The question of truth versus propaganda is a major issue for people living in former communist East European countries. But it is also a critical one for us all in our contemporary world saturated with commercial and political propaganda. How should we, as Christians, respond to the challenge to ‘live in the truth’?

Eating is not just life-sustaining, but also relational and celebrative. It is an act of worship. Eating together is a reminder of our connectedness to God, the earth and each other, and calls us to radical hospitality. Most fundamentally, eating points us to the Lamb of God slain for the sins of the whole world.

Australia has the dubious honour of having lost the world’s first mammal to climate change. For the Christian, mourning is an appropriate response to species extinction. We need liturgies of lament - and Remembrance Day for Lost Species on November 30 is a place to start. We can also start with an act of repentance on Earth Day.

The book of Job tells us that, despite our hubristic claims, we are not in control, we do not fully understand how things work. Human sin has released chaos in the form of climate change, which requires a biblically informed ethical response that does not lapse into mere technological fixes that can’t deliver and that led to the current crisis.

For those worried about disaffected and angry young men, a perceived sidelining of Christianity and the excesses of the alt right, Jordan Peterson’s message may seem like the right antidote. But can we as Christians really embrace what he has to say? Or is there a better way forward?

For many, Jordan Peterson is either the pre-eminent saint or sinner. But what would a more nuanced response look like? 12 Rules for Life is certainly not a silver bullet. But, read alongside the corpus of Peterson’s other works, it provides pointers or pathways for self-understanding.

The majority of today’s slaves are women and children trafficked for sex. Stronger laws are needed, but we must address the problem at its root by confronting the commodification of the flesh and reducing demand for paid sex. NSW's proposed Modern Slavery Act is part of the solution, but it does not address demand. Here is one strategy to disrupt demand.

We are increasingly being urged not to prioritise our Western heritage but to open ourselves out to a broad spectrum of diversity. Yet it’s not Christianity that is Western, but the retreat from traditional values and the new approach to diversity that puts everything (and everyone) in the same box – a modern pax Romana.

In engaging the powers of the political realm, Christians on both left and right have been ensnared in the world’s ways of doing things. At root this is a deep spiritual problem. There is a way forward for re-discipling our nations, but it will not happen in the way we think, and it will require unprecedented humility.

Young culture makers are an unknown quantity to many Christians. They care about cultural and ethical values, but find religion weird and see Christianity as a system through which inequality and oppression can thrive. What would it take to bridge this world and the world of the church?