As we read the passage today of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness, we too can relate to being tempted in different ways and at different times.  We can be tempted in letting go, giving in or saying 'whatever' especially as we are encouraged to try some fasting, extra praying and giving to others.   Jesus is our example of keeping strong in believing and hoping in God.  As Psalm 91 says 'My refuge and my fortress; my God in whom I trust'.

Maybe the temptation this year is just to give up for Lent...

The gospel reading today gives us these four images: The blind leading the blind. The speck of dust in another person’s eye and the log of wood in our own. The good tree that bears no bad fruit. The house that’s built on sand and the house that’s built on rock.

I find it enormously helpful to have a view of people, including myself, that recognises that all of us have the range of human vices within us. All of us, too, are also, simultaneously, being renewed daily by God’s mercies that are new every morning. And both of those things exist at once. This is the truth of the human condition and the grace of God’s compassion.

What's it really mean to love our enemies?

What we have here in Luke’s gospel is the grittier version of the Beatitudes we find in Matthew’s gospel. There, it’s the Sermon on the Mount. Here, it’s the Sermon on the Plain! And here, poor means poor. We may want to sanitise it and say that it really means only the poor in spirit, which is a phrase we find in Matthew’s gospel, but not here. Luke isn’t going to do nuance. He isn’t going to spare blushes or avoid offence. He’s grounding the message and driving it home.

As we marked Waitangi Day on Thursday, I recalled an event that involved my dear friend and colleague, the late Kāumatua (Elder) Huikakahu Kawe, from whom I learned so much. I’ve shared some of this in this week’s Connect – so if you’ve read that, then you can take this opportunity to have a nap! But I do want to say a little more here, how it connects with our lectionary readings for today, and how we might respond.

I've seen a couple of good video clips lately about mercy, one in Washington and one at Waitangi...

The story of Simeon and Anna, perhaps even your own story, perhaps even the story of this parish on the cusp of its sesquicentennial, is a story of “by faithful waiting and being guided in prayer and patience to the point where they recognise the glory of God in the child they see.”

Farewell Jo! Our deep thanks and appreciation for your ministry with us over the last 5 years as our Pastoral Care Co-Ordinator. Go well in your new role!