Oranges and lemons
Oranges and lemons DM 28th June 2025 Whoever composed the rhyme, “Oranges and lemons, the bells of St Clements” was a cheat! Lemons and Clements
Splitting the G
DM 22nd March 2025
Among the frothy festivities of St Patrick’s Day is the attempt at the bar to ‘split the G’. That is, to raise a glass of the brown stuff and take one or two carefully calculated gulps to reduce the froth line to a point where it comes close to the halfway mark of the letter G in the word Guinness. The ambitions of the Irish are breath-taking.
But one day, the One who makes us saints will raise a glass and split something: The P for Paradise, that is emblazoned on the goblets of heaven? The V for Victory, that is the lot of the saints because of the Lamb? The W for Worthy, that is the continual cry of those saints who see their Saviour? For did he not say at that last Supper: ‘For I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom’?
What an awesome day that will be. But what an awful day led to it, when the cup of Gethsemane was placed in his hand. It is too holy a moment to think of splitting anything, for that cup was the symbol of judgement and wrath for sinners like me. And in his bloody obedience, he did not stop at one gulp or two and then rest it on the bar, but took three and four and more until it was drained to the bitter dregs.
Recent Posts
Vasovagal
Vasovagal DM 21st June 2025 What a sook! Fancy fainting getting a simple blood test. It wasn’t the sight of blood. I never look. It
Names, names
Names, names DM 14th June 2025 The pressure’s on. Our Sunday School area at church is being renovated, and a new name is required. The
Happy shiny people
Happy shiny people DM 7th June 2025 My new shiny rubbish bins are now sitting proudly on the footpath. The council replaced them all across
The Calvary Memorial
The Calvary Memorial DM 31st May 2025 A hundred years ago, Edwin Markham wrote a poem to celebrate the life of Abraham Lincoln, which was
The Woodman
The Woodman DM 24th May 2025 The winter firewood arrived this week, and right on time to meet the drop in temperature. Pilliga wood, which
Dune erosion
Dune erosion DM 17th May 2025 Some sixty years ago, Frank Herbert, author of the enormously popular Dune series, wrote the following conversation in the
Please Stop
Please Stop? DM 10th May 2025 I think it was during Hans Zimmer’s Absurdity that I went into cardiac arrest. Well nearly. He’s always one
Nitpicking
Nitpicking DM 3rd May 2025 Former editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, John D Pringle once reminisced about one of his former bosses, A P