Colourful Dreamer

This week churches around the world are marking the end of another liturgical year and celebrating Christ the King or the Reign of Christ Sunday. For us it is also Aotearoa Sunday, which really reminds us of how slow we Pākehā were to live out the reign of Christ with ngā iwi ō Aotearoa and the first Anglican Church in this land. A solemn note to finish the year as we reflect on how our Eurocentric notions of kingship and what it means to be Christian got in our way of living with compassion and generosity among ngā iwi ō Aotearoa. It often still does. We have played king, with Christ the king made in our image. It is also Stir-up Sunday. What is Christ the King or Reign of Christ Sunday about? Some suggest it is a day to affirm God’s reign over empires that do not hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness. It is a day to remind ourselves that the reign of Christ as described in the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount is what we are invited to work toward. While no political entit...

You can listen to this sermon here Gate Pa – Year A 33 rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, 2023   Readings: Psalm                          Psalm 123                                                                   First Reading:              Judges 4:1-7 Second Reading:        1 Thessalonians 5:1-11                          Gospel:    ...

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...

You can listen to this sermon here   Gate Pa – Year A 32 nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, 2023 Readings: Psalm                          Psalm 78:1-7                                                                            First Reading:                Joshua 24:1-3, 14-25               Second Reading:         1 Thessalonians 4:9-18   ...