Poems, Sermons and Writings

 I wrote this book review for NZ Christians in Science.   https://www.nzcis.org/the-convo/prioritising-listening/

Ezek 18: 1-4, 25-32 Phil 2:1-13 Matt 21:23-32 Last week we read 'the parable of the workers in the vineyard' OR 'the parable of the generous landowner' depending on how you read it. One way of reading that parable is that the landowner was giving each worker what they needed to get by, a living wage in today’s terms. Every Sunday we pray the Lord’s prayer “give us today our daily bread.” Sometimes we have prayed Jim Cotter’s modern version of the Lord’s prayer.  This is the one that begins “Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver”; when it comes to the bread petition it reads “with the bread we need for today, feed us”. This acknowledges that God is the one who provides, and it is the bread we NEED not the bread we WANT, and it is sufficient for TODAY, not a huge surplus. Just as in the wilderness with the manna, God provided the daily needs for the people every day and they were to collect just enough for their needs for that day and no more and there was ...

 

  SACRAMENT The presence of God It's in the sweet sacrament divine, consumed mid prayer and worship It’s in the skill and compassion a doctor brings to her patients The cracked voice of the dying woman as we pray the psalm together In the beauty of a rose now blooming in her garden that she will never see It’s in her pain and the love of her faithful friend who sits with her on this journey It’s in the righteous anger that blazes sending a greedy fraudster on their way In the protective love of a daughter whose turn it is to defend the one who sheltered her It’s there in the beauty of the trees, the blue sky and billowing clouds It’s in the music - the sound of silence, “can you feel the love?” It’s everywhere The world is sacrament. (This was written after some days when my work as a GP and priest and my role as daughter came into particular focus together.)

Cultures who came from the north brought their calendar with them, so the New Year which had been celebrated in the middle of winter became a summer celebration here in the Southern Hemisphere. BUT - the indigenous peoples also had a calendar. As with  the Europeans, the Māori New Year Festival fell in the middle of winter. From time immemorial humanity has used the stars to mark time and for navigation. Matarik i or Māori new year was signalled by the stars - in this case a cluster which rose in the winter. This cluster can be seen in many parts of the world at other times and other cultures have given it names in their languages. Did you know Matariki appears in the Bible? There it uses the Greek name, Pleiades.  “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion?"  Job 38:31   We now know that Matariki contains hundreds of stars but there are only 9 visible to the naked eye and in Māori mātauranga each of those are named and have a signific...

T ēna koutou tēna koutou tēna koutou katoa good morning in NZSL hello talofa lava Acts 2:1-21 Gen 11:1-9 On this feast of Pentecost when we tell stories about words and language I just greeted you in the 3 official languages of Aotearoa / New Zealand and then, as an acknowledgement of Samoan language week, in Samoan. When I titled this sermon I remembered that rock group that’s been around since the 70s “Earth, Wind & Fire”. I considered Bird, Wind & Fire and then settled on “Word, Wind and Fire” which seemed to capture more fully the images of the Holy Spirit in our readings today. And we’re going to examine them in the opposite order but “Fire, Wind & Word” just didn’t have the same ring.  Pentecost doesn’t belong to us just as the Holy Spirit doesn’t belong to us. We like to say it's the birthday of the church & we have balloons and sometimes cakes and candles. But Pentecost was around long before the events described in Acts. Pentecost is a Greek word mean...

In the past 50 years it has become fashionable to have a mission statement for one’s organisation or business - I am old enough to remember a time when no one talked about mission statements. I looked up a few mission statements - I wonder if you can guess where they come from? “To inspire moments of optimism and happiness... To create value and make a difference.” (Coco cola) “Our mission is to make delicious feel-good moments easy for everyone.” (McDonalds) “Our mission is to empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more.” (Microsoft) : “to bring the best personal computing products and support to students, educators, designers, scientists, engineers, businesspersons and consumers in over 140 countries around the world.” (apple) “to organise the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful” (google) “Our purpose is Helping New Zealand Business win, because when business wins, we all win.” (advertising agency) - “to provide the most...