Colourful Dreamer

Trinity Sunday! A gift of a Sunday. An invitation. How do we make sense of the Doctrine of the Trinity? Why even bother trying? Because both Paul and John in today’s readings say that how we understand the Triune God shapes our lifestyle. Who we understand God to be shapes how we respond to God in our everyday lives. All the earliest theologians developed their theologies, including their theology of Trinity, so that people might know God more fully as the author of all goodness and love, and that we might know that we are the object of that goodness and love. They wanted people to know that God the creator and source of all being will not give up on us no matter what we do. They wanted people to know that the Eternal Word became one of us so that we might know we are made in the image of God and become God.   And they wanted people to know that as the Spirit works in us and helps us reflect and meditate on the story of Jesus we might grow in wisdom and love, live lives of goodness a

This sermon can be heard here . Gate Pa – Pentecost Sunday 2021 Readings: Psalm:                          Psalm 104:24-34, 35   First Reading:               Acts 2:1-21                              Second Reading:        Rom 8:22-27                           Gospel:                          John 15:26-27 16:4-15            What I want to say: To use St. Augustine of Hippo’s “On the Trinity” to explore how we experience the Spirit at working our world and in our lives today What I want to happen: -            How do we experience Spirit of love in our lives? -            Where do we see Spirit of love at work in our world today? -            What difference, if any, does that make? The Sermon        1.      Introduction: As one of the commentators said this week “And welcome to Pentecost. May the Holy Spirit stir up new life you. No,  that’s  a little too tame. May the Holy Spirit rage in your heart like a fire, blow in your mind like hurricane gal

Happy church birthday and God’s peace to all who celebrate Pentecost this year, Jews and Christians. Pentecost is a major Jewish festival . It is thought to have begun as the harvest festival where the landed gave thanks for the first fruits and were reminded that this world and all life were God’s gifts, created through the Spirit who hovered over the waters of chaos and formed all that is. They were reminded in this festival that their land and harvest was God’s way of providing for the poor. And then it became the festival of God’s giving of the Law fifty days after the Hebrew people had been led from slavery to freedom. The law was the way of freedom so that creation might be renewed, and humanity restored. The story of the Spirit is weaved through all this and continues with the prophets who reminded the rulers and people of God’s way of loving mercy and living justice. That story continues with Archangels appearing the Mary and Jesus birth. It continues with the Spirit descen

This sermon can be listened to here . Gate Pa – Year B   6 th Sunday of Easter, 2021 Readings: Psalm                          Psalm 98                                                                   First Reading:              Acts 10:44-48                     Second Reading:         1 John 5:1-6                        Gospel:                           John 15:9-17                  What I want to say: I want to use John Bowlby’s work on Attachment Theory to explore the importance of mothers (and others). And to see how this might us explore what it means to be grafted as branches into the vine of God and what that might mean for how we live our faith. Use the Acts story as an example of what I am talking about What I want to happen: What kind of love do we trust and abide in What kind of love do we seek to pass on? The Sermon        1.      Introduction: Happy Mother’s Day Ü Day celebration for many Ü Day to be mindful of all those for whom t