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All Shook Up - Thoughts for Easter Sunday

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This Easter, as we listen to Matthew,  we are invited to join Mary Magdalene and the other Mary at the tomb. They had suffered the trauma of holy week. Jerusalem had become increasingly more hostile with their growing fear and anxiety all mixed with hope. They had been there at the arrest, heard about the trial, and witnessed the horror of the crucifixion as the earth shook and the sky darkened. They were traumatised. They came to the tomb to mourn in their shock and grief. This is a place to take the ache of trauma. We are invited to join them in all we have gone and are going through over the last few years. Covid, climate change disasters here and overseas with floods and cyclones, and the deadly slips on Mauao and Pāpāmoa Hills. War in Ukraine, the Middle East and all the ripples here as we wonder what is next. And our personal stories of loss, fear, and sorrow. It is a lot. And so, we are invited to bring our trauma and grief and join Mary Magdalene and the other Mary at the...

It Begins

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Maungatapu – Palm Sunday 2026 Readings: Psalm                          Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29                                                 First Reading:               Isaiah 50:4-9a Gospel:                          Matthew 21: 1-11 What I want to say: I want to help people enter into this story to Where are we in this story? What do we see? What I want to happen: Who is Jesus? Let go of our stereotypes and engage with the one presented in...

Some Thoughts on Palm Sunday

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This week like every Palm Sunday we are invited to journey with Jesus down the Kidron Valley from Bethany into the temple joining the ambivalent crowds who have come to Jerusalem for Passover, and on through the maze of streets and events until we reach Golgotha and the cross. We are invited to notice how we respond as we enter this week and how this story helps us see our world differently and to live compassionately. It begins with a small crowd from the country waving branches welcoming their “king” who rides a donkey into the city. They cry Hosanna!! Each Sunday we join them crying Hosanna as we gather around the eucharistic table. Hosanna is both our plea for God to save, and a shout of praise and exaltation. As we join that procession what is it we long to be saved from? And for what do we give thanks and praise? This king is unlike most other kings. Pilate and Herod Antipas enter on war horses surrounded by cavalry and infantry and symbols of brutal power. Jesus rides a donk...

Finding Life and Hope in These Struggling Times

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  5 th Sunday in Lent- Year A - 2026 Readings: Psalm -                         Psalm: 130           First Reading -            Ezekiel 37:1-14 Second Reading -        Romans 8:6-11 Gospel -                       John 11:1-45   What I want to say: I wonder how we are at this moment. - How many of us feeling like field of dry bones in Ezekiel – in need of breath of God? We are reminded by our gospel reading (John 11:1-45) that with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus we are invited to know Jesus as the “resurrection and the life.” Explore what this life might look like in our struggling church. What I want to happen: Where do we meet Jesus’s breathing lif...