While we have much to celebrate as a nation, January 26th is a day of sorrow for indigenous Australians. There is no approach to the problem of celebrating or not celebrating this nation’s morally ambiguous origins and history that is going to make everybody happy. But one solution could help break the impasse.

We need to confess that we built this country upon the oppression of the original inhabitants, and that the results of this continue today. We celebrate our nation on a date that reminds the original inhabitants of the evil and injustice done to them. What would grace do?

Millennials are leading the demographic shift towards ‘religious nones’. And in many ways millennial Christians are at odds with their Gen X leaders. But they have much to offer, and collaboration is possible. In a world that is profoundly fragmented, and often burned by Christianity, the hopeful openness of millennials could do wonders for the church’s witness.

The Gospel writers respectfully leave out most of the details of Jesus’ boyhood, to be told within his earthly family’s remembrances, part of Mary’s heart-stored treasure. This silence reminds us of the God-blessed integrity of marriage and family life, even as the Good News of Jesus Christ encourages us in our story-telling generation to generation.

For Margaret Pestorius, one of the Pine Gap Peace Pilgrims, faith-based, creative and disruptive nonviolent direct actions are about witnessing and responding to truth. Lament is an important part of this, as a way of breaking the denial, embodying the suffering of the victims, and driving transformation and action.

There are more slaves today than ever before, with slavery and trafficking of displaced persons on the rise. So why the silence about slave markets in Libya? Vulnerable communities internationally rely on democracies such as Australia to speak up for them. The moment we grow accustomed to human rights abuses internationally is the moment our international soul dies.

Social media fasting is not about withdrawal, but is a way of ensuring that we master it instead of it mastering us. Fasting is necessary, not because social media is inherently bad, but because we need robust spiritual practices that ensure that we engage rightly online, as we do offline.

With 20.5% of eligible voters chose not to participate in an optional survey, some have suggested that the 'Yes' vote is not as decisive as it seems. But an understanding of Australian (and global) electoral history dispels any doubt that the government has a mandate to legislate for same-sex marriage.

Some ‘No’ advocates have been arguing that all necessary protections for freedom of religion should be inserted in the amended Marriage Act. But the issue of religious freedom goes beyond the marriage bill, and has implications for the Fair Work Act and the Sex Discrimination Act.

Justice gets good press these days. After all, who can be against justice, seeing that it lies at the heart of a good society? But justice cannot be separated from righteousness. And we need a robust biblical ethic to help us better understand what justice is - and is not.