As a child growing up in Papua New Guinea my parents would make me take anti-malarial tablets every week so I didn’t get malaria. The active ingredient that prevented malaria was quinine. It was important – even life-saving – that I was given regular quinine. But quinine is very bitter, and so, in order to make it palatable for children, it was possible to buy sugar coated tablets. I’m sure it seemed like a good idea at the time. In fact, it worked brilliantly. So brilliantly that one day, as a toddler, I snuck into the medicine cabinet and downed the whole bottle of ‘lollies’! That nearly killed me.

Sometimes sugar-coating, as well intentioned as it is, is not the best option. Especially when it comes to our relationship with God.

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On the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, 1,300 kilometers inside the Arctic Circle is the Svalbard Seed Vault. Built 150 metres deep into the rock of a mountain at a site with no seismic activity, kept at a constant -18 degrees Celsius, and aided by the permafrost, the massive concrete and steel structure is designed to withstand a nuclear strike, or any other global disaster in order to keep its contents safe for thousands of years and ensure the survival of the world’s crops.

If Jesus wanted to ensure the survival of the church you might have thought he’d come up with something like that. Instead, he chose Peter. Go figure.

~ Pastor John Strelan

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If you are unable to access spotify, 2026 sermon recordings can be found here

My maternal grandmother died of a heart attack when I was a teenager. She was the quintessential grandma: every morning she would have the wood stove stoked long before anyone else was up so the kitchen was snug and cosy. She was kind and patient. Best of all, as a late-night snack, she would whip up these delicious cheese sandwiches: soft, white bread cut into triangles (with the crusts cut off, of course!) She was married to my grandfather for 44 years. Several years after she died, I asked my grandfather how he was going. He answered: “The evenings are the worst. It’s too quiet. It’s the silence that kills me”.

Silence is not always profound, or welcome, or spiritual. Sometimes it just sucks!

Like when you’ve been to every specialist under the sun and there is no answer to your pain.

Like when your child is backpacking in South America and you haven’t heard from her in three weeks.

Like when you turn the key in the car’s ignition and nothing happens.

Or, like when you pray, you plead, you petition God and he answers not a word.

Sometimes silence is not golden.

~ Pastor John Strelan

Click here for a link to our new spotify podcast containing the latest sermon recordings.

If you are unable to access spotify, 2026 sermon recordings can be found here