Anglicans, Synod and the Jews

Yesterday, the news from the Anglicans of Sydney was very good. The timing was impeccable. Yom Kippur  5787. And this is what I read. And where it is found online for us all.

https://sydneyanglicans.net/news/love-for-our-jewish-neighbours/55791

Symbolically moved on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, the Synod of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney has rejected anti-semitism and called for prayer for ‘our Jewish neighbours’ in the wake of the Bondi terror attack.

Moved by the Rev Andrew Bruce, the Synod lamented anti-semitism in Australia and “encourages all Sydney Anglicans to guard against any form of racism in our lives or in our churches”.

“Why am I moving this motion? You might be thinking- Andrew Bruce seems a funny name for a Jew - and you’d be right at one level,” Mr Bruce told the Synod. “My mum’s name is Guldah Israel - which is in fact part of the reason I have no hint of my Jewish heritage in my name. Because of the burden of antisemitism that she experienced growing up in Australia, she wanted us to be able to live our lives without it.”

“The goal of our motion was to express our affinity and affections for our Jewish neighbours and to call people together from across the diocese to pray for them and the ministries that serve them.”

The actual motion is here: 

"Synod, in love for Jewish Australians –
(a) affirms the teaching of Scripture that God has not rejected the Jewish people ‘whom he
foreknew’, that ‘as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs’,
and that ‘God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable’ (Romans 11:1-2, 28-29),
(b) rejects antisemitism in all its forms and receives with humility the apostolic warning to
Gentiles not to ‘consider yourself to be superior’ (Romans 11:18),
(c) laments the tragic events at Bondi in December 2025 and the presence of antisemitism in
our nation, and encourages all Sydney Anglicans to guard against any form of racism in
our lives or in our churches,
(d) prays that God would grant wisdom to those preparing the final report of the Royal
Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion,
(e) affirms that the greatest need of every Jewish person in our nation is to find hope in Jesus
their Messiah,
(f) commits to praying for the wellbeing of our Jewish neighbours, for repentance among those
who harbour antisemitic hatred, and for the work of reconciliation in both Jew and Gentile
through the cross by which hostility is put to death (Ephesians 2:16), and
(g) welcomes an initiative of the Archbishop’s Office by which Sydney Anglicans will be invited
to gather and pray for Jewish people in the Diocese and for ministry amongst them (3 April
and 16 October 2027)."

Mr Bruce said the motion was designed to bridge what he called “a clear gap”.

“We constantly hear about: ministry to indigenous peoples- Amen to that, Ministry to migrant peoples - Amen to that, Ministry to first generation Australians who are children of migrants - Amen to that, Ministry to youth - Amen to that, Ministry to kids - Amen to that, Ministry in chaplaincy - schools, prisons, aged care and sports - Amen to that, and the list goes on and on and on - Amen to that,” Mr Bruce said.

“But you know what has never been on that list in my 20 years in this diocese? Ministry to the Jewish people of the Diocese - A people that the scriptures go to great lengths to remind us (as a predominantly gentile church) to remember in our ministry, because God has not forgotten his promises to Abraham - the sure hope of Israel’s messiah - first for the Jew and then for the Gentile.” 

r Bruce said the motionMr Bruce said the motion was designed to bridge what he called “a clear gap”.

“We constantly hear about: ministry to indigenous peoples- Amen to that, Ministry to migrant peoples - Amen to that, Ministry to first generation Australians who are children of migrants - Amen to that, Ministry to youth - Amen to that, Ministry to kids - Amen to that, Ministry in chaplaincy - schools prisons aged care and sports - Amen to that, and the list goes on and on and on - Amen to that,” Mr Bruce said.

“But you know what has never been on that list in my 20 years in this diocese? Ministry to the Jewish people of the Diocese - A people that the scriptures go to great lengths to remind us (as predominantly gentile church) to remember in our ministry, because God has not forgotten his promises to Abraham - the sure hope of Israel’s messiah - first for the Jew and then for the Gentile.” was designed to bridge what he called “a clear gap”.

“We constantly he

ar about: ministry to indigenous peoples- Amen to that, Ministry to migrant peoples - Amen to that, Ministry to first generation Australians who are children of migrants - Amen to that, Ministry to youth - Amen to that, Ministry to kids - Amen to that, Ministry in chaplaincy - schools prisons aged care and sports - Amen to that, and the list goes on and on and on - Amen to that,” Mr Bruce said.

“But you know what has never been on that list in my 20 years in this diocese? Ministry to the Jewish people of the Diocese - A people that the scriptures go to great lengths to remind us (as predominantly gentile church) to remember in our ministry, because God has not forgotten his promises to Abraham - the sure hope of Israel’s messiah - first for the Jew and then for the Gentile.”constantly hear about: ministry to indigenous peoples- Amen to that, Ministry to migrant peoples - Amen to that, Ministry to first generation Australians who are children of migrants - Amen to that, Ministry to youth - Amen to that, Ministry to kids - Amen to that, Ministry in chaplaincy - schools prisons aged care and sports - Amen to that, and the list goes on and on and on - Amen to that,” Mr Bruce said.

“But you know what has never been on that list in my 20 years in this diocese? Ministry to the Jewish people of the Diocese - A people that the scriptures go to great lengths to remind us (as predominantly gentile church) to remember in our ministry, because God has not forgotten his promises to Abraham - the sure hope of Israel’s messiah - first for the Je

Light of the World?

A sermon given at Wesley International Church

1 December 2019

By Bob Mendelsohn

Shalom and thank you to Pastor Andy and all here at WIC who are welcoming me today. I spoke here many years ago and it’s always a joy to receive another welcome to the pulpit.

Today as you have heard my topic is “Jesus, Light of the World.”

Up in the northern hemisphere, today begins a dark time. It’s December. For us, it’s summer and beaches and Christmas. For them up north, it’s very different.  With festivals of light that happen this time of year. From Devali in India to Hanukkah and Christmas among Jewish and Christian people. Both speak much about lights. I grew up an Orthodox Jew in the USA, and each night we lit candles like I have in the candelabrum here, and we sang songs (and ate specialty foods of course) to remind us of the holiday. At our home in NYC back in the 80s and 90s we used Advent wreaths in the lead up to Christmas. And we had the Hanukkah menorah and Christmas tree… everything was lit up. Nowadays, the folks of Sydney are reminded of Christmas with Black Friday sales at Harvey Norman and Westfield. Ah, how times have changed.

Here’s a reality that advertisers don’t often consider. 

Lights in dark places make sense, lights in lit places don’t make much sense at all.  You wouldn’t take a torch out to the middle of Pitt Street Mall at midday and point it to the sky or to use to find your path, because the sun is bright enough. Yes, lights make sense in darkness and up north, in the US, Europe or China just now, it’s plenty dark, by 5 pm, it’s dark. So lighting candles and celebrating holidays in that way makes sense. 

Light helps

I was staying at a hotel not long ago and having arrived late in the evening, I went to bed straightaway. But in the middle of the night, I awoke and didn’t turn on the light, but made my way to the toilet. Except I had left a drawer unclosed, and found it with my shin. Ouch. Light would have been a good comfort that night, to be sure.

The Bible says that Satan, “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Messiah, who is the image of God.” (2Cor. 4:4)

We need God’s light to burst into the darkness. 

What darkness is in your world?

I will comment today about three darknesses, and see if you see yourself in any of those. And if there is a solution to those darknesses, perhaps even in our reading of this morning.

1.     The darkness of ignorance

2.     The darkness of sin

3.     The darkness of hopelessness

 1.            The darkness of ignorance

We Jewish people are smart, sometimes too smart for our

own good. In fact, we know enough to win scientific Nobel prizes year after year, but do we know how to get along with our Arab neighbours?  Smarts and knowledge are not the same thing.  Sometimes we even fight with ourselves in the courts and in the neighbourhood.  We know so much but we know so little. 

Yet, God has made Himself known to us in the person of Yeshua. "For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Messiah." (2 Cor. 4.6)

Hosea called us to “Know, let us press on to know the Lord” (6.3)

And in our text this morning, “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light;  Those who live in a dark land,  The light will shine on them. You shall multiply the nation, You shall increase their gladness” (Isaiah 9)

Our ignorance is replaced with knowledge of God and thus darkness is dispelled.

2.            The darkness of sin

Listen, I’m a preacher, and you would expect me to mention sin, and the evils of sin. I won’t disappoint you. I have lived wrongly and I have confessed my sins against the Lord and against His people. I was a hippie in the 1960s and 70s… I know how to live a riotous life with its commensurate darkness. Sin brings sadness, in the long run. Yes, the Bible uses the phrase “the passing pleasures of sin”. To be sure, the promise of fun and folly in sin is abundant, in schoolies up north just now, and in Bali holidays with muling drugs. Big banks with loose scruples and resultant lawsuits and ASX losses evidence sin in its darkness.  But sin has other consequences. Sin brings death. Sin brings separation first from God, then from others. Sin brings guilt and shame. Sin is a liar. 

Whatever else it is, sin brings darkness. 

The Bible uses other terms:

“I will bear the indignation of the LORD Because I have sinned against Him, Until He pleads my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me out to the light,  And I will see His righteousness.” (Micah 7.9)

And again in the book of Acts:

“to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’ (Acts 26.18)

3.            The darkness of hopelessness

Nothing defines our age more than the increase in pain and separation. Gender dysphoria and dismissal of historic boundaries are rampant. Walls replace bridges in human relationships. United Nations is a nice building complex in New York City, but united is a joke; nations are more interested in using and abusing one another more than trusting and cooperating with each other. 

Hopelessness defines our age.

When I was a hippie, we did all kinds of wrong things, and many of us knew they were wrong, but our purpose was to make the world a better place. We did wrong to get good results. We had hope. 

But in modern times people do wrong things because there is no hope. Nothing is ever going to change; the world is only going to get worse. Might as well eat, sleep and be merry because we have no hope. 

They say that suicide rates increase in December. Maybe it’s just colder in the Northern Hemisphere, or maybe it’s due to darkness setting in, or other meteorological reasons. But I aver that it’s the highlight of the season of joy and giving that doesn’t exactly match the real lives of many. Maybe it’s related to academic failures or pressures with end-of-year sales figures. Whatever causes it, the suicide rate increase shouts loudly to me of hopelessness.  And that’s a darkness that screams in a person’s psyche. 

Is there hope? Realistically?

Simeon was an old man who lived in Jerusalem. The story is told in Luke 2, beginning at verse 25.   “And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation (other versions translate “HOPE”) of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, then he took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said,

“Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation, Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, A LIGHT OF REVELATION TO THE GENTILES, And the glory of Your people Israel.”

The darkness of hopelessness is met with the Light of Hope. For an old man like Simeon. For a young man like me in Kansas City in 1971. And maybe for you today.

God visiting our planet, bringing hope and fulfillment to all of humanity, IMMANUEL, meaning “God with us”, overcomes the darkness of ignorance by the light of the knowledge of Himself! Overcomes the darkness of sin by bringing the light of forgiveness to each one of us, all the sins we committed in our youth, in our adult bad choices, and all the sins we have yet to commit; God has forgiven us, and we are in the light of God’s presence.  And that brings hope in our hopelessness. Nothing can stop God’s hope. Nothing can stop God’s IMMANUEL from being with us, from getting to us, from sharing His life with us. 

Our reading this morning showed the light bursting in the people of Israel. “For unto us a child is born; unto us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful. Counsellor. Mighty God. Everlasting Father.
Prince of Peace.”

Are you listening?

Are you in darkness?

Would you like the Light of the World to make His way to you and to live in you? Today, if you hear His voice, don’t harden your heart. Welcome him. 

The Christmas story you might have heard highlights the family Joseph, Mary and some animals trying to find a place to stay. There was no room for them at the local inn. And Jesus was born outside. 

We often hear that we are to make room. 

Make room in our hearts for the Messiah to be born in us today. 

Do you remember the Christmas carol? “Oh little town of Bethlehem” Some of its words are here:

“Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light; the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.”

“O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray; cast out our sin, and enter in, be born in us today. 
We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell; o come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!”

Lights to light others

Now most of you are believers in and followers of Jesus. That’s awesome. This holiday menorah, the candelabrum used by Jewish people on Hanukkah tells a story. I don’t have time to unpack the whole story, so I only want to highlight one thing about this today. 

We light the upper candle and then it is used to light the others one by one. Over the course of the 8-day holiday, we actually light 44 candles. Each night we light the menorah and set it in a ground floor window so that people walking by in the neighbourhood can see and learn that God does miracles. 

I like to think of the upper candle, the shamash (servant) as Yeshua, who lights the others, and that’s me!

As I said, my wife and I used to live in NYC back in the 1980s and she kept a clean house. When we returned home in the evening, she would always make me go first into the apartment. Why? Was it for safety? Nope, I would open and then turn on the lights. Then you would hear the scamper of little cockroaches! No matter what we did, those pesky insects returned. So I had to enter the flat first.

Let me help you see something this morning. When light comes to you, you can respond in one of two ways. You can be a candle like these 8 that are burning or you can act like a cockroach. How you respond communicates who you are. 

If you say ‘Light me” you are a candle.

If you run away you are a cockroach. 

One day I spoke on a similar topic and afterward, I asked a man at my resource table in the foyer, how he was doing. He said, “I’m saved and saving.” I’d never heard that before. I think I understood him. Maybe in light of my message today I would hope he would say “Lit and lighting”

Robert Louis Stevenson was a young boy in Scotland who was fascinated by the street lamps near his 1850s home. Each night he would watch the lamplighters light the wicks and make the neighbourhood come to life. One day his father came to his room and asked, “Bobby, what are you doing” The lad said, “I’m watching that man punch holes in the darkness.”

That’s what Jews for Jesus does, in NYC and in Israel. In Sydney where I’ve lived for 21 years and throughout the world. Join us by placing your name and details on the white card you received. Join me at the resource table in the foyer. Share with us in finances and in prayers, as we bring the light of the world to Pitt Street, to Bondi Junction, to Caulfield and Times Square. God is opening the eyes of Jewish people, even through our efforts. 

Last Sunday the Sun Herald featured this advert we ran and this week dozens and dozens of people have responded and ordered some of our resources to learn more. 

Darkness is leaving; we are bringing the Light of the World to Sydney, as are you. Thanks for partnering with us today and throughout your days, until Jesus returns. What a day of rejoicing that will be, amen?

First world problems... adventure in travel

I've heard people talk about 'patience' for years. And they talk about how to achieve or gain patience. Usually it's through inopportune times or struggles that patience is learned. I think I get it. I'm not noted as a very patient man. So what does that say about my struggles? Not a thing. It says a lot more about my responses to those struggles and how slow I am to learn.

Case in point. Last Sunday I left my hotel at 7 am in Jerusalem and took a ride to Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion Airport. Easy. Check in with my box of goods was easy, which is rare for me there. But wait, my flight to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines was delayed. OK, no dramas. I'm happy to sit there for a few minutes. They said, "it won't be too long, maybe 15 minutes." Not a problem. I have a new book I'm reading. 15 became 30; 30 became 45, and 45 became "You are going to miss your connection in Istanbul, Mr Mendelsohn." Oy. What was the problem anyway? Seems the inbound plane had not left its location yet. So, wait, if the plane hadn't left yet an hour ago, and it would take 2 hours for that plane to arrive at Ben Gurion, then you and your computer already knew that I would miss my connection. That means your computer or you should have re-organized my travel plans and gotten me a ticket on another airline, so that I could be in Berlin about my scheduled time. But they didn't.

So they flew me eventually through Istanbul about 2 hours later, and I sat in the airport for a bit, watching the rain pour down outside. Then my final flight took off, and I got to Berlin. About 10:30 pm, and the place looked like a ghost town. No personnel to meet us, but what did meet me was a demolished box rounding the carousel. I was really tired after spending the whole day going almost nowhere. Who thinks of finding offical personnel at that point? I was glad that my box was in hand. I was glad to be in Germany and had to get to my AirBNB. They had been awaiting my arrival there since 3 pm.

So I got to my housing. The next morning I logged onto Turkish Airlines website and sent the above photos, with a nice note about my rain-soaked luggage and brutalized box. After another email from Turkish, asking for more information, I sent along with a narrative of the interaction, an invoice for the products which I bought in Israel and which were in the demolished box. Several more emails came from the official website, maybe even from a person (although no one signed it.) Finally yesterday morning I opened an email from the airline. The word was "The evaluation process related to your baggage is completed. Please click the button above to see your evaluation result. For your questions, you can make contact with us by message." Fantastic. Any reasonable person would have paid me what I requested. If there were issues, any reasonable person would have both checked the inbound baggage service, the Istanbul connection, or something to verify my allegation, and the photo evidence. I was shocked when the result of their 'investigation' was a most disappointing disregard.

Again unsigned. No apology. No admission. Did I learn patience? Is it too late for me to learn that just now? Lord, give me another chance.

Two days ago, on Friday I left Berlin to fly to Detroit, outside of which I'm writing this morning. I checked in to the Lufthansa Airline flights to Frankfurt and then to Detroit on Thursday morning. No problem. Took the taxi on Friday morning at 7 am to Berlin airport without a problem. Got to the counter and the agent took my luggage (new box) and handed me my boarding passes. All good. Phew. But wait, I noticed she had given me three passes. I only had two flights. Oh, maybe the 3rd was a receipt for baggage. Nope. It was a triad of flights, and now my flight from Frankfurt actually went to Dulles (Washington, DC) and then another from Dulles to Detroit.

What? The counter agent didn't say a word. She didn't inform me of any changes to my routing. I had received no notification from Lufthansa (even though they had my mobile phone number and my email address in my profile) When I asked, the agent actually didn't know anything as to why my non-stop had been removed from my reservation. "That's all I know," she said.

Instead of arriving into Detroit at 2:15 pm on Friday afternoon, I would now arrive at 6:30. OK, not horrible, really, as I would sit in the Frankfurt lounge for a while, but maybe United airlines would know what happened. It was a code shared flight with Lufthansa. The agent I rang in Chicago saw my new arrangements on her computer but was surprised that Lufthansa had not informed me, and they had actually created a new reservation altogether. If I had not rung the United agent, United would have canceled the rest of my flights from Detroit through SF to Sydney. Wow... thanks (for nothing) Lufthansa.

Seems as though a major snow storm was making its way in and through Michigan, hitting Detroit fairly hard and dumped 7 inches of snow on the airport through Friday alone. Eventually, my flight from Dulles, delayed 5 different times from its 5 pm departure to 10 pm, and then was canceled at about 7:30 pm. Again the United airlines personnel helped me a lot and secure a new flight on American Airlines, although from Reagan National not from Dulles, but with plenty of time for me to make it from Dulles. They organized my baggage, a voucher for a taxi, another voucher for a meal... and I sat on the American flight which left at 10:30 pm, arriving into Detroit at midnight. (6 am in Berlin)

My friend Glenn Harris fetched me from the airport and took me home with him for a wonderful night/morning of hospitality.

These adventures in travel were simply first-world problems. I didn't have to shovel the snow at the Detroit airport. I didn't have to work on the baggage services. I just sat most of the time. I was able to put the problems in perspective due to God's grace. Seeing things from His point of view-- that's a gift!

Did I learn patience? Was I really patient during those 5 delays?

Was I a patient man ever during this experience?

This is a hard one to calculate and to evaluate. But in the last couple years I've been self-evaluating a lot, and honestly can say, "Yes, Bob is growing in patience." I was able to relax on Friday; I had no control and freely yielded to the Lord. It was faith, personal faith in the God of the universes, which allowed me to relax. The Bible says the 'fruit of the Spirit' is love, joy..."patience... self-control." (Galatians 5.22-23) In other words, God is producing this fruit in me, as I stay connected to Him. It's not a function of my willing, white-knuckling. It's not a function of personal religious manipulation. It's a function of faith in the Lord, who is the Spirit.

As a result of that recognition, and observation... I'm more and more humbled and thrilled that the Lord Himself is making Himself real to me, and making His life in me that much clearer. Thank you, Lord. Thanks be to God.

22 years ago today...

...I love to tell this story. It happened here in Sydney, on our first trip to this sunburnt country. We arrived around Australia Day, 26 January, into Melbourne, and our good friend Kameel Majdali met my wife Patty and me at the airport. We were a bit travel weary having flown from Washington, DC, and having left there about 24 hours earlier. We had three boxes of good size, with books and CDs and pamphlets of all kinds. It was a discovery trip--- would the people of Australia want such an unusual group as "Jews for Jesus" to land on their shores and would we hear a Macedonian call? But that's not the point of this story.

On 2 February, 22 years ago today, my wife and I awoke in Sydney's eastern suburbs where we stayed in the home of a generous couple. After a walk on the beach near their house, we said our farewells, and went into the City. We met with another Jewish believer who helped us hand out some literature at the Queen Victoria Building that day. At about 11:30 he approached my wife and said, "Bob may not know this, but there aren't any Jewish people here. They are all over in the Eastern suburbs, like Bondi." In wasn't more than 20 seconds later when a young Jewish medical student approached my wife and inquired about what she was doing. She was wearing a "Jews for Jesus" t-shirt. She was handing out a leaflet titled, "Jews for Jesus." The irony was thick and enjoyable. She received the young man's details and we laughed about the coincidental timing later.

Just a few minutes later, as we were ending our sortie, a young Gentile woman approached me and asked about our faith. She was very open to the things of God and within a few more minutes she was praying with us, as we all held hands, professing her new faith in Jesus as Messiah. But that's not the point of the story either.

Patty went to a little shop nearby to purchase some mementos and souvenirs for the family back home, and we got to the airport easily to fly back through Los Angeles later that afternoon. We settled into our seats on United Airlines and the events of the day were still fresh and worthy of reviewing. Look at all we accomplished today. What a good feeling.

After a couple movies and meals and rest, we landed into LAX before transferring to our next flight to get home. We had to fill out the landing/ arrivals form for the US government, of course. The date we arrived was actually 2 February. You see, we had crossed the international date line, for our first time ever, flying east. That meant we got the day back again. We left at 3 pm 2 February in Sydney and arrived before we left! Our flight took us about 14 hours and we arrived at about 10 am on 2 February in LA! How funny!

But wait, 2 February in the US is Ground Hog's Day. Just a year before, we had seen the movie with Andie MacDowell and Bill Murray with that same title. It was a typical Murray comedy where he played a weatherman who was assigned to cover the events in Pennsylvania surrounding the prediction of the future weather. The story, no spoiler alert required, features Murray starting over each day, awakened to find himself again on 2 February. How ironic! That the first time we experienced the international date line eastbound was on such an auspicious day as Ground Hog's Day. And that we got to start over in the US, and see what the day held for us there.

Starting over, whether on Rosh Hashanah or on New Year's Day or any day, is really about getting a fresh start. Today, even right now, why not look up to heaven, or close your eyes, if that helps, and ask the living God for a fresh start in your life? You don't need an imaginary date line to start over. You don't need a Hollywood movie to help you start over. What do you need?

You need to trust that the Almighty, the One who created our world and the universes in which we live, has a love for you that is greater than any Valentine you might receive next week. His love is most visibly seen in the dying of His Son Yeshua on the Roman cross. That execution was purposeful-- to bring you and me back into God's presence. To forgive us our sins. To make us whole again. Look at what He accomplished that day. What a Savior!

Stormy weather in Sydney

This weekend the city of Sydney was assaulted by storms that levelled homes and killed people. Three lives were lost in floodwaters - two in New South Wales and one in the ACT. A man's body was found in his car at Leppington in south-western Sydney on Monday, and a 65-year-old man was found dead in a car in floodwaters at Bowral in the Southern Highlands. Down in Canberra, the body of another man was recovered from a swollen river after he was trapped in his car and swept away by floodwaters.

Homes were levelled especially on the Northern Beaches of Sydney as pictured here.

New South Wales Emergency Services Minister David Elliot said when it came to the issue of insurance cover, buyers should beware. "I don't know what the government can do to encourage people not to buy coastal homes," he said.

"This is something that when you buy a home you need to consider — all the opportunities and all the possibilities that may affect anything that you purchase. This is why we tell people, when you buy property, when you take out an insurance policy, make sure you know what your insurance policy covers. It's not the role of the government."

Building on sand is not a good idea, no matter how close to bedrock you build. It's dangerous to build near the sand. My family and I went on a boat near Cince Terre in 2003. The scenery was awesome. The stunning views along Italy's west coast captured our imaginations. They had planted vineyards along the coast and built houses. We wondered, "How did they get the building blocks up there?"

The best place to build is on a rock. But I didn't come up with that. "everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand." Yeshua, the Jewish messiah taught that 2,000 years ago and that was recorded in Matthew chapter 7.

I think Yeshua is talking about life, that is, where will you build your life? What principles do you employ to make your life better? What methods do you use to help your neighbour to experience life? On what (morals) will you build your life? On what hopes do you build your life? Stay on the Rock, the Faithful One. Moses the Lawgiver said that, "The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He." And the Newer Testament says it more clearly, "Israel, all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Messiah." (1 Corinthians chapter 10)

Do you want a solid life? Do you want a security from the storms of life which are sure to come to you? Give your life to Jesus (Yeshua's English name) and trust Him. You won't be disappointed.

Densification and the new technocracy

Mark McCrindle is one of my go-to guys for trends in society, certainly in Australian society. He wrote an article for the Huffington Post about the latest trends and commented on this issue of crowding. He reports, "Australians have responded to the growth, with housing trends of densification, the growth in apartment living and "walkable" urban communities. In addition to this, the year ahead will see policy and political responses to population growth through more focus on growing regional centres, investing in public transport and road infrastructure, airport and flight movement expansions and renewed discussion of a very-fast train link between Sydney and Melbourne, which together are home to 40 percent of the national population."

In case you missed that, what Mark says is that more people are moving to Sydney and Melbourne from the countryside, where farming and cattle/ sheep stations are losing their populations, and internationals are moving to our capital cities, and since those two cities cannot really expand outward, they are expanding upward. In my own neighbourhood, on a section of land, formerly 18 houses on quarter acre plots were purchased over years, razed, and then developed (photo is of this structure) into 285 units without commensurate parking or other infrastructure services. We are buckling up for the crowdedness to continue everywhere there is a train line or good public transport via buses as well. Squeezing more people into same land means upward trends (but not necessarily upward mobility).

That may not mean anything to you just now, wherever you live, but be sure that this notion of packing-together will continue and demand for infrastructure will cost us all more in the years to come. If it doesn't cost you in money, it will cost you in time. Travel time will increase from one place to another, even if they put in a new fast-train from Sydney to Melbourne, as crowds don't make for ease on any level. Widening roads, increased toll charges, higher costs for products to transport from one place to another... all will assist this troubling trend.

McCrindle also comments on technocracy, which would translate to "the power of technology." He writes, "Technology is now empowering and, in many ways, improving democracy. Traditionally, democracy worked through corresponding with one's local Member of Parliament, signing petitions to be tabled, and of course voting in elections. However, in a technocracy, tweets, trending hashtags, likes and online campaigns have the power to reverse government decisions and influence policy priorities. Such clicktivism gives voice to those beyond adults and enrolled voters and those outside of an electoral or state boundary."

We have been calling this the 'democratisation of information' but I like the term 'technocracy.' When in the past you wanted to know something, you went to an authority, like a rabbi, a teacher, a librarian, someone in authority. Now the blogosphere/ world of tweets has given us anyone as an authority. That's good news and bad news at the same time. Good that any informed person can actually share what they know, to anyone who is actually asking. The truth can get to you fairly quickly, thanks to Google.
What's bad is that people who don't know what they are saying still can say it, and gather a following. Being heard is key to Twitter and Facebook, and the issue of being heard may replace the need to be right, but I'll leave that to the sociologists.

So a madman from ISIS or Boko Haram can write/ video his truth, and voila, some other madman in San Bernardino or Paris will take up the cause and kill and maim. The power (cracy) that people long for, the power to be heard, the power to matter, the power to have significance... are not going to be found in gathering followers. The power of technology is useful for disbursing information and learning when the movie you want to see is showing, but it's useless in being a person of worth. For that, you need the power of God. He alone gives worth to people. He alone shares purpose with you. And this is something we need, more and more, as crowds gather and swarm around us, as information technology passes us by, as Uber drivers and Flipagrams replace the local taxi and YouTube we just discovered.

Don't get lost in the madness; don't get lost in the shuffle. The great Jewish king Solomon wrote, "The LORD has made everything for its own purpose." (Proverbs 16.4) You want to find (your own) significance? Turn towards the Lord who knows you better than anyone (else) and wants to give you your own raison d'être. He will help you sort out the mess, the confusion, the disorientation, and bring you meaning beyond words, and beyond technology and beyond the crowd.

It won't hurt to try.

Racism abundant...shocking!

The video and its story is splashing over the news and internet in Australia as much as the pope is filling US news outlets. And the video of a raging Israeli woman on a Sydney bus in Willoughby is shocking and embarrassing and horrible. The police arrested the woman of the video; the Chinese woman, Ms Lindsay Li will have a hard time believing that this woman is an anomaly. We can only hope.

Here's the Online story

NSW Police said the woman was arrested on Friday and taken to Merrylands police station with reports suggesting she was hurling abuse at yet another individual. The arrest comes after Lindsay Li, 29, filmed a prolonged verbal attack which started while she was waiting in Willoughby for the citybound 273 bus at lunchtime on Wednesday. Ms Li says the woman approached her and 'spat on her' before unleashing a prolonged verbal attack.

The woman, who referred to herself as a "Jew from Israel" then struck Ms Li with her shopping trolley and pushed in front of her when the bus pulled up.

The story above is only one of many in recent times of racial attacks and slurs and embarrassing commentary by patrons on public transportation around Sydney. What should anyone do; what should you do if you are sitting nearby this the next time it occurs?

The Bible in chapter 22 of Deuteronomy gives us significant help in knowing what to do. “You shall not see your countryman’s ox or his sheep straying away, and pay no attention to them; you shall certainly bring them back to your countryman." (verse 1) and again,
"If there is a girl who is a virgin engaged to a man, and another man finds her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and you shall stone them to death; the girl, because she did not cry out in the city, and the man, because he has violated his neighbor’s wife. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you." (verses 23-24)

The assumption is that the girl would scream and since she did not, then no one came to help. But if she is in the field and no one is around who can help her, then only the man is responsible.(verse 25) In other words, we are (in the words of Cain after he struck and killed his brother) "our brother's keeper."

Maybe that's part of what informs Hillary Rodham Clinton in her "it takes a village" thinking. Maybe this helps us understand the subway echo in New York City where the mantra sounds, "If you see something, say something." That would help us understand the word "neighbourhood" itself. We have to acknowledge that we are neighbours before we can join together in a global village.

So what would you have done on that 273 bus? What would I have done?

Service of worship

Here is the PowerPoint of the service of worship at our Rosh Hashanah gathering this morning in Sydney.

Here is the actual sermon: Sermon