Spirited Word

Send us Fan Mail Millions, maybe billions, have died for the cause of “freedom”.  Every year, we remember those who fought and died for the civil freedom we have today.  And rightly so.  There are examples of non-Christians making great sacrifices and doing wonderful acts of service to others.  But when we are controlled by the Spirit, our service takes on a unique meaning.  Because you are not yo...

Send us Fan Mail Possessions in themselves are not a problem. Problems come through our attitude and relationship to our possessions. God knows we need many things to get through life. He is our dear Father, and he graciously provides our needs and gifts us with the ability to take care of ourselves and our families. We came into the world with empty hands and we will leave with empty hands. There...

Send us Fan Mail I need reminders every day that I am saved by grace through faith in Jesus alone, and that I also exist by grace to live by faith in Christ alone. The Holy Spirit, our Helper and Encourager, has gifted us to live for Jesus, and grows within us the fruit to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. As Christians, we know this. And yet we are still tempted to want the law to tell us what to...

Send us Fan Mail We are in familiar territory this morning – in the home of Jesus’ close friends, Mary and Martha. We hear of their different ways of serving their Lord, and we get the sense that Martha struggles with that invisible line we all have close to us: crossing the line from faithful and joyful service to her friends and her Lord, to angry, stressed and grudging service. There is a lot t...

Send us Fan Mail I wonder how you think you ensure your life is blessed and goes well?  It is very common for people to believe that it is all about doing the right thing, knowing the right things and avoiding the bad things. If you do all that, then you get some blessing and goodness in your life.  Problem is, it does not always go that way. Good people suffer unfair and bad things.  What of the...

Send us Fan Mail I wonder how you think you ensure your life is blessed and goes well?  It is very common for people to believe that it is all about doing the right thing, knowing the right things and avoiding the bad things. If you do all that then you get some blessing and goodness in your life.  Problem is, it does not always go that way. Good people suffering unfair and bad things.  What of th...

Send us Fan Mail A lot of people know that faith in the grace of God in Jesus is the crucial thing for living this life with sure hope and a bright future even beyond suffering and death.  But it is very easy to leave this life-giving thing on the shelf as we search for other things; deeper things; wiser things…. to sure up our confidence. But it is very easy to find ourselves right back in keepin...

Send us Fan Mail Comparing ourselves to others is deadly for living freely together.  We can make our own story, our own likes and dislikes and our culture’s divisions and expectations way too much, and the all-encompassing acceptance and love of God in Jesus way too small.  This leads to hypocritical living and divisions that cause much pain and fear.  How would it be if we could be free enough t...

Send us Fan Mail It is the Sunday we ponder and celebrate the uniqueness of God and the Christian confession of faith about him. It is Holy Trinity Sunday. It is a difficult thing to try and ponder how God can be altogether one and yet also altogether three. Even the best illustrations of the three-leaf clover or water ice and steam experiment or a tricycle and etc don’t do this mystery any justic...

Send us Fan Mail Everyone has got problems. We all try to deal with them with some mind of grace.  Sunday was Pentecost Day. It is the day we celebrate how the risen Jesus delivered on his promise to fill us with new life, new hope and give us a sure future in his grace.  But we tend to think that all our problems are outside of us and the only way to fix them is to draw what we can from inside of...

Send us Fan Mail We have made it to the end of another Easter Season. Does that mean we have come to the end of Jesus? It can seem that Jesus has indeed departed to some other ‘spirit’ place as if he has no place in this place – until the end when ‘we will all go to heaven’ and somehow be with him wherever he is. If that is the case, what are we meant to be and do now? Are we just waiting around d...

Send us Fan Mail There is a question that seems odd to our ears in the gospel account of Jesus healing a man living with a long-term debilitating disability. This man has been living poolside for 38 years. He has been seeking healing in the intermittent bubbling up of the water at the pool of Bethezda – the ‘house of mercy’. But it does not sound like the place is built on mercy! It sounds more li...

Send us Fan Mail Human beings love to erect boundaries. In Jesus day, there was a big barrier between Jew and non Jew. Today, we have our own barriers that separate people on social, racial and political lines. So you can imagine the scene when Peter meets with the leaders, and they have concerns about boundaries. “You mean you went into Gentiles houses. You ate with them. You baptized them!! But...

Send us Fan Mail It is easy to believe that Christianity is only for the super-spiritual people who can pray a mountain to move or raise the dead and power on through anything in life untouched by the ordinary things of the day. Big things can happen in this new community where resurrection over even death is entirely a ‘thing’. But, even with that startling claim, the small things still are what...

Send us Fan Mail It is a beautiful scene we survey: A boat full of fish. Breakfast cooked on the coals on the beach with the resurrected Saviour. Not a bad way to start the day! This is his third appearance since that first Easter morn. It is not down in the city but up here at home. We are back by the sea in Galilee. He is in their place. He has something he needs to do. It centres around Peter....

Send us Fan Mail On the sanctuary wall hangs our theme: Set free to live free. But the fact is that no one can appreciate freedom unless they have known slavery – in whatever form that might take. No one can appreciate the incredible gifts they receive every day unless they have experienced want and known times of need. It’s true that we take most of our lives for granted. We don’t think so much o...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to ‘Gather Easter’ – the best ‘Round’ in town!  This is because Easter deals not only with winning and losing a game but also with our living and dying in this life. It is BIG. Work, family, unexpected trouble, surprising joy, occasional worry and despair and fleeting moments of happiness meet us all the time.  But there is this longing too. We’re looking for a new communi...

Send us Fan Mail The world has taken many turns for the worst these last months. It is easy to worry and fret about what it all means. As Christians we ask why it is that the wicked seem to do so well and the everyday folks have to keep copping it! Maybe it would be a good idea to switch off the news, the social media news feeds and whatever else contains all those voices of chaos and simply enter...

Send us Fan Mail Why are we here? This is one of the fundamental questions of life. People seek purpose in many places - success, pleasure, relationships, or self-fulfilment. But for us as Christians, our purpose is given to us by God, not something we create for ourselves. Today’s readings help us understand our purpose in the light of God’s actions, His call to not dwell in the past, and His pro...

Send us Fan Mail As we continue living this earthy faith in Christ we hear this masterful parable and are confronted with how we can easily be lost, even without ever leaving home. The younger sons lostness is focussed and easy to see. He does all the things that a ‘lost’ person would do. He insults his father, weakens his family, binges on substances and sex, blows previous resources others have...

Send us Fan Mail It is good that you have followed the Spirit’s call to be gathered with God’s people in the presence of Jesus in the grace of the Father. We are pondering living this earthy Christian life of faith in Christ which he has carved out for us by his cross. In the tragedy and injustice of life, people around Jesus ask him why life is like this and what he means in what we suffer. These...

Send us Fan Mail As we live this earthy faith carved out by the cross of Jesus, we hear heart-wrenching words of sadness and regret expressed by the Messiah over his holy city this morning. With the image of a mother-hen wanting to protect her young, Jesus declares this city to be a ‘city of ruins’ that will one day soon end up that very thing, and yet, that there will be another visit to this sam...

Send us Fan Mail How good is it that in this country we have the freedom to gather in public worship! We are glad you have joined us to sing and pray and receive God's freedom in Christ. We dive into the first parts of Galatians; Paul's letter concerning the freedom of the gospel we share. It is a dynamite little letter. It explodes with gospel focus and shows up anything that is ‘no gos...

Send us Fan Mail Christians around the world enter this forty-day period of listening, praying, self-denial, and serving. Lent functions as a bit of ‘spring cleaning’ for the soul. Lent is all about being ready and open in heart and mind to receive the biggest moment in the Christian story – the day death died, at which point a whole new future of hope and light was opened up for a troubled and im...

Send us Fan Mail Every year we locate our spiritual centre around a particular bible passage as a way of ‘dwelling in God’s word’ as we discern his will for our life and mission. This is because we are convinced that our health and effectiveness and faithfulness as God’s people in his mission is not founded on some magic program or idea or better technology or any hard work and insight we do or ha...