Rev Shirley Murphy
The thoughts, reflections, faith stories and meanderings of an 
Anglican Priest

Philippians 4:4 - Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! It’s true that there are some people who always seem to have...

We hear John the Baptist calling, “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every...

Most of us are familiar with the Australian poem, “Said Hanrahan” by John O’Brien (P.J. Hartigan). The menfolk are gathered on a frosty...

John the Baptist is the most unlikely Christmas character that we are ever going to meet, yet every year he shows up. He shows up to...

Waiting is not a popular past time in our culture today. We have our photos developed at a One Hour Photo Shop, take our clothes to Same...

“I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have...

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.”...

“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the...

"What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’” Mark 13:37 Are you attentive to Christ? Though this is a profoundly important question, there...

When I think back on the lives of my grandparents, I wonder what it must have been like. What was it like before electricity was...

This word hope is used a lot in our language. We might ask our children, “What do you hope for Christmas?” A counselor might ask, “What...

I used to have a computer called ‘Advent’. It was rather slow and involved a lot of waiting about for things to download. It was well...

In 1828, a giant of Russian literature was born into a noble family. He was to become one of the most famous writers of all time, but...

Jesus said, ‘Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.’ (Luke 21.33) In the film ‘Toy Story’ (1995), Buzz...

We are not used to waiting these days! The incessant pace and demand of life, especially through electronic media makes us increasingly...

Patience. The very word can cause us to roll our eyes. That's because when we think of patience, we think of waiting. And we don't like...

James tells us to consider it pure joy when we face trials of many kinds. But what is joy? Do we have a definition for joy? And what in...

Please watch this video from Julian's new YOU TUBE CHANNEL called THE AWAKENING. What do we think about Assisted Suicide? Please watch,...

Do you remember the last time you did something for someone to help somebody? What I think rarely we do help others but if you are the...