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. What would our society look like if we prioritized the poor, the hungry, the homeless, those who mourn. What are the powers and structures that need to be non-violently resisted? What are the logs in our own eyes that we need to, in all humility, acknowledge and deal with? 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 origi

  Papamoa AGM – Year C  8 th Sunday in Ordinary Time - 2022 Readings: First Reading:                     Jeremiah 17:5-10                                              Psalm                                  Psalm 92: 1-4, 12-15 Second Reading :               1 Cor 15:12-20                                                  Gospel:                               Luke 6:17-26                                                        What I want to say: As we prepare for the Papamoa East AGM - to explore Luke’s version of this block of teaching and noting that the world Luke and all biblical writers were writing for was based on family and community, not the individual. Jesus in Luke is the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophesy/dream of the restoration of life-giving community for all, for all like. What kind of community are we invited to be? What I want to happen: What are the ways we have lived this way this year? What do we give thanks for? What might we be invited into in the new year

  Gate Pa – Year C  7 th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2022 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: As we listen to more of Jesus’s sermon on the plain, I wonder who are my enemies, and what does it mean to love them? The Parihaka story helps us see this teaching as how we are to live God’s non-violent resistance to all that seeks to destroy life giving community. AS MLK says, we are to be extremists for love: blessing, giving, praying for and living for those beyond our borders. What I want to happen: ·          who are our enemies? ·          what does it mean to love, do good, bless, and pray for them People to start small and at least pray for those who bug you The Sermon        1.      Introduction: What a week to be given

Today’s gospel reading is tough. It lays out what living out the Lord’s prayer looks like. It calls us to be more. In response to the accusation by other clergy that he was an extremist whose civil rights campaign was causing tensions between black and white people in the US, Martin Luther King Jr quoted this reading in his famous Letter from the Birmingham Jail. King wrote, “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.” Jesus said "Love your enemi

This sermon can be listened to here Gate Pa – Year C   6 th Sunday in Ordinary Time - 2022 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 noting that the world Luke and all biblical writers were writing for was based on family and community, not the individual. Jesus in Luke is the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophesy/dream of the restoration of life-giving community for all, for all like. The sermon on the plain is a warning about the priorities that destroy community, and offers some different values. What do those mean for us at this point of the pandemic. What I want to happen: People to reflect on how we live this out as we approach this Lent The Sermon