Dale Appleby

He has left behind a blessing 18 May 14

Details: Written by: Administrator; Category: Weekly Reflections; Created: 12 May 2014

He has left behind a blessing

Compressed into a few sentences is a heart-breaking tragedy that opens the book of Ruth. It is easy to think of this story as a beautiful romance. But it begins with drought, destitution, and a flight to a land with better opportunity for survival. Here are “economic” refugees. But not the greedy, or the opportunistic, but the needy. Elimelech migrates with his family to survive.

And then in the foreign land Elimelech dies. Naomi is a widow with two sons who marry local girls. It seems the migration process has reached the next stage. But then the sons die. Naomi's only family are the extended families of her daughters in law. All local Moabites. She is a foreigner, resident in Moab only ten years.

It is no wonder she wants people to call her by a new name. No longer Naomi (pleasant) but Mara (bitter). Tragedy upon tragedy. Grief upon grief. Sensibly she decides to return home. But she returns bitter and empty.

But with one of her daughters in law.

Scripture and the Christ Luke (Emmaus) 24.13-35

Details: Written by: Administrator; Category: Easter; Created: 04 May 2014

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Scripture and the Christ Luke 24.13-35

Sermon preached at Christ the King Willetton on 4 May 14

The walk to Emmaus and why Jesus opened the scriptures in making himself known to them

Why change? 4 May 14

Details: Written by: Dale; Category: Weekly Reflections; Created: 28 April 2014

Why change?

Andrew Beatty and his family spent five years or so living in a small village in East Java in the 1990s. He is an anthropologist who was interested in the ways different religious and cultural streams worked together. He was there at a very interesting time when traditional Javanese religion and folk Islam were being influenced by a new radical strain of Islam.

His book, called “A Shadow Falls in the Heart of Java”, traces the different currents and influences that changed a settled village into one that began to be disturbed and divided. His book provides a very insightful picture of the different religious and cultural streams in an ordinary village. Mysticism, old animism, Hindu stories and plays, Islamic devotions and religious structures, all weaving themselves together in the life of a village.

The changes were brought about by a stricter form of Islam. At least by people who thought Islam should be practised in a way that appeared closer to the traditions and writings. Beatty is clearly in favour of the old syncretism and its gentle village life. He seems afraid of what the new radicals will do to the village.

A sequel written twelve years later shows that not all the feared changes took place. The village was harder to change than was feared (or hoped for).

J12a. Death and Resurrection John 11

Details: Written by: Administrator; Category: John's Gospel; Created: 24 April 2014

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Death and Resurrection John 11

Sermon preached at Christ the King Willetton on6 April 2014

How can death be overturned? Is something more than just grief possible? Is resurrection automatic or does it depend on Jesus? Do you have a sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord?