What is the church? God chooses and preserves for himself a community elected for eternal life and united by faith, who love, follow, learn from, and worship God together. God sends out this community to proclaim the gospel and prefigure Christ’s kingdom by the quality of their life together and their love for one another. (NewContinue reading “Catechism 48”
Author Archives: Matthew Pullar
Catechism 47
Does the Lord’s Supper add anything to Christ’s atoning work? No, Christ died once for all. The Lord’s Supper is a covenant meal celebrating Christ’s atoning work; as it is also a means of strengthening our faith as we look to him, and a foretaste of the future feast. But those who take part with unrepentantContinue reading “Catechism 47”
No turning
I dreamt a ferryboat dream where, crossing some unknown stretch of deep, we struck another time and you were lost into the depths of There, and, Orpheus, I wandered far where loss and past commingled in faint glimpses of your head – behind only, never quite your face. And when re-united, by those turns thatContinue reading “No turning”
Before we save the daylight
Settle. The city is quietly occupied, the day protected – as though something must be done. Watch a screen by all means, but first gather friends, and walk to the shops to lubricate the day. Or hit the streets, if you choose – to enjoy unexpected sunshine, and the hum, like a ball hissing throughContinue reading “Before we save the daylight”
Catechism 46
What is the Lord’s Supper? Christ commanded all Christians to eat bread and to drink from the cup in thankful remembrance of him and his death. The Lord’s Supper is a celebration of the presence of God in our midst; bringing us into communion with God and with one another; feeding and nourishing our souls. ItContinue reading “Catechism 46”
Blackbirding
Did you come here for pearls, having heard of the Bay where the oyster-shell waters open up wide to share? Have you brought your investors to see what’s for sale in the town by the jetty at old Roebuck Bay? Have your brought your own tender to hold as you dive, or some eager companionsContinue reading “Blackbirding”
Ritual
Why do I walk on tiptoes when I first step into icy blue? As if my waist must stay above the lapping line, as though caution will keep me safe in this task which infants undertake with glee? The slow preparation, the gasps as underneath we plunge: all this is ritual, and weContinue reading “Ritual”
The Snake that Wasn’t
First, it prompts barking, then slithers, Its brown face poking, scaled, from the trees. Bamboo and rock can’t expose its camouflage, yet the dog is wiser. Trapped by barking and pool, the reptile skulks while, in Sunday daze, we search out “Kimberley snake control” and keep the dog at bay. In a flash between leaves,Continue reading “The Snake that Wasn’t”
Asking
Too simple. The copers always say yes until the last and the question’s sincerity must be matched with the moment, the timing devised for the heart to respond: no hallway exchanges, or coffee machine chit-chat. Space is required – a safe place to land when sand bags and bubbles collapse. Too late to be askingContinue reading “Asking”
You can’t read in traffic
Stuck in horrendous traffic on the way to work yesterday, I began to reflect on the irony that, as someone who spends most of my life talking about reading and writing, I have remarkably little time to read or write. This is what those thoughts generated.
The Consolations of Writing 