Poems, Sermons and Writings

The Bible once again is seen to be eternally relevant. There is an infectious disease, there are protocols about social distancing, treatment and cure. There are differences in how the rich and poor are treated (or expect to be treated). And there is compassion. Any of this sound familiar? Naaman was a celebrity - the entire credit  for winning the war was attributed to him. Actually if an army marches on its stomach probably some of the credit should have gone to the cooks  - but as usual it went to one person. I suspect Naaman had quite a sense of his own importance, quite a swelled head. Naaman’s life should have been sweet - famous, in the good books with the country’s leader, a wife, servants … But Naaman had a problem. He had a skin disease. This may or may not have been what we call leprosy or Hansen’s disease today - back then the term “leprosy” was used for a whole range of skin diseases. They all got tarred with the same brush. “Unclean” - in Israel - lepers had...

Later today we will once again sing that favourite carol for this time of year “We three kings of orient are” . It’s a carol full of errors and assumptions but I will still sing it with gusto. Scripture never calls these visitors kings, never specifies their number and doesn’t even specify their gender. The significance of the gifts is never mentioned in our text but our carol-writer has used a sanctified imagination to imbue them with significance.  Have you ever thought that those wise people were the worst gift-givers ever - gold, frankincense and myrrh for a new baby! My niece is expecting her first baby any day and I assure you I plan to buy them something much more practical! - if our story occurred today perhaps Mary and Joseph would be on trade-me on boxing day trying to on-sell those gifts so they could buy something more practical!  It is surely a difficult story to read today - a story of foreign travel when so many have had to cancel planned travels during the yea...

It was 1977 and the first film of a new franchise was released.  While a triumphant musical fanfare played, words scrolled up the screen - words which have become iconic to the generation who first saw them and those who followed “ A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…” and then followed a brief description of the context for the beginning of the film - a critical turning point in its story.  It is a period of civil war… (there is more detail finishing with) Princess Leia races home aboard her  starship, custodian of the stolen plans  that can save her people and restore  freedom to the galaxy....  Strangely this new franchise was entitled “Star Wars Episode 4 - a new hope”. You see it was starting in the middle of the story. Episodes 5&6 followed - then later we got the prequels - episodes 1-3.  Today’s gospel starts in the middle of the story - it is a story of a new hope but we need to go back to an earlier part of the story to understand ...

In keeping with our winter theme, I found myself thinking of that wonderful children’s book from the land of Narnia, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” by C S Lewis. (fun fact: we remember C S Lewis in our church calendar on November 22). For those unfamiliar with the story it is set during WW2 and four children go through a magical wardrobe and find themselves in the land of Narnia. When they arrive, the land has for years been existing in a time which is “always winter, but never Christmas”.  Although we in the southern hemisphere celebrate Christmas in the summer, this evocative phrase still hits the mark. In this land it is dark and cold and most have lost hope because of the curse of the witch. There are small pockets of hope and rumours that one day the Lion, Aslan, will come.  There are times in our lives that can look bleak, when we struggle to find hope. Perhaps “the time of coronavirus” is a little like that. This virus we first heard about in the new year. Every...

Matthew 7:24-29 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) Hearers and Doers “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!”  Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes . I runga i te Ingoa o te Atua, te Matua, te Tama me te Wairua Tapu.  Āmine. In the name of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen Morena Ni sah yandra Malo e lele-i Good Morning These are greetings in the languages contained in “A ...