Colourful Dreamer

Last week we heard the story of 10 virgins/bridesmaids waiting for the bridegroom. Some were street-wise and had spare oil. They were ready to wait. Some were not ready and missed out on the party. There is more to waiting than sitting around. Then Jesus tells the well-known parable of the talents. We all know that it is about being a good and faithful servant to God by using our natural abilities in the service of the Kingdom. We see the “Lord” as a kind of Jesus figure – not a very nice Jesus figure though. And to be honest most of us are not so keen on the ending with all that outer darkness and the wailing and gnashing of teeth. But we just get on with it. Like most of the stories in the Bible it helps if you put the story back: back into its place in Matthew’s gospel, and back into the world it came out of. When we do that, we find some other ways of understanding what Jesus was talking about. Some ask where this story fits with the beatitudes and the sermon on the mount. At t...

This sermon can be listened to here Gate Pa – Animal Blessing Sunday 2019 What I want to say: today we celebrate two things first is crazy saint of Assisi – Francis; and how when he embraced lady Poverty allowed him to see the goodness of God in all things and all people and all creation. the amazing work of SPCA -> today give freely to support this work we wonder what this mght say to the climate crisis we face What I want to happen: people to see the goodness of people and creation engage in climate change by making room to support generously the work of SPCA The Sermon       1.      Introduction: Today is a celebration Firstly we celebrate the crazy little saint of Assisi, who turned the church and the  world of his time on its head Francis of Assisi who through ½ million professed followers today in Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran and other churches around the world, continue to live ...

While I was in America recently one or two people made mention of the annual pet blessing services,and their discomfort about them given Francis just gets associated with a nice man blessing animals, and the real Francis gets lost in translation. And that is so true. And yet one of my highlights is the annual Pet Blessing service. Last Sunday we had about 120 people in church, accompanied by their pets. Most of those there were not regular parishioners, but people from the surrounding community. People who do not normally come to church. And I got to talk to them about St. Francis and a Franciscan world view. And they were captive for that whole 8 minutes. You can listen to what I said here. And I got to bless all those pets. Even cooler. The SPCA also spoke about their work and we gave the collection to that work. and after we were all done, in maybe 45 minutes, we had morning tea together. A great time of socializing and a lot of fun. So my take is, if you are a Franciscan, hold a...

This can be listened to here Gate Pa – Pet Sunday 2017 What I want to say: today we celebrate two things first is crazy saint of Assisi – Francis; and how when he embraced lady Poverty allowed him to see the goodness of God in all things and all people and all creation. the amazing work of SPCA -> today give freely to support this work What I want to happen: people to see the goodness of people and creation to support generously the work of SPCA The Sermon        1.      Introduction: Today we celebrate Firstly we celebrate the crazy little saint of Assisi, who turned the church of his time and his world on its head Francis of Assisi who through ½ million professed followers today in Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran and other churches around the world, continues to live among the poor and disposed in some of poorest countries and challenge unjust ways of rich and powerful today in highest ...