One night twenty six years ago, at the height of the Cold War, our ten-year old son came stumbling to us in tears. “What’s the matter?” we asked him. His reply shook us: “I’ve been thinking about nuclear weapons, and I don’t want the world to die.” Now we hadn’t been discussing the issue in front of our children. But they and their generation knew deep in their gut that the world then was in grave peril. And a number of you may be able to cast your minds back to the mass protests on the streets of Europe and North America then, with young people crying out in frustration and fear and desperate hope for something to be done. Their methods may or may not have been misguided, but they were a symptom and a symbol of a world in crisis. Read more

A wise priest once said that children shouldn’t be able to remember the first time they entered a church building; it should be part of their lives from the very beginning. Certainly I can’t remember the first time I went into a church. But I can remember the first time I went on to a living marae and into a living wharenui – ‘great house’ – meeting house, filled with people. It was at Otaki in 1971, as part of a clergy school on Maoritanga. And a rich new world started to open up to me. Read more

Here are two things: some soil from the community garden at the back of our church, and a communion wafer. Just reflect for a moment on what links there might be between them…..  Now, if I add a third thing, this loaf of bread, does that make a difference to how you might link the soil and the communion wafer? Just reflect for a moment on that…. Read more

In the late 19th century a postcard came out in Germany that caused people to look twice. It depicted a beautiful young girl with fine features and a bonnet on her head looking away from the viewer. But if you looked closer, focusing on what you may have thought was the girl’s ear, another image came into view. This wasn’t an attractive maiden but an “old hag” with a protruding nose and a tear in her eye. Read more

Some of our families gathered last night in the church grounds for a Halloween event with a difference. The children dressed up in fairly bizarre outfits, including one who carried around with him the head of a martyred saint, and they, as a group, went knocking on selected houses hoping to receive a friendly response.
But among them there were no ghouls or grim reapers, only the saints of old (and a few angels); and there were no tricks dished out nor treats solicited from the hapless homeowners, instead they took with them a candle and a prayer to share with those they met. And they came back with empty pockets and smiles on their faces. Read more

Imagine a world where healings were as easy as that depicted in today’s gospel. Someone asks you ‘what do you want me to do for you?’ You reply ‘let me see’, or whatever it is you want. And without further investigation or a prolonged course of treatment, the other looks at you, they see what is inside of you, and without hesitation say, ‘Go; your faith has made you well’. Read more