Author Archives: Adam Elovalis

Going pro: Reflections on becoming a minister

rev

Have you heard? I’ve decided to ‘go pro’. Not in golf, but in religion. Yeah. The church. Of all the good ideas I’ve had, being ordained as a minister is not one of them. I mean look at the church. Catholic clergy and congregations alike are reeling over the extent of sexual abuse allegations – against children of all people. If it ...

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It’s just not cricket

balltampering

Steve Smith, What have you done? Australia, and the world of cricket are in shock. Our golden boy, Steve Smith, perhaps the best since Don Bradman, the captain of the Australian cricket team; has admitted to trying to cheat through ball tampering. For the uninitiated, ball tampering is when you use a foreign object to modify the condition of a cricket ball ...

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Great again

make america great again

So much has happened in the world since we last blogged here at Gospelbrew. So it would be remiss of us not to comment (belatedly) on perhaps the most unlikeliest of victors: Donald Trump. Because, of course no one else has written articles about the matter. Sarcasm aside, he apparently rose to power on the back of disenfranchised Americans, sick ...

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Bad Grace: Get Your Act Together?

badgrace1

I can’t be the only person to have been in church their entire lives and still not quite have grasped grace. It seems that grace is just hard to get our heads around. Grace as a Jumpstart At times, I reflect and remember what it was like as a teenager in a large, growing church. Busy volunteering, running groups, leading, and attending ...

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A Letter to My 21 Year Old Self

letter-new

Dear past me. Firstly, I don’t have the almanac, and I won’t tell you the winning lotto numbers. It might break the space-time continuum. Secondly and more seriously, err… thanks. You had a choice to abandon your faith – but you made a choice to follow Christ wherever that lead. I sit here, writing to you with a loving family around me, ...

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The Blasphemy of Grace

The Blasphemy of Grace | Gospel Brew

Why do Christians have such a love-hate relationship with grace? It is the pinnacle of Christianity – what sets it apart from the other major religions and yet we struggle with it so. Buddhists eight-fold path must be walked, the Hindu must pay the price karma demands, Jews and Muslims must obey their own law codes. Each of these offers a way to ...

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Political Messiahs Are Still Naughty Boys

The unfortunate Brian from Monty Python's infamous epic: The Life of Brian

Is anybody else sick of politics yet? I’m struggling to remember what life was like before the US Presidential race began. That was over a year ago but is due to wrap up within the next week or so. Finally! I get the feeling I’m not the only one who feels this way. But passionate internet keyboard warriors are still sharing, ...

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Grace for Tools: Money and Morality

Grace for Tools | Gospel Brew

Occasionally, my wife can tell you, I can be a bit of a tool. And if there’s one area, in our first world countries that we can be a tool – it’s money. “Money can’t buy you happiness”, spoke the great Spike Milligan, “but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery.” They say that Jesus spoke more about ...

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Blessing’s curse?

Money: Blessing's Curse? | Gospel Brew

Money. Cashola. Dosh. Mullah. Whatever we call it, we certainly burn through our fair share of it here in Australia. And it burns through many of us in our society, just as quickly. Here in Perth, the costs of living are extremely high. I am confronted on nearly a daily basis with the site of homelessness on the streets of our city. ...

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Harambe and Our Culture of Shame

An endangered Silverback Gorilla was put down to protect the life of a young child

I think a lot of people view the idea of shame in terms of the Disney classic – Mulan. We loved that dragon Mushi, and we’re sure we know how shame works. I do something wrong, and I bring shame upon my whole family. Something right and; “you’ll bring honour to us all”, or so the song goes. We think it’s stuff for simpler, ...

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