Colourful Dreamer

I just received this from a friends bog. Larry is gone. When I was younger he was so influential. I loved his music. He showed me Christians could do rock. It was sooo cool. And his concerts were great. So great. I have an abiding memory of him playing solo, and just holding us all with his playing and singing. Great times. We have lost a great soul. May you rest in God's peace, and rise in glory

Last week I went to a theological hui run at our Theological College, to ehlp us use Romans to explore our life and unity as a church. Kathy Glieb did two main presentations which were really really helpful. To start as she did with an exploration of why Paul wrote this letter and what it purpose was helped put the whole thing in context, and made it much more useful for us today as a church. Paul wrote this book to the divided churches in Rome. Yes churches, not church. They were seriously split. And if you read the book you will see the theological reasons for those splits. Paul needed the support of those churches to help in his proposed mission to Spain. He needed to overcome some of the negative things that had been said about him, particularly that he was not friend to the Jewish Christian church, And he needed the churches to focus on what united them, the gospel and their common mission, rather than on what divided them, so that they could support this mission. Hence the letter

This is a talk given at the Hamilton Ministers Winter Lectures, August 2007. It has taken me awhile to type it up! To start with, who am I? I am an Anglican priest, who has worked in youth ministry fro the last 20 years, both in the Methodist and Anglican churches I am a Franciscan I have a deep interest in spiritual formation And I am a husband, and a father of three children The topic, “Young Lives, New Life” can be read in a variety of ways. It can be read as meaning the new life “we” offer young people This way fits with picture we are constantly given of young people As either lost, hurt, in need Or out of control, drunk, being hoons on the road, or as violent or viscous criminals. From my own experience, nether of these pictures are very accurate. In fact my experience would suggest the opposite is true. The Australian survey across 15-30 year olds reveals that at least in Australia young people are happy and content, in fact are optimistic about the future. So what is another

Last night I went to a combined Ash Wednesday service with the local Roman Catholic parish. This in itself was a great symbol of acknowledging our unity and confessing our broken communion, a good way to start Ash Wednesday. Although much of the service was about our individual brokenness and need for repentance, it was placed within the communal brokenness. What caught me though was how this Ash Wednesday occurred on Waitangi day. I have often thought of this day as a day for celebrating the vision of those who worked for the treaty, and the vision behind it. I have also thought of the treaty as offering us as a church and a country a way of being. What I was reminded of this ash Wednesday is the ongoing need to repent how we have failed to live that out, and to start anew in seeking a just way in this land. Starting anew, recognising past failing, letting go of the crushing burden of that, and starting again to live it out fully. I know some within Tikanga Maori will be angered by th