Sermons

Seeing Through a Glass Darkly                                            9 December 2018 Sermon for Remembrance Service   Reading: 1 Corinthians 13:12   When our daughter Rebecca was growing up she came to me with a very sensible question. “When you were young Dad was the world in black and white?”  She had seen old films and old news items […]

A Ministry of Loving Hospitality                                            2 December 2018 St Saviours, Lyttelton   Reading: John 21:1-15   Faithful God, open Scripture to us in a new and exciting way. In Jesus name. Amen.   Today is a milestone moment in the life of this parish. As you welcome your new Vicar, John and his family Yaekco, […]

Finding Peace in the midst of Chaos                                   2 December 2018 St Luke’s, Yaldhurst   Reading: Luke 21.25-36   When our family was young, grandad gave the girls a video of Dad’s Army. As a result, before they could even talk properly the girls would do impersonations of Sergeant Jones. “Don’t panic Captain Mannering. Don’t panic. […]

A New Kind of King…                                                                              25 November, 2018   Reading: John 18:33-37   Loving Jesus you show a new kind of king. Help us to learn from your example.  Amen It’s really lovely to be baptising Lucy today and welcoming her into the family of God.  Many of us remember Shirley Rhodes with great affection […]

In Times of Great Anxiety, We Need to Know that Someone Cares 18 November, 2018   Reading: Mark 13:1-8   Last week’s Remembrance Sunday called to mind the story of a bombing raid over Germany.  Suddenly the first thud rocked the plane, a shell from the antiaircraft guns below had hit the fuselage. Some quick […]

Remembrance Sunday                                                          11 November, 2018 No greater can we have than to lay down our life for our friends.   Today our service has a special focus, Remembrance Sunday.  Remembrance Sunday is big thing in Europe but here it is overshadowed by ANZAC Day. This year is different because it is 100 years since […]

Reading: Mark 10:46-52   The good news is that Jesus is always ready to listen to our requests, whatever they might be. I heard of one woman whose deepest desire was to win Lotto. Every week she got down on her knees and prayed hard especially on a Wednesday and a Saturday night. Expressing her […]

MISSION SUNDAY: ADELINE REFLECTS ON THE SERMON BY REVD. David dell (Anglican missions) The Reverend David Dell from the Anglican Mission Board spoke at the 9.30 am service on the 8 September 2018. He is also the Chaplain to the Police Force in NZ. The Anglican Missions is committed to bringing the Gospel of Jesus […]

Mind Your Language – REVD. DAVID WINFIELD At various points in the Bible, we are reminded that words have the power to encourage and build up, but conversely they have the power to discourage and tear down. For example the writer of Proverbs had said “The tongue has the power of life and death.” Then […]

Our Hearts Follow our Riches, Generosity Frees Us 14 October, 2018 Reading: Mark 10:17-31 I have it on really good authority that if you want to catch an Indian monkey you cut a small hole in a sturdy box then, inside the box, you put a tasty nut. The hole you make just large enough […]

No Monopoly on Love 30 September, 2018 Reading: Mark 9:38-50 Open the meaning of the Bible to us in a fresh and exciting way. In Jesus name. Amen On the December 21st 2016 in Kenya’s northwest, a busload of people were travelling from Nairobi, the nation’s capital, to the town of Mandera. The bus was […]

Knowing Christ, the Pathway to Life 16 September, 2018 St Peter’s, Kaikoura Reading: Mark 8:27-38 Loving God, open the meaning of the Bible to us in fresh and exciting way. In Jesus name. Amen Thank you very much for inviting me to preach on this occasion. Those of us from St Peter’s, Upper Riccarton in […]

Making a Choice for Hope, Being a Broker of Hope 26 August 2018 Reading: John 6:56-69 And Jesus said, “The one who eats this bread will live forever.” On Wednesday the funeral directors of Canterbury, Nelson, and the West Coast asked me to go and speak to them. I heard the words, “You will get […]

A Spirit of Generosity Begins in Gratitude 29 July, 2018 Reading: John 6:1-21. The year was 1998. The Anglican church had organised what it called a Hikoi of Hope to highlight the needs of the poor. It had the wonderful slogan: “Walk for a Change.” And we did. Many thousands from all over the country […]

The Grace Not to Give in to Fear                                                                                                          15 July, 2018 Reading: Mark 6:14-29 It was wonderful on Thursday afternoon to be able to go into St Peter’s Church building.  It still has a wonderful prayerful atmosphere and beautiful stained glass in the sanctuary. To be honest I have hardly ever been in there. […]

Rules aren’t Rules                                                               3 June 2018 Readings: Deuteronomy 5:12-15; Mark 2:23-3:6 Every 7 years clergy get what is called a sabbatical.  It is 3 months to take time off from active ministry to reflect, recharge and renew. Back in 1999 Rosemary and I undertook a summer course at  Boston College, a Jesuit University in Boston. […]

Tony Kippax’ Induction, Geraldine                                   27 May 2018   Readings: Philippians 4:4-9; Matthew 28:16-20   Loving God, open the meaning of the Bible to us in fresh and exciting way, in Jesus name. Amen   Thank you very much Tony for inviting me to preach on this occasion, an exciting new chapter in the life […]

Pentecost                                                                              20 May, 2018 Reading: John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15 I will send an Advocate. Open the Bible to us in a new and exciting way… A very exciting thing happened to me this week. On Wednesday I ordered my first Uber. We were in Wellington for our daughter’s graduation and I had had enough of shopping. […]

May the words spoken help us see Jesus. In His name, Amen.   It was a Monday morning. I was having the day off. Unshaven and more than a little bleary eyed, I staggered down to Countdown for the shopping. Gazing at the Edam cheese trying to work out which one is cheaper, it happens.  […]

Easter 4: Shepherd Image of Intimacy with God                   22 April, 2018 Reading: John 10;11-18, Psalm 23 Open the meaning of the Bible to us in a fresh and exciting way. In Jesus name. Amen.   He was old, really old. The family asked me to go and visit him so that when I took […]

Lent 5             New life from Old                                                                             18 March, 2018   Reading: John 12:20-33   And Jesus said, “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies it produces much fruit.” (John 12:20-33)   We are always on the scrounge for […]

Lent 4                                                                                                             11 March, 2018   Reading: John 3:14-21   In our modern world signs are very important and I like the one outside of the Cafe Royal Bar: ‘Every loaf of bread is a tragic story of grains that didn’t become beer.’ Or the washing instructions on a jersey: ‘Give it to your […]

Hearing the Voice of God: Lent 1 18 February, 2018 Reading: Mark 1:9-15 You have good news for us God. Help us to hear it. In Jesus name. Amen When it came time to teach the girls to drive this was a job for dad. Rebecca and I started off okay but after a while […]

Christ the World’s Light and We Share that Hope 28 January, 2018 Reading: Luke 2:22-40 Faithful God, today you give us good news. Help us hear it in Jesus name I don’t know who invented the game but they had no regard for health or, as it turned out, safety. It was so much fun. It […]

Jesus Calls Us As We Are                                                                        21 January, 2018   Reading: Mark 1:14-20   Loving God You have good news for us, Help us hear it. In Jesus name. Amen   One of the many things I’ll really enjoy about St Peter’s is the way everyone has a sense of ministry. It’s a way of […]

Christmas 1: Being Present for Others                                       31 December, 2017   Reading: Luke 2:15-21   The Vicar, the Roman Catholic Priest and the Retailer where comparing notes about Christmas. “What do you do at Christmas?” they asked each other. “When I have finished my last service I go home and my family all sit around the […]

The Gift of Grace Christmas Day 2017 Reading: John 1:1-14 God of grace, On this day You give us the gift of Jesus. Help us to receive all He has to give us. In His name we ask it… I wonder what gifts you have been given this Christmas. I wonder how much trouble you […]

Finding the Peace of the Prince of Peace – Midnight, 25 December, 2017 Readings: Isaiah 9:2-7 and Luke 2:1-14 Much to the delight of the Woman’s Weekly and to the disappointment of my sister-in-law, Prince Harry is getting married. One night when I couldn’t sleep, I worked out that I’m only 2543 in line to […]

To the greater glory of God: building others up and giving the glory to God Advent 3                                                                                                         17 December, 2017   Reading: John 1:6-8,19-28   One of my first jobs was working at Housing NZ. I was a loans officer and had the job of helping people get into their first home. At the […]

Finding the Peace of God                                                                   10 December, 2017 Advent 2 Year B: Comfort my People Reading: Isaiah 40, 1-5 Isaiah writes so beautifully today, “Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.” When we think of comfort we think of Sleepyhead pillows and woolrests. But this is not what God is saying through Isaiah […]

Christ the King November 26, 2017 Reading: Matthew 25:31-46 Allowing others to minister to us. The brothers were confused. Try as they might, they couldn’t tell their two horses apart. They tried calling them and they both responded equally to the others name. They tried measuring them and they were exactly the same height. It […]

What Keeps Your Lamp Burning? 12 November, 2017 Reading: Matthew 25:1-12 I wonder if you are good at getting prepared. A friend of a friend of mine thought he was prepared. He was chaplain to a chapel royal in England. He got notification that none other than Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth herself was coming to […]

Claiming Our Inheritance 5 November, 2017 All Saints Reading: Ephesians 1:11-23 Open our hearts and minds to your message through Christ Our Lord The old woman leaned back in the armchair, gratefully allowing the back of the chair to support her tired body. “Have a rest Gran, while I put the kettle on, and we’ll […]

The Law of Love… 29 October, 2017 Reading: Matthew 22:34-46 It was St Augustine some 1600 years ago who said, “Love God and do as you like.” When our girls were young I thought I would have one of those encouraging chats with my children. “You know,” I said, “you are both intelligent and hard […]

The Gospe l of Peace 15 October, 2017 St Lukes celebration St Lukes 9:30am and St Peter’s 8am Reading: Matthew 10:1-9 They call it cold calling: going to someone’s door totally unannounced. When I was a naive young curate, the vicar of Hornby use to send me cold calling around the neighbourhood. It had very […]

Actions Speak Louder than Words 1 October 2017 Reading: Matthew 21:23-32 There is an old saying: Actions speak louder than words. I heard of a brand new building erected in Sydney. It was mostly office space and it went up 54 floors. The investors were very excited about it, looking forward to all the money […]

The True Meaning of Forgiveness 17 September 2017 Reading: Matthew 18:21-35 St Peters A woman bought a parrot for a pet. All the parrot did was treat her badly. It insulted her and every time she tried to pick it up, it would peck at her arm. One day she got fed up with the […]

A Most Secret Agent 27 August, 2017 Reading: Matthew 16:1320 Being agents of grace. When I was little, my favourite programme on TV was Joe 90. Joe was a young boy who, even though he was just very ordinary, was in fact a MOST SECRET AGENT. At the beginning of the programme they would put […]

Jesus​ ​ Love​ ​ Reaches​ ​ All​ ​ People​ ​ – ​ ​ help​ ​ us​ ​ not​ ​ to​ ​ stand​ ​ in​ ​ the way. 20​ ​ August​ ​ 2017​ ​ Reading: Matthew​ ​ 15:21-28 Today​ ​ it’s​ ​ wonderful​ ​ to​ ​ welcome​ ​ Amalie​ ​ into​ ​ the family​ ​ of​ […]

Reading: Matthew 14:1321 It’s great today to welcome representatives from the local community, and from the racing industry in particular, for our annual grand national service. It’s our tradition to have this service to pray for the safety of all in the industry, to bless the colours and to mark the traditional beginning of the […]

Growing in Grace                                                                          21 June 2017 Reading: Romans 5 1-8 little reading, big impact The Bishop had been invited for dinner and the parents were anxious to impress. So after they had all sat down and it was time for grace, the mother turned to little Susie. “Please say grace Susie.” “But I don’t […]

Trinity Sunday                                                                                   11 June 2017 Matthew 28:16-20 I know it’s hard to imagine but as a teenager I was tall and uncoordinated. But it wasn’t all bad, having unnaturally long legs I could run like the wind. It came then as no big surprise when the headmaster asked me to coach the wee boys […]

Reading: Matthew 28:1-10 Like so many I was the happy recipient of a Cadbury great Easter bunny – one made of a glass and a half of ‘pure cream milk’. However, I was more than a little shocked to read on the box the story of the great bunny. Cadbury writes the reason we came […]

Sermon 26 March 2017 (Lent 4)                                                    John 9:1-41 Being healed from the blindness of thinking God is a God of punishment. Open our eyes Jesus to who you really are, in his name we ask it. Amen The old Irishmen got the call he had long expected but hoped would never come. Your brother is […]

I don’t always like going to parties. When they discover what I do, I either get harangued about the Cathedral in the Square or someone wants to plan their funeral. But this person was different. She had a story to share. She had been about to die and then unexpectedly a total stranger had given […]

Loving God, your Son prayed that we might be one, so that world might believe. Open our hearts and minds. In Jesus name. Amen Thank you Father Michael for offering me the opportunity to offer a reflection at this service. I tried to get him to do it and he said, “It’s your place. You […]

Reading: Matthew 6:1-6 and 16-21 Today begins the season of the Church’s year called Lent. It’s a season when we re-examine our priorities. The majority of Christians do it and we follow the example of Jesus who spent 40 days in the wilderness. During that time Jesus was tempted to lose his focus. Famously, the Devil […]

Money messes with your head. Generosity, the way to break its hold. A programme we have been enjoying on telly is Nigel Latta’s Mind over Money. Nigel has done lots of things on TV, some of them better than others. One series seemed to involve him blowing things up – fun for him, but not […]

Reading: Matthew 5:21-37 Open the Bible to us in fresh and exciting way. In Jesus name. Amen. Jesus said, “First be reconciled with your sister or brother and then come and offer your gift.” It was a Sunday evening and I was just about to receive a call that would change my life. Many years […]

Readings: Acts 9:1-22, Matthew 19:27-30 Complete turnaround… Growing in discipleship On this Conversion-of-St-Paul day, help us to have the courage that he did to turn our lives around. In Jesus name. Amen. I really admire people who are open to change and to seeing things in a new way. I remember a man in my […]

Loving God, Open the Bible in a new and exciting way. In Jesus name. Amen. My experience of fishing is so different from that of our Gospel. I once spent a summer sea-fishing with a friend off the Moeraki Peninsula. I watched very carefully everything he did so that I could imitate him in his […]

Open the meaning of the Bible to us in fresh and new way. In Jesus’ name. Amen The first few words said by someone are very important. I heard of a bishop visiting a congregation. He rose into the pulpit to greet the faithful. The congregation was well versed in Anglican responses. His first words […]

When we visited Israel in 2008, I was asked to lead a service for the renewal of our baptismal vows at Yardenit, traditionally the site where Jesus was baptised. Previously I’d imagined the Jordan being like a New Zealand river – shallow, fast flowing over a rocky bed – with Jesus and John standing in […]

That carol, ‘We three kings’, has a lot to answer for. As well as changing them from wise men to kings, they even have exotic names: Melchior, Gaspar, Balthazar! The Christmas story isn’t complete until they arrive, dressed in purple and gold, wearing rich jewelled turbans, carrying exotic gifts; camels and servants following behind… Matthew […]

By any measure, the first Christmas was a public relations disaster. It couldn’t have been managed much worse. None of the important people where there. There was no Roman emperor or Greek philosopher, not even an oracle. Instead there were a bunch of shepherds, a carpenter and his fiancée. To top it off, Jesus wasn’t […]

Back in the seventies we lived in a single storey wooden house on a ¼ acre section. It was just like everyone else’s in our street, and in most parts of New Zealand. It wasn’t until we lived in the UK that I experienced people living in rows of identical terraced houses. If you were […]

Fill my words and this night with the light of your love. In Jesus’ name. Tonight we heard again those majestic words from John’s Gospel: The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has never overcome it. At 5pm today we had our wonderful children’s service. I’ve have been involved in putting together lots […]

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There are those who are good with directions and then there are those that aren’t. I’m one of the latter group. I have been known to lose my way at night when looking for the convenience, but this has as much to do with not having my glasses on as with my directionality. What always […]

You may have heard of the two walking through a paddock unaware that a huge and very angry bull was watching them. Suddenly it started running toward them. So they began to take flight. It wasn’t long into the chase that they realised that the massive bull was gaining on them. “What are we going […]

Wednesday 21 September 2016 St Peter’s 10am The Feast of St Matthew, Apostle, Evangelist Matthew the Tax Gatherer “Almighty God, may the transforming power of your Gospel be at work in us today – as we hear and respond to your word to us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.” Over the last few years […]

Sunday 16 September 2016 St Peter’s 8 am, St Luke’s 9.30am A Shrewd manager Luke 16:1-13 Henry Ford, the man who got the world behind the wheels of his cars, was visiting his family’s ancestral village in Ireland. Two trustees of the local hospital learned he was there, and managed to get an appointment to […]

Holy Cross Day 14 September, 2016 Reading: John 3:13-17 Open the Bible to us in fresh way, O God. In Jesus name we ask it. Whether in counselling rooms, on helplines or in agony aunt columns, the plea is always the same. If only I had someone who understood the pain I am going through […]

Father’s Day 4 September, 2016 Reading: Jeremiah 18:1-11 The year was 1973 and Dad got a new car. I thought it was so cool. It was a Mark III Ford Cortina. It had all the whistles and bells. We had never seen a car with a radio. The car had little jets of water that […]

Inverse Hospitality: Welcoming the Stranger in Ourselves 28 August, 2016 Reading: Luke 14:1,7-14 Open the Bible to us, O God, in a fresh and exciting way. In Jesus’ name. Amen It was a routine British Airways flight between London and Johannesburg. The passengers were just beginning to settle in for the long flight. “Excuse me,” […]

Breaking Down the Barriers that Divide 21 August, 2016 Reading: Luke 13:10-17 Ever present God, open the meaning of Bible to us in a fresh and exciting way. In Jesus name One of my most enthusiastic parishioners was a man who had worked on the Concorde. As a young Englishman he had had a lot […]

God’s Superabundant Love 17 August, 2016 Reading: Matthew 20:1-16 There is inside of us all a sense of justice. It is at its strongest when we feel we have been hard done by. Today’s text is only found in Matthew and it plays out against this sense of justice, but as we will discover, it […]

Lost and Found Luke 15: 1-7 Have you ever been lost? John and I once cooked for a residential Counsellor Training weekend at a lodge on the lower slopes of Mt Pirongia in the Waikato. On the Saturday afternoon we went for a walk up a nearby track. It’s started out as a road, but it […]

Racing Service 7 August, 2016 Reading: Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 It’s wonderful today to be able to welcome many from the racing industry and the Riccarton Racecourse in particular. This parish has a long link with racing. In fact I am reliably told there are no fewer than 32 jockeys buried in the cemetery. This would […]

Enduring the Race 1 August, 2016 Reading: Hebrews 11:29-12:3 There you are, standing on the start line at the Olympics. You are wearing the black singlet of your country. You have been chosen by the people to represent your nation. You have trained so hard: every day for months and months, rain or shine. You […]

‘Fillingouremptiness’ Luke12:13-21 Garrison Keillor, creator of the US radio show, ‘A Prairie Home Companion’ tells this story: “A rich man wanted desperately to take his wealth with him to heaven. He talked to many people to discover a way and finally found a psychic who had the answer. She gave him a battered old suitcase […]

Wednesday July 27 2016 St Peter’s Three Parables Matthew 13: 31-33 & 44 Planting Weeds, hiding Yeast, burying treasure – three of the many parables Jesus told. Jesus told parables to help his audience understand God’s kingdom. However, because they rely on hidden meanings and local contexts, they often don’t translate well across languages or […]

Access to the Father 13 July, 2016 Reading: Matthew 11:25-27 “And no one knows the Father except the Son” The true story is told of a soldier in the civil war in America who had fallen on hard times. A well to do gentleman was visiting the hospital and the soldier started complaining about the […]

Watching Satan falling I once met a woman who called herself a prophetess. She had long straggling grey hair, wore a loose flowing dress, and carried all her possessions in a small shoulder bag. She told me that, a few years before, she and her husband had given away all their possessions and taken to […]

Reading: Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 3 July, 2016 Loving God, open the meaning of Scripture to us in a fresh and exciting way today. In Jesus name Amen Jesus said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few.” My experience of the harvest is that it is a time for focus. Everything […]

  Authority There are many jokes about St Peter sitting at the gates of heaven, holding his bunch of keys. Here’s one I like: A preacher and a bus driver went to heaven. The bus driver was allocated a beautiful mansion with large rooms. The preacher however, was given only a one-room unit, so she […]

Pentecost 4C 12 June 2016 St Peter’s Upper Riccarton Galatians 2: 15-21; Luke 7: 36 – 8:3 Forgiveness – a novel approach I’ve always enjoyed reading novels. I prefer reading about ordinary people overcoming difficulties and emerging changed for the better. Usually I identify with one character. When I was younger it was the beautiful […]

5th June 2016 St Peter’s Upper Riccarton 1 Kings 17: 17-24; Galatians 1:11-24; Luke 7:11-17 “The Loving Heart” How can we reconcile joy and sorrow, life and death? Sometimes, when we see all the brokenness, all the tragedy around us we look for someone to blame. And that someone is often God. It’s easy to […]

Compassion: the Life Giver 5 June, 2016 Reading: Luke 7:11-17 To help celebrate my wife Rosemary’s birthday recently, I thought I would make her a cake. There was quite a deal of pressure because our daughters reckon they can’t remember dad ever making a cake. So I was out to impress. Carrot cake is my […]

Tricky Questions Lead to New Life 1 June, 2016 Reading: Mark 12:18-27 In 1216 quite suddenly, the Pope died. No one and nothing can stop death: not popes and princes, not wealth and status. The mournful and hauntingly beautiful sounds of Gregorian chant filled the cathedral as the body of Pope Innocent III lay in […]

Trinity Sunday 22 May, 2016 Reading: John 16:12-15 Open us to fresh meaning for our lives, O God. Have you ever been caught up in a moment that seems to carry you beyond yourself? A moment where all the dross of everyday life seems to be transformed; where life in that moment seems to take […]

Learning to Speak the Language of Love 15 May, 2016 Reading: Acts 2:1-21, Genesis 11:19 Holy Spirit move in my words and in our hearts. In Christ’s name. Amen One of my favourite TV programmes is Star Trek. I don’t want to sound like a nerd, but I love it in all its forms – […]

Being Where Jesus Is 8 May, 2016 Reading: John 17:20-26 Rebecca, our youngest, was just beginning to think about what she wanted to do when she grew up. Trying to be a good father, I took her to one side and gave her the talk. “You know, Rebecca, you are intelligent and able. You can […]

The Spirit Will Lead You Into All Truth Reading: John 16:12-15 One of the hard things about the earthquakes has been that it has forced a number of us to give up our homes. Even if you haven’t been affected, you will know someone who has. In the same way, as people get older, the […]

Thinking Big 1 May, 2016 Open the Bible to us in a fresh and exciting way, in Jesus Name. Elephants have very good memories. Once, a visitor to the circus was being shown around the animal enclosure. He was amazed to see a huge elephant tethered to the ground by a tiny thin piece of […]

AAW Talk at St Peters 20 April, 2016 Reading: John 12:44-50 In a parish a long way from here, my wife Rosemary and I thought it would be a good idea if the vicarage had new lights in the lounge. We were having trouble seeing. Vestry seemed reluctant to pay the expense so I had […]

Living in Love Readings: John 13: 31-35, Revelation 21:16 The story is told about how John the Evangelist, author of our Gospel and the book of Revelation, sometimes called the apostle of love, was preaching at Ephesus into his 90’s. At that age, John was so feeble that he had to be carried into church […]