Reflection 15 December – Choose Joy
Advent 3 Isaiah 9:1-7 Choose Joy Reflection by Mart the Rev I came across a lovely Michael Leunig cartoon with his version of the Good King Wenceslas carol. I sung it to Parish Council the other night. Can you imagine how thrilling that was for them? The looks of...
Reflection 1 December – First Sunday of Advent
Advent Sunday Isaiah 2:1-5 In the days to come Reflection by Mart the Rev The countdown begins! Christmas is coming. We all know what that means in terms of focus and energy – presents, food, heat, travel or travelers, fatigue, and then rest...until the Boxing Day...
Reflection 24 November – Our identity is God’s work
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 & Colossians 1:15-20 Our identity is God’s work: and God is big enough to handle it all a reflection by Dan Spragg Do you remember your baptism? I suspect many of you won’t, being that you were probably a little young to be forming conscious...
Reflection 17 November – Kingdom Guides
Luke 18:15-17 Make room for the kingdom guides Reflection by Mart the Rev Recently I enjoyed a creative conversation with Geoff New, one of our teachers at the Knox Centre for Ministry & Leadership in Dunedin. Geoff was bouncing off a poem I had written contrasting...
Reflection 10 November – With and Among
Jeremiah 29:1-7 & 1 John 3:11,18-24 ‘With & Among’ Reflection by Mart the Rev Samuel Wells, the vicar at St Martin’s in the Fields in London, tells two stories from ministry contexts he has worked in that have shaped his thinking about the role of the church in the...
Reflection 3 November – Parihaka
Luke 6:27-36 Wilful disobedience at Parihaka Reflection by Martin Stewart ‘If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away...
Reflection 20 October
Luke 17:11-19 a reflection by Dan Spragg Karl Barth, a German Minister and Theologian who ministered in Germany during the early to middle part of the 20th Century said, that the basic human response to God is gratitude. Not trembling or fear, not guilt or dread, but...
Reflection 13 October – Commitment or choice?
Gen 32:22-32, Luke 9:18-24 Commitment or choice - family or restaurant? Sermon by Anne Stewart How many of you can remember being called names, other than those your parents gave you, when you were younger? It seems to be a thing with children doesn’t it. I’m not...
Reflection 6 October- Take Hold of Life
1 Timothy 6:6-19 & Luke 16:19-31 Take hold of life Reflection by Mart the Rev Let me start with a declaration, much as I did last July when the Rich Man & Lazarus parable came up in our year-long parable series: I am more the rich man in the story than I am the poor...
Reflection 29 September – Creation: Imagination
Revelation 21 Creation :: Imagination – Becoming artists of our Days Reflection by Dan Spragg & Martin Stewart Dan: When I think of imagination, I immediately go towards artists. More often than not, I am amazed by an artist’s ability to see things which no one else...