Rev Hugh Perry

Readings

Isaiah 40:1-11

The voice that cries out in verse 3 is one from the heavenly council of divine beings mentioned in chapter 6.  Maurice Andrew says it is not a prophetic voice of someone in the wilderness that leads to the Christian application in introducing John the Baptist as ‘a voice crying in the wilderness’.  The wilderness is an allusion to Exodus and, in this case, is the way back from exile in Babylon.  The valleys being lifted up etc are lyrical metaphors for the way home from exile being made easy. ^[1]

Like all the prophetic writing this passage is about events at the time of writing but, just as Isaiah makes allusion to the Exodus wilderness, the gospel writers make allusion to the voice crying in the wilderness and, even though they read new meaning into it, that process is part of the genre of Hebrew sacred writing.

Mark 1: 1-8

Now we truly go to the beginning of Mark’s Gospel and our Advent preparation for the birth of Jesus in a sort of a walking backwards to Christmas.  In spite of what Maurice Andrew might think, the gospel writer is sure that John the Baptiser is ‘the one crying in the wilderness’ from our Isaiah passage and that is an important feature in his explanation of Jesus’ divine credentials.

Part of the traditional expectation of a messiah was the understanding that Elijah would return to earth to announce the arrival of the messiah.  Verse 6 describes John as clothed in a camel hair coat with a leather belt around his waist which is an allusion to the description of Elijah in the first chapter of 2 Kings (2 Kings 1:8) It is also worth noting that John the Baptist appears in Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews (Ant.18:5:2) where his baptising activities are mentioned along with his popularity and his execution by Herod.^[2]  This reference gives an historical affirmation for John outside the gospels.

Sermon

Jeff Bell’s cartoon in The Press on 28^th of November the cartoonist quoted Napoleon Bonaparte saying, ‘If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing’.[3]

Regardless of who the cartoonist was lampooning, this was an interesting quotation at a time when Reading Cinemas were screening the film Napoleon here in Christchurch.  So, I turned to Mr Google to see if I could find a context for when Napoleon said that. After all, with my limited knowledge of European history I would not count Mr Bonaparte as totally successful.  Names like Trafalgar and Waterloo come to mind.

Sadly, although my brief search confirmed the quote as Napoleon’s, it did not give any context.  But one website also included a quote from someone most people would admire.  Apparently, Albert Einstein said:

‘Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value’.

That is indeed a statement in the world of humanities and theology to match E=mc² in the world of physics, the universe and everything.

I can think of a recent president of the United States who could well agree with Napoleon’s statement.  However, the recent death of Rosalynn Carter reminded me of the many pictures I have seen of her and her aging husband Jimmy Carter, in their post Whitehouse years, building houses for Habitat for Humanity.  Regardless of what President Carter achieved, or failed to achieve, as one of the most powerful men in the world, both him and Rosalynn were people who strived to live lives of value rather than what the world might see as a success.

Certainly the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize is a substantial measure of success but, putting on a builder’s bib and creating homes for the less fortunate is both of value and to some extent a voice crying in the wilderness.

In a world focused on economic growth those, who speak out for marginalised, are easily regarded as voices crying in the wilderness.

Those scholars who have commented on today’s readings have pointed out the allusion to the exodus saga in our Isaiah passage.  There is also a reference to the Isaiah passage in framing the story of John the Baptist.  Mark adds further allusion that describes John as an Elijah figure. Elijah would certainly fit the contemporary understanding of someone crying in the wilderness.  People who express an idea or opinion that is not popular like spending their retirement building homes for the homeless.

Greta Thunberg was certainly a voce crying in the wilderness and the future of the planet would appear to depend on more and more voices joining her.

But wilderness voices can and do bring change.  On the 1^st of December 1955 Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus and by that action she became a voice crying in the wilderness.

After her death in 2005, the Rev. Jesse. Jackson wrote: ‘With quiet courage and non-negotiable dignity, Rosa Parks was an activist and a freedom fighter who transformed a nation and confirmed a notion that ordinary people can have an extraordinary effect on the world’. [4] Continue reading Sunday 10th December →

The dead city. Matthew 23. Proper 26A 2023

Rev Barbara Peddie

Sometimes there are readings set down in the Lectionary that I can’t easily find my way into. It happens most often with Matthew, and it happens to me particularly in the readings we get in these last months of the Church’s year. There are the parables where so many are left out – where is the Jesus who said: “All are welcome”. All! As we will say in a few minutes – all are welcome to the table.

So, I came to this Sunday wondering where I would go. I almost took the easy option of celebrating our saints. After all, we’re only 4 days out from that festival. And I have slipped some of them into the order of service anyway, because, after all, that’s the whole point of the saints of the church. They’re always with us, whether or not we recognise them. But at the same time, we’re living in a time where there’s war and disaster all round us. Today is the anniversary of Parihaka – a black day in the story of Aotearoa New Zealand. On November 11 this country sets apart remembers the dead from all the wars that have affected us. Our city has a Ukrainian community that is living through daily tragedies affecting the families here. All round the country people are protesting the war in Gaza. And at the same time, our young people are distraught about the disasters brought about by climate change. I very nearly decided that today we would have a Peace Sunday service. Except that prayers for peace must be part of our daily faith journey.

And, in the end, just because it’s important that we keep the candles burning every day, not just on the occasional Sunday, I went back to our reading from Matthew. But first, I went a little further afield. Who was Matthew writing to? What sort of community were they? They probably lived in Antioch, the third-largest city of the Roman Empire. The sociologist Robert Stark tells us that any accurate picture of Antioch in New Testament times “must depict a city filled with misery, danger, despair, fear and hatred; a city where the average family lived a squalid life in filthy and cramped quarters, where at least half the children died at birth or during infancy, and where most children who lived lost at least one parent”. Stark goes on to say that the city was filled “with hatred and fear rooted in intense ethnic antagonisms and exacerbated by a constant stream of strangers.” Antioch lacked stable networks, and was repeatedly smashed by disastrous catastrophes, which meant a “resident could expect to be homeless from time to time, providing he or she was among the survivors”.

I can think of more than one city in our time which would fit this description. Continue reading Sunday 3rd December →

Rev Hugh Perry

Readings

Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25

This passage moves to the end of the story of Joshua and in particular his second farewell speech.  Joshua gathers all the people together and challenges them to choose their God—Yahweh or the other gods they have worshiped in the past.  The people choose Yahweh and Joshua reminds them of the implications of that choice, it is a choice of total commitment without any extra gods for good measure or even extra gods to keep up past family or tribal traditions.

Historian Judith Binney writes

In the nineteenth century, faced with loss of land and an inexplicably high mortality among their people, many Maori leaders had turned to the story of the Israelites, desolate, and lost in their land.  The essence of their identification with them was the pain they shared: ‘O God. If our hearts arise from the land in which we now dwell as slaves…Do not cause us to be wholly destroyed’.^[1]

Maurice Andrew suggests that if Israel could face a challenge for the future through earlier times, it may be possible for New Zealanders to do the same by looking back.^[2]

Matthew 25: 1-13

Warren Carter writes that this parable contains allegory that ‘variously scares and bullies the disciples into obedience, persuades them to live for this desired future, or provides models of faithfulness which they imitate so as to participate in God’s future.^[3]

Robert Funk sees the message hammered home unsubtly, like a commercial—there are no surprises, the wise who take extra oil are rewarded and the foolish are punished and we know that will happen right from the start.^[4]

Robert Capon takes a different tack and analyses the parable from a contemporary perspective commenting on this and the following parables, under the heading ‘the talents’ and ‘the great judgement’.

He says ‘they base the judgement solely on faith or unfaith in the mystery of the age-long presence in absence—the abiding parousia, or second coming.’^[5]. Of the parable of the bridesmaids, he says ‘But the point of the story—the point that ultimately makes wisdom of the apparent folly—is that, in this world, something always does go wrong.^[6],  It is a parable of the world where the unexpected does happen, the bridegroom comes late.

This is the Gospel of Christ.

Sermon

The Gospels continually stand, as Joshua stood, and asks us if we will choose the gods of our world or the God we image in Christ.

Of course, Joshua didn’t know about Jesus.  He was comparing Yahweh, who brought them out of slavery, with the idols worshiped by various peoples they had interacted with on their wilderness journey.  It might well be reassuring to have a crafted image for people to centre their identity on.  But if they choose to base their community ethos on the creative force that led them from slavery to the point of nationhood then they had better behave accordingly.

The Gospels tell us the same story. But in imaging the creative force in the Risen Christ of the Gospels we have our behaviour mapped out for us in the deeds, saying and parables of Jesus.

In his book Honest to God John A. T. Robinson , notes ‘In the pagan world it was–and still is–a matter in the main of metal images’,

That is what Joshua is talking about.  Robinson goes on to say, ‘For us it is a question much more of mental images—as one after another serves its purpose and has to go.[7]

Robinson was explaining how the mental image of God changes as society and knowledge changes.  But there is also a warning in that statement that he may or may not have meant.  After all Honest to God was published in 1949, when I was about to start my introduction to Christian Education at an Anglican primary school, and I didn’t buy a copy and read it till I left high school.

By that time many other scholars had written about Robinson and the theological stream I fitted into was looking for even more controversial scholars.

What I have read into Robinson’s wise statement is that, without an image of the divine in the Gospel image of the risen Christ, we very easily start to imagine some very unhelpful mental images.  We certainly don’t need to be weighed down by metal images when social media can disperse misinformation and conspiracy at the speed of light. Continue reading Sunday 12th November →

Rev Barbara Peddie

The dead city. Matthew 23. Proper 26A 2023

Sometimes there are readings set down in the Lectionary that I can’t easily find my way into. It happens most often with Matthew, and it happens to me particularly in the readings we get in these last months of the Church’s year. There are the parables where so many are left out – where is the Jesus who said: “All are welcome”. All! As we will say in a few minutes – all are welcome to the table.

So, I came to this Sunday wondering where I would go. I almost took the easy option of celebrating our saints. After all, we’re only 4 days out from that festival. And I have slipped some of them into the order of service anyway, because, after all, that’s the whole point of the saints of the church. They’re always with us, whether or not we recognise them. But at the same time, we’re living in a time where there’s war and disaster all round us. Today is the anniversary of Parihaka – a black day in the story of Aotearoa New Zealand. On November 11 this country sets apart remembers the dead from all the wars that have affected us. Our city has a Ukrainian community that is living through daily tragedies affecting the families here. All round the country people are protesting the war in Gaza. And at the same time, our young people are distraught about the disasters brought about by climate change. I very nearly decided that today we would have a Peace Sunday service. Except that prayers for peace must be part of our daily faith journey.

And, in the end, just because it’s important that we keep the candles burning every day, not just on the occasional Sunday, I went back to our reading from Matthew. But first, I went a little further afield. Who was Matthew writing to? What sort of community were they? They probably lived in Antioch, the third-largest city of the Roman Empire. The sociologist Robert Stark tells us that any accurate picture of Antioch in New Testament times “must depict a city filled with misery, danger, despair, fear and hatred; a city where the average family lived a squalid life in filthy and cramped quarters, where at least half the children died at birth or during infancy, and where most children who lived lost at least one parent”. Stark goes on to say that the city was filled “with hatred and fear rooted in intense ethnic antagonisms and exacerbated by a constant stream of strangers.” Antioch lacked stable networks, and was repeatedly smashed by disastrous catastrophes, which meant a “resident could expect to be homeless from time to time, providing he or she was among the survivors”.

I can think of more than one city in our time which would fit this description. Continue reading Sunday 5th November →

Rev Don Reekie

New Age
New Challenges

Ad Lib:
The chapter of Matthew that we focus on today begins with Jesus and
his disciples in Jerusalem – the previous chapter has the driving money
changers from the Court of the Gentiles where the Other people could
pray. The neighbours given a place then treated as though they don’t
matter. But Jesus is furious. But this chapter 22 of parables and
discernments opens with a story of a wedding feast that is cruel. It
paints God as wrathful. The king sends troops to kill those who failed to
attend the feast. I am glad I can pick and choose a little. Well long ago
in Theological College I recall the writer of the book of Matthew writing
a hundred years later and aimed to bring in the Israelites and accepting
their concepts of purity and wrath. Anyway there are other texts more
helpful.
[As I am conscious of the All Black’s in Paris. I have just returned from
holiday in Niue. One Sunday in July 1969 I led worship in the village of
Avatele and every parishioner worshipping had and active – thus sized –
radio in their pocket ear piece in place. Through out the service the
landing module sent a clear beep to reassure the people at Cape
Canaveral.]
Probably the next 27 years will have the greatest change in a quarter
of century that has the earth has seen in human’s history.
Possibly half the worlds population displaced and seeking new land or
new lands with borders being defended against refugees as never
before. The ice caps gone or diminished. Animals, fish and birds
shifting from traditional homes to find new sources of support and feed
in unfamiliar places. AI being experimented with and attempts to control
it on the edge of human ingenuity. New government choices needed to
meet new employment factors and to end differentials of wealth and
poverty.
Tendencies of protectionism, with pressures for Trump and Putin and
Fascist leader, governments protecting borders and national privileges
rather than taking masses of refugees.
As work changes old measures of settling disputes will need to change
and working week shortened productivity improved. Continue reading Sunday 29th October →

Rev Hugh Perry

Readings

Exodus 20: 1-4, 7-9, 12-20

Writing of today’s reading Maurice Andrew notes that contemporary New Zealanders still see the Decalogue as manageable and concise without apprehending the intricate creative framework that surrounds the law’. His most telling comment about contemporary Kiwis suggests people who keep saying, ‘I was poor, but I did this all by myself, and you can too’ are not liberated.  Even as atheists they are worshiping other gods because they are ignoring the real basis of all life in the world. ^[1]

That statement recognises our interconnectedness through creation.  We are a communal species and that is recognised in a statement by the father of the man who, from time to time, has been the richest man in the world.

Bill Gates Senior maintains ‘Society has an enormous claim upon the fortunes of the wealthy.  This is grounded not only in most religious traditions, but also in an honest accounting of society’s substantial investment in creating the fertile ground for wealth-creation’. ^[2]

Matthew 21:33-46

This second parable in chapter 21 repeats the condemnation of the religious elite that was evident in the previous vineyard parable.

This parable suggests that if those who are ‘the proper religious authority’ do not fulfil God’s call others will be called to the tasks God wishes to accomplish in that time and place.

According to Carter the first century setting of this parable announces judgement on the unfaithful leaders and interprets the defeat of Jerusalem by Rome in 70 C.E. as punishment of them.  The vineyard, Israel, is not destroyed but is given new tenants to care for it.

Francis Wright Beare suggests a different perspective by seeing the parable as Matthew records it looking back on the death of Jesus and understanding the parable in terms of the early church and its continuing conflict with Judaism.

The parable also reflects Matthew’s sub-theme of Jesus as a new Moses forming a new people of God.

The Judaism of the time is therefore being rejected and Matthew’s community are the new tenants of the vineyard.

Sermon

Tom Scot talks of meeting his Irish Whakapapa in chapter 2 of his autobiography Drawn Out and includes a cartoon of an Irish pub.  In amongst the diverse and unconnected speech balloons there is someone on the edge of the picture telling Scott:

‘The swines came loot’n and burn’n our crops and cottages.  I’d like to tear their black hearts out of their chests with my bare hands!’  Scott replies with suitable shock ‘My God-when did that happen?  To which the man with his pint of Guinness replies ‘O about 400 years ago!’[3]

That is an example of the sort of tribal law that occurs in many societies, from primitive humanity whose details are lost in the mists of time to criminal gangs disputing territory and the right to distribute mind altering drugs.

Altercations break out for one reason or another. Trespass on hunting ground or a raid by a tribe to compensate for the failure of their own crops.  As Tom Scott’s cartoon illustrates memory of lives lost in such skirmishes are remembered from generation to generation until an opportunity to redress the balance presents itself.  Often the subsequent revengeful rampage oversteps the mark and, grudges and the quest for revenge, is carried to the next generation.

So as wilderness wanderers draw near to becoming a people, we have a story about their adoption of a set of rules that seeks to codify acceptable behaver and avoid intergenerational vendettas.

Most significant about this story is the insistence that, in suitable smoke and lightening, God gave the rules to Moses.  These are not rules written out by a sage meditating in a mountain, a wise king with the wisdom of a Solomon or even a duly constituted parliament.  These are statements brought to the notice of humanity by a being that is greater and more loving than humanity and are held as sacred and beyond human amendment. Continue reading Sunday 8th October →

Rev Barbara Peddie

Justice for all

Festival of Francis of Assisi. 2023

It took me a while to decide where to go with this service. Officially, the Season of Creation has finished – although I suspect it’s a season we should be observing throughout the year, especially in these times of dramatic climate changes. Also, officially this is the Sunday when the Catholic Churches celebrate St Francis’ Sunday, with the Blessing of the Animals (I wonder what’s happening over the road?) – but of course, we’re all Protestants here! This year, the Catholic celebration also specifically focuses on justice, and I thought well, in this, our season of elections, we should all be focusing on justice; justice for all and that includes the animals and the environment. I don’t notice many of the election contestants really taking that seriously, but this is no excuse for us.

And so I chose the reading from Micah.

We might also remember that right back in the beginnings of Israel’s journey as a people of the living Creator, one of the Ten Commandments focused on the well-being of all in the community.

On Friday I was rostered on as a ‘welcomer’ at the Living Wage Forum which took place at Aldersgate. It was, for someone who isn’t an official member of the Living Wage association, an inspiring event – but also worrying. Aldersgate was online with forums in Auckland and Wellington, with Wellington the main host. When there was a rollcall of who was at the venues, I was startled at the variety of organisations that are passionate about a fair chance for all to live well and safely. The faith groups were well-represented, as they should be, if they take seriously what they have bound themselves to do. The teachers, the cleaners, the nurses, the doctors, the port workers, the rail workers, the hospitality workers, the organisations that work with refugees and migrant workers, the renters ……..(I lost count). But not the developers, not the farmers, not the landowners. And although all the major political parties were specifically invited to send representatives, only the Greens, Labour and NZ First showed up and were prepared to face the issue.

The Living Wage. It should be a no-brainer. If you work a 40-hour week, whatever the work is, that should mean you have enough to house, feed and clothe yourself – and your family. Some of the speakers who used their three minutes to describe the outcomes of being on the living wage made this quite clear. For one instance, the allowance that schools have to cover all their maintenance work does not factor in the living wage for all employees. Some schools have individually decided to do this and we heard from one Auckland Secondary School that does. All those cleaners and caretakers and secretaries work very hard indeed. I wonder how many of us have ever taken just a moment of time to think about the school cleaners? As the young lady who spoke about that pointed out, it’s not a soft job. She advises her new team members to use nose pegs when they clean the boys’ toilets! And then there was the Tongan minister who pointed out that yes, his people are built for hard work – but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be fairly paid for what they do.

Altogether, it was a lively Forum. But very thought-provoking. And it brings me right back to the call for justice that sounds through all the church’s teaching. In the voices of the prophets and in the life and work of Jesus. Do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your Lord. Simple. No need to work through all the other commands. Just get on with it, and all will be well with the world.

Except that it isn’t and it never has been. Even although most if not all of the world’s religions have much the same instruction in their books. Christianity, Judaism and Islam most certainly do. I can’t speak for the eastern faiths because I don’t know enough about them, but even with those there are expectations about care for people and the environment and, in the case of the Jain people, for every living thing. But humanity has a fatal tendency to decide that the rules for living only apply to ‘my’ special group. And the next step is then, when my group has it right, it’s OK to disregard all the others, or, to take it to extremes, to dispose of all the others. In our own lifetimes, we’ve seen it over and over again. Jews don’t count – they’re not the true people – it’s OK to get rid of them. For Jews, substitute indigenous people, other castes, other colours, other ways of dressing…. And so on, ad infinitum. We Christians even do it in our churches. Our ordination is the only correct one. Our way of doing communion is the only right way. Our baptism is the only authentic one.

If we go back to the fundamental understanding of our faith: that God, the Creator, whatever name we use, loves God’s creation, then we are saying God loves all of creation. If we are born into the Christian tradition, and faithfully follow the way of Jesus, then we have no excuses to turn our backs on any of our neighbours. We can be honest with them about where our beliefs differ from theirs but honest evaluation of other religious beliefs should not shape our commitment to living our faith.

Let’s go back to the prophet Micah for a moment. Micah lived around seven hundred years before Christ, among a people surrounded by hundreds of gods and goddesses that belonged to their neighbours. As we do. His people knew all about pluralism. Sometimes they destroyed their neighbours, and sometimes they bought just a few of their idols, just to feel a little safer. Like an insurance policy perhaps. Nevertheless there was something of a religious revival happening in Israel at the time. (It happens here sometimes.) The Temple was crowded, and giving was over budget. That rarely happens here! And when it does happen, there’s no indication that the money goes where the needs are.

Micah wasn’t happy about the vibes. Israel had become arrogant and uncaring. And so he created an image of God taking Israel to court. God calls the mountains and the hills and the foundations of the earth – the whole landscape – as witnesses for the prosecution. And when I think about that, I can imagine what witnesses for the prosecution God would call from our landscape, never mind the witnesses from among the people. The court would be crowded.

The people of Israel missed the point. Seven hundred years later they missed the point all over again and drove Jesus out when he reminded them what living in God’s kingdom meant. They thought all you had to do was to trot along to the temple or the synagogue once and week and follow the principle aim of religion (or rather, of life) which they had decided was to have more – and more – and more. Grow the GDP. Get more of everything. More roads, more power, more tourists bringing in more money. More development everywhere. Never mind what happens later down the track. That will be their problem to work out. Does that sound familiar? After all, more is what we want now.

But what does God want – now? What God has always wanted. God wants justice. God wants us to be a voice for oppressed people, unprotected people, lonely people, poor people, disabled people, young people, old people, minorities and migrants. God wants every person to be treated as God’s own child. And God wants the birds and the animals and the oceans and the lands to be treated as God’s own creation.

God wants us to love kindness. The Hebrew word hesed used in the text means, literally, God’s loving-kindness. God loves us and we are to respond by loving others.

And God wants us to be humble, not arrogant. All that we have is an undeserved gift from God. Use it; listen for the voice of God wherever and whenever we are; learn how others on the road make sense of their lives.

We are learning – slowly – that all of creation is part of one unified web of life. I carry in my mind the image of a hydrogen atom, split in half and thrown into the cosmos but still the two parts of the atom are connected and if ever they came together again they would merge into one. Knowing that connection as we now do, the practice of justice and love needs to embrace both human and non-human life. In the words of Carol Dempsey, “The humble walk with God is a walk of holy reverence and awe across the planet, with people being attuned to, and learning from, the divine Spirit that pulsates at the heart of all.” Amen.

Rev Hugh Perry

The Readings

Exodus 16: 2-15

Maurice Andrew says ‘that creation does not liberate oppressed people but liberated people must be able to live from creation’ ^[1]  That was very much the reality of the early migrants to this country, both Polynesian and European.  The early hunter gardener Polynesian migrants would have needed to develop new skills for new species and environment and many of the plants they brought wouldn’t grow in the more temperate climate.

Early European migrants came with farm animals and exotic plants from a similar climate and there were established communities of hunter gardeners to trade with.  But the land they came to was covered in forest, so they still had to forage for much of their food until their form of agriculture became established.

In any migration both big and small there is bound to be a time when the past is viewed with envy and the decision to move is seen as the greatest disaster ever made.  Faced with challenge people prefer slavery to freedom because slavery also has security and freedom is always freedom into an unknown wilderness.

Matthew 20: 1-16

Hiring day labourers was a normal occurrence in Jesus’ time although usually carried out by the manager rather than the householder.  Those offering themselves for hire would likely have been people uprooted from peasant farms by wealthy landlords foreclosing on debt or forced from their farms because they could not support their household.  During harvest and planting work at minimal wages on a daily basis was readily available but in-between times it was not.

Therefore, life was unpredictable and marked by unemployment, malnutrition, starvation, disease, minimal wages, removal from households, and begging.  Their situation was more precarious than slaves since an employer had no long-term investment in them.^[2]

Sermon

The Israelites would have known how to deal with the quails just has early settlers, both Polynesian and European, world have quickly adapted to killing and eating the birds of Aotearoa.  However, the reading tells us they were a bit cautious about the white flakes that arrived with the morning mist.  ‘When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, ‘What is it?’ For they did not know what it was’. (Exodus 16:15)

Of course, they did not have Terry Pratchett’s advice that ‘All Fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once.[3]‘.  But the Exodus Saga is set far enough forward in human history for most communities to be aware of the need for caution when eating fungi.

Moses gave them the OK to eat it ‘It is the bread that Yahweh has given you to eat’. (Exidus 16:15)

But how did he know?  We might surmise that, because he had been raised with the Egyptian aristocracy or because of his time as a wandering shepherd, he had a wider experience of exotic foods or wilderness foraging than slaves on a limited diet.

However rather than speculating on any hidden reality in the story we should accept the learning in Moses statement that everything we eat, with or without GST, is a gift from God.  Not everything magically comes from multi-national supermarket chains.  Food has a life before shelves and packaging  but not everyone knows that!

When we first planted the community garden at St Albans one of the local people helping did not know that potatoes planted in the ground would grow.  But the classic story from the garden was about a boy who was given some potatoes from the garden to take home.  Next time he appeared he was asked if he enjoyed eating them, but he said his mother threw them out because they had dirt on them.

It is good to be cautious about things that are new and different, but both these readings highlight the fact that the common human response is not to accept new learning.  People find it easier to complain than learn.

So much so that I can’t resist labelling this series of Exodus readings, where the people complain to Moses, ‘The whingeing in the Wilderness.’

People whinge about all sorts of things and when we turn to our gospel reading we find that people are complaining in Jesus’ parable as well.

Nevertheless, like all of Jesus’ parables, today’s reading is not about continual dissatisfaction but about the kingdom of God.  It is not about whinging, or industrial relations or even refusing to vote because the government did nothing for them.  Like all Jesus parables the story has extra layers to it.

Many organisations have a defined process to obtain full membership.  When I joined Scouts at the age of eleven, I had to pass my tenderfoot badge before I was allowed to wear a scout uniform. Continue reading Sunday 24th September →

Theme: Peacemaking and Renewal

Rev Hugh Perry

Readings:

Exodus 12: 1-14

Maurice Andrew notes that this part of the narrative is in the form of regulations for performing the rite of Passover  ^[1]

The Passover probably had its origin in seasonal migration with stock in search of grazing and the lamb was killed about the time of the spring equinox, as a means of warding off evil forces when shepherds and flocks set off on potentially dangerous journeys.^[2]

Andrew further notes that an unleavened bread ritual marked the beginning of the barley harvest signifying everything beginning new and responding to God’s new gifts.  The firstlings offering of the first fruit acknowledged that everything belonged to God and everything is part of creation.  He quotes the Maori practice of returning the first fish caught as an offering to Tangaroa the god of the sea as a similar practice for a similar reason.

Matthew 18: 15-20

Carter notes that conflict is inevitable among humans and especially among a hard-pressed, minority and marginalised communities which Matthew’s community was.  Therefore, it is logical that Matthew would offer a formula for conflict resolution.

Matthew’s formula recognises conflict and offence but seeks to restore the offender to reconciled relationship within the community. ^[3]

Matthew’s code fits well in the Jesus’ tradition of peace through reconciliation and, like so much of Jesus’ teaching, stands in sharp opposition to the shame honour codes that operate in many communities and lead to intergenerational vendettas.   Bill Loader suggests that at an international level the most obvious application is: negotiate and don’t immediately rush to sabre rattling.

Much more can be achieved through negotiation than is usually assumed and this passage affords an opportunity to throw some gospel perspectives on the meaning of love and compassion in the handling of conflict in personal relations because each of us has a story to tell.  We all share expertise in failure and success in whatever area we live and work.^[4]

Sermon

Spring is a time of renewal and new beginnings but there is much about our world that is still cold and frightening.

Spring storms in our part of the world and autumn floods and wildfires in the northern hemisphere appear to be influenced by climate change and global warming.  Effects to mitigate climate change seem to be inhibited by human greed.

In the midst of unnoticed wars that rage continually Russia has invaded Ukraine and western powers are self- righteously supplying weapons.  Those same governments are frantic to stem the flow of refugees and boatloads of people are drowning in the Mediterranean and the English Channel.

Meanwhile we are in the midst of an election campaign.  We are encouraged to believe that our children are not being properly educated, crime is at an all-time high, and inflation and the cost of living will have dire consequences.

However, on the day that the first daffodil burst into bloom on our front lawn The Press carried an opinion peace under the headline ‘Only a better life back home can stop the boats.[5]’

The article suggested that Western Democracies would be better to spend money on humanitarian aid for people in war torn, struggling and bankrupt economies than expensive and dehumanising refugee camps and detention centres.  People make wilderness journeys to flee from slavery and war to earn money to send home.  Like the people in our Exodus reading forty years in the wilderness is worthwhile if it gives a better life for their children’s future.

Perhaps our children might have a better chance in the future if they left their cell phones at home and spent an hour each day on reading, writing and arithmetic.  But, at my first primary school cell phones didn’t exist and we got the strap if we got our spelling wrong.  I got so frightened I still can’t spell and the teachers that told me I would be a failure frightened me from enrolling in university until I was in my early fifties. Continue reading Sunday 10th September →

Who are you?

Pentecost 14A 2023

Today’s reading from the Hebrew scripture can only be described as enigmatic. I’m sure that Moses himself would have been comfortable with that description of a very strange confrontation coming out of nowhere.

Moses was a working man – and an immigrant – with a comfortable and ordered way of life. After he ran away from Egypt, he’d found himself a new life. Wife, kids, and work in the family business – his father-in-law’s business. He had married into his new career. Egypt with its disturbing memories had probably slipped into the back of his mind. In the life of a shepherd, one day would be much the same as any other. Like all other nomadic herdsmen then and now, Moses would mark the passage of time by subtle observation and calculation. Each day, each season measured out each day, until death or disaster intervened. And so Moses’ life had ticked on for thirteen years.

We don’t know much about his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, but the writers of the Book of Exodus treated his memory with respect. Rather surprising respect, given the usual attitude towards pagan priests in the Hebrew scriptures. For that matter, we don’t know how much Moses knew or remembered about his Hebrew ancestors or their religion. After all, he’d been brought up in the royal household of Egypt and may never have walked among the houses where the Hebrews lived.  In his new life as Jethro’s son-in-law, he may have given an occasional passing thought to the God of his own ancestors while he watched over the animals in his care, but he would have had the gods of Egypt in his mind as well. He could easily have ignored the burning bush. Just another bit of brushwood that had succumbed to the desert heat. But something nudged him into stopping and really looking. As the text puts it -; “he turned aside”. And for once – for a few seconds – he was in a space where God could break through into his consciousness, and set him on a whole new journey.

But, at the beginning, the confrontation was decidedly unsettling. Moses hid his face – like a child who thinks ‘if I hide myself, you can’t see me’. God then launched into a very grandiose account of Godself  and the extravagant project to overcome the greatest nation in that region. No surprise that Moses wasn’t convinced either that it was possible or that he should allow himself to take part. And so we come to that very testing question that Moses threw at the voice. Who are you? We’ve been trying to answer that question ever since.

In that short reading from Jonathan Kirsh that I shared with you, the suggestion was that in the ancient Hebrew world there was a tradition that the name was known by the elders and passed on to succeeding generations. If you knew the name it would prove you were indeed an emissary of God. But is that really what’s at stake here? What’s at stake for us, here and now? Does it matter so much what words we use to address the Creator, or is it more about coming to an understanding of what each of us is called to be and do in our lives. Continue reading Sunday 3rd September →

THEME: ACT

Meditation

Ponder this quote from Rosa Parks –

“I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all people.”

Sara Jewell has written this about Justice (I invite you to sue the pauses to ponder what God is saying);

We normally think of justice as

“punishment for the wrongdoer” –

underlined with plenty of righteousness and judgement and holier-than-them.

But let’s consider justice in the context of our faith.

Justice is a way of “being right in the world” –

this doesn’t mean “I’m right and you’re wrong” but rather,

to be in right relationship.

It means to live – to act and think and speak – in the way God wants us to live…

Shalom is all the blessings of peace, harmony, wholeness, prosperity, well-being, and tranquility.

Can I get an amen for shalom?

Justice is defined as “fair treatment” and that’s the foundation of “right relationship”:

peace, harmony, wholeness, prosperity, well-being, and tranquility –

for everyone…

As a young Jewish boy, this is what Jesus learned at synagogue. He would have known all about shalom.

Long before he started his ministry as an adult,

he was listening and learning about justice from the prophets.

And from the “Song of Hannah,” from 1 Samuel 2, which doesn’t use the word “justice” in it, but does include verses like these: “The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble gird on strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry are fat with spoil … [The Lord] raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes …” (4–5, 8a, NRSV).

Sound familiar?

“He has brought down the powerful from their thrones but has lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty” (Luke 1:52–53, NRSV).

That’s a verse from another song, Mary’s “Magnificat,” recorded in the gospel of Luke.

We usually hear it on the first Sunday of Advent.

So shalom – justice and fair treatment –

is the early influence of Jesus –

it’s what he heard throughout his childhood and his studies at the temple.

Shalom is the reason he grew up to believe he had to try to free Israel,

and the people of God,

from the oppression and occupation of the Romans.

To bring about peace, harmony, wholeness, prosperity, well-being, and tranquility

through the new way he envisioned.

Peace through love, not violence –

through arms that reach out to help, not arms that kill.

What an example he sets for the 21st century,

when it seems we are held captive

by the same kind of empire,

one that is just as oppressive, violent, and greedy,

just as hierarchical, patriarchal, and racist,

just as deeply rooted and resistant to change.

We tend to focus on how Jesus’ ministry ends:

with his trial and death –

after all, his crucifixion and resurrection are two of the pillars of our Christian faith –

but we can’t underestimate the load-bearing beam that is his ministry,

especially when it comes to justice.

The gospel of Luke also gives us the beginning of Jesus’ ministry when he stands up in the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth and unrolls a scroll to quote the prophet Isaiah: “…because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free” (Luke 4:18, NRSV).

Holy Hannah!

This moment is Jesus clearly stating the work he has come to do.

The work of justice.

Bringing good news to the poor.

Releasing those who are captive.

Giving sight to those who cannot see.

Freeing the oppressed.

The work of justice.

For everyone.

(From “J is for Justice” in Alphabet of Faith by Sara Jewell. Copyright © 2021 Sara Jewell, Wood Lake Publishing Inc. Used by permission by ‘Seasons of the Spirit’, Mediacom)

BUT what actions can we actually do in the face of so much injustice?

Rev Stephanie Wells

Stories That Shape Us

The lectionary has us following the journey of Moses and his people from a place of exile to home. The solution to exile is to return home. Life in exile is difficult, and today for many refugees in our midst returning home is impossible, so it is necessary for them to find a new home.

When the Persians conquered Babylon they allowed the captive Israelites to return home. The Moses story demonstrates that returning home is not without its challenges.

Marcus Borg in his book ” Meeting Jesus again for the First Time” Identifies three macro stories in the Old Testament, two of them grounded in the history of ancient Israel.

The first macro story is the journey of the tribes of Israel under the leadership of Abraham travelling to their promised land. This remembered story is a story of slaves  escaping bondage. For Abraham and his people it was a journey of some 40 years to the promised land. Abraham cemented in his people the understanding of one true God at a time when many gods were worshipped. Abraham was obedient to the voice he heard– ” Leave your country, your people, and your fathers household, and go to the land I will show you.’ ‘.

Like all religious journeys God travelled alongside Abraham and his people, the Spirit was with them. through many trials and tribulations until they reached the promised place. It is a story of escape from bondage to freedom, a journey and a destination, the leaving behind one life for another. This is the primal narrative of the Jewish people forever remembered at the annual festival of the passover .

The second biblical narrative is that of Moses leading his people from an oppressive slave existence back to their home, the once promised land .They experienced God in their midst aiding and assisting them.

“God gives power to the faint,

And strengthens the powerless.

Even youths will be faint and be weary,

The young will fall exhausted,

But those who wait on Yahweh

Shall renew their strength,

They shall mount up with wings like eagles,

They shall run and not be weary,

They shall walk and not faint.”

It is on this journey that Moses received the 10 commandments.

.

Think in our time, of Nelson Mandela who with much generous graciousness returned home forgiving those who had incarcerated him, or Bishop Tutu who through Truth and Reconciliation gatherings tirelessly worked to encourage the resolution of conflict and hatred.

The religious journey beckons us into the presence of the divine. We can lose our way, We can become overcome by tragedy or discord. A sacred journey enables us to find our way home back, healed, empowered and back to the familiar; home.

Key Biblical figures, such as Abraham, and Moses who led epic journeys, are venerated in Christian Jewish and Islamic faiths. The New Testament is the sacred text for Christians of many hues, Catholics, Episcipalians, Greek Orthodox ,Coptic ,Protestants,. Evangelicals, and more. Sacred texts they have in common but so often little effective interfaith gatherings or inter denominational interaction occurs as they walk their particular faith journey’s.

What is the truth, what is the right way? Continue reading Sunday 20th August →

Christ’s Presence in Storms of Chaos

Rev Hugh Perry

Readings

Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28 

We now move to the next generation and begin the Joseph story.  We need to remember that Jacob had been renamed Israel at the wrestling incident because both names are used in this reading that begins in the household enterprise of ‘Jacob and Sons.’^[1]

The family dysfunction that is being passed on from generation to generation now takes a deadly turn with the suggestion to kill Joseph.  This is mediated by one of the brothers and when the chance to profit by Joseph’s demise presents itself his life is saved by selling him into slavery.  Of interest is that it is the descendants of the other branch of Abraham’s family, the Ishmaelites, that save Joseph and save the divine promise.    Maurice Andrew notes that the promise is put in danger by family conflict but Joseph has the ability to channel the conflict into survival for them all because he understands God acting through the events.^[2]

Matthew 14:22-33

At this point the gospel has moved from teaching through parables to the feeding episode. To get there the disciples cross over the lake and in today’s episode they cross back.  These crossing episodes are a feature of Mark and Matthew’s Gospels where one section is joined to another by a crossing episode.

Jesus is shown to have control of the sea and the storm which is a divine creative action.  In Canaanite mythology God creates the world by pushing back the waters of chaos and there are hints of this in the Genesis creation accounts as well as in Proverbs.

We should also remember that God saved the people by pushing back the waters of the sea when they were escaping from Egypt, a new creation of a new people, and this chapter of Matthew contained the wilderness feeding so Matthew is continuing the new people of God through a new Moses theme.

Warren Carter points out that there is an instruction here to rely on Jesus in tough times and the rough sea symbolises the power of evil and chaos that rebel against God. ^[3]  This is an episode in which Jesus does God acts in front of the disciples and they affirm his divinity.

Sermon

I am an only child, so I did not experience sibling rivalry.  However, although our two boys get on well together their journey to adulthood had its sibling rivalries.

One of the incidents I still remember is a time when they and the neighbour’s children built a fort between the garage and the fence.  I heard my eldest declare that they would need some rules for their fort.  To which the younger responded ‘Yea and the first rule is don’t think your smart.’

Certainly, we get the impression that Joseph thought he was smart.  However, he was the youngest of the family and learned the hard lesson that he didn’t walk on water.

Sent out to find his brothers he was separated from parental protection and his brothers took action to rid themselves of his taunting presence.

Initially the brothers had murderous intent. But, although neoliberalism hadn’t been invented, they finally adopted a strategy of asset sales.  So, Joseph was traded to wandering Ishmaelite traders.  Continue reading Sunday 13th August →

A dream of peace.

Peace Sunday

Dr Barbara A Peddie.

Today is Peace Sunday. And as this year has ground on, with one disaster following another, the notion of peace seems more and more like an impossible dream. Outside our islands there is war and destruction in many countries. Here in Aotearoa the violence between groups of people who think differently, never mind what the issue is,  seems to be growing more and more dangerous. What good can we do, sitting here on a Sunday morning, and asking God for peace?

Of course, we turn our attention, and our hopes and dreams, to what’s happening in the world around us every Sunday. It’s our duty – our calling – to turn our thoughts to the world around us and pray for the good of all creation. It just seems, on a day like today, that whatever we do hasn’t had much of an impact – if any. Maybe we should stick to the lectionary and forget about this special Sunday?

Peace in our world is a very rare gift. Of course, some governments say: ‘we will have peace’ without putting anything in place to achieve it. And what they are really saying is, our nation will go about its daily life in safety, never mind what’s happening out there. What they don’t acknowledge is that unilateral peace comes at a high price.  Consider the reaction to terrorist outrages. Governments say: ‘We will root out terrorism.’ They don’t usually add: – ‘and we won’t necessarily be too dainty in the methods we use for doing so’, but in practice, that’s what often happens. As a result, a climate of fear builds up, and fear breeds violence, and violence breeds revenge – and so the cycles of war continue.

‘For heaven’s sake, let’s have peace at any price!’ How often have you heard that phrase or something very much like it? And how often do you stop and think about what it really means? How high a price are we prepared to pay? And for whose sake? Usually, if we’re honest, for our own sake. Most of us, given a choice, would avoid conflict if we possibly could. There are a few rare people whose outlook on life is such that they choose to sail into an argument with all banners flying – but they’re a minority. Continue reading Sunday 6th August →

                                                                 Blessed

Prayer of Illumination

Me inoi tatou, Let us pray;

Eternal God,

in the reading of the Scripture, let your Word be heard;

in the meditations of our hearts, may your Word be known;

and in the faithfulness of our lives, may your Word be shown.

Amine/Amen

 Introduction to the Bible Reading 1

The lectionary readings continue the story of Jacob, who has already extorted his twin brother Esau’s birthright for a bowl of soup or stew. The story devolves from there. With his mother Rebekah’s help (remember, Rebekah favoured Jacob while Isaac favoured Esau), Jacob next intentionally deceives his father to receive the blessing Isaac intended for his elder son, Esau. As a result, Esau plans to kill his brother.

And Jacob? Jacob has fled for his life. His scheming to obtain birthright and blessing has left him homeless and on the run. But the irony is, the destination of his flight was Haran – the place where his grandparents Abraham and Sarah first demonstrated their trust in God by setting out on their promise-driven journey. For Jacob, it is as if he, too, needs to go back to the beginning – and learn what it means not to scheme but to trust.

Listen now to the story of Jacob as it is woven into the words of Psalm 139 and its acknowledgment of living in the mystery of God’s presence.

Bible Reading 1 Genesis 28:10-19 and Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24

(divide congregation in half)

A: Genesis 28:10–11 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.

 B: Psalm 139:1–4

You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.

 A: Genesis 28:12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

 B: Psalm 139:5

You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.

 A: Genesis 28:13–14 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.

B: Psalm 139:6

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

 A: Genesis 28:15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

 B: Psalm 139:7–12

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

 A: Genesis 28:16–17 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

 B: Psalm 139:23–24

Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

 ALL: Genesis 28:18–19 EARLY THE NEXT MORNING JACOB TOOK THE STONE HE HAD PLACED UNDER HIS HEAD AND SET IT UP AS A PILLAR AND POURED OIL ON TOP OF IT. HE CALLED THAT PLACE BETHEL.

Introduction to Bible Reading 2

Today’s reading from the book of Matthew has one of Jesus’ many parables. This one, that tells of the wheat and weeds, provides a vision of the world now and the one to come.

As you listen ponder these questions – What does it mean for the world to have both wheat and weeds in it? How do we feel if we  hear it as wheat and weeds dwelling within each one of us?

 Bible Reading 2 Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 (rostered reader – any version)

²⁴ Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵ But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶ When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

²⁷ “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

²⁸ “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

²⁹ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

³⁶ Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

³⁷ He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸ The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, ³⁹ and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

⁴⁰ “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. ⁴¹ The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. ⁴² They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³ Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.

Sermon “Blessed”

Blessed. (Or ‘bless-ed” as I often find myself saying from years of hearing the King James version.) To be blessed is seen as such a good thing, a thing to aspire to, and yet do we really understand it?

In the book of Job, he is called blessed by God. But is only when he starts loses things that we discover why he is considered blessed. He was blessed with many crops and fields, animals and slaves, houses and land. Therefore, he is no longer blessed when he loses them. When his children die, he is told they were a blessing that he no longer has. And when he loses his health and is reduced to sitting in the dirt scraping his sores in agony he is told to curse God and die.

Job is one of the oldest biblical writings and shows us how little human nature has changed. So many people, even Christians, believe that they are blessed by God when we have material wealth, or health or many children or are seen as successful and famous. Conversely, if we do not have these things we feel cursed, or at least not blessed. Continue reading Sunday 23rd July →

Readings

Genesis 24: 34-38, 42-49, 58-67

Abraham didn’t want Isaac to marry a Canaanite woman so he sent his servant back to where he had come from to find a wife for Isaac.

The servant did that and met Rebekah at the well, who was the daughter of Abraham’s brother, and he tells her of his mission and she goes back to her mother and her brothers.  Her brother Laban comes and meets Abraham’s brother and we pick up the story as the negotiations begin.

Chapter 24 is the longest of the stories in this part of the Bible and different because, instead of acting directly, or through angels, God is seen acting though everyday events.^[1]

Susan Niditch notes that in this story ‘women are valuable commodities as precious as the water with which they are associated, but commodities nevertheless’^[2]

Matthew 11: 16-19, 25-30

The children in the market place might represent a court setting at the centre of a city or town just as a market is the centre or children playing make-believe courts.

We are reminded that the courts condemn John and Jesus but they marginalise themselves by excluding themselves from God’s purpose.^[3]

God’s purpose is hidden from the traditional leadership but revealed to the small band of ordinary people who are Jesus’ disciples.

Sermon

Our Gospel reading begins by Jesus comparing his generation with children playing in the marketplace and complaining that other children won’t play with them.

We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn (Matthew 11:17)

When I was a kid we never had a section less than half an acre and other kids were allowed to come and play.  Raewyn and I never had a section quite that big but we continued the ‘everyone welcome’ rule and were quite surprised that one of the neighbours was not allowed to play with friends at his place because it spoiled the lawn.

We did however observe a frustration we remembered from our own childhood.  To play in harmony children have to reach a consensus on what they choose to play.  They might not call to each other as highlighted in the gospel reading.  ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn (Matthew 11:17)

But the words ‘I don’t like this game so I’m going to take my ball and go home’ frustrated my childhood as well as the group my kids grew up with.  My grandson plays computer games with a kid in Australia which just frustrates his father and step mum who are both outdoor adventure junkies.

However, the main point of this small passage is that Jesus is using the squabbles that erupt in children’s games as a metaphor for the way he saw the society that they lived in.  Verse 16 begins ‘But to what will I compare this generation?’ (Matthew 11:16a) In other words, what is the way this community functions like?

Jesus then expounds on his children’s games metaphor by expressing his frustration about the contrasting reception people had given to both John the Baptist and himself. Continue reading Sunday 9th July →

There’s no pleasing everyone! Proper 9A 20230

There are some people you just can’t please! They’re never satisfied. I’m sure you’ve heard that – many times. I’ve said it myself, but the unspoken bit is always “ I’m not one of those people.” The saying reflects a very common human trait– and one that we seem to be able to see more easily in others than in ourselves. We often make judgements about other people who grumble about what we see as perfectly acceptable. We’re also inclined to think that our opinions about what makes a good environment to live in are reasonable – everyone should be able to see that! And when someone bursts onto our horizon making off the wall statements or suggestions about how we could do, or be, better, our hackles go up.

Take our city of Christchurch. I’m sure we’re not unique in having a thousand different opinions about every project that impacts on the public. In my lifetime we’ve had protracted arguments about roads encroaching on Hagley Park; about where the art gallery should go, and then about what its design should be, about what shape the museum windows should have; about whether you should fish off Brighton pier. Post- earthquake phase we had views about the future shape of the city (and the schools) –we were all sure that ours were the right ones. Even though we know, underneath, that we weren’t thinking about the public good, not really – we expressed our own preferences! I, for instance, think the covered stadium is a total waste of money – but then I haven’t watched a rugby match since I was in the Fourth Form. And I’m really perfectly well aware that my desire to hear orchestra concerts in a truly adequate venue is a minority view!

Our rather odd gospel text picks up some aspects of this quirk of human nature – this desire for something other than what we have, that isn’t necessarily what someone else – some person of status – proposes. Theoretically, Israel desired to be in communication with God through the prophets. Theoretically, Israel desired to hear that the Messiah was about to come. Times were hard. A foreign power had oversight of the land – and a stranglehold on its economy, and the ruler favoured by the Romans was hardly satisfactory. Israel mourned lost greatness- although whether in fact there had ever been a golden age is a moot question. And yet – when John came proclaiming the coming of the Messiah, the people turned away. John was too harsh and too judgmental. Nobody likes being harangued. Nobody likes being called ‘a brood of vipers’ – that’s hardly the way to win hearts. Moreover John didn’t even seem to be talking about good times. He wasn’t going to sing and dance and have fun. Also, he wasn’t respectable! He was interesting, maybe. OK as an afternoon’s entertainment down by the Jordan, but that man wasn’t really ‘one of us’. No need, then to take him seriously.

And then, along came Jesus. He welcomed people. He was gentle with them – mostly. He was ready to sing and dance. He was happy to join in celebrations, like wedding parties – why, he’ even been known to provide the wine! He liked good company, especially at the meal table. He had friends. But then, what about those friends and followers? They weren’t very impressive, some of them –not even respectable. What about those dinners when everyone was welcome on equal terms. Who would want to sit down with some of those people? Inclusiveness is an interesting idea, but let’s not take it too much to heart. We have standards to maintain after all. Continue reading Sunday 2nd July →

Introduction
Whenever we come to the Bible, we will be interpreters. And all those before
us were interpreters also. We try to discern what the message is. We have to
understand the situation and the context we have to determine what is the
message particularly for us – in this time of ours.
Genesis 21 is set in several chapters that tell of Abraham, Sarah Hagar and
the both of two sons. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah are in the
previous chapters. These series of events give little guidance to our dealing
with homosexuality today or gender preferences in loving relationships.
At that time as recorded in these chapters women and girls were accorded
no protection or value in the exchanges of everyday life. Abraham at one
point pretends Sarah is his sister to give her to be the wife of a powerful and
threatening chief. Lot has strangers turning up and hosts them as custom
dictated – but his neighbours hating strangers and aliens want to do harm
and rape them The same behaviour we witness in the course of wars today.
Boys were not protected and commonly used for sex by the powerful. The
prohibitions that appear in Leviticus seem to be a protection of the the boys
– ‘tamariki’. We have seen this week in New Zealand that 2 staff in ‘Oranga
Tamariki’ have abused their role with children. We need to be protective of
the young.
The verses we read are focused on the slave girl of Sarah. She had given her
slave to be a second wife to Abraham in order to bear him a son. When she
has a son herself she wants no competition and sends Hagar and her son
away. One will be the father of Arabs the other the father of the nation of
Israel. Both are blessed.
In the mess of life what is the
essential message. I think it is that
in those early times the major
concern was dealing with Holiness
that they felt awe at. The challenge
was to find a way of living that
matched their apprehension of
Holiness in their world.
The psalm has a sense of holiness
somehow touching our lives with
beneficence and compassion and
in response an awareness of God’s
magnificence which is wondrous.
In Matthew, the Jewish traditionalist with a care for the Jews who had
followed Jesus into a new way for their people, we find awareness of
needing to choose and the divisions even in families that choice of the Jesus
way will mean. Holiness has stringent expectations.
Then in Roman’s Paul put it dramatically with all the power and awe ablaze.
They are surrounded with danger because they have chosen this way. Paul
says we who choose to follow Jesus have
died and will rise again with him.
Reflection on Holiness, Awe, Wonder and
The Way
Holiness evokes awe and
wonder. I think that as a
baby we gaze out in awe.
When confronted by
mountains, oceans or a
single rose, begonia or
frangipani we have our
breath taken away and we
are filled with wonder.
Living in a world of nature
– travelling as nomad through deserts finding water and
pasture the people of the genesis time are close to the earth.
The earth demands awe, respect and the sense of the holy. The other, the
intensely powerful and awful. What is this power how do we negotiate our
relationship with this presence.
Even our name for this – what ever it is – we must make un-pronounceable.
We dare not pretend to be able to define it or name it. We dare not say it. The
four letters placed together cant be spoken together. If we try we have a
guttural sounding Y Ah W Eh “Yahweh” in the translation we Europeans boldly
write “Jehovah” – without regard for Jewish sensitivities and awe.
These nomadic families were as close to the natural world as the nomadic
small nation groups wandering their familiar routes across Australia for
60,000 years. Continue reading Sunday 25th June →

Sermon

Bible Readings

Genesis 18:1-15

The Lord appeared to Abraham at the sacred trees of Mamre. As Abraham was sitting at the entrance of his tent during the hottest part of the day, he looked up and saw three men standing there. As soon as he saw them, he ran out to meet them. Bowing down with his face touching the ground, he said, “Sirs, please do not pass by my home without stopping; I am here to serve you. Let me bring some water for you to wash your feet; you can rest here beneath this tree, I will also bring a bit of food; it will give you strength to continue your journey. You have honoured me by coming to my home, so let me serve you.”

They replied, “Thank you; we accept.”

Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick, take a sack of your best flour, and bake some bread.” Then he ran to the herd and picked out a calf that was tender and fat, and gave it to a servant, who hurried to get it ready. He took some cream, some milk, and the meat, and set the food before the men. There under the tree he served them himself, and they ate.

Then they asked him, “Where is your wife Sarah?”

“She is there in the tent.” he answered.

One of them said, “Nine months from now I will come back, and your wife Sarah will have a son.”

Sarah was behind him, at the door of the tent, listening. Abraham and Sarah were very old, and Sarah had stopped having her monthly periods. So Sarah laughed to herself and said, “Now that I am old and worn out, can I still enjoy sex? And besides, my husband is old too.”

Then the Lord asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Can I really have a child when I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? As I said, nine months from now I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”

Because Sarah was afraid, she denied it. “I didn’t laugh,” she said.

“Yes you did,” he replied. “You laughed.”

Psalm 116:1–2, 12–19 (paraphrase)

I love you, God, because you listen to my prayers every single time I call out to you.

What can I ever offer you for all you have done for me? I know: I’ll bring an offering of wine to thank you for saving me. I’ll bring it into the assembly of the people, so everyone can see that I appreciate what you have done.

How painful it must be for you, God, when one of your people dies.

But you have saved me from death. I will serve you just as my mother served you. I will give you my sacrifice of thanksgiving and offer you my prayers and praise. In front of all the people, in the midst of the Jerusalem temple, I will give you all I have promised, for you have been so good to me.

With all my being, I offer you my praise!

Romans 5:1-8

(divide congregation into four groups)

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.

All: And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that –

Group One: Suffering produces endurance.

Group Two: Endurance produces character.

Group Three: Character produces hope.

Group Four: Hope does not disappoint us.

All: because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.

But God’s great love is demonstrated in this:

All: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Matthew 9:35-10:10

Jesus went around visiting all the towns and villages. He taught in the synagogues, preached the Good News about the Kingdom, and healed people with every kind of disease and sickness. As he saw the crowds, his heart was filled with pity for them, because they were without a shepherd. So he said to his disciples, “The harvest is large, but there are few workers to gather it in. Pray to the owner of the harvest that he will send out workers to gather in his harvest.”

Jesus called his twelve disciples together and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles; first Simon (called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew, the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus; Simon the Patriot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus.

These twelve men were sent out by Jesus with the following instructions; “Do not go to any Gentile territory or any Samaritan towns. Instead, you are to go to those lost sheep, the people of Israel. Go and preach, ‘The kingdom of heaven is near!’ Heal the sick, bring the dead back to life, heal those who suffer from dreaded skin diseases, and drive out demons. You have received without paying, so give without being paid. Do not carry any gold, silver, or copper money in your pockets; do not carry a beggar’s bag for the journey or a spare shirt or shoes or a walking stick. Workers should be given what they need.

Sermon ‘Compassion’

The Mathew reading tells us – “Jesus went around visiting all the towns and villages. He taught in the synagogues, preached the Good News about the Kingdom, and healed people with every kind of disease and sickness. As he saw the crowds, his heart was filled with pity for them, because they were without a shepherd.”

The phrase “his heart was filled with pity (or compassion) for them” can also be translated from the Greek as “his guts were twisted in pain by his compassion for them.” While a bit rougher than the first I like thus version as it saves us from some of the baggage the word ‘pity’ holds and emphasises how deeply moved Jesus was by the plight of the people around him.

And notice two things; Jesus is concerned not just about people believing his good news but in their physical and mental well-being. And secondly he immediately does something about it. After commenting that there are few workers for the harvest he doesn’t despair and say it’s all too hard. He looks at what he has and organises the twelve men he has to add to what he is doing.

In the Genesis reading which we only referred to today, we also meet a compassionate God. In this story we hear about Sarah’s infertility. She believes it is now impossible for her to have children, as both she and Abraham are just too old. But God has different ideas. And he promises a child, in fact a son, something that would wipe away all the years of shame at not producing an heir for Abraham. Finally. And Sarah laughs in disbelief.

And here we have the worm in the apple, especially on this day that has been designated Disability Sunday. Why does a compassionate God not cure every disease and sickness? Why does he let bad things happen to good people, or even just okay people, or to totally innocent children? Why?

Honestly I’m not sure if there is a simple answer. But what I do know is that often disability is not the problem, it is the way we use labels to categorise people. And that is ridiculous when you think about it because all of us are disabled in some way. Because really ‘disabled’ means ‘not able to do (something)’. And that is true for all of us. I am unable to sail an America’s Cup boat. I am unable to understand, build and launch a rocket. I am unable to keep most plants alive. I suspect you too may be able to come up with a list too. And yet the fact that I am unable to do lots of things results in me being rarely called ‘disabled’.

No, we tend to keep that label for the disabilities that are easy to see. And yet even then we are selective. I obviously wear glasses. Without them I am unable to see this sermon, your faces and probably how to get out of the building. Without my glasses I would be in truth be disabled, unable to cope in this modern world.

And that is often the criteria. You have a disability if you don’t fit in, if you face barriers when you try to live your life. Now when you use that as your disability criteria; that there are barriers to living life as you wish it – all of us are disabled. Some are unable to do what they want to do because of the colour of their skin. Some face barriers because of their gender. Some are unable to be who they could be because their brain does not work like other people’s and they are labelled strange or difficult or mad. Still others have physical characteristics that don’t fit the ‘norm’ (whatever that is) and so they struggle to go places or to do what is expected. And the list goes on. Continue reading Sunday 18th June – Disability Sun Compassion →

Readings

Genesis 12: 1-9

Writing of this passage Maurice Andrew reminds us of Colin Gibson’s hymn in which Gibson uses the image of the God of Abraham sending us on our way and ‘has called forth a response from many New Zealanders for whom ‘the road runs out.’

We can see plausibility in this saga as we reflect on our own migratory history of island hopping or migration across the globe.

We are told that God told Abram to leave Haran and, if we relate that to our own experience, the fact that migration was divinely inspired is often a hindsight revelation rather than a certainty when the decision is being made.

Furthermore, the journeys we make are often short trips strung together over a lifetime, like my grandfather who said he went to Canada because he was sick of washing his stepmother’s dishes.  If he knew he would end up in Auckland, he might have persevered with the dishes.

Matthew 9: 9-13, 18-26

Matthew the tax collector did not work for our IRD and the tax he collected was a toll on transported goods.  He would have contracted to collect a certain amount with any surplus belonging to him.

That system encouraged greed and exploited poor peasants and other producers, like fishermen, who transported goods to urban markets.  Such taxes served the empire’s ruling elite and secured the infrastructure in conquered areas to consolidate and extend Rome’s power.

To not collect tax was to undermine the empire’s way of life and control.  Therefore, the story of Matthew offers the suggestion that even despised tax collectors, can walk away from the oppressive imperial system to find God’s saving presence in Jesus and an empire that is life giving and merciful.[1]

More excluded people are repatriated in the next section we read where Matthew has condensed Mark’s sandwich of the healing of two women.

Sermon

Both our readings are about journeys, one across ancient lands to become a people of God and the other is part of the metaphorical Gospel journey towards becoming a new people of God.

Our Genesis reading is the beginning of the Abraham Saga that moves into the Exodus Saga which is all part of the Hebrew Journey to becoming the People of God.

The journey was started by Abram’s father in the previous chapter where it says that Abram had set out with his father and the rest of family from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan but had stopped at Haran. (Genesis 11:31-32).

These stories are narrowly focussed on the Abraham’s family but like all our own journeys they happen within the ongoing journey of humanity spreading throughout the globe as layer upon layer of peoples and culture evolve into the people of our world.  The inclusive challenge the Gospels present is to accept that all those people are potentially the whole people of God.

The Bible doesn’t tell us why Abram and his father left Ur of the Chaldeans or why after settling in Haran with his father Abram decided to continue the journey.

Likewise, my family know that the Perrys came to New Zealand from Plymouth to New Plymouth on the ‘Amelia Thompson’ because they thought they could smelt the Taranaki iron sands.  But we can only guess what motivated them to leave a smelting business in England and risk Split Enz’ ‘six months in a leaky boat.’ Continue reading Sunday 11th June – Our Journeys are also Faith Journeys →

Today is Trinity Sunday. We’ve just emerged from Pentecost- that hugely significant, challenging, and exciting celebration. We’re just getting our heads round the metaphor of the Spirit coming in fire and wind, and opening us to the experience of God in Christ present with us, and now we’re asked to take on board the whole Trinitarian package. It’s no wonder, that in many churches this is the Sunday when the regular preacher finds a substitute to deal with Trinity!

One of the biggest difficulties we have when we’re faced with mysteries beyond our experience, is to find words to describe them to ourselves. I think I’ve told you this story before but it’s worth repeating it. It’s a true story of a group of five-year-olds from Wainoni School who were taken to the beach. They had never been to the beach – it’s only 1km away from where they lived, but their families had nothing extra to cover the cost of picnics at the beach! They had no word for sand. They had never seen it, or experienced the feeling of it – they had no words. It’s hardly surprising that we struggle to find words to describe the mysteries of our faith. Even when we experience them, they’re so big that the words we use never seem satisfactory – there’s always something more.

After all, it took the early church centuries to hammer out a concept of Three-in-One, and One-in-Three that was helpful to them in building their faith. And the formula the Church came up with after 300 years worked for their time and knowledge, but, in the end, it wasn’t a glue strong enough to hold the Church together! The early Christians were passionate about their theology. There were riots in the streets over different interpretations about the nature of God. The arguments spilled out into the markets and the barbers’ shops, and ordinary people came to blows in the streets over the different formulae proposed. Our ancestors really cared about the doctrines of their faith. Continue reading Sunday 4th June, Trinity Sunday – Dangerous Images →

Teaching ‘Ascension’

You’ve just heard about an event the modern church seems to ignore – the Ascension. Perhaps that’s why I bring it up every year because I think it is important.

And yet the events described actually seem quite low key. Jesus spends time teaching the disciples, explaining what has happened and preparing them for the future and then he leaves. You have to sympathise with the early Christians because this was a period when they are overwhelmed with unexplainable happenings. The ascension was just one more to add to jaw-dropping moments like the resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit.

And yet despite having to do some major re-shuffling of previously-held beliefs, by the next week when Pentecost happens Peter is able to explain these events in a few sentences. He says; “This Jesus, God raised up.  And every one of us here is a witness to it. Then, raised to the heights at the right hand of God and receiving the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, he poured out the Spirit he had just received.”

There, right from the beginning was one of the basic understandings of the Ascension – Jesus went up to heaven to sit on the throne at the right hand of God. In other words, Jesus took the most honoured place in the court after God. Continue reading Sunday 21st May Eastertide/Ascension →

Readings

Acts 17:22-31

Our Reading from Acts is Paul’s speech at the Areopagus.

William Barclay highlights some of the main points of Paul’s sermon beginning with Paul stressing that, in contrast to images in precious metal and stone, God is not made, but the maker.  People like to worship what they have made but the true God has guided history. Furthermore, humanity has an instinctive longing for God and, as Christians, we believe the way to meet with God is to be inspired by Jesus Christ.  The proof of the pre-eminence of Christ is the resurrection.^[1]

John 14: 15-21

Today’s reading is the part of Jesus’ farewell discourse that promises the disciples will not be left on their own when Jesus has gone because God will send ‘The Spirit of Truth’ or the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit.

We are also informed that the Paraclete is not a separate presence to Jesus but the same presence.

Furthermore, this presence is not about Jesus’ presence being experienced by a few selected mystics or ascetical elite but a promise that Christ will be encountered by all Christians.^[2]

Sermon

In my younger years I quite often met people, or read about people, who said that God had called them to do something or go somewhere.  Usually, these things were exciting and often in some exotic location.  That  always registered strongly in the cynical part of my brain.  I have also met people who were disappointed that they had not done something because they had not had the call to do so.

So how do we know when the Spirit of Truth that John’s Gospel promises abides with us, calls us, or even just nudges us in a particular direction.

I have plunged, tumbled, or stumbled into most of the major changes in my life and it is only in hindsight that I can say that the Divine Spirit was in the move.  Often other people have been involved.   One I will never forget was a discussion with the convenor of the committee that finds positions for new ministers.  I desperately wanted to stay in Christchurch, and he was determined that I was going elsewhere.  At one point I flippantly said, ‘Well it’s up to the Holy Spirit.’  To which he equally flippantly replied, ‘Yes that me!’.

I learned so much, met so many interesting and fabulous people and made special friends as minister of St Stephens in Hamilton that I am convinced that he was right.  However, neither of us believed so at the time.

It is certainly true that God moves in mysterious ways and I was one of the few teenagers in my circle of friends who didn’t attend church or belong to a church youth group.  Furthermore, I also saw the small group of Baptist young people who mostly kept to themselves as reasonably weird. Continue reading Sunday 14th May 2023 →

Easter 5A 2023 -7th May

We’re still working through the season of Easter. After the first few weeks of fizz and celebration, the lectionary is taking us into times of doubt and questioning. That’s probably exactly where the first followers of the Way were in the days and weeks after the Easter happenings. If we think our lives were turned upside down by earthquake, mass murder in our city and pandemic,  however do you imagine they felt? Their leader was dead. No he wasn’t. Some of the first group of followers had seen him. Some hadn’t. Some found themselves fronting up to the scholars and teachers they’d been used to listening to, and arguing with them in public. Some of the women were finding themselves in an entirely new way of being part of a community – they were finding public voices. And these upheavals went on and on.

Today’s reading from Acts was about the first martyrdom. Stephen a Jew killed by fellow Jews, not by foreign rulers. There was uproar in the synagogues. The psalm for today is a good one for people at the end of their endurance. And overall, the readings are still engaging in the challenges of finding a new way of being, a new community, a new faith.

In these times we’re in danger of ‘information overload’! We get more and more opinions and more and more theories about what’s happening, and more and more questions:  what should we do next, who’s right, who’s wrong. And in the age of social media there’s less and less substance, and more and more hype and headlining. And, unfortunately, rather more sloppy research and lack of thought before rushing into print or on line. Continue reading Sunday 7th May -Starting Points →

Sunday 16th April

Reflection/Teaching “Resurrection Witness”

“Seeing and believing” is an ongoing theme in the book of John, and it is a key part of the Thomas and Jesus encounter.

At the opening of this gospel, Jesus asks Nathaniel, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree?” When two of John’s disciples begin to follow Jesus he says, “Come and see.” And the story of the man born blind in John 9 is also filled with nuances about sight and belief.

In this passage, the only blessing spoken by Jesus and recorded in John falls on those who have not seen but believe. That blessing reflects the life situation of the original community addressed by this gospel. Most, if not all, of John’s first readers would not have seen Jesus. And yet they believed. And Jesus’ blessing of them is Jesus’ blessing of us as well.

This story about Thomas is often used to berate doubt, based on verse 27, where Thomas wants to touch and see. But the word translated as “doubt” is not one of the common Greek words for doubt. It is ‘apistos’, whose literal meaning would be closer to “without faith” or “unbelief.” So what Jesus is actually doing is graciously providing Thomas with what he needs to move from unbelief to belief.

As we know now people learn in many different ways. Thomas, like many of us, needed to see, to touch in order to move from his previous thinking to knowing that Jesus was alive.

Touch,” writes well-known author Margaret Atwood, “comes before sight, before speech. It is the first language and the last and it always tells the truth.”

Again, recent research has proven the importance of touch. During the many Covid lockdowns physical isolation was one of concerns of mental health professions. We could use on-line or distant interactions to feed our need for sight and sound interactions but we couldn’t touch. People found it physically painful when couldn’t hug the grieving friend or hold the hand of the dying relative.

Thomas needing to touch Jesus was part of his letting go of grieving and truly believing in the living. And it worked. Thomas become one of the most well-travelled apostle. His story didn’t get into our bible and so like many I thought his journey to India and the subsequent Christian community there a myth. But I now have a neighbour who comes from that tradition. And it the evidence is compelling that there has been a Christian presence in India for over 2000 years.

Continue reading Sunday 16th April- Resurrection Witness →

12 March 2023

Readings

Exodus 17:1-7

Writing of this Exodus reading Maurice Andrew suggests that:

Creation does not of itself liberate an oppressed people, but a liberated people must also be able to live from creation, as we see when, after only three days in the wilderness, they find no water.  After liberation, people become migratory and their wandering is characterised, not by the will to go forward for life, but by the desire to return to security.  In the difficult period between liberation and the gaining of land, which the wilderness wandering represents, the limitations of the people are witheringly exposed. ^[1]   We could call this episode ‘the whinging in the wilderness’ and there is a lot of it about.

John 4: 5-42

We often get long readings from John’s Gospel because, in John’s Gospel, Jesus makes long complicated theological speeches and the teaching is in those speeches rather than in the description of events.  In this episode we get the vision of the inclusive Christ who will accept a drink from a woman who is of a race considered unclean. Jesus also teaches this woman and sends her out on mission and she in turn brings people to Christ.

Sermon

Through the magic of Facebook, I recently saw a picture of the Minister of Education, Jan Tinetti, with the Ministry of Education interns who were finishing their 12 week paid internship.  What initially stuck me about the group of smiling young people about to return to their studies was that we are obviously a nation of immigrants.  If you took a DNA swab from everybody in the group and sent it off to Ancestry Dot Com the results would pretty much cover the globe. Continue reading Liberating Christ Into our world →

26 February 2023

In the scripture version of the Matthew reading, unlike the paraphrase we just had, it opens with this phrase “the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness”

Wilderness implies a place that is not tamed by human occupation. In the physical world, it might be a desert, mountain, forest, or ocean. Within our own lives, it may involve times of uncertainty, experiencing the unknown, or having to make choices with no clear outcomes. Even urban areas can produce wilderness times as the high incidents of modern loneliness shows. Continue reading “Into the Wilderness” →

Sunday February 19t^h 2023 : Transfiguration Sunday

Musings: The Passing of Time (Note merging introduction to Exodus reading)

 Time has slipped by since I last stood in front of this congregation. People have come and gone, you have known bereavement and joy, health and sickness, pandemic, lockdowns, change, as have I. We could draw a timeline of the past three and a half years since I left St Ninians and mark off the events for this congregation, not least the movement around the buildings and now back here in the church, but also in your own personal lives.  I for one have become a grandmother of two delightful little boys in Australia. Such a timeline would be Chronos time.

There’s another kind of time – Kairos time – or deep time. Something that Robert Macfarlane conveys so well in his book, Underland. He writes that deep time goes below the surface – in his case, literally as he explores various underground locations from a burial ground in Somerset, UK; to the catacombs in Paris, to under the ice in Finland and various other sites in between – sites where eras and epochs put human time in perspective and where he feels deeply the interconnection of life on this constantly evolving and changing planet. When viewed in deep time, that which appears inert, becomes vibrant. Our ‘flat perspective’ deepens. I highly recommend. Continue reading We Wait Upon the Mountain →

REFLECTION:                                                                                                        

We are very familiar with the Call stories from  the gospels, stories which also signal  the beginning of Jesus’ Ministry.  Here we are again, this time from Matthew,

In reading the early chapters of Matthew we learn that by chapter 4 Jesus has a new hometown for a  third time – each  in fulfilment of  various prophecies. Have you realised just how transient Jesus’ whole life was, even from the beginning?

Born in Bethlehem,  the family’s first move tells of Joseph and Mary and Jesus  fleeing Bethlehem and Herod’s fury, before  arriving in Egypt – another prophecy fulfilled. We can start to see Jesus’ life following a similar pattern to Moses’ journeys. Continue reading Called →

15 January 2023

Introduction to the Bible Readings

There are many call stories in scripture – to older couples, to teenagers, to people involved in their work, to those opposed to God’s hopes for them. Yet, we rarely hear stories from those with whom we worship about the calls they have heard.

I’m not going to embarrass anyone by asking for a testimony today but consider as you listen to these scripture readings who you would like to approach. Perhaps over a cuppa after the service or in the next days and weeks you could ask them to tell their stories, to share their journeys, to talk about their struggles with this thing we term a “call from God.”

Reading 1 Isaiah 49:1-7

Reading 2 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Response (you are invited to look your neighbour in the eye and like Paul say – “I give thanks for you”)

Sermon “To be called by God” Continue reading “To Be Called by God’ →