Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday Pew Bulletin 31 Mar 2024

Gospel reading: John 20.1-18

From the locum

This resurrection story that we hear today tells not so much what happened to Jesus or how the resurrection took place but who were the witnesses to the resurrected Lord. A related question that this passage raises is how to tell the resurrection story. Is there only one way to tell it? Or can it be told in a variety of ways, depending on who is telling it? Is it simply a tradition of the past that we glibly and half-heartedly mumble or parrot? Is it a story that we read and recite as sacred text but without anchoring ourselves squarely in the middle of it? Or is it of such cosmic significance that our whole existence, experience and identity are wrapped up in the way we tell the story? This is not to suggest that we change the resurrection accounts in the New Testament to make them fit our own worldviews, tendencies, enthusiasms, experiences, desires and wishes. Rather, it is to suggest that we plug our own story into the resurrection story that has come down to us from long ago. Thus, under the illuminating guidance of the Spirit, this "old, old story" must continually become the good news that addresses us where we are. It must become our story.  
With every blessing, Fr Michael

Palm Sunday

Download Palm Sunday 24 March 2024 Pew Bulletin

Gospel: Mark 11.1-11

From the locum

Our Gospel reading today finds Jesus in the bustling capital city. He is no longer in the villages and open country of his home. The celebratory parade is also a protest march. The disciples should have known what was happening. Jesus had already laid it out for them. But they still did not comprehend what he had said. At this moment, the crowd (small though it might have been) sees him as a king, as one who will get them out of where they are. So this is a parade that befits a king. “Hosanna”, “the Coming One”, the one who restores Jerusalem. He enters. This is the moment. He goes toward the temple. This is it. And then he turns and goes to Bethany. The parade fizzles and the people turn back to their lives. What they didn’t recognise is that Jesus brought them something that they had never had before—peace, truth, justice, and love. What they didn’t recognise is that Jesus had indeed come to restore them not to what was but to what should’ve been all along.

With every blessing, Fr Michael

Lent 4

Download Lent 4 10 March 2024 Pew bulletin

John 3:16: ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

From the locum

In just twenty-seven words, John 3:16, the famous verse from St. John’s Gospel which we will hear read during the Eucharist this Sunday, describes a loving God, a cherished world, a self-giving Son, a universal invitation, a deliverance from death, and a promise of eternal life. Christianity in a nutshell. So what’s the problem?

“Christianity in a nutshell” sounds catchy, but in the end, I don’t think such a thing exists. John 3:16 is a beautiful passage of scripture, and we are right to recite it, memorise it, and cherish it. But the way of faith it points to is as vast and mysterious as all the workings of a human heart reaching out for God’s. That’s why we can trust it; its challenge corresponds to reality. No love as rich, demanding, costly, and free as God’s love for us can ever be reduced to a formula.

With every blessing, Fr Michael