On the day after the country was galvanized by changes in the leadership of the Labour Party, at St Matthew-in-the-City we hosted a pre-election conversation. It wasn’t a conversation with the politicians. Political parties were not mentioned. It was a conversation amongst people of faith about what questions to ask, what issues to reflect on … More Faith and politics or the politics of faith
On Thursday July 20 I was part of a panel at AUT organised by the university’s Diversity Office. There were 4 speakers from different faiths as well as the Professor of Diversity Edwina Pio. The conversation was a rich one and these were my remarks: It is a privilege to be with you all today … More Discovering religious diversity: breaking the stereotypes
On the 22nd of February 2011 at 12.51pm I was in Christchurch having lunch with Bishop Victoria Matthews. I am ever grateful that her choice of restaurant meant we were sitting on large bench seats in a corner away from windows. As we sheltered under the sturdy tables I learnt that in the advice “duck, … More Christchurch and its Cathedral
It is 33 degrees this afternoon in Chicago and so I have retreated inside to sit in the cool and read the Sunday edition of the New York Times. I am always surprised to read about matters of faith in the secular press here. And today, the front page article is Liberals Fighting for their Faith , … More “Liberals fighting for their faith”
Sundays at Epiphany Episcopal (Anglican) Church in downtown Washington DC start at 6.30am. The doors open and the welcomers are ready with a warm smile and a label for your name and your number (for the breakfast queue later). Well organised teams of volunteers set up for The Welcome Table. Part one is groups from 7am-8am … More Homeless near the White House
A quick scan of the news on Easter Monday revealed that a cloud formation of the Easter bunny was the closest the media came to reporting anything spiritual about the weekend that had passed. In fact hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders had attended Easter services. Newstalk ZB had religious programming on Good Friday and … More The confused conversations of Easter
For those of us brought up in the Anglican way, on Easter morning if someone says to you “Christ is risen”, you reply automatically “he is risen indeed”. It is the equivalent of good morning, how are you; and we keep saying it for the 50 days of the Easter season. What do we mean … More Resurrection – Fake News?
The idea of making a pilgrimage has become popular again. Many people now travel to Europe and walk the ancient pilgrim road known as the Camino across Spain to Santiago de Compostela. Through the ages the church has provided pilgrims with ways of making a pilgrimage while staying at home. This is how stations of … More Holy Week Labyrinth
An article I was asked to write for The Spinoff http://thespinoff.co.nz/society/28-03-2017/as-a-christian-i-wont-allow-the-likes-of-family-first-to-hold-us-back-from-being-open-and-inclusive/
At St Matthew-in-the-City we are talking about water. And not just because this last week in the north of Aotearoa it hasn’t stopped raining. Although extreme weather is part of the conversation. We are joining a worldwide conversation #justwater17 See the programme here Water is a topic that appears in our NZ media every day … More Water
