The Resurrection aspect of the Easter story has always been a difficult thing to navigate. It’s a sensitive space in which different ‘beliefs’ need to be held in tension. They were held in tension in the early days of the emerging Christian Community but the process of ‘engineering’ a particular orthodox perspective meant that other…
Over the past week I have had a number of conversations in which the word ‘opportunity’ has come up. It’s like a theme was emerging. A more memorable mention of the word came whilst sitting on the bench out the front of 163. ‘Linda’ was having a quiet smoke. I’d never seen her before. I…
I’ve written short stories since I was about 10; which is when I won my first and only literary prize! It was a story about an old green door knocker in the shape of a goblin which once you grabbed it to knock the door, held your hand and wouldn’t let it go until you…
When I look back and forward over weeks past and weeks to come, life resembles one of those carnival rides where you go up and down, round and round, and get off feeling rather dizzy. In ministry there is a regular diet of fixed and unplanned activity: organising things, going to meetings, being the diplomat…
Politicians are clearly in pre-election mode but so far there is a notable absence of any party-political slogans for 2019. No doubt they will emerge shortly – so stand by. ‘Slogan’ is a strange word. It comes from the Scottish Gaelic sluagh-ghair which was a highland battle-cry designed to stir the hearts of warriors and…
This is not the article that I put to bed around 5pm on Friday. That will now be next week’s contribution to the newsletter. The event in Christchurch New Zealand cuts across everything. It cannot be left to one side. It needs to remain front and centre, and occupy our thoughts for some time to…
One of the big themes of Easter, is that a man who did nothing wrong finds himself being vilified and nailed to a cross. His only ‘crime’ was to confront the ruling elite of the temple with the truth of their abuses and corrupting practices. They were ignoring the impact of their economic and psychological…
Back in 2001 I was a guest on Tripple J taking phone calls about Asylum Seekers. It was after the ‘fake news’ debacle of Tampa. Towards the end of the session the host, Tim Ferguson, threw in an unscheduled ‘on air’ question. “So, David, you’re a minister, what do you think of the 2nd coming?…
Today we welcome into our community something that is very symbolic of the kind of Christian community that we are and wish to become. I know that sounds a bit odd – how do you become what you are already! Well, becoming is a process – we are always in a state of becoming and…
The idea of a punch-line in comedy is to take the listener by surprise. Last Sunday I talked about Jesus using the typical 3-part joke structure with some of his parables. The eye of the needle parable for example. The setting of the ‘story’, the ‘story’ itself and the punch-line. Here’s an example of the…