Archbishop of Canterbury’s Christmas sermon at Canterbury Cathedral
December 27, 2009 | Comments Off
The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Christmas sermon at Canterbury Cathedral can be viewed by clicking on the link below:
http://www.aco.org/acns/news.cfm/2009/12/25/ACNS4677
Christmas Address by The Rt Rev Dr Thomas Brown
December 27, 2009 | Comments Off
The Christmas Address, given by our Bishop, The Rt Rev Dr Thomas Brown, at the Midnight Mass at St Paul’s Cathedral, Wellington, can be viewed at:
http://wn.anglican.org.nz/index.cfm/bishop_of_wellington/sermons/christmas_2009.html
Advent Reflection – Thursday 24 December 2009
December 24, 2009 | Comments Off
Matthew 6: 9-13
For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours,
Nōu hoki te rangatiratanga, te kaha, me te korōria,
now and forever. Amen. Āke āke āke. Āmine.
Iraneus, one of the early Church Fathers, once said, “The glory of God is a human being fully alive.” Participation in God’s kingdom, power and glory is not a future reward based on a good or bad performance here on earth. It is active belief that wherever and whenever and however God is present in human life, there is where we experience the kingdom, the power, and the glory.
As we come to the great festival of God’s incarnation, God-with-us - Emmanuel - God in our skin,
Let us aalow ourselves to experience God’s delight in us?
Come, O Christ, come.
Teach us to pray.
Give us a glimpse of the depth of love your love.
Help us to be present to you, O God, this Advent.
Amen.
Have a blessed and wonder-full Christmas!
A Christmas Message from the Archbishops
December 23, 2009 | Comments Off
Click on the following link to read the Christmas message from our Archbishops.
http://www.anglicantaonga.org.nz/News/Common-Life/Christmas
We at St James’ and All Saints’ Churches hope also that you have a blessed and peaceful Christmas.
Advent Reflection – Wednesday 23 December 2009
December 23, 2009 | Comments Off
Matthew 6: 9-13
For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours,
Nōu hoki te rangatiratanga, te kaha, me te korōria,
now and forever. Amen. Āke āke āke. Āmine.
Rangatiratanga is a word that many of us will have heard discussed in the media, if not also in church circles. It is a word and a concept that is important in the Treaty of Waitangi… and was used there precisely because it was a word held in common by the Maori and Pakeha in this very prayer. In the nTreaty, Maori understood that they retained rangatiratanga of all their land and resources. In the Lord’s Prayer we acknowledge God’s rangatiratanga over all. This is God’s realm. While we may forget, God doesn’t.
Take time today to recognise how all of our life belongs in God’s realm.
Come, O Christ, come.
Teach us to pray.
Open us to all that is God’s.
Help us to be present to God, this Advent.
Amen.
Advent Reflection – Tuesday 22 December 2009
December 22, 2009 | Comments Off
For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours,
now and forever. Amen.
This doxology (words of praise) is not in Luke’s version of the prayer, and is not in the earliest manuscripts of Matthew’s either. It’s thought that it was added for use in congregational worship. While most scholars do not consider it part of the original text of Matthew, and modern translations do not include it, it has been part of the prayer since early times…quite possibly the earliest piece of Christian writing outside the New Testament. It takes us back to the beginning of the prayer, reminding us of God’s centrality to all of life, and the holiness and glory of God that is all around us.
What words of praise would you use to acknowledge the glory of God all around?
Come, O Christ, come.
Teach us to pray.
Open our eyes to the holiness and glory of God in our midst.
Help us to be present to God, this Advent.
Amen.
Advent Reflection – Monday 21 December 2009
December 22, 2009 | Comments Off
Matthew 6: 9, 13
9 ‘Pray then in this way:
13 And do not bring us to the time of trial,*
but rescue us from the evil one.
William Willimon suggests that, “the Christian life is no safe harbor secure from storms and struggles.” Inside us all there is sometimes a voice of doubt and disbelief that seeks to drown out our prayers—even as we are praying them. The Lord’s Prayer is honest about this. In the face of trials, temptations and evil, Jesus says: the most important thing about praying is to keep at it. When we pray to “save us from the time of trial, and deliver us from evil,” we acknowledge that we have not the resources, on our own, to resist evil. We acknowledge that God is greater than any foe of God. Agnes Sanford, an Anglican laywoman, wrote about a Dr. Mulenberg, who confessed to her that much of his private praying was just blubbering, but still he was speaking words out of his deepest longings and fears. Agnes Sanford said that was the whole point.
How does you feel about praying “save us from the time of trial, and deliver us from evil”?
What are the trials and “evils” in our world right now that we need delivering from?
Come, O Christ, come.
Teach us to pray.
Give us courage to pour out before you all our fears and longings,
trusting you to do what we cannot,
ready and willing to work with you to do what we can.
Help us to be present to you O God, this Advent.
Amen.
Advent Reflection – Sunday 20 December 2009
December 22, 2009 | Comments Off
Sunday 20 December
Luke 11: 1-4
2 Jesus said to them, ‘When you pray, say:
4 …. And do not bring us to the time of trial.’
When travellers take long camel trips into the deserts of the Middle East, they have a guide.
The guide knows the territory, the sorts of situations that might occur, and how to reach the destination. Though the travelling party may feel anxious, they need to place complete trust in the guide.
When Jesus teaches us to pray “Do not bring us to the time of trial” we are not saying “We don’t think we can trust you, and are nervous; please don’t get us lost.”
Rather, our prayer is: “God, we don’t know the way to where we are going, and if you get us lost we will all die. Yet we place our total trust in your leading.”
When we pray “do not bring us to the time of trial” it is the trusting traveller’s prayer affirming the confidence of the community in our Divine Guide.
In what ways do I show trust in the Divine Guide?
In what ways do I FAIL to show trust in the Divine Guide?
Come, O Christ, come.
Teach us to pray.
Give us trusting hearts and adventurous spirits.
May our fears not hold us back, but rather, encourage us to trust you more.
Help us to be present to God, our Divine Guide, this Advent.
Amen.
Advent Daily Reflections – Sat 19 Dec 2009
December 19, 2009 | Comments Off
Matthew 6: 9, 13
9 ‘Pray then in this way:
13 And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.
13 Aua hoki mātou e kawea kia whakawaia;
Engari whakaorangia mātou i te kino:
In the same way that the previous phrase echoes earlier ones, so this next phrase relates to the last.
We ask God not to place us in situations where we find it hard to forgive, or accept forgiveness, not to bring us to times when we enticed (whakawaia) onto the wrong paths. Yet when trials and temptations come, the ultimate plea is to be saved from evil, given life and wholeness, peace and purpose – salvation (whakaorangia) – when we are surrounded by all that is wrong.
Take time today to allow the ora, the life and wholeness, peace and purpose of God to flood your whole being, and save you from all that is evil.
Come, O Christ, come.
Teach us to pray.
Open us to the lifegiving flow of your ora, your life,
Help us to be present to you, O God, this Advent.
Amen
Advent Daily Reflections – Fri 18 Dec 2009
December 18, 2009 | Comments Off
Luke says: “And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
Matthew says: “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
A Galilean translation of the original reads: And leave us serene, just as we also allowed others serenity.
Another translation of the original Aramaic is: detach the fetters of faults that bind us, like we let go the guilt of others.
Often our sense of guilt and regret for the way we fail to be the people God calls us to be
holds us back from fullness of life in God even more strongly than the acts, or failures to act, themselves.
God calls us to live God’s life.
God also calls us to receive forgiveness, to believe in the depth of God’s love.
When we live in this serenity, detached from the fetters that might have bound us, we cannot help but want to unbind others too. We long to allow and lead them to the serenity of God’s life, found even in the midst of a struggling existence.
Take time today to receive the deep forgiveness that God is always holding out to us.
Allow the truth of it to flood your whole being.
Come, O Christ, come.
Teach us to pray.
Open us to the living, breathing flow of your Spirit,
that we may truly receive your forgiveness, and offer it to others.
Help us to be present to you, O God, this Advent.
Amen.
