St Barnabas, Fendalton

What’s going on here? Well, it’s what’s been going on for so long that we sometimes don’t even notice it. But we should. We really should ‘be alert’, as the gospel tells us to be. Be alert to what?! To God at work in the world.

‘Everything is going to be alright’ in neon lights at our Art Gallery – that’s the hope we hold out before us in this season of Advent

What sort of King? Have Kings had their day or is Jesus going to model another kind of King altogether?

Today is Christ the King Sunday and the readings from Daniel and from John have that in common: they both, in their way are telling us a story about kingship or, we might say, God’s reign, or God’s power.

Today is Young Adult's Minister Andy Dickson's last day with us at St Barnabas before he is Ordained a Curate and commences his Curacy at All Souls Merivale. In his message this morning, Andy reflects on the story of the Good Samaritan and what it might mean for us about finding out who our neighbour is, and loving those around us that we might find difficult to love. Andy, thank you for your time...

The Temple, as Jesus knew it, was one of the great ancient monuments. It had the reputation of being the most beautiful building in the whole world, and the largest and most imposing structure for hundreds of miles in any direction. It inspired awe. The disciples admire its glory. Jesus predicts its end. The disciples assume, here, that there’s going to be a catastrophic event that will cause the...

We take our container of food and our jug of water, and whatever they represent, and we say this is all we have and no more, this is all we do and no more, this is as far as we go and no further. This Elijah figure he knows something we don’t. He knows about miracles. He knows about provision. He knows about abundance. He knows about overflowing goodness, grace, mercy. He knows about food that nev...

Jesus asked him – and us – what do you want me to do for you?

In the Nicene Creed, which we recite here often, and will after this sermon, we say this:  “We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, of all that is seen and unseen…” Jesus asks Bartimaeus in the gospel ‘what do you want me to do for you?’ You would think the answer would be obvious: to see! But in lots of ways Bartimaeus already did see. He saw, really before the...

Inheriting eternal life requires relinquishing control over this life’s treasures and adhering to a new master; Jesus.

In her book  Revelations of Divine Love,  Julian of Norwich says this: “God, of your goodness, give me yourself… If I ask for anything less, I shall always be in want. Only in you do I have it all.” [1] I was drawn to this lovely saying through the very pastoral, well-known comforting words of today’s gospel passage, which are unique, by the way, to the gospel of Matthew, words that find themselve...

The disciples are preoccupied with their place in the world, their place in the pecking order. Like everyone else, they’ve got egos, and they know how to use them. But Jesus does something extraordinary. He takes a child, puts the child among them, and says, not just be  like  this child, as in use this child as some kind of model, but  be  this child.

We celebrate God the Creator, and the Spirit calls us to be creative too!

C.S. Lewis described Psalm 19 as “the greatest poem in the Psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world.” Lewis identifies its structure as “six verses about Nature, five about the Law and four of personal prayer”.

Guest speaker, Rev Rosie Fyfe, National Directory of NZCMS, speaks to us at our morning services today about overseas missions.

While we celebrate those who built the Anglican Church here, we also celebrate those who have contributed in profound ways to its evolution. Those first builders, and those that have followed, and will follow still, sought to exercise wisdom and came to learn that wisdom is not just the sum of knowledge plus experience, it is a relationship with Jesus, in whom we find wisdom personified. The histo...

Wisdom calls us to a life of discernment, to choose the paths that lead to life, peace, and righteousness. The Beatitudes invite us to embody the values of God’s kingdom in our everyday lives, to live in a way that reflects the character of Christ.

We have the reading from the Ephesians 5, where we are directed to be filled with the Spirit. And the language here is of a continual filling rather than just a one-off experience. Being filled with the Spirit is contrasted with being filled with wine, which makes us drunk, gives us a hangover, isn’t life-giving – and too much of it can be very damaging on us and those around us. “Instead”, Jesus...

Right here in the gospel of John. It’s right here in John’s telling of the meal where it’s one of the feature ingredients. There’s the wine – and there’s the bread. It’s the story of the Eucharist, gospel-of-John style. Jesus says, as the bread of life, he always satisfies our hunger; in him, we will always find life.

As Christians we feed on Holy Scripture: it is nurtures and sustains us. We listen to Scripture each week as we gather here. We  read  Scripture. We  use  Scripture. We  study  Scripture. But we do more than that too. We assimilate it. We take it into our lives so that it goes from being a text to an act: an act of God’s grace, an act of God’s revelation to us, an act of the Holy Spirit speaking t...

I don’t know about your Bible, but my personal Bible, which I’ve used since 1993, also serves as something of its own filing cabinet. Inserted among its thin pages are notes I’ve made, bits of paper on which I have scribbled things I can no longer read, and verses and other such material that I’ve once been given that would have held meaning for me at the time and so I have slipped away. Well, as...

Matariki invites us to do three things: Remember the past and honour those we have lost. Celebrate the present and gather together to give thanks for what we have. Look to the future and the promise of a New Year.

New beginnings

Life doesn’t always go according to plan. We might, when we’re younger, or even when we’re older, have mapped out what we expect will happen, even how we expect God may work in and through our lives. And, as the readings today show, it can be in poverty that we find ourselves richest of all.

Look for the green shoots of what God is doing in our midst and in the world…