Let us pray (in silence) [that we grow in unity with God – the source of all good] pause O God, the strength of all who hope in you, mercifully accept our prayers, and, because through the weakness of our mortal nature we can do nothing without you, grant us the help of your grace,
Resources for Ordinary Week 11 Read More »
Bear with me. Be playful and imaginative. This is a bit of a follow up on the statistics presented in my post, “What Prevents New Zealanders Being Christians?” with how we, as the church, might use statistics in our planning. Let’s stay within my own church, Anglicanism – others can do the same exercise for
Strategic Planning Read More »
Being conscious of one’s character strengths is becoming increasingly popular, increasingly relevant. The list of 24 character strengths is a common one (image above). Each strength is important – your top five are the ones to pay attention to, and those are the ones you should try and find ways to use more often. What
Jesus’ Top Character Strengths Read More »
Religious movies are very hard to produce. Often, the green-screen is too obvious, the acting is wooden, the dialogue is forced (keeping slavishly solely to what to the speeches and conversations recorded in the Bible is destined to exacerbate this), the miracles can end up looking like they are simply cheap camera tricks, etc. The
Paul, Apostle of Christ Read More »
Let us pray (in silence) [that we grow into Christ’s new life] pause O God, from whom all good things come, grant that, by your inspiration, we may discern what is right, and by your merciful guiding may do it; through Jesus Christ who is alive with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
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I had an interesting conversation this week that reinforced my prejudice. My friend talked about looking at the work and textbooks for, say, Maths, Physics, or Biology for senior secondary school students. And then my friend looked at the level of religious, ethical, and philosophical discussion used for similar aged students – that was at
Growing out of Faith Read More »
Today is the Feast of Corpus Christi – the Celebration of the Body and Blood of Christ; a Day of Thanksgiving for Holy Communion. Here is the NZ Anglican official collect: Loving God, at the breaking of bread you are made known. In the Sacrament we are fed with the living bread; guide us to
‘Defamiliarise’ is a word that has been echoing in my mind ever since I stumbled on its use recently in a book review. In the image of Christ the King, when a crown is made of thorns, Jesus and the Gospel subverts the concept of royalty. When Jesus reigns from a cross, Jesus and the
