Colourful Dreamer

This is our last week listening to Jesus’ “Sermon on the Plain” – Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount. Here Jesus is in a broken place among broken people teaching what the year of the Lord’s favour looks like. This is what God at work in the world looks like. This is Luke 4 in action. As we approach Lent we are invited to consider how much this shapes our hopes and dreams for ourselves and for our communities. The Diocese of Waikato & Taranaki offer these thoughts as we come to Ash Wednesday and Lent “You probably know a few people who 'wear their heart on their sleeve' - people who make their feelings about someone or something pretty obvious. However, you may not know that this phrase originates from medieval tournaments. Knights who wanted to display their affection for a particular lady would tie her hanky to their sleeves and then charge at someone with a lance. It was considered to be a very courageous display of loyalty... On Wednesday, March the 6th, w

This sermon can be listened to here Gate Pa – Year C  7 th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Readings: Psalm           Psalm: 37:1-11, 39-40                                                             First Reading :                         Genesis 45:3-11,15                 Second Reading :                    1 Cor 15:35-38, 42-50             Gospel:                                    Luke 6:27-38                           What I want to say: Use the stories of Francis and Tapu to explore how Luke 6:27-38 is a description of both how we live in response to realising that we are wrapped in love and where to look for the unfolding reign of God The Sermon        1.      Introduction: asked to talk at Ash Wednesday service on being Franciscan and Lent, or something like that. despite lofty title really don’t feel qualified to offer more than A Franciscan approach to Lent.        2.      Francis

The gospel reading from Luke 6:27-38 is quoted by Martin Luther King Jr in his famous Letter from the Birmingham Jail. King wrote this letter in response to the accusation by other clergy that he was an extremist whose civil rights campaign and fight for racial equality was causing more tensions between black and white people in the US.  He continues “So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime--the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment.” Are we extremists? If so, what kind of extremists are we? Ar

Gate Pa – Year C  6 th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Readings: Psalm                   Psalm 1                                         First Reading:       Jeremiah 17:5-10                                              Second Reading :  1 Cor 15:12-20                                                  Gospel:                 Luke 6:17-26                                                      What I want to say: To explore Luke’s version of this block of teaching and asking, why is it on a plane and not on a Mount, and what Luke might have thought “blessed” meant compared to what we too easily think it meant. And lastly where do I fit with all of this – I think I am numbered in the group being “woed” and warned. What I want to happen: People to reflect on where they fit with all of this and what that might mean for them as they approach this Lent The Sermon       1.      Introduction: don’t hear these readings often i