iGod St Matthew-in-the-City

Helen's examination of the Parable of the Tares finds reasons to not judge others too quickly.

Helen looks at the Parable of the Sower and the unlikely places seeds might sprout.

The sermon calls us to reflect on our spiritual journey and are our present pursuits leading us to a connection with Christ. If not, we may find we live in darkness. But there is the hope of returning. When hope is restored we are called to share our journey with others that they may find hope. Text available at: http://www.stmatthews.org.nz/nav.php?sid=593&id=1415

Joseph throws his usual caution to the wind and goes from rule keeper to rule breaker. He gets the message that love is not the servant of the Law. Do we? Text available at: http://www.stmatthews.org.nz/nav.php?sid=585&id=1402

In my days of social activism - in the 1980's - the cry was 'don't tell me show me'; 'walk the talk'. Today, as in Jesus day, the expectation is that we act out the life-giving good news; that we act to transform child poverty, unjust wages, housing vulnerability for the elderly, for example. What we expect our communities and our world to be, as a reflection of life-giving love and compassion, will shape how we put the good-news into action. Text available at: http://www.stmatthews.org.nz/nav.php?sid=586&id=1401

John the Baptist is a classic angry outsider set to turn us round and inside out. Quite why we need him on the eve of Christmas is a good question, but he might be able to help us see the stars in the sky more clearly. Text available at: http://www.stmatthews.org.nz/nav.php?sid=591&id=1400

The Advent season readings are a call to live fully in the present, doing what we can to make the best of it, but always with the expectation that the future will be beyond anything we can imagine or desire. Text available at: http://www.stmatthews.org.nz/nav.php?sid=591&id=1399

The gospel reading from Mark talks of the new order of justice God intends, slowly, mysteriously emerging in our midst. In Aotearoa New Zealand that new order is about being bicultural, living in a covenant of trust between Maori and Pakeha. A covenant framed by the missionaries, enshrined in a treaty, translated into an Anglican constitution that we're only beginning to take seriously. Text available at: http://www.stmatthews.org.nz/nav.php?sid=591&id=1398

Apocalyptic thinking is still quite popular among some, think about our fascination with Zombie Apocalypse movies and the popularity of the Left Behind series of books, but did Jesus have an Apocalyptic mind set, or just his followers? Text available at: http://www.stmatthews.org.nz/nav.php?sid=585&id=1397

How do we remember, 99 years on? On the eve of the centenary of the First World War, how do we remember something so long ago that still shapes our identity as New Zealanders? It's very ordinary things, the debris of that nightmare time, that can still connect, like electric wires. Text available at: http://www.stmatthews.org.nz/nav.php?sid=591&id=1396

Is sainthood all that it's cracked up to be? Even though it is to Christianity what cowboy heroes are to western movies, it's not something that most of us aren't inclined to hurry into. It makes demands much tougher than living simply and giving away our wealth, according to the famous but much misheard Sermon on the Mount we read on All Saints Day. Text available at: http://www.stmatthews.org.nz/nav.php?sid=591&id=1395

How can we avoid the temptation to identify ourselves with the righteous characters in Jesus' parables? Can we be redeemed from the human tendency to see ourselves as morally superior to others? Text available at: http://www.stmatthews.org.nz/nav.php?sid=586&id=1394

If you had to buy a used car from the judge or the widow in this story from Luke's gospel, Chapter 8: 1-8, who would you choose? Who does God count on to bring about justice and shalom, even in the the middle of the biggest moral messes and is there any point in praying when there seems to be now answers coming back? Text available at: http://www.stmatthews.org.nz/nav.php?sid=591&id=1393

Our gospel story is also set in uneasy territory, with Jesus on this way to Jerusalem and the betrayal and rejection he would experience there, walking along the border between Samaria and Galilee. Text available at: http://www.stmatthews.org.nz/nav.php?sid=586&id=1392

The Gospel story is daring us to trust that who we are, and where we are, and what we have is not only OK and more than enough to be going with. It’s actually enough to move mountains and mulberry trees, even if it doesn’t win yacht races. That’s true of us, it’s also true of this community called St Matthews. Between us, we have the resources to do what we need to do through this transition time in the life of this church. Text available at: http://www.stmatthews.org.nz/nav.php?sid=591&id=1391

In Glynn's last sermon at St Matthew's he talks about the provocative hospitality that is at the heart of the biblical story of Matthew, and is at the heart of this church. To censor that hospitality is to censor the in-breaking divine grace. Glynn also tells a story about what happens when an obstructive person confronts us, demanding that we fit into his worldview. Responding with both grace and discernment is essential. Text available at: http://www.stmatthews.org.nz/nav.php?sid=584&id=1390

Rev. Drew Tweedy as an ex Banker himself is allowed to remind us that the definition of a Banker is somebody who will happily lend you an umbrella, but will demand it back when it starts raining! Text available at: http://www.stmatthews.org.nz/nav.php?sid=586&id=1389

Last Sunday Glynn spoke about prayer being a way of living a vision of God, and how in living that vision we will conflict with the false god made in the image of power. In this sermon he talks about being sustained and aided by children, animals, beauty, and laughter. He concludes: "To pray is to make room, to enlarge our hearts, to be enlarged by children, animals, beauty, and laughter to be enlarged by the heart of God, so that all the little, least, and the powerless can come on in." Text available at: http://www.stmatthews.org.nz/nav.php?sid=584&id=1388

Text available at: http://www.stmatthews.org.nz/nav.php?sid=586&id=1386

Baptism is not a membership ritual making one special but a declaration of God's love that says everyone is special. Jesus deliberately violated the rules of the Sabbath in order to proclaim a new vision of love trumping every religious rule and human-made boundary. Text available at: http://www.stmatthews.org.nz/nav.php?sid=584&id=1385