Colourful Dreamer

Bosco Peters reminds us that Pentecost is the last day of Easter. “ Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost do not form three seasons. The Easter Season celebrates the three dimensions of the resurrection, ascension, and the sending of the Spirit. These fifty days, a seventh of the year, form our great "Sunday" of the year. Just as Sunday is the first and the eighth day, so the "great Sunday" of the fifty days of Easter begins with the day of the resurrection and continues through eight Sundays, an octave of Sundays, a "week of weeks." [1] Today also marks the birth of the church, when a group of terrified men and women were given the strength, courage and wisdom to continue Jesus’ ministry of living God’s love for all. Because of the events we remember today this group who hid behind locked doors took the gospel through Persia to India, North Africa and down to Ethiopia, north to Armenia and beyond, and west to Rome. Many were martyred. We stand on the...

The  Vaughan Park Retreat Centre in Auckland has posted a serie s of article entitled "After Anzac".  Next year they will be holding an actual spacious conversation about Anzac next year 26/27 April, which will hopefully broaden out the conversation. They are well worth a read, and a consideration of what exactly we are not forgetting on this day.

  Gate Pa – Easter 6 and Harvest Festival Readings: First Reading:              Acts 16:9-15                   Psalm:                          67 Second Reading:        Rev 21:10, 22-22:5-6                           Gospel:                        John 5:1-9                              What I want to say: that it is really hard to lo...

Since pagan times harvest festivals have been annual celebrations for successful harvests. They featured ample food and freedom from the necessity to work in the fields. The common features were eating, merriment, contests, music and romance. Christians adopted these festivals to give thanks to God our creator for God’s goodness in the harvest. Today we give thanks for our harvest that we have grown in our gardens, if we have one, and the harvest we are able to buy each day in the shops.   We join with all God’s people continuing to give thanks for God’s provision. Harvest festivals also provide a time to take stock. It is an occasion for us to confess that we too often are not satisfied and many in the West in particular are driven to have more. This has resulted in a significant percentage of humanity not having enough, living in constant hunger, debilitating poverty, all so that our desires might be met. The collapse of the building in Bangladesh is a stark reminder of th...