Colourful Dreamer

This looks alot like the sermon I put up last week. It is. I decided it really was two sermons in one. So I preached the second half and left people with the question "What is perfection"? This week I explore that question Gate Pa – Epiphany 8 – March 2 2014 Readings: Hebrew Scripture:           Isa 49:8-16                            Psalm:                                    131                                                          Epistle:                                 1 Cor 4:1-5                            Gospel:                                Matt 6:24-34       What I want to say: I want to explore what “God’s perfection” might mean, suggesting it is more about God’s compassion for all creation, mercy, justice and love. I then want to apply that to today’s readings and suggest that Jesus offers his followers a way of living perfectly (i.e. with Compassion, mercy, love justice and love) in a way that challenges the excepted norms. What I wa

This is our last week in the Sermon on the Mount. Next week are in Lent, and from Lent 2 until the end of Easter we explore John’s Gospel. The trouble with the way we read these little bits of readings each week is that we forget that they are part of bigger sections which are set within a book with a particular plot line. In this instance we forget that what we are reading is part of the Sermon on the Mount, and should be read at least in the context of the whole sermon and not on its own. And the trouble with finishing where we are going to this week is that we not only miss out the rest of the Sermon, and especially the end. I invite you to read the whole of the Sermon on the Mount and to ask what Matthew was trying to say about Jesus’ teaching? Matthew has Jesus finish with a comparison of the wise and foolish person. “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts of them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock….”   The crucial difference between the one

Actor Natalie Portman visits Kids 4 Peace in Jerusalem I have a lot of time for Kids 4 Peace - and initiative to find solutions through building relationships and understanding, rather than military posturing and rhetoric of hate. It is a pity there are not more initiatives like this. Young people can change everything.

Gate Pa – Epiphany 7 - 21 February 2014 Readings: Hebrew Scripture:       Lev 19:1-2, 9-18                      Psalm:                          119: 33-40                                           Epistle:                                     1 Cor 3:10-11, 16-23   Gospel:                        Matt 5:38-48                What I want to say: I want to explore what “God’s perfection” might mean, suggesting it is more about God’s compassion for all creation, mercy, justice and love. I then want to apply that to today’s readings and suggest that Jesus offers his followers a way of living perfectly (i.e. with Compassion, mercy, love justice and love) in a way that challenges the excepted norms. What I want to happen: I want people to rethink their assumptions around righteousness, holiness and perfection, and to begin to think about living perfectly in terms of how we treat other people and creation The Sermon        1.       Introduction: over last