Sermons
From Wellington Cathedral of St Paul
2013
May 2013
19 May
Pentecost – Spirit to spirit, face to face
The Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend (Exodus 33:11). I have an image in my mind of the Lord and Moses embracing with a hongi, sharing breath and life-force, mauri ora...
Celebrating Difference
A long pause. A time of quietness. Traffic noises outside? No music. No cell phones. I wonder what you thought in that time. Has the preacher lost her notes?...
The Ven. Judy Hardie
12 May
The Gate to Heaven
Sunday after Ascension, Cathedral Companions' Festival...
The Revd John McCaul, Chair of the Companions
Ascension - Up Words
I got to thinking about Up-words as we are celebrating this week, forty days beyond Easter, the Ascension of our Lord Jesus, risen, ascended, glorified...
5 May
Yes! I am with you always
Reading them, thinking about them always makes me want to take a deep breath and let it go with a resounding sigh of ‘Yes!’...
The Ven. Judy Hardie
The Path to the Centre
The Labyrinth itself – it is not a maze, with dead ends and the need to decide which way to go. The Labyrinth is unicursal...
The Revd John McCaul
April 2013
28 April
The Day of Rest
What happened to Jesus on the Sabbath Day, the day of nothingness? Did he in fact ‘go to hell and back'?...
The Revd John McCaul
Gay Marriage: 'Breeze of Joy'?
New Zealand is now one of 14 countries worldwide that have legalized Gay Marriage. The Justice Minister in France has called it ‘a breeze of joy’. We however belong to a Church which hasn’t officially pronounced on the matter...
21 April
God's Body?
It’s not really surprising that a Church that has been embarrassed for so long by its own fleshly humanity, comes so easily to resist the idea of the flesh of God, the risen flesh of Christ...
Moving into the Mystery of faith
The Wairarapa farmer whose cows would race to him – not at his call but at the sound of his chain saw starting up...I wonder how Jesus would use this image?
The Ven Judy Hardie
14 April
Lazarus comes to town: Pope Francis
I am reminded of the saying of a Greek poet (Archilochus,7th Century BCE), ‘The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing’. By this reckoning, Pope Francis is a hedgehog...
Practising Resurrection
Which services were easier: those of Holy Week and Good Friday, or those of Easter Day and the weeks of Eastertide afterwards?
7 April
The Easter Story is Our Story
Today has been known as Low Sunday...the day that draws our vision forward to live with the risen Christ through the remainder of the fifty days to Pentecost...
The Ven. Judy Hardie
We have seen the Lord
I guess most of us have had the experience of being told some news – good or bad – and felt shocked, numbed, disbelieving.
The Revd John McCaul
March 2013
31 March
Jesus Christ is risen today
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! With these words Christians have greeted each other on this day for 2000 years...
The Revd John McCaul
Make a joyful noise Alleluia!
“Noisy trains meeting” – this sign affixed to a lamppost by the Ngaio Town Hall has kept me entertained for the last couple of weeks as I’ve driven in and out to work...
24 March
Praying in Desolation: Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane
This is about a man’s prayer in desolation: the desolation of rejection by his own people, perhaps his own disciples; and, at a deeper level, self-doubt, self-rejection: the temptation to give up, to throw in the towel...
17 March
The Journey South
We begin the most serious, solemn part. Today, Passion Sunday, begins ‘Passiontide’...
The Revd John McCaul
10 March
This is a community
Priest in Charge's Report to Cathedral AGM...
Reconciled Reconcilers
Consumers rather than believers. This seems to be the attitude of the younger son in the parable...
3 March
Stairway to Heaven
You may have the tune of the old spiritual ‘We are climbing Jacob’s Ladder, soldiers of the cross’ running through your mind...
Strength from the Source
Days passed and “The Wader,” as they chose to call him, stayed in the middle of the river. He greeted each one who came to gather water and invited him or her to come wading...
The Ven. Judith Hardie
February 2013
24 February
Martha & Mary: Action? Contemplation? Or both?
Foxes and chickens
Calling someone ‘that fox’ is not perhaps the best way to win friends and influence people...
17 February
Goodies and baddies
Goodies and baddies – don’t we love stories where we can easily sort out who are the good guys and who are the baddies, and then sit back and watch as the good guys come out on top, and the bad guys get their come-uppance...
New beginnings
I wonder how many of you remember ‘Uncle Walter’. About this time of the year he used to send the children of the church a card and a box...
The Revd John McCaul
10 February
Make way for Wisdom
What or who then is this all-powerful Wisdom?...
The Ven. Judith Hardie
New departures
This weekend we seem to be celebrating a number of new departures in our Cathedral community...
3 February
Presentation of Jesus in the Temple
Anna's story
Today we give thanks for those of you who are Annas and Simeons...
Faith-filled living
Epiphany takes us through many of the realities of the early life of Jesus as he was nurtured within his family circle...
The Ven. Judith Hardie
January 2013
27 January Patronal Festival: Conversion of St Paul
The Many Faces of Paul
In popular perception Paul is a grumpy old sod who didn’t like women and who turned the simple message of Jesus into something complicated, harsh and hard to understand...
Reading Paul's mail
Have you ever read someone else’s mail? Oh, only by mistake of course, opened in error...Well, today I want to give you permission and indeed encourage you to read someone else’s mail. Whose do you ask?...
20 January
Abundance and Extravagance
Jesus turned 450 to 680 litres of water into fine wine, the equivalent of about 600 to 700 bottles - no small amount - and this wasn't chateau cardboard, but vintage wine...
13 January
Baptism by fire and water
Fire and water – there’s either too much or too little, and either way there are dramatic consequences...
6 January
Epiphany: Seeing glory in a face
Epiphany is one of those feasts that’s hard to figure out...
2012
December 2012
30 December
Jesus the boy
Is Luke saying, 'Sure, this is the Son of God, but he's also a typical adolescent - that wonderful and maddening mixture of insightfulness and self-absorption?... more...
25 December
Unexpected Journeys
Just before we closed up the Cathedral Office for the year today, we received an urgent email... more...
The Vulnerable God
Mary holds her finger out, and a divine hand closes on it... more...
23 December
A communal Visit
How can any of them begin to understand her situation? Here she is: unmarried, probably a young teenager, and now expecting a child. her pregnancy will be a major scandal... more...
16 December
Rejoicing
We also rejoice, for our God is not a distant God. This isn't the philosophers' God: the 'unmoved mover' or 'the first cause'. This is God who delights in us; who rejoices and celebrates with us.... This God enters the life of our world. more...
9 December
A Couple's Story
Luke starts with a story, perhaps not unlike our own. It contains pathos and humour, confusion and celebration, doubt and delight. It's the story of God coming in the midst of daily life... more...
What will this child become?
What will this child become? Perhaps that is the question on the lips of every parent as they gaze upon their newborn... more...
2 December
Three Faces of Hope
The three faces of hope are grief, holiness, and memory - this from the great prophets of the 1st Testament, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel... more...
November 2012
25 November
Christ the King
Whether we're monarchist or republican, we need to lay aside our preconceptions of kingship, for none of them apply to Jesus. more...
18 November
Seeds and Weeds
Seeds and weeds, the weeds seed, then some weeds amongst the seeds which become indefinable from the plants you put in as seeds … is this a gardening experience you might relate to? It sure is mine!...
The Revd Neale Troon, Chaplain, Southwell School, Hamilton
Remembrance Sunday 2012
“Dying for Freedom isn’t the worst thing that can happen. Being forgotten is”...
The Revd Lance Lukin, Principal Defence Chaplain
Remember to Re-member
I guess there are not many New Zealand families who do not have a story of a family member who served in one or both of the two World Wars. The German side of my family did not have an easy time of it during the wars...
11 November
Julian of Norwich and the Stories we tell
This is where we pick up the story of Julian herself. Our best guess is that she was a young widow (and probably a mother) whose husband and children had died in one of the recurring onslaughts of plague...
Ruth and the Ruth-less
The name Ruth in itself means mercy or compassion, perhaps we see it best when we think of its opposite, ruth-less, a word we use often today...
4 November
All Souls-Remembering our Dead
On this day, we acknowledge the sorrows and hurts imprinted on our lives... On this day, to remember our dead is to know them enfolded in God's everlasting love...
Saints of Wellington Cathedral
It is right then for me to say, Good morning, Saints of Wellington Cathedral of St Paul...
Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, Archbishop of Capetown
October 2012
28 October
The Cost & the Commitment
There are no theological steroids to circumvent the process...
Insight-full disciple
We would probably all look rather anxious, me included, and hope that the sidespeople or vergers might take some action...
21 October
Challenging Customs
I find myself asking, “What would Jesus do or say when faced with the dilemmas of social custom which cause an upheaval in our times?”..
The Ven. Judy Hardie
O Loving Wisdom of our God!
The mystery remains. Perhaps we need to hear again God’s question to Job: ‘Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?’...
14 October
The walls came tumbling down
I’m sure you, like me, have the words of ‘Joshua fought the battle of Jericho’ running through the back of your mind, and if you hadn’t, I bet you have now!...
A Presence in Absence
Job longs to find God, to appear before God, to present his case, and to hear God’s answers. But finding God is the problem. God is nowhere to be seen – nowhere to be found...
13 October
Pet Service: Kiwi Conservation
Our quest on Long Island was to find 10 kiwis over the week...
Bronwen Shepherd
7 October
To Celebrate St Francis
St Francis is surely one of the most winsome in our line-up of saints. We warm to the man who...
The Revd Maggie Smith
The ultimate blended family
I’ve discovered some things I didn’t know about the Thorndon community this week...
September 2012
30 September
St Michael & all Angels
Do you believe in angels? That any such things as angels really exist – or is this a childish fantasy - to be put in the same box as the tooth fairy or Father Christmas...
The Ven. Judy Hardie
Whither the Cathedral?
Our context is a community, the Cathedral family, that has just said good-bye to an outstanding Dean, Frank Nelson, and that is now looking for a successor...
23 September
Mountains and Storms
1970 marked the start of my working life as a cadet in the Public Service. That same year I became a parishioner of this Cathedral, joining a group of Young Anglicans who met in the heights of the bell tower...
Hospital Chaplaincy Week
Being Christian is good for your health...
The Revd David Tannock, Chaplain, Wellington Hospital
16 September
Stages in the Spiritual Life according to Teresa of Avila The Interior Castle
Teresa took to heart the saying of Jesus in John 14:2, ‘In my Father’s house are many dwelling places’. Then, with a brilliant leap of the imagination, imaged the soul as a crystal castle suffused with light...
Barefoot Disciples
Today is the day we come down to earth again, the day we need to find our feet, and to feel our feet on the ground, to feel grounded in the solidity of this sacred space as we weather change together...
9 September
What we Sing we Believe
Here we are this morning, God’s singing people come together in unity, from all but one of the Anglican cathedrals in this country....
2 September
Be Faithful!
And then, if you have a little time and energy left, pray for Christine and for me, as we go into a new ministry with all its challenges and opportunities. Pray for the people of St Peter’s Cathedral, the Diocese of Adelaide ....
August 2012
26 August
On the Ladder to Heaven (Bartholomew)
There is probably still just enough light for you to look behind you to the first of the stained glass windows on your right as you enter the Cathedral...
Death in the Family
“Anglican Bishop gives up priesthood”. The headlines in yesterday’s Dominion Post will have come as a shock to many, and something of a relief to others...
19 August
Called to Prayer
I was confirmed aged 13. The priest who prepared us told us about prayer...
Go in the name
Not surprisingly the Jews, including many of those called disciples, struggled to get their head around Jesus’ words about eating the flesh of the Son of Man and drinking his blood...
12 August
Holy, Strong and Faithful
For a church to be holy, strong and faithful it needs individual Christians who will be holy, strong and faithful....
Out of the depths
We hear David’s raw anguish at the death of the son he yet loved, Absalom, my son, my son. What a profoundly moving portrait we have here of the human grief that is natural to a parent who loses a child...
5 August
The Family Photo Album
One of the photos I keep on my desk here at the Cathedral is of my mother, taken about 6 months before she died, sitting with my niece Jo, as they look at a photo album...
Open your eyes!
He began to compose and a simple, but hauntingly beautiful, melody flowed from his hands. As he played he sang an invitation to look ....
July 2012
29 July
Journeying on
... and remembering that St James Church in Lower Hutt has, as in its logo, the pilgrim hat and staff signifying a people always on the move, always sending, always returning, it is a pleasure to return to this church and this pulpit where Christine and I spent three years of our peripatetic ministry. It’s eight years ....
Wisdom, ancient and modern
The book from which our First Reading is taken – Ecclesiasticus or, as it is also known, The Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach, contains a vast collection of wisdom sayings, some accessible to us now, others not ...
A Marathon not a Sprint
Glancing through the junk mail before I threw it into the recycling, I came across a Hell Pizza flyer and it struck me...
22 July
St Mary Magdalene: Companion of the Lord
There was the green road sign Migdal, and as we drove on, I felt a wistful pang, what a pity we couldn’t stop at Magdala, the place from where Mary Magdalene came...
Touched and Inflamed
I stumbled across this quote from St Augustine while looking for ....
17 July
John Morrison RIP
John Bentley Morrison – your candle has been extinguished – walk on into that greater light.
more ... Eulogy from Sir Michael Hardie Boys
15 July
Recycled Bible
While the newspaper is important we are very aware that we are not usually interested in property or car sales. Sometimes I wonder if this reflects the way I use the Bible....
We belong to God
What it does is to take us from our huddled up, hunkered down, pinched-in lives of midwinter to open up before us a ‘big picture’ vision of what God is doing in the world...
8 July
The boy from home
After the hype and excitement of the past few weeks – the build-up to and the ordination of Bishop Justin, let’s come down to earth and see what today’s Gospel offers us....
1 July
Follow my Leader
At the end of this momentous weekend, when we have seen ordained in this Cathedral a new leader for God’s church in the Diocese of Wellington, it seems appropriate that we consider one of the first leaders of the early church, whose feast day fell last Friday – St Peter...
Bishop Successor of the Apostles or spineless gasbag?
The little boy said to his uncle, ‘Gregory, what are they doing?’ In a more than audible whisper he answered, ‘They’re removing his spine’...
June 2012
30 June
Ordination Sermon - Bishop Justin
- Preachers: The Revd Martin and Alison Robinson
24 June
Great Expectations
Christine and I found ourselves in idyllic surroundings, full of great expectations. Together, we were going to set the world alight for God...
Fear and Faith
Will you opt for a one on one gladiator fight with a 3 metre/10 foot tall giant, or a battle against the elements in a small boat out in the middle of Cook Strait in a howling southerly?...
17 June
Entitlement
In this country we have developed the ‘tall poppy syndrome’ to deal with anyone who, as we so politely say, ‘gets a bit up himself’!...
Kingdom of God - Secular paradise
Helen Clarke, egged on, I suspect, by Lloyd Geering, was given to saying things like: ‘socialist politics (à la NZ out of Sweden) is a translation into secular reality of the so-called Kingdom of God’ ...
10 June
Music of Encouragement
The ways people behave can be like music to our ears – or a cacophony!...
Tied to Te Pouhere
Te Pouhere is literally the ‘hitching’ or ‘mooring’ post. In the context in which it is used in Aotearoa New Zealand it is the mooring post to which waka (canoes) are moored....
8 June
Weekes' Triplets - Funeral Homily
To say that we understand it, or can make sense of it, is to make a travesty of the deaths of the three beautiful children we have heard about this afternoon. Thank you Jane and Martin, for your courage...
3 June
The Unfathomable Mystery
“If we are to know God at all, we must know him as the unfathomable mystery, a mystery to be explored only by the humility of worship.”
Church of the Trinity
A visitor looking round a cathedral came across an emblem made up of 3 intersecting triangles,and was heard to ask, why have they got the warning sign for nuclear radiation on the pulpit?...
May 2012
27 May
New life, new birth
There's something pretty special about celebrating baptism, Hayley's birthday into the church, on this day of Pentecost, when the Church celebrates its own birthday...
Dearly and Deeply Loved
... Someone put it like this: You are dearly and deeply loved...
20 May
Celebrating Jubilee
There is a lovely confluence of ideas that, at this season in the Church’s Calendar when we celebrate the King of kings and Lord of lords, we should also be celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of our Queen ...
Ascension Deficit Disorder?
I will never forget singing 'Crown him with many crowns' on Ascension Day one year, when there was a strong earthquake, and I wondered if the big east end stained glass window behind me at the altar was about to collapse in on top of me, literally crowning me!...
13 May
Loved with a passion
Well, it was a hard call tonight on what to preach on - Revelation or the Song of Solomon?! It's been said that to preach on the Song of Solomon, the preacher needs a paper bag, to put on their head to cover their blushes...
Greater Love
I must be among the few who does not have a list of Facebook ‘friends’, but do admit to enjoying the snippets of largely inconsequential news Christine passes on to me from her list....
6 May
Articulating a Vision
To be honest, when I first read this passage in preparation for tonight’s sermon I found myself thinking, ‘Why are we having an Epiphany reading in Easter?’....
Abiding in the Vine
Abide in the Vine - in this year of dramatic change in our Diocese with a new Bishop, and in our Cathedral community with our Dean moving on to a new calling in Adelaide...
April 2012
29 April
The resurrection of Christchurch
22 April
The Aftershocks of Easter
Like the aftershocks of an earthquake, the resurrection of Jesus happened to many different people, in many different ways, in many different places ...
15 April
From amnesia to anamnesis: forgetfulness to remembrance
Today as people around the world remember the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the unsinkable Titanic, it's interesting to hear how different memories of that event have come down to us. Just what was the band playing as the ship went down - Nearer my God to thee, or Song of Autumn - or both?... more...
Thomas - twins of Faith & Doubt
Thomas was a twin...doubt and faith in the Christian life are like twins... more...
8 April - Easter Day
Emmaus: Fallible Frightened Friends
I heard my name
The owl called for death. The Lord Jesus calls for Life.....
5 April - Maundy Thursday
Footwashing
Winter approaching always reminds me of the 'battle of the slippers'...
3 April - Holy Tuesday
Meditation for Holy Week
1 April
Songs of the Vineyard
We soon move from the beautiful picture of God's tender care of these choice vines, God's pleasant planting, to find that the whole lot has gone to pot and delivered only sour grapes!
March 2012
25th March
A Cathedra which sits at the feet of Christ (Electoral Synod weekend)
The Revd Dr Eleanor Sanderson
18th March
Dean's Annual Report
Dedication
For as long as I can remember Mothering Sunday has been part of my life....
11th March
God is like what?
Often – on the lips of people who ought to know better - we hear the confident assertion that the God of the Old Testament is angry, vengeful, legalistic, punishing ....
Power encounters
What came into your mind as we heard the Ten Commandments read today? Charlton Heston's monumental portrayal of Moses in the film...
4th March
Go with God
Recently someone said to me, 'if I hear the word 'journey' again, I will scream!...
Stay in the Marinade
Someone said that Christianity is about being ‘marinated’ in Christ. I like that. We need to be completely immersed in Christ, covered over, washed and soaked, steeped in Christ.
February 2012
26th February
Farewell to Bishop Tom
Here am I; send me. Words that Bishop Tom chose to set before us as we come to give thanks to God for the servant leadership and ministry we have experienced...
The Ven. Judy Hardie
22nd February Ash Wednesday
God's weak heart
Christian mystics say that God has only one weakness – his heart. It is too soft. At the start of Lent we turn to that heart, and turn away from all that keeps us from becoming the people God intended us to be.
Earthquake Anniversary
There’s nothing blessed about losing a loved one. There’s nothing holy about destruction and disorder ...
Fr James Lyons, Sacred Heart Cathedral
19th February
Donkey Talk
But rather than dwell on the donkey, delightful as the fable is ....
Breaking the Mould
‘Behold, I make all things new’. This nicely sums up Isaiah’s gospel...
12th February
Gains & Losses
Two stories in yesterday's paper I found particularly moving and challenging: one was the tributes following the death of Lloyd Morrison...the other that of Jane Taylor, severely injured in last February's Christchurch earthquake...
Bathing in a Piddle Stream
... That the things we have to do day in and day out are a bit like bathing in a piddle stream? ...
5th February
An exquisite sound
...in our self-contained cocoon we too easily miss the exquisite sound of the...
Serenity in the City
Serenity in the city? I would guess there's not a lot of it in Wellington this weekend...
January 2012
29 January
What brought you here?
Fifty one years ago today, I was brought as a three-week old baby to Nelson Cathedral for my baptism, presented by my parents at the temple if you like...
Paul and Me – our Call
Paul was on the road to Damascus when God stopped him in his tracks, and I was driving along King St in the South Canterbury town of Temuka, when God stopped me...
The Rt Revd Thomas Brown
22nd January
Your story my story, your heart my heart
‘Change’ is the word linking all three readings; but not change for its own sake, but change that is truly transformative, grounded, that is, in God’s promise of a new world, driven by passion for justice & fullness of life for all...
15th January
Get your 3D glasses on!
This was the first time I'd experienced a movie in 3D, wearing those highly unattractive 3D glasses...
8th January
Christ be our Light!
Epiphany – the word conjures up the exotic, the mysterious ...
1st January
What's in a name?
What’s in a name? Liam and Charlotte are listed as the favourite names for babies born in New Zealand in 2010
December 2011
25 December
God pitched his tent
Apparently there are 2 types of families in New Zealand - those who go camping, and those who are very thankful that they don’t ...
18 December
God of surprises
This year the billboard is simply an image of Jesus’ mother, Mary, hand over her mouth, looking at a home pregnancy test kit revealing that she is pregnant...
11 December
Travelogue of a Faith traveller
This sermon is a travelogue, but with a difference; the difference being how I see things ....
Who are you?
Now that you have worked out your answers to the question “Who are you?” let’s take a look at today’s Gospel reading ...
4 December
On the Threshold
We are into the December weeks of the year and I find the sense of being surrounded by endings and new beginnings is inescapable...
The Ven. Judith Hardie
Keep calm and carry on
Keep calm and carry on - we sure needed to hear it last night with that rather impressive jolt...
November 2011
27 November
Think Global, Act Local
It came clear to me that our world is now afflicted with three interlocking crises ....
20 November
Working for Families
Nothing, it seems, gets Christians as fired up and engaged in the arena of politics as issues involving familial relationships...
The great divide
It’s happened again! Two days before one of the most disturbing Gospel readings of the year is read...
19 November
Ordination
Sermon preached by the Revd John Hughes, Vicar of Karori, at the ordination in the Cathedral of 16 deacons and 10 priests by Bishop Thomas Brown
13 November
Crime and Punishment
Crime and punishment is one of the most controversial issues in New Zealand today...
Talent Quest
We can easily fall into this rewards/punishment, pass/fail mentality when we look at today's parable from Matthew's gospel, the very well-known but easily misinterpreted Parable of the Talents...
6 November
Kiwis in Godzone
When did I first realise that I was a Kiwi, a New Zealander, from this land, and not another? Was it when I first left these shores a week after I'd left school...
Oil of Wisdom
"If you wish to be wise, attend to the experiences of daily life, and in them seek after God." ....
October 2011
30 October: All Saints
I am confused
I am confused. Following weeks of pseudo-religious advertising, inviting us to enter Rugby Heaven ...
For all the saints
As we heard that wonderful description from the book of Revelation of the great multitude that noone could count, worshipping before the throne of God, I couldn't help but think back to that other crowd and victory parade this week, as 100,000 (was it?) Wellingtonians lined the streets...
23 October
Remember your Creator
Remember your Creator in the days of your youth. Well, there may be not a few Kiwis, young and old, remembering their Creator tonight, and sending up a few prayers on behalf of the All Blacks...
On electing a leader
In five weeks’ time we will have elected a new government and prime minister. In five months’ time we will have elected a new bishop ...
16 October
A saint for our day
Last weekend a little man with an enormous heart celebrated his 80th birthday ...
Taxing Questions
Nothing is certain in this world except death and taxes...
9 October
Baptised into Christ
Two men have a chance encounter on the road. It leads to the baptism of one, and the affirmation of a ministry for the other ...
Earth's fragile beauties
In your hands this morning is a new hymn written in 2005 by the Dean of Canterbury....
2 October
Twelve Billion Trees
Twelve billion trees! The figure jumped out ....
Tick the boxes
'Ticking the boxes' is what our readings today could seem to be all about...
September 2011
25 September
Blasphemy, Heresy or Scandal?
Blasphemy, heresy, scandal - they are all words that have been bandied about this week to describe the 'Jesus is an All Black' rugby player icon...
That Icon
If Jesus were on Earth today, would he be a rugby player? I have to say ....
19 September
Canon Jim Pether RIP
For the past seven years I have had the privilege of celebrating the Eucharist first thing on Wednesday morning in the Lady Chapel in this Cathedral.
11 September
The t(r)ies that bind
Well, after Friday night's Rugby World Cup opening ceremony, nobody can say we can't turn on a good welcome!...
That was then - this is now
Ten years today ago the world stopped and watched in horror as first one, then two, airliners ....
4 September
Faith@Work No. 2: The Legal Profession
Two lawyers speak about their life of work and faith
Where two or three...
Matthew seems to set out for his community a formula, a manual of discipline, a process that looks to us like it could be an absolute minefield if actually put into practice...
August 2011
28 August
Public Theology
One of the things that concerns me about public life today is how shallow many of our debates are.
Prof Andrew Bradstock, (Howard Paterson Professor of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago)
21 August
Faith @ Work: The Education Sector
They all have a common thread: I didn’t think I was any good. I thought I was thick. I hated school. I was a loser...
Nicola Marshall and Christine Nelson
Midwives of the future
Leadership - what's it worth? The front page of Saturday's DomPost expressed this is in a way that couldn't be more stark...
14 August
Strangers now are friends
The Tampa Boys - the large majority are now well-educated, working hard, seeking to build lives and families and to contribute to this country's future...
Taking Offense: Delicious but Deadly
... But taking offense can be a very delicious delicacy indeed. For the ‘taking of offense’ gives us something to build community with: we connect with others as we share with them our feeling of being scandalised ....
The Very Revd Dr Peter Catt, Dean of Brisbane
7 August
Take heart, it is I
There’s a glorious sense of freedom as I stay upright on two wheels for the first time ever. But then there’s the tree. It’s coming at me. My arms lock. I can’t turn. I can’t stop.
July 2011
31 July
Enough already - and more than enough
How right it seemed that the funeral procession for a young Muslim girl killed in the tragedy was led by both an imam and a priest, walking together, saying Enough already...
24 July
The human face of the church
I had the privilege last week of spending half a day out at the Common Life Missions Conference of our church at Waikanae...
The kingdom is like...
So where is Jesus coming from? Basically from a lived experience of God as incredibly prodigally unlimitedly – even wastefully - generous and good...
17 July
You are not welcome!
But perhaps the most crass and in your face example of the way the world we live in is constantly on the lookout for the unwanted and unwelcome was the headline on last Tuesday’s ...
3 July
Joy in Jericho
We went to visit Zaccheus' sycamore tree - THE tree you understand! It was doing fine, and someone was very keen to sell us posters and postcards of it!...
Three things I ask
It is with mixed feelings that I come here tonight. I come bringing you greetings from your sister Cathedral in Wellington, and to assure you of our continued prayers for you as a Cathedral community, and for the city and people of Christchurch as a whole....
Yes or NO
In a world where there are so many choices to make, and so many voices calling out, “Choose me, Choose me!” how do we make choices ...
June 2011
26 June
Thanks and Praise
Constitutions and Tikanga, Covenants which include and exclude, filioques inserted into Creeds: in the end the question is simple.
Is my life an offering of thanks and praise to God?
One of these little ones
But you may think that's nothing compared with the horror of our reading from Genesis today...
19 June
OMG
Oh My God! I wonder when was the last time you heard that said?...
Cultivating Christians
The choice of the word cultivating is quite intentional; and involves far more ...
12 June
Embers and Dandelions: Finding God in all Things
Sociologists talk about dandelions and embers. What they mean is that elements of religion blow beyond the world of church...
Church on Fire!
Church on fire! For us in Wellington at the moment, that headline is a bad news story...
5 June
Christus Victor
Is Christ the great sky king, far away, up there somewhere?...
Sunday after Ascension with Baptism
We all know how hard it is to wait for something when you only know it will happen sometime soon...
The Revd Alison Camplin
May 2011
29 May
New heavens and a new earth
Ideas about death and heaven which are current in society and in the church and which we come across at funerals - what are these saying about our Christian beliefs about death, resurrection, and life after death?
Journey in - Journey out
The snippet of St John’s Gospel read today is also part of that journey inwards ....
22 May
Dwelling among us
Is the end of the world imminent, even if Pastor Harold Camping got the date wrong?
So what's the story?
We only look at one bit of the story each Sunday. Yes, we can see the whole in a fragment; but the danger of this itsy-bitsy approach is that it can leave us with little or no grasp of what the whole thing adds up to...
16 May
Wall St & the Global Financial Crisis
A lecture in Wellington by the Revd James Cooper, Trinity Church, Wall St, New York
The Revd James Cooper
15 May
Social networking
As I was reflecting on the ministry of the Companions, particularly those of you from other parishes in the Diocese who express in this way your support for and interest in the Cathedral, I got to thinking about what gifts you bring and what gifts you receive through this partnership...
It's all pretty fabulous!
...And finally, somewhere in all this, I am only beginning to discover who Jesus really is, and why I will never be the same.
It’s all pretty fabulous really!
8 May
An Icon in Music
You have often talked about music as an icon – needing to be so good that it draws people to God ...
Farewell Speech Michael Fulcher Organist & Director of Music
I wanted to say a few words of thanks on this my last Sunday as Organist and DOM of the Cathedral. I have enjoyed so many aspects of my role here...
The Emmaus of Reconciliation
What is important in the Emmaus story is not knowing the exact place that the couple were going to, but rather what happened to them on the way...
1 May
Agreement with Death Disannulled
The message of Easter is that this covenant with death - this complicity with death, dying, deadness, the pseudo-gods that rule so many lives - is broken, disannulled once & for all.
Doubting Thomas
I always feel sorry for Thomas because I believe he has bad press. Thomas is remembered for his questioning, his lack of faith and his doubt...
The Revd Alison Camplin
April 2011
24 April Easter Day
The tears of Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene was one of the group of women who were privileged to be the first witnesses of the resurrected Christ...
Credo - I believe
The choice you made this morning invites you to join Brother Thomas and say: Credo - I believe.
22 April
Good Friday: The Mystery of Salvation
A series of sermons preached at the Three Hour Vigil before the Cross.
17 April
Walking into Holy Week
...On another level, it brings us right into the present and the numbers 2011 are painted on it – as is a frieze around the top depicting the now collapsed bell tower of Christchurch Cathedral...
10 April
Lamentations
Times of great celebration or suffering often evoke and promote an outpouring of wonderful words...Poetry, music and art are the beneficiaries – as is religious faith...
Standing, Touching, Prophecying
After a quake, one thing is obvious: some people, some buildings, remain standing; others not ...
3 April
Seventy new Toys
Tonight’s rather long readings leave us uncomfortable and challenged....
Facebook - brave new world?
I finally caved in this week and signed up with Facebook - and depending on your attitude to social networking tools such as Facebook, you'll either say What? Or, Whatever took you so long?!
March 2011
27 March
- Note: No sermon was preached on Sunday night. The Choir sang Allegri's "Miserere".
Water for Drinking
Water for drinking. At least 3 litres per person, per day.
20 March
Dean's Report to AGM 2011
... The first service we attended in this country was on Palm Sunday 1991 in Christchurch Cathedral. At that time we knew no one. Now, like so many of you, our roots into that city, church and community reach far and wide ....
Cross-shaped Living
Midst a pile of paper I was handed for recycling was an edition of 'Cathedral News' from September 2001, a bit crumpled but still full of the excitement of the upcoming service of Consecration of this Cathedral...
13th March
Search and Rescue God
None of us could fail to be impressed by the quiet heroism of the Japanese Search & Rescue workers as, exhausted after their fortnight of fearless, painstaking searching in the rubble of Christchurch, they boarded a plane back to their own country...
Lord, forgive Adam
Two little pieces of paper appeared yesterday on the Altar without Walls, along with lighted candles. One says: “The chaos that appears to be in a mortal world. Please keep us all safe as we try to make sense of it.” The other includes the words: “Lenten dust and ashes.”
9 March
Ash Wednesday
The city of Christchurch in ruins and the images of suffering and loss that have been our news since the devastating earthquake two weeks ago, are bold, if frightening, heralds of the season of Lent that begins today...
Fr James Lyons, Sacred Heart Cathedral - combined service with Wellington Cathedral of St Paul
6 March
Act of God? Nonsense
On a shelf in my kitchen - when I still had a shelf - I had collected a line of plastic bottles filled with drinking water. I had two tins of beans and four packets of chicken soup and a carton of that UHT milk which tastes a bit like soap...
The Revd Lynda Patterson, Christchurch Cathedral
Spiritual First Aid Post Christchurch
The best spiritual First Aid after the Christchurch quake came from Dean Peter Beck: ‘This is not an act of God: this is the Earth, doing what it does. The act of God is how we love each other, how we reach out to one another.’...
The Revd Dr Raymond Pelly
National Children’s Day
Children’s ministry at the Cathedral is a bit like an iceberg - we can see the top section on a Sunday but so much happens underneath in the weekdays that is not seen...
The Revd Alison Camplin, Chaplain to Families
February 2011
27 February
Images of Hope
Tonight I want to let our Bible readings speak for themselves, to provide us with some alternative images of hope, just as they have always done for people through the tragedies of the ages...
Inscribed on the palm of my hands
The act of God is how we love each other, how we reach out to one another...
20 February
Creative subversion
It was a privilege to be in the gallery to hear the Prime Minister of Australia, the Hon. Julia Gillard, address Parliament last week...
13 February
When the party's over...
A headline in Saturday's DomPost has stayed with me: 'Girls just wanna get totally smashed'....
Eating meat, or still drinking milk?
Are you ready to eat meat, or you still needing milk?
6 February
Shine always and forever
There are many who would claim to have no personal Christian faith but who would say...if we want to find a moral basis on which to bring up a child, then we could do worse than start with the Sermon on the Mount...
January 2011
30 January
Simeon & Anna: keeping a weather eye
I like to think of Simeon and Anna as two weather-house figures in Luke's gospel...
A pile of stones
On a beautiful sunny summer’s day last week, I added one small stone to a growing pile of stones out at Makara Cemetery...
23 January
Gone fishing!
I have always fancied putting up a sign on my door saying “Gone Fishing”. If my family’s effort on fishing is anything to go by I could be away for a very long time...
The Revd Alison Camplin
16 January
Floods, fire and faith
We surely don’t need reminding that we live in a time of crises. Christchurch is still experiencing aftershocks. Parts of Brisbane and a chunk of Queensland the size of France and Germany are under water...
The Revd Dr Raymond Pelly
9 January
Baptism of the Lord
This morning’s theme of the baptism of Christ through water and the Holy Spirit brought to mind an urgent request for help I once received...
The Ven. Judy Hardie
2 January - Epiphany
Three kings from Persian lands afar
Each verse begins with a question focusing on a different player in the saga, and inviting us to make a response. There are the wise men ...
December 2010
25 December - Christmas Day
The stars bow down
The metaphor of a glorious night sky invites us into the mystery of the Incarnation – to begin a conversation that will continue throughout our lives...
24 December - Christmas Eve
Gratitude
"... squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!" ...
The Rt Revd Dr Thomas Brown
19 December - Advent 4
A Baby called Hope
A baby called Hope gave new life, new hope to her family and community...
12 December - Advent 3
Isaiah: the odd chapters
I wonder if you've noticed that many of our readings in this season of Advent come from the prophet Isaiah?
An Opportunity for Doubt
...Far more than we may ever realize, Christmas presents us with an opportunity for doubt, for a crossroads which demands of us a choice.
5 December - Advent 2
I am not!
... Can you say, I am not, but let me show you who is?
It's time to get ready
One thing we find working here at the Cathedral is that we get very used to the sirens going up and down Molesworth St...
November 2010
28 November - Advent 1
Be Prepared
I have found myself thinking a lot about that scout training and the motto “Be Prepared” over the past week. It has been a horrible week. First the news of the blast at Pike River Mine ...
21 November
Thin Places
Pahiatua and Eketahuna! Having only a vague idea of where they are, I asked whether they had stopped on the way to Wellington. “Oh yes,” came the reply, “we stopped at several thin places.” ...
Whose world is it anyway?
Today the Church invites us to ask a question, simple yet profound: What sort of society (or world) do we want? And what has this got to do with Jesus? ...
20 November Diocesan Ordination Service
Hollowed out for glory
Today is a wonderful day for the church. Today we celebrate. Today we are proud to belong to the Anglican Church in the Diocese of Wellington...
The Revd Anne Chrisp
14 November
Re-membering the Body of Christ
Tonight on this Remembrance Day, I want us to re-member the Body of Christ in Iraq...
Mutual Space: Remembrance Sunday
This concept of ‘mutual’ space fascinates and intrigues me. It is part of a bold vision ...
7 November
Take courage!
...travelling through the interminable and rather drab railway yards and warehouses coming up to Victoria Station, and always looking for a sign high up on a brick building which boldly declared "Take courage!"
October 2010
31 October
The tender bridge in Christ
One of the prayers we will use later in this service talks of greeting those who’ve died, across the tender bridge in Christ...
A Glorious Ragbag
Clearly they did not expect the Dean to be talking about Halloween in the course of their regular Christian training programme. It’s something to do with ghosts isn’t it ...
24 October
Till my work is done
I will do my best, but I must make this condition, Mr. Hunter, that on the job the hours shall only be eight for the day ...
There but for the grace of God
Perhaps we need to ask ourselves the question, am I secretly thinking in my heart of hearts, 'Thank God I'm not self-righteous and full of contempt like that Pharisee?' Whoops, I feel a touch of Pharisaism coming on!... more...
17 October
St Luke
I am a hospital chaplain. I am here in this pulpit because tomorrow is Saint Luke’s Day and Saint Luke was a doctor. But the healing work ...
The Revd David Tannock, Wellington Hospital
Pray always: do not lose heart
“Pray always; do not lose heart.” The opening words of Jesus in today’s Gospel could just as easily have come from the President of Chile, or one of the other leaders of the remarkable drama that has gripped the world this past week...
10 October
God of pilgrims
It all depends how you see people! Our country's airwaves have been full this week of reaction to...
Thanks - Whenever!
Emotions – complex, unpredictable, wild? Probably all of the above! There are times when our emotions about a particular situation or crisis overwhelm us...
3 October
St Francis
Francis was an ordinary person whom God used and worked through. A person who did make mistakes but they did not stop him modelling Christian living in so many ways...
A mustard seed
It all started with a throw away comment after a shopping spree. Wouldn’t it be good if ...?
September 2010
26 September
Dives and Lazarus
St Luke sure comes up with some tricky passages to deal with ...
19 September
Stephen Hawking, God and Creation
Professor Hawking raises an important question. Is it essential to our faith to find a place for God in the physical creation of the universe?
The Rt Rev Richard Randerson
Heart speaks to heart: John Henry Newman
Today in England Pope Benedict XVI will declare John Henry Newman a saint of the Catholic Church. When Newman, Anglican convert to Catholicism, became a Cardinal, he chose as his motto, the words ‘Heart Speaks to Heart’...
12 September
Graced Life in the Shaky Isles
It takes a long time to get over an earthquake. It takes a long time to become mature in faith...
The Ven. Jenny Dawson
Danger...Come in!
“Danger: Keep out!” It’s hardly the sort of message to encourage church attendance, especially on Back to Church Sunday!...Yet signs of danger are all around us...
5 September
I am, I care – God
‘“I am, I care”, yours truly, God’. If I were to put a counter-slogan on buses to the well known, ‘There’s probably no God…’, it would be that...
God the Re-builder
Well, what a difference a day makes! Our hearts and thoughts are so much with the people of Christchurch at this time after the earthquake...
August 2010
Becoming a DIY Believer A Very Short Introduction to Theology
- 22 July - 26 August 2010
- Leader: Rev Dr Raymond Pelly, Priest Associate
Session 1 What is Theology? Definitions, Approaches
Session 2 GETTING STARTED The Language & Truth of Faith
Session 3 TRINITY Christian Way of Talking about the Mystery of God
Session 4 THE WAY OF CHRIST Being Truthful in a Time of Meaninglessness
Session 5 RESURRECTION (1) Perception/Recognition & (2) On-going
Session 6 SOURCES OF MODERN ATHEISM Understanding why people reject God
29 August
The Cathedral an Open Secret
The metallic clanging and banging of scaffolding being put together has dominated our Cathedral life over the last week...
22 August
Looking Christ in the eye
How long has it been since a teacher summoned you to stand up straight, sit up straight, or face the front?
15 August
There's something about Mary
There's something about Mary…and I'm not referring to the movie of that name here, although I enjoyed that at the time too!...
Mary the Mother of Jesus
On this feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it seems fitting that I, a Roman Catholic, give the sermon in your Anglican Cathedral...
Dr Kath Rushton, RSM
8 August
Words out of season
Those who have received comfort, consolation from God in the past can be a means of God’s consolation to those who are in sorrow in the present...
The Ven Robert McLay
Giving away a fortune
I wonder what you make of the Giving Pledge campaign in the United States, where, led by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, forty billionaires have pledged to give at least half of their fortunes to charity...
1 August
Sermon for Hiroshima Day
This week we remember Hiroshima. On Monday 6th August 1945 at 8.15 on a sunny morning the crew of Enola Gay dropped Little Boy on Hiroshima...
The Rev Dr Jonathan Hartfield
Getting centred in a twittering world
Do we have a centre? Or are we in fact driven every which way by every next text-message that comes our way?...
July 2010
25 July
Sibling Rivalry
Those of us with brothers and sisters of our own may have been relieved to hear in our reading from Matthew's gospel that sibling rivalry was alive and well in Jesus' time...
Beloved Children of God
The closing words of our Gospel passage this morning contain two verbs: give and ask. Together, they sum up what is happening here this morning...
18 July
Bible Sunday
I witnessed a community where there was encouragement, discipline, role modeling, a genuine care and concern for one another. What I witnessed was church...
The Revd Alison Camplin
Mary v. Martha?
This perhaps is the trap we fall into when we approach our Gospel reading this morning, we very quickly fall into pitting Mary against Martha, one against the other...
11 July
Jacob & Esau
I for one sometimes wonder at how such a wily bloke (in Kiwi terms) as Jacob ever came to be Israel, one of the great Patriarchs of the Hebrew tradition...
Wonky Donkeys
If you look at the Wonky Donkey from outside, he doesn't have a lot going for him, in fact he has a few problems: he has only three legs, and only one eye, and he smells really, really bad!...
4 July
A new Creation is everything
Kia Ora – tena koutou katoa. Good morning. I greet you in Maori as I bring greetings to you from the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul and the Bishop and people of the Diocese of Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. It is good to be back here where Christine and I, together with our three children, spent three happy and fulfilling years ten years ago.
Something for You to Do : Calling, Sending
Just recently I made a list of some of the urgent tasks facing the Church at the present time...
June 2010
27 June
The Golden Thread of Grace
Oh, what a complicated family mess. How can any good be salvaged from this web of selfishness and lies?
Pilgrimage - a Picnic?
Paul: 'But hang on a minute, Jenny, yes, you were travelling round Greece in temperatures in the high 30s, but you were in an air-conditioned coach most of the time!...
20 June
Truth Stumbles in the Market Place
Somewhere one crosses a moral divide between the concept of a house as a home, and a greed-inspired lifestyle which is heedless of the consequences...
Bishop Richard Randerson
Gospel: Gift & Task
...we might reflect what our own besetting sin is, what we need to be delivered or saved from. The word that keeps coming to me is ‘complacency’...
13 June
A Unique Interconnectedness
The God we worship is a very "practical" God...the Word of God speaks to our human condition in down-to-earth ways...
The Venerable Danny Te Hiko
Transforming Creation
...God’s Creation will be transformed...we are called to transform broken relationships in the world and build the harmony that God intends...
Bishop Richard Randerson
6 June
Symbol of Hope
...You might not have seen Noah's rainbow - although there might be a symbol in your world that helped - but you are able to take a deep breath and move on...
The Venerable Judy Hardie
When Darkness Surrounds Us
...not all of life is celebration, light and joy. Life has also its dark side...
Bishop Richard Randerson
May 2010
30 May
Lady Wisdom's Children
...is God more present at an altar or a fish market? In a pastor’s study or a loan office? During a church service or a rugby match? On Easter Sunday or the twenty-first Sunday of Ordinary Time?...
Barbara Brown Taylor
Original Sin or Original Blessing?
This is God's gift to us, a call to celebrate, live passionately, and enjoy our life in relationship with God and all Creation...
Bishop Richard Randerson
23 May
Pentecost - veils & headscarves
Headscarves and veils, you could be forgiven for wondering where our readings were going tonight, with the rather confusing image of Moses wearing or not wearing a veil...
Dance of the Spirit
With this knowledge that we are loved by God – called Abba by St Paul - we begin to weave together the dance of the Spirit ...
16 May
Ascension - Absence or Presence/ts?
Last Thursday evening as the Ascension Day eucharist was being held here, I was having an Ascension experience of my own - of the 36,000 feet in the air kind!...
He Tangata!He Tangata!
"Organ Donors Service" ... it was you who had to make the hard decision to say yes – yes, you may use the organs of my ....
Taking Things to Heart
I said to myself, ‘Why don’t you become the thinking, praying, caring heart of this aircraft?’...
9 May
Looking in,Looking out!
It is a surprise to many people to realize that Wellington Cathedral is the parish church of Thorndon, with tightly defined parish boundaries ...
Acorns and Rubber Bands
Acorns and rubber bands - yesterday our Vestry had a morning of retreat together, and our discussions generated some interesting images and pictures of the church...
2 May
Sts Philip & James
Perhaps you feel that in your family you are like James the Less, and someone else is the Greatest!...
A perfect world?
New table companions, a new world, and a new commandment – they’re all there in the readings today!....
April 2010
25 April
Repent, Believe, Follow
... It is into these contexts, real and immediate, that we need to hear those words of Jesus as they ring out from the 1st Chapter of Mark: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God ...
“Both And”
... Red poppies. White poppies. “Either Or?” Or “Both And?”...
18 April
A Community of Eternal Life
John's gospel speaks of Jesus bringing us into the realm of eternal life now, this moment, not later, not just sometime in the distant future...
One among you
... a legacy of the arrogance of an imperialism gone mad. In this context then Land of Hope and Glory becomes little short of idolatry, blinding people ...
11 April
The Emmaus of Reconciliation
On our last day in Jerusalem, we too visited Emmaus, but there are in fact four possible sites for Emmaus, all with long historical and traditional links with the story...
Easter People 2010
Proclamation, priestly activity, confession and praise – these are among the things that witness to the resurrection ...
Easter Day 2010
Christ is risen! Alleluia!
Drawing the short straw to preach in the evening on Easter Day is, I suspect, the Dean’s prerogative ...
Easter Gardens & Railway Stations
'Why do you look for the living among the dead?' Where do we seek the risen Jesus? There are two places in Jerusalem associated with the resurrection of Jesus... more...
Good Friday 2010
Hymns that Speak to Us
The Very Revd Frank Nelson, The Revd Jenny Wilkens
My Song is Love unknown
At the cross her station keeping
Let all mortal flesh keep silence
Great God your love has called us here
Come, my way, my truth, my life
The Servant King
March 2010
28 March
Vines & Wines
We soon move from the beautiful picture of God's tender care of these choice vines, God's pleasant planting, to find that the whole lot has gone to pot and delivered only sour grapes!...
21 March
Passionate Living & Giving
The fragrance of the perfume filled the whole house. Such a bold gesture, such abandon, such passion...Such waste??...
14 March
Moments of Recognition
“There was a man who had two sons.” What a great way to begin a story ....
7 March
Fig-uratively speaking
'I don't give a fig about that!' you may hear someone say, but fortunately our Farmers' Market does give a fig - and here is the evidence!...
A bat's eye-view of the sun
The Greek philosopher Aristotle once said that human attempts to see God – by which he meant ‘understand’ God – were about as successful as a bat’s ability to look directly at the sun ...
February 2010
28 February
Many waters cannot quench love
'Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.' These beautiful words from the Song of Solomon perhaps take on new resonance for us today, in the light of the events of the last hours. A massive earthquake in Chile, followed by tsunami warnings throughout the Pacific...
Stand firm in the Lord
Stand firm in the Lord. It’s a concept worth contemplating as we continue our journey through Lent ...
21 February
Tempting Thoughts
After that experience, I felt at least a little more empathy for Jesus going out into the wilderness to take his survival badge...
Taking a Silence Break
I wrote this in the early hours of this morning – when one expects the world to be quiet ....
17 February - Ash Wednesday
Only the silent celebrate deeply
We are invited in Lent into silence ...
Archbishop John Dew (Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington)
14 February
Collation of new Archdeacons
This is about Moses – but it’s not just about Moses. It also has a lot in it about us, and about Danny and Tony who are collated into their new ministries tonight... more...
The Rev Deborah Broome, Canon Theologian
Blessed Be!
Today our church ... is in mourning. Last Thursday Archbishop Jabez Bryce died quietly ... more...
7 February
Diocesan AAW Service
The importance of family life was brought home to me very forcibly when on one of the occasions I was going back to England to catch up with our family, the plane I was travelling on had a stopover in Mumbai... more...
The Reverend Dorothy Howard, Diocesan AAW Chaplain
What's the Catch?
Fresh fish, fresh off the boat! We could be forgiven for thinking we were dealing with the remains of Jesus' miraculous catch of fish, yesterday in the Farmers' Market here in our carpark... more...
January 2010
31 January
Simeon & Anna Senior Saints
Simeon & Anna were 'midwives' to the infant Jesus. God used older people to be the midwives of bringing to birth Jesus, the son of God... more...
Msalato Theological College, Tanzania
I wish the West could look past the poverty and see the people. more... Gillian Nelson
24 January
Can we do it? Yes we can!
I wonder if President Barack Obama might not draw some comfort from reading our Gospel for today and seeing that Jesus' inauguration speech had much the same effects on his hearers... more...
17 January
Epiphany Journeys
Many of you have asked about what I will be doing as we move up to Auckland this week and the season of Epiphany seemed a very appropriate time to take this opportunity to preach this morning and shed a little more light on what the next part of our journey as a family holds... more...
10 January
The Baptism of Christ
For a very long time we were short-changed in the church when it comes to baptism. It became something that was done, almost cloak and dagger ... more...
3 January
After the miracle
...But what is our gift? We haven’t travelled for miles across deserts with well-packed treasure chests of gold, frankincense and myrrh. We have come with jumbled-up lives...
