Word on Wednesday with John Mason

Last Sunday afternoon, at least fifteen Jewish people were killed by gunmen and some twenty nine seriously injured at a Hanukkah event at Bondi Beach, Sydney. In a world that is divided, where anger and hatred can dominate, is there anywhere we can find comfort and hope?

On Sunday afternoon, fifteen Jewish people were shot dead by gunmen and some twenty-one injured at a Hanukkah event at Bondi in Sydney. A great anti-Semitic evil was perpetrated. In a world which is increasingly divided, where anger and hatred increasingly dominate, is there any hope for the future?

This podcast reflects on the significance of the season of Advent and the return of God's King and the hope that this offers to our world.

It's said that familiarity breeds contempt. Christmas celebrations can at first fill us with excitement and awe. But with the passing of the years, we can become indifferent and sometimes even cynical about them. How many of us have become so familiar with the account of Jesus's birth that its reality and true meaning no longer touches our hearts?

Find out more in this podcast.

Advent calendars are becoming increasingly a pre-Christmas feature of our culture. In a November 26 2016 Spectator UK article, Ysenda Maxtone Graham spoke of Advent as a season of "death, judgment, heaven and hell. I relish the frisson of gloom, the foreboding and fear of judgment you get at Advent," she wrote.

Isaiah the prophet, writing in the 6th century BC spoke not only of the first coming of God's Messiah, but also of his second coming which we recall in the season of Advent. Find out more in this podcast.

We do everything we can to deny the passing of time. We pay attention to the marketing of products and exercise routines that supposedly delay the ravages of the passing years or even reverse the process. But we can't stop the advance of time. Jesus doesn't beat about the bush when he addresses the realities of time and our troubled world. In this Advent Season, this podcast focuses on his words about what the future holds.

Uncertain times challenge us with the bigger questions of life and whether a good and caring God does exist. Jesus' words in Matthew chapter 5 are helpful: "Do not think I have come to abolish the law and prophets. I have not come to abolish but to fulfill."

Find out more in this podcast.

Hallelujah, which means Praise the Lord! is an exhortation which forms the bookends of the last five psalms. Hallelujah is a word of praise which challenges us to ask, Who is God that we would want to praise Him?

Find out more in this podcast.

Do you have any regrets? In Psalm 51, David lays out his confession to God following his affair with Bathsheba. It is timeless in its application as it also speaks to us about ourselves and about God.

The Bible is a book without pictures. This is because there is an impenetrable mystery about God. How can we begin to grasp God's awesome majesty, holiness and power?

Because relationship is at the heart of God's nature, we come to know him through words. In Psalm 139 the power of words brings us into the presence of God.

We usually expect personal testimonies to be about conversion experiences. However, testimonies from God's people about God's ongoing work in their lives can be very encouraging.

Psalm 116 gives us a rare glimpse of such a testimony.

"Count your blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done" are the words of an old Christian song. How easily we forget to thank God for all the good things he provides for us.

But there is something else we often forget. King David wrote about it in Psalm 103. This podcast reflects on David's words.

CS Lewis once observed, "I think we all sin by needlessly disobeying the apostolic injunction to rejoice as much as by anything else." Yet rejoicing is not only an apostolic injunction. A number of psalms in the Old Testament Psalter pulsate with exhortations to sing our praise to the LORD with joy in our hearts.

Find out more in this reflection on Psalm 96.

The opening lines of Psalm 95 read: O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving.

How often do we express our gratitude to the LORD? Do we thank him daily for his countless mercies? This podcast reflects on the significance of thanksgiving in our relationship with God.

One of the things I love about the Bible is its earthy realism. It understands the world we live in - the good and the bad, the grief and the joy. It also understands how we feel about life's injustices.

Find out more in this week's podcast.

Depression is a reality experienced by many people. Psalms 42 and 43 testify to this. In both Psalms the writer asks why he is depressed. 'I believe' he says. 'Why then do I feel as I do?'

Find out more in this week's podcast.

Many people these days experience depression. It's not something new and should not be lightly dismissed. Psalms 42 and 43 reveal lessons from the experience of the psalm writer which can help us. Find out more in this week's podcast.

Twenty four years after the events of 9/11, it is easy to put aside the hideous, evil acts that cut short lives of people going about their daily affairs. However, it can never be said that the Bible knows nothing about catastrophic events - and not least human evil and its devastating effects on this world. Psalm 46 introduces themes we often overlook. Find out more in today's podcast.

Christians, especially in Northern Nigeria, are reckoned to be the most persecuted people in the world. Our hearts cry out with the repeated words of Psalm 13: How long, O LORD ...? Our sense of right and wrong and our cry for justice suggest we live in a moral universe.

Find our more in this week's podcast.

Studies reveal that Christians are the most persecuted people in the world. The theme of the persecution of God's people is not new. Psalm 2 begins: Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? Find out more in this podcast.

Have you ever been resentful of people whose lives seem successful? The very thought of them strips any sense of happiness from you. There's nothing wrong with being successful. The question is, what value do we put on it? Does success represent what life is all about, or is there more to life? This second reflection on Psalm 1 identifies our two life choices.

Happiness is something we long for. But how can we achieve it? Can it be a goal? Or are there too many variables outside our control? Psalm 1 helps us work through these questions.

What do you think of prayer? Do you pray regularly? And if you do, do you pray with confidence? Can God, whom we call Father, be trusted to hear our prayers and answer them? This podcast focuses on Jesus' parable in Luke chapter 11, which gives us a clear picture of the God to whom we can pray with complete confidence.

What is your ambition in life? The themes of royalty and service stand out in Luke's record of the life and work of Jesus of Nazareth. Although he is demonstrably God's King, he never used his divine powers out of self-interest or self-aggrandizement, but for the good of others.

He demonstrated supremely that ministry is about service.

The themes of royalty and service stand out in Luke's record of the life and work of Jesus of Nazareth. Although he was God's King, he never used his divine powers out of self-interest or self-aggrandisement, but for the good of others.

Find out more in this podcast.

With the current geo-political upheavals, many fear what the future holds. The uncertainty today is exacerbated by the angry divisions within societies. We can feel powerless when it comes to talking about our faith. However, we find help and hope in a parable that Jesus told.

In this world of turmoil and suffering, we long for a day when all will be put right. A scene in the public ministry of Jesus of Nazareth helps us.

CS Lewis in Screwtape Letters observes that there are two equal and opposite errors that people fall into regarding the dark powers. One mistake is to disbelieve in their existence; the other is to believe in them to excess. In Ephesians chapter 6 verses 10ff, Paul addresses this reality.

CS Lewis in Screwtape Letters observes that there are two equal and opposite errors that people fall into regarding the dark powers. One mistake is to disbelieve in their existence; the other is to believe in them to excess. In Ephesians chapter 6 verses 10ff, Paul addresses this reality.

CS Lewis in Screwtape Letters, observes that there are two equal and opposite errors that people fall into regarding the dark powers. One mistake is to disbelieve in their existence; the other is to believe in them to excess.

In Ephesians chapter 6, Paul the Apostle. helps us to understand the fundamentals of the conflict in the world. Find out more in this podcast.

"The success . . . of the most influential framework for making sense of human existence that has ever existed always depended on people like my Godmother: people who saw in the succession of one generation by another something more than merely the way of all the earth . . .

"As a Christian, . . . she had the hope of eternal life. It was a faith that she had received from her mother, who had received it in turn from her parents. . . . And this was the tradition that my Godmother passed on to me."

Tom Holland in Dominion

Everyone loves a story. The huge success of the Narnia books of C S Lewis, The Lord of the Rings from J R R Tolkein and, of course, J K Rowling's Harry Potter series, all come to mind. But fiction is not the only form of story people long for.

With that in mind, listen to this podcast with the story of the man whom H G Wells observed ''... is easily the most dominant figure in history'.

Can we help our broken and divided world find hope and peace? Or has the voice of God's people been silenced? Tom Holland in Dominion traces the influences of the Jesus sstory on the West, including the values of right and wrong, justice and compassion.

In his 2004 book The Holy Trinity, Robert Lethem commented on the impact of postmodernism on society. "In terms of instability and diversity, the postmodern world of constant flux is seeing insecurity, breakdown, and the rise of various forms of terrorism."

Come with me to Paul the Apostle's prayer of thanksgiving for the church in Colossae in Colossians chapter 1.

How do we respond to this changing world that denies the sacrificial practice of Christianity?

Is there anything that can really make us different - that can shake us out of our apathy and anxieties? That can inject enthusiasm and joy, confidence and courage into our lives?

Come with me to the events of Pentecost that we read about in Acts chapter 2.

There are moments in life when our hearts are lifted to a sense of the transcendent - perhaps when hearing some sublime music or gazing on a glorious scene. For a few fleeting seconds we are enchanted by the prospect of a world whose beauty and peace surpass our usual experiences. And we long for it. Does our longing suggest it could be real?

There are moments in life when our hearts are lifted to a sense of the transcendent - perhaps when hearing some sublime music or gazing on a glorious scene. For a few fleeting seconds we are enchanted by the prospect of a world whose beauty and peace surpass our usual experiences. And we long for it. Does our longing suggest it could be real?

The Easter season challenges us to think about life and death matters. Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son alerts us to the existence of a God whose nature is always to have mercy.

Over this Easter season we've touched on the Gospel record of Jesus' physical resurrection as well as some of the implications of this momentous event. In 1st Corinthians chapter 15, Paul lifts a corner of the curtain on what this new life means.

This podcast as it reflects on these verses.

Following the death of Pope Francis, one commentator reported that the Pope's body was being laid to rest for eternity in a Basilica outside the Vatican. It would appear they were unaware of the credal statement that "We believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting". This podcast reflects on Paul's words in his first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 15.

Anyone who is alert to the strange mixture of good and evil in the world around us, can well be tempted to despair. Is there any hope for the future?

The events of the first Easter Day awakened the world to the dawning of a new era and with it the assurance that there is more to life than our experiences now. In our troubled, conflicted and war-ravaged world, how encouraging this is. The resurrection of Jesus reveals that death need not be the end, but the door to life in all its fullness and joy.

Why is it, that despite all the hopes and dreams of the world becoming a better place, wars, injustice and poverty continue?

Why, two millennia ago, did Jesus of Nazareth die - the most unjust conviction ever?

Luke chapter 22 records Jesus' last words at his last Passover meal with his disciples - a meal now known as the Last Supper.

GK Chesterton once observed, "On five occasions in history the church has gone to the dogs, but on each occasion it was the dogs who died."

Are you interested in playing a part in a gospel movement today?

Find out more in this week's podcast.

What do you think of prayer? Do you pray with purpose and confidence? Prayer is integral to our partnership with the Lord - and not least in our promotion of the gospel.

This third podcast in the series God's Great Passion focuses on prayer, especially as it relates to gospel mission.

The February Barna Report revealed "that while 71% of adults" (in America) "believe in the existence of one or more gods or spiritual authorities, far fewer said they believe in the existence or influence of Jesus Christ (59%) or the God of the Bible (40%)". In the second week of this series, join me in exploring Matthew 28 verses 18-20.

In a report released last week, Dr George Barna wrote, "Fewer American adults put God at the center of their lives, view their relationship with Him as important, or rely on Him for daily guidance."

Fine out more in this podcast.

It is often said that we have only one life to live. Yet how many people really believe this? C.S. Lewis commented, "If I find in myself desires which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."

Find out more in this week's podcast.

In his Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5 Jesus says, Let your light shine before others so they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. In chapter 6 he says, Beware of practising your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them. Is Jesus contradicting himself? Find out more in today's podcast.

HG Wells, historian and author, said, "Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history". Why then was HG Wells, and many like him, not a believer? Perhaps it has something to do with what we might call, God's deep irony.

Find out more in this podcast.

The crucifixion of Jesus is key to the Christian faith. And yet it seems utter foolishness and weakness. Find out more about the wisdom of God and the power of God at work, in this podcast.

As the Anglican form of the Lord's Supper is often misunderstood, this podcast gives a brief introduction of key themes.

As the Anglican form of the Lord's Supper is often misunderstood, this podcast gives a brief introduction to key themes.

Why do people suffer in a world where a good and loving God rules? Find out more in this reflection on Psalm 46.

Elections can prompt us to wonder if there will ever be a leader who truly governs for the good of the people and the country. Can we hope for a perfect leader whom we can honor and respect? This podcast addresses this issue and the longing we have for a truly good leader.

If we are to understand the trauma and trials of life, we need more than human wisdom and understanding. When the Bible speaks of wisdom it speaks of the complex matrix of intelligence, knowledge and power within a moral framework working together towards a good outcome. Find out more in this week's podcast.

Martin Luther's 1963 "I have a dream ..." speech in Washington DC fired the hearts of American people across the racial divide to a new vision and energy to promote harmony and peace. Yet within five years, Martin Luther King himself was gunned down by an assassin's bullet.

Will there always be death and destruction or is there some hope for our world? John us as this week's podcast considers Isaiah's words in chapter 60, where we find the theme of a renewed city.

Writing in the Weekend Australian January 4-5 2025,Greg Craven, former Vice-Chancellor of The Catholic University in Sydney, observed that Christmas has not merely "become commercial ... but that it has become materialist". Later on he adds, " ... people long for a spiritual reality that transcends mere functional reality". Considering this desire to reawaken the meaning of the Christmas story, this week's podcast considers afresh the various facets of the original records found in Matthew and Luke.

T.S. Eliot prophetically observed in his Choruses from the Rock in 1934: " ... Men have left GOD not for other gods, they say, bur for no God: and this has never happened before. ..." What is the most pressing issue as we enter the new year? T.S. Eliot suggested it is the matter of God in our lives. This podcast reflects on the reality of this truth.

Does Christmas hold out something special for you? Or is it nothing but fake news and a season of stress? This podcast reflects on two scenes from Luke chapter 2, which places Jesus's birth in its historical context and focuses on some insights into the event.

We all like to think that there are areas in our life where we are in control.

CS Lewis in Surprised by Joy wrote of his pre-Christian phase: “… But, of course, what mattered most of all was my deep-seated hatred of authority, my monstrous individualism, my lawlessness. No word in my vocabulary expressed deeper hatred than the word INTERFERENCE. But Christianity placed at the centre what then seemed to me a transcendental Interferer. If its picture were true, then no sort of ‘treaty with reality’ could ever be possible. There was no region, even in the innermost depth of...

"Prepare ye the way of the Lord" are the opening words of the musical Godspell that opened in 1971.The lyrics pick up the theme of John the Baptist's preaching 2 millennia ago as he prepared people for the coming of God's promised Messiah or King. Now in the season Advent, we need to prepare for the return of God's King.

Lord Acton observed in 1887, that leaders are inclined to use their powers corruptly. this is especially true of despotic rulers who are not held accountable. Significantly, Isaiah the prophet spoke of a very different leader who would emerge.

Thanksgiving is a theme that permeates the Bible - especially the Psalms. And while we do live in an uncertain world, there is still much for which to be thankful. Paul the Apostle encouraged the Philippian Christians to be thankful in these words in chapter 4 and verses 4 through 9: Rejoice in the Lord always.

This week's podcast reflects on this during this time of Thanksgiving.

Jesus's physical resurrection from the dead is fundamental to the Christian faith.Without it, as Paul the Apostle says in First Corinthians chapter 15, our faith is meaningless.

The 1995 Joan Osborne hit What If God Was One of Us? asked the seemingly impossible question about seeing God face to face in human form. It challenges our worldview and our view of God. This podcast reflects on these issues.

John the Gospel writer tells us of a woman at a well in Samaria two thousand years ago, who was longing for happiness. It had eluded her, until she had an unexpected conversation at the village well.

In March 1973, Pink Floyd introduced the line, 'The dark side of the moon'. The album enjoyed great success, addressing dark questions about life. In the sixth of the seven signs, Jesus encounters a man who had known nothing but darkness from birth.

'Do you want to live forever?' was the question leading into an article, 'From Here to Eternity' in the Weekend Australian Magazine (May 27-28 2023). The article took up personal stories of a small number who believe in the science of freezing their body at death and holding it in cryonic suspension until a future time when science and medicine will have addressed the issue of death.

But someone has already been resurrected from the dead. Find out more in today's podcast.

Christian faith is regularly considered to be 'a leap in the dark'. But daily we take countless steps of faith - faith that the food we eat and the water we drink won't harm us; the traffic will stop when we step out at a marked crosswalk and the flight we board will land safely at the destination for which we were ticketed. Today's reflection focuses on the faith of a father when Jesus healed his son from afar.

Death is the ultimate certainty we all face. It's why literature, film and philosophy so often dwell on the themes of our mortality. But it's rare that anyone claims they can do anything about it.

Jean Paul Sartre, the French existentialist anticipated the sense of aloneness people experience today. Jesus makes it clear that life is about more than bread for the body. Satisfying life calls for bread for our sou - which he alone can offer.

John continues his account of Jesus with a fourth sign - the miraculous provision of food for five thousand people.

Do we think that Jesus was the greatest teacher in history? Do we agree with the author HG Wells that 'Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history'? Or is there more to this? John records in chapter 5 of his gospel, the moment when Jesus healed a paralyzed man. This is the 3rd sign, giving a further clue to Jesus' true identity.

God has built into the universe, laws, the regularities we observe. However, these laws don't prevent him from intervening, if he chooses to create an irregularity which we call a miracle. Jesus performed his first miracle at a wedding in the small village of Cana in Galilee, when he turned water into wine. He did this for a bigger purpose than simply resolving an embarrassed bridegroom's dilemma. This miracle in John's Gospel is the first of the 7 signs revealing Jesus' true identity.

Despite the 2009 campaign by Atheism UK - There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life - people are still looking for answers to life's meaning because they are depressed, isolated and disillusioned. Many thinking people are now asking if their worldview needs to be reviewed.

Despite advertising and promotion by the atheist society in the UK, people are still disillusioned with life, depressed and alienated. Many are re-assessing their lives and philosophy of life which has resulted in an increased interest in Christianity.

In January 2009, the atheist society in the UK ran a campaign on London buses. The slogan read: There's Probably No God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life. However, people are still disappointed with life, depressed, lonely and disillusioned and many are re-thinking their philosophy of life. They are wondering if their worldview needs to be reviewed.

In 2009 the atheist society in the UK ran a campaign on London buses with the slogan: There's Probably No God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life. However people are still depressed, disappointed with life, lonely and disillusioned, so many are reassessing their philosophy of life. This podcast discusses some of these issues with reference to John's Gospel, chapter 1.

In January 2009 Atheism UK ran an advertising campaign on London buses. It read: There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life. Despite this, people are disappointed with life, depressed, lonely and disillusioned. Thinking people are now asking if their worldview needs to be reviewed.

How often do we express our gratitude to the LORD? Do we wake up in the morning and go to bed at night with thanksgiving in our heart and praise on our lips? This podcast encourages us to be thankful with the words of Psalm 95 which begins: ' O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!'

For the first three hundred years or so after Jesus' death and resurrection, his followers were regularly persecuted under Roman rule. Yet they were called up to pray for their leaders as people whom God had provided for the good order and protection of society in a fallen world.

Do we criticize our leaders? Or do we pray for them?

A criticism of Christianity that constantly arises is over the question of suffering in the world. It's one of the toughest to answer for anyone who believes that God now only exists but is also all-powerful and all-compassionate. This podcast, includes a reflection on Psalm 13.

Who Am I? Is this a question you ask? Have you found the answer? This reflection on Psalm 8 comes up with a surprising answer.

God's people are regularly mocked for their faith. Psalm 2 alerts us to the plotting of men and women against God.

Are you ever resentful of successful people who post their lavish lifestyles on social media: their achievements, perfect family and exotic vacations? Is this really the epitome of life? Or is there something more? Psalm 1 takes us to the two choices we have.

To be happy is something we long for. But how can we achieve it? Psalm 1 helps us find the key to being happy.

How can we weather the challenges of our changing and uncertain world? Find encouragement in this reflection on a profound prayer of the Apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter 3

What does Jesus expect of everyone who believes? A third part of Jesus' prayer in John chapter 17 provides the answer to this question.

To say that Jesus is the only way to God seems very narrow-minded. The story of Jesus is woven around a virgin birth and miracles. The greater part of Jesus' prayer in John chapter 17 focuses on. his disciples and their significant role in the promotion. of God's good news.

Are your prayers all about you? Are they like Christopher Robin's bedtime prayers - God bless ... God bless ... ? Listen to this week's podcast on Jesus' prayer in John chapter 17 and be encouraged in the focus of your prayer life.

How often are your prayers prompted by your meditation on God's Word? In Daniel chapter 9 we find Daniel confessing not only his own sin, but also the sins of God's people. And he then asks God to honour his promises to the people of Israel.

Do you have any regrets? You may regret words you let rip and can't take back, or a relationship you should never have started. Listen to this reflection on Psalm 51, where David expresses his guilt to God following his adultery with Bathsheba.

Is there anything we can do that might make a difference in our world, where daily the news seems to get worse?

Listen to this reflection on a prayer of Moses found in Numbers chapter 14.

Do you ever feel alone, isolated from people and from God? Find encouragement in this week's podcast looking at the words of Psalms 42 and 43.

What can shake us out of our apathy and fear and make us an intrepid people? Listen afresh to the events of the Pentecost following the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Porocity is an important aspect of the world around us and to our own life and well-being. However there is another dimenstion to porocity: the porocity of the universe. Find out more in this week's podcast.

Porocity is an important aspect of the world around us and to our own life and well-being. However we tend to overlook the fact of the porocity of the universe - the non-material supernatural dimension of existence, beyond the space-time material world that is capable of movement within the material universe. Find out more in this week's podcast.

In a culture which ignores or rejects transcendental truth, the fact of Jesus' resurrection from the dead gives us hope.

The orthodox Christian creeds state that 'we believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting'. How can this be? Paul the Apostle answers our question in 1 Corinthians chapter 15.