36° 47' 49.2" S, 148° 11' 48.3" E

Those are the coordinates for Indi Springs should you ever want to go there. Many people do. Apparently, there’s not much to see, just a bit of swampy ground with a trickle of water seeping from the soil. So, why do people go there? Well, Indi Springs is the source of the Australia’s greatest river, the River Murray, which starts high in the Australian Alps and it’s all downhill from there, all 2,500kms of it, until it reaches the ocean near Goolwa. From that inconspicuous start the Murray brings life to an otherwise barren landscape, sustaining wildlife and agriculture for the length of its course.

Jesus’ journey began with a baptism in the wilderness. Water poured over him. Water: a symbol of life. That day he was just one of many. But, from there he rushed headlong through the country all the way to Jerusalem, bringing healing, renewal and life to those he met. There in Jerusalem he was nailed to a cross. A spear pierced his side and blood and water poured out. It looked like the end, but it was just a beginning. For us too.

~ Pastor John

Surely, I can’t be the only one who watched in dismay the utter devastation visited upon Gaza by the Israel Defence Force?

Surely, I can’t be the only one who shakes my head in despair as the drone strikes and missiles continue to rain down on Ukrainian cities?

Surely, I can’t be the only one whose heart fell when religiously motivated terror brought murder to a beach in Sydney?

Surely, I can’t be the only one who thinks, ‘There must be another way?’

Having being warned in a dream not to return to Herod the magi departed for their own country by another way. I wonder, what was that way?

~ Pastor John

Read and listen now to Pastor John's address for the First Sunday after Christmas.