St Barnabas, Fendalton

God called a boy, Samuel, to serve him as prophet. God seems to delight to call the under-qualified, young and insignificant. God is calling you – first of all to be in relationship with him and then to serve him with our lives. Will you heed his call?

Our Baptism is a pointer to the many baptisms we experience in life

God in Christ entered deeply into human life in order to redeem our humanity deeply. In spite of the mess we all experience in life, God is with us to work out his good purposes – God specialises in messes!

It was night when the shepherds were told of the birth of Christ the new born king and they hurried to Bethlehem. Christ also comes into our dark world and gives us hope in the midst of the pandemic – will you also hurry to meet him?

Mary teaches us that’s it’s OK to wrestle with and question God’s call on our lives but ultimately to consent to God’s will – in spite of the risks and personal cost.

God always chooses to use people of little power in their world for great purposes.

Sometimes the prophets among us comfort the afflicted, other times they afflict the comfortable. John the Baptist did a bit of both as he encouraged people to prepare their hearts for the Messiah.

At the time of Christ the Jewish people were in a kind of double nightmare – suffering under occupation and unprepared for the coming of the Messiah. Into this situation John the Baptist came to shake the people awake. The pandemic is also a wakeup call for all of us – we are being stirred from indifference and distraction to faith in the living God.

Those who returned from exile to Jerusalem were dispirited – God seemed hidden and absent. We also experience the hiddenness of God at times but this is when God is powerfully at work in our lives. We want God to ‘come down’ but through Jesus God is already among us and working within us.

Advent Sunday's readings are full of dramatic even terriying imagery, and yet we hold on to the promise that God will come like child.

The parable of the sheep and the goats is more of a vision of the end of the age when we give account to God of our lives. This is less about an arbitrary judgement of God and more about what our lives end up amounting to – does our faith flow out of us naturally with acts of compassion?

We only experience God’s grace to the extent that we give it away to others. The Parable of the Talents is not about investment capitalism but about what we do with all we’ve received from God. As we bless others with what we’ve received we will enter into the joy of our master.

Today marks the end of Heritage Week in Christchurch. We also remember Armistice Day, and the 75th Anniversary to the end of WW2. Guest speaker Frieda Looser preaches today at our special combined service in the St Barnabas Memorial Church, consecrated in 1926.

The 8 Beatitudes teach us how to live our life. We are told by Jesus that we are blessed when we practise humility.

Jesus and the disciples were caught in a storm on Lake Galilee and with a word from Jesus the wind and waters calmed. This is about Jesus’ ability to calm the storms in our lives but it also tells us something about the identity of Jesus. If only God has power over nature the disciples realised they were in the presence of someone divine.

Daniel, from whom the Old Testament book takes its name, is a tremendous example of faith and good character. His enemies tried to strip him or career, liberty and life itself. However through his devotion to God Daniel found that God’s law transcended human laws and he was saved from the lions. Ask God for grace as you face your own lions today.

Jesus outlines salvation history in "The Wedding Banquet" parable.

Sharing our load with someone who cares allows us to gain a peace beyond our understanding.

Rev. Jenny Wilkens interviews parishioner Alison Rudduck on her recent experience teaching in Kurdistan, Iraq.

Today we have special guest Joanna Frampton (St Christopher's, Avonhead - and member of our very own Antioch) speaking to us about overseas mission. Hear about Joanna's time in PNG and be encouraged as to how we can support CMS mission partners near and far.

Today hope is in short supply especially in our age of disasters, badly behaved leaders and a global pandemic and yet hope is indispensable for human flourishing. Jesus Christ offers us all hope that cannot be taken away – it is like an anchor that keeps us safe amid the storms that assail us.

Family feuds - families and church families have them! How do we deal with conflict with members of our church family? It's not easy but Jesus promises to be with us as we do this sacred work.

Jesus Christ the divine Son of God shared our humanity and showed us how to be fully human and fully alive. We are now called to grow to become more like Jesus and thereby to flourish more fully as human beings. Church is therefore an exciting place of transformation and hope.

Jesus took his disciples to a place dominated by polytheism to ask them who he thought he was. Peter didn’t answer “I think you are the Son of God,” he said “You are the Son of the living God.” Peter is declaring that Jesus has no rival – he is unique. How would you answer this question and are you living according to your answer?

Jesus and Simon Peter tackle questions of identity.