Colourful Dreamer

“Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!” (Mark 4:41) This really is the question of the whole gospel. Who is this Jesus? How might we answer?   This was no ordinary storm. Some of these disciples are seasoned fisherman, used to all the Sea of Galilee could throw at them. They were used to the uncertainty and peril of this sea. Life giving and dangerous, chaotic, perilous all at once. But this storm was malevolent, a frenzied result of spirits who sought to bring death. They were overwhelmed and cried out in fear and frustration – don’t you care??!   The storm was not confined to this sea. These disciples lived each day  in the midst of  this storm, a Roman storm that upturned all their certainties and tilted the ground from under their feet. Mark’s community knew these spirits. Death had been wrought and the anchor point of the temple was dust. The spirits of death are relentless. We too  live in  storms that tilt and threaten. Covid has ...

the sermon can be listened to here Gate Pa 13 June 2021 – 11 th Sunday in Ordinary Time Readings: Psalm                                      Psalm 20                      First Reading:                           1 Samuel 15:34-16:13             Second Reading:                     2 Cor 5:6-10,14-17                  Gospel:    ...

For the last few weeks, we have been pondering how our understanding of God as Trinity shapes our response to God and how we live in this world. It is easy to get lost in all the theological complexities and give up. Most of us do. Most of us also make assumptions about how the three persons relate to each other. Last week we explored the traditional image of a non-hierarchical relationship within God of mutuality, generosity, compassion, completeness, wholeness, shalom, and aroha. This is love. And we are invited into this relationship at the heart of God, to pay attention to this way of being and to allow that to shape us and how we relate to others. All of which sounds great, until we start applying that to some of the issues and people we feel strongly about. And then it gets much harder. This kind of relationship calls into question all my certainties and opens the possibility of seeing the world in different ways. This is what the reign of God looks like. Some might call that...