Colourful Dreamer

One of the big themes of Lent is repentance, and it is one of the big themes in this week’s reading from Luke 13:1-9. Repentance is much more than saying sorry for doing something wrong. It is learning to see with different eyes – to see as God might see and to learn to live out of that. I am currently reading “ The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life” by Mark Manson. He talks about his journey in discovering that he was measuring his life using unhelpful values – values like wealth, fun, and being better than others. And he was never successful or happy. He learnt to use different values like being loved and being fulfilled. This involved learning to see through different eyes. In essence he is talking about repenting his old life and living a new way of being. I wonder what unhelpful values and measures for our lives do we need to repent of? As we come to our AGM in Lent, what unhelpful values and measures do we use to judge ...

This sermon can be listened to here Gate Pa – Year C  2nd Sunday in Lent, 2019 Readings: Psalm                          Psalm: 27                                                First Reading:              Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18                      Second Reading:        Phil 3:17-4:1                        ...

What a puzzling collection of verses our Gospel reading is – great for scholars to argue over, but not so easy for us mortals trying to make sense of it all. Maybe if we go back to Luke 9:51, where Jesus sets his face to Jerusalem we can get a handle on what might be happening. Last week we heard of Jesus sense of identity being tested by the Devil. This week other people either inadvertently or deliberately test both his sense of identity as a prophet and where that might lead him. Jesus is immersed in God’s commitment to hope and the way of love, and he is determinedly living that out. God sets his agenda and he will not be deterred. That can only lead him to Jerusalem, and nothing will alter his course or timetable. Not Herod and his threats. Not Pharisees and their warnings. Not even the shadow of his death. His sense of who he is leads him there, to the city of peace; where heaven and earth touch in the temple; where God’s will might be done as in heaven; the symbol of a...