Colourful Dreamer

This sermon can be listened to hear  Gate Pa –  7 th Sunday in Easter- Year C - 2022 Readings: Psalm                          Psalm : 97                                                                    First Reading:                Acts 1:1-11                                                      Second Reading:         Rev 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21                            Gospel:                          John 17:20-26     What I want to say: To use my experience of camel riding on the hill where the ascension took place as a way into – John 17 and Jesus’ prayer, Easter and resurrection, the Ascension. What I want to happen: People to wonder -how does resurrection/ascension change our present, -            how does it shape how we live? -            how does it affect what we see as of utmost importance? And in light of that to consciously live resurrection lives The Sermon      1.      Introduction – Riding a Camel 2005 I was lucky enough to att

Thursday of this week was Ascension Day, the day we mark the Ascension of the Risen Christ to the Godhead. This Sunday is known as the Sunday after Ascension. The churches celebration of the Ascension is based entirely on the Book of Acts. The gospels either don’t talk about it or have it on Easter Day. So, how does the Ascension change our present and shape how we live our lives? As I have said before, the Gospels were written in many ways to teach that in Jesus we meet God. That means our understanding of the nature of God should be shaped by Jesus’ life, ministry and death. The resurrection acts as God’s big tick to all that Jesus’ life, ministry and death reveals about God, and that the world may know that every soul and all creation has come from and has a place in the creative love of God.   Resurrection affirms the crucifixion as the door into the heart of God,   and with the Ascension declares that the risen Christ is no longer confined to one place and one time, but is now p

For the last two years we have struggled with what Covid has done to our lives. Most of us have learned to live with masks, keep our distance, and to care for each other in the way that we keep ourselves safe. It has been tough. It continues to be hard, even when we feel like pretending it is all over. Climate change keeps nagging away. War in Ukraine is on our televisions each night. Inflation is hurting our back pockets. There is much to grieve, to feel hopeless about. It is easy to give into fear.  In the Gospel reading today from John we join the disciples at the last supper. They too were filled with fear, hopelessness and grief. Their lives had been turned upside down and their futures look bleak. To these Jesus offers the promise that they would not be alone. In the midst of all that would happen, both in the crucifixion and beyond, they would know his presence, and they would know his peace. Jesus would have used the Aramaic for peace which is derived from the Hebrew world shal

This sermon can be listened to here Easter 5 – Year C 2022 Readings: First Reading :              Acts 11:1-18      Psalm:                          Psalm: 148 Second Reading:         Rev 21:1-6        Gospel:                        John 13:31-35 What I want to say: Explore the story of John 13 to see how crunchy “love each other”. explore examples of Henare Wiremu Taratoa and Heni Te Kiri Karamu as examples of the risk of loving as Christ loves     What I want to happen: People to consider as hear this simple command today -           how and who are we invited to love as we are loved -           how might we live that out?                                               The Sermon        1.      Introduction:  “Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other.        This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other.” I wonder what we think this means? There are lots of really nice images about this on the

There is Jesus, with his trusted friends and disciples. Gathered in a room for one last time. One of them is about to betray him and begin the short march to crucifixion. One will three times renounce being his disciple. Ï do not know him!” Most of the other men will run away and hide behind locked doors when it gets really dark and threatening. Only the beloved disciple and some of the women will stay with him. There is Jesus with these friends and disciples. He acts as a slave and washes each of their feet, even Judas’ feet. He feeds them. He shows them the kind of care and love that exists between himself and the father. And then he says “I give you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other. This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other.” (John 13:34-35, Common English Bible). Love even those who betray you, deny being your follower, desert you. Love them care and generosity. There is the wr

This sermon can be listened to here Gate Pa –  4 th Sunday in Easter- Year C - 2022 Readings: First Reading :            Acts 9:36-43                                                    Psalm                          Psalm:23                                                                    Second Reading :        Rev 7:9-17                                                       Gospel :                       John 10:22-30                                                       What I want to say: to talk about the good shepherd tradition, and how the gospel writers and John in particular apply that to Jesus. This gives rise to 2 questions -           how do we pay attention to Jesus the good shepherd that we might follow his voice? -          how do we live out this tradition today? What I want to happen: For people to hear God’s invitation to feed God’s sheep, and to be good shepherds in our world today. The Sermon      1.      Introduction: The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing

Every fourth Sunday of Easter is Good Shepherd Sunday, and the gospel reading is always from John 10, broken up into three chunks. Each year we are invited to reflect on the good shepherd tradition, which begins with the 23 rd Psalm, and how John uses that to depict Jesus living out the character of God the good shepherd. This tradition was not a heart-warming pastoral image but a political statement about those in authority. Based on the hard and dangerous life of shepherds across the Middle East it offers an image of the God who provides,  and contrasts this commitment and compassion with the failings of earthly rules who demanded loyalty and tax. It is a dangerous image. For Jesus to claim to be a shepherd implies critique of those of the ruling class who challenge him. It will get him killed. Like all the gospel writers, John describes Jesus living out this tradition. We see the compassion and commitment of God to all people in Jesus’s life and ministry. It is explicitly describ