 consecutive late nights gets me every year. Continue reading →

One of the funny things about growing a little older is that it doesn’t always feel much different to the days of our youth.  Sure, for me there are a few aches and pains after a game of basketball that I wouldn’t necessarily have expected in days gone by.  My body doesn’t quite recover the way it used to.

But on the whole, I don’t feel so very different from 10, 15 or perhaps even 20 years ago.  I’m still me.  I still get caught by surprise when I have to behave like a grown up. Continue reading →

Having thought a little about the cult of celebrity last weekand about the responses to our culture’s desperation for fame and fortunte, I got to thinking a little more about Jesus.  Always a dangerous thing to do. Continue reading →

If you look hard, or even not so hard, there is a very clear fascination with celebrity in modern popular culture. There are whole industries dedicated to creating, following, photographing, blogging, building and breaking celebrities.

And we lap it up, buying the magazines, reading the blogs, watching television shows that examine the minutia of celebrity life in nauseating detail. Continue reading →

One of the things I’m enjoying at the moment is my rookie basketball season.

At the ripe old age of 37, it seemed ideal to begin a new sporting career, and basketball loomed as an opportunity thanks to the welcoming crew at the grandly named Uniting Church Launceston Allstars.

UCLA is a basketball club that’s part of Trinity Uniting Church in Launceston and plays in the northern Tasmania Baptist basketball league.  How’s that for ecumenical!  We field two mens and two women’s teams in the Saturday night competition that is decidedly competitive.

I’m enjoying the physical nature of training and playing, and the challenge of learning a new sport – even if half the time I commit a foul, I have no idea what rule I’ve broken!

Most of all though, I’m enjoying the team thing. Continue reading →

At this week’s Tasmanian UCA ‘school of ministry’ we were encouraged to go wandering in Launceston, and to find space or place in which the presence of God spoke.  For me, it was a journey up the south Esk river, starting from the Tailrace (where the waters of the South Esk mingle with the Tamar having passed through a hydro power station), then the junction of the South Esk and Tamar, and finally up-stream in Cataract Gorge.  I took a few photos along the journey.

When I was a child, I thought like a child.  I talked like a child. I reasoned like a child
I was introduced to Jesus when I was a child
He strode along the beach to meet the fishermen
He was kind, and gentle, and generous
He was nice
He wore a dazzling white robe
With a shiny blue sash
He was tall
With light brown, almost blonde hair
And very handsome
I think perhaps he was Swedish

Now I have become a man I need to put childish ways behind me
I am meeting Jesus again
He spends his time with the underbelly of his society
He eats and drinks with drunkards and gluttons
He is anchored in Jewish culture
He wears his heart on his sleve
And sometimes it hurts to see it there
He is strong and courageous
He proclaims truth
Unashamedly
Perhaps knowing him might change me
If I let it