Last time I wrote, things looked bad. On Friday they hit rock bottom. The major governments of the world have ridden in like knights in shining armour, and Monday saw the biggest one-day bump in shares on Wall Street since 1939. However, I don’t think the problem is quite at an end yet. The reality is that the whole nature of the economy has changed. Big questions are being asked about about the fundamental viability of the ‘free market’ and, like it or not, in many parts of the western world we have just nationalized significant parts of the banking system. It is still a moment for Christians to be speaking about the obvious failure of the ‘gods’ of the modern world.

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The world is falling apart. The Australian Federal reserve has slashed interest rates by one percent—the biggest official cut in interest rates in 16 years—in order to try and protect the economy from the ravages of ‘slowing growth’. The US Government is injecting $700 billion dollars into the markets, and has propped up failed bank after failed bank. European car makers are slowing or halting production. France, Ireland and Britain are headed towards (or are already in) recession. And despite the hasty assurances of key Australian politicians, it appears that Australia’s future may well be no better.

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As some of you reading this post are aware, I left the ministry that I had been involved in for seven and a half years at the end of August. I look back on that time in my life with great fondness and thankfulness to God, even though I had come to the point of moving on because of certain personal struggles and weaknesses that I have not enjoyed being forced to face. It will suffice it to say that I have learned all sorts of things about myself and others in the process of leaving.

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Upon entering the lunch room today, I found a copy of my rather salubrious local rag, The Southern Courier. (Well actually, ‘salubrious’ is a bit of an overstatement; it is basically an excuse for real estate advertising.) On the front page I saw the little teaser for the article on page five: ‘Cemeteries fill up’. It’s not exactly a title designed to brighten up your day, but I couldn’t help reading. It ended up being, somewhat ironically, a piece about the difficulty of finding land in the south-eastern suburbs of Sydney—not for your house, but for your coffin. Apparently at the present rate of burial, cemeteries could well be full within 15 years. Mary Thorne, the President of the Cemeteries and Crematoria Association of NSW (I wonder how she introduces herself at parties?), stated, “It is a problem that has to be dealt with. It’s getting urgent.”

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This week, I have had the great privilege of editing a series of Bible studies on the book of Hebrews. On the way through, I was struck by a profound new thought—or, as one of my colleagues helpfully pointed out to me later in the day, actually I had just read the Bible more carefully! (Isn’t that where all the best thoughts come from?)

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It’s official, it’s appeared in the secular media, so it must be so! Australian Christians are struggling to read their Bibles. Linda Morris reported the findings from the National Church Life Survey in The Sydney Morning Herald yesterday. Here are some of the less than encouraging statistics:
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Sometime today (Wednesday, Australian time) scientists will turn on the biggest atom smasher ever built. For those unschooled in the wonderful world of physics, atom smashers are very big rings (this new one is 27 km round) that are designed to throw very, very small pieces of stuff (so small, in fact, that you can’t see them) into each other at close to the speed of light. According to all reports, the results are pretty amazing. (So amazing, in fact, that at least one group of people are worried that the new particle smasher in Switzerland will actually end up destroying the world). It’s almost possible to hear the scientists salivating from my desk.

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“The numbers all go to 11. Look, right across the board, 11, 11, 11 and …” Nigel Tufnel, the lead guitarist for the fictional rock band Spinal Tap, is explaining to the reporter that unlike other rock bands who only have amps that go to 10, theirs go all the way to 11. When the reporter stops and asks, “Why don’t you just make 10 louder and make 10 be the top number and make that a little louder?” there is a long pause followed by “These go to 11”.

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