Colourful Dreamer

We could describe the overall theme for this week as being “Abiding”. Abiding is a central theme in John’s gospel. It is introduced in the first chapter. We heard it last week in Jesus response to Philip’s request to see the Father, “‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?” This week we are reminded that Jesus is in the Father, and that we are in Jesus and Jesus is in us. So much abiding!   What does it all mean?  In Jesus we see the Father who abides in Jesus. We see the character of the Father: love, compassion, mercy, justice, inclusiveness, passion, goodness and peace. For John the chief character is love. We are to live in this love, dig roots deeply into this love, and base our identities in this love. When we do this we cannot help but love. That is the commandment – to love one another.

Gate Pa – 5 th Sunday in Easter (May 18 th 2014) Readings: First Reading :                                     Acts 7:55-60                                                    Psalm:                                      31:1-5, 15-16                                      Second Reading :                    1 Peter 2:2-10                Gospel :                                    John 14:1-14                                                    What I want to say: Use Eleanor Catton’s graduation speech at VUW Graduation this week to ask “what if”. What if we take the incarnational seriously and are simply willing to trust into God made known in Jesus. Not the God taught about by Jesus, but the God whose character is made know in the life and death of life of Jesus. What if Jesus as the way, truth and life is not a propositional truth but an incarnational truth, a relational truth. What if truth and love has priority and no-one is beyond God’s love. What I want to

Gate Pa – Easter 4 (Good Shepherd Sunday) 2014 Readings: First Reading :           Acts 2:42-47                                     Psalm:                        23 Second Reading :       1 Peter 2:19-25                                                    Gospel:                      John 10:1-10                                                   What I want to say: I want to explore how we understand salvation, and how our understanding then affects how we see God, ourselves, Christ, Church and mission. I want to offer one way of understanding that using Augustine and Julian of Norwich, and then use that to explore some of Acts, with a side look at God as mother. What I want to happen: People to feel free to embrace a wider array of understanding of all of the above and to know they still fit within the wide stream of Christian thought and belief. The Sermon        1.        Introduction: 34 years ago Bob Dylan released Saved – album unashamedly pro