A great drive of contemporary Western culture encourages us to be our "authentic", "our true selves". But is that a desirable goal, for Christians or anyone? On the second Sunday of Advent, when John the Baptist excoriates his audience for their hypocrisy, Matt Packer guides us to ponder what true authenticity looks like...

At our parish camp earlier in the year, our speaker suggested that the tyranny of overwork is the biggest barrier to Kingdom growth in our parish. Rebecca takes up the challenge by taking us through the challenging territory of resisting the pressure to let work define our lives. On the first Sunday of Advent, she calls us to make commitment to Jesus the very centre of our lives, not a side-hobby

Useful scriptures

Exodus 5

Ephesians 6

On the Feast of Christ the King, Ginni unpacks the good news from Isaiah 40, bringing us the affirmation that our hope is in what God has done and will do, so that we need not give in to the power of despair.

Key Readings

Isaiah 40

One of the biggest powers that holds Western people captive is intellectualism. The intellect is obviously a great gift from God. But what about when it goes wrong? Jessie declares what's important in this sermon in our series on the Powers .

Readings:

Jeremiah 9.23-26

1 Corinthians 1.18-31

Mark 13.1-8

Westerners live in an epoch and a culture that celebrates powerful personalities and encourages self-assertion. How does this square with a biblical understanding of humans, made in the image of God, and yet called to community?

Readings:

Psalm 139.1-18

Romans 12.3-8

Matthew 12.46-50

Continuing the series on the Powers, Tim picks up the suggestion from parish camp that "superficiality" is one of the key powers of our age, distracting us from deep life in Christ. While pleasure is clearly a God-given gift (after all, "the Son of Man came eating and drinking..."), what goes wrong when it becomes all we live for? And then what happens when unchecked pleasure allies with some of the other powers, like Money and Sex? With some trepidation, Tim closes by offering a defence of the traditional Christian understanding of marriage, recognising that our ideals don't always match reality...

Readings:

from Job 28.12-15, 20-28

James 3.13-18

Luke 7.31-35

In last week's sermon, Steve talked us through the role of "The Powers" in the letter to the Ephesians. This week, Tim recapitulates that theology by looking at Colossians, and then applying that theology to Money. Can money be redeemed through simple and generous living?

Readings:

Deuteronomy 8.10-18

Colossians 1.15-20

Luke 16.10-15

Steve Shaw picks up where John Crawshaw left us at church camp. John got us thinking about "The Powers" that Paul introduces in Ephesians. Steve reminds us that These Powers are part of the created order, and that they have a proper place in creation, under Christ, the head. And when we see them out of order in the world around us, our first port of call is not fervent prayer, nor frantic action, but submission to Christ. That submission will then help us in the taking our part in the reordering of creation to which Christ calls us.

Readings:

Ephesians 1.15-2.10

Ephesians 6.10-18

Freshly back from the tangi of Kiingi Tuheitia and the coronation of Kuini Ngā Wai hono i te pō, Māmari Stephens weaves the parallels between the situations of Jews in Exile in Persia under the Emperor Xerxes, and the situation of Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand today. In examining the story of Queen Esther, she ponders how God uses our soft power to work for the good of those who feel the need to hide their identity.

Readings:

extracts from the Book of Esther

Matthew 14.25-31

Exile was totally disruptive of the life of God's people. The best and brightest were compelled to work for a foreign regime. But, rather than doing so grumpily, exiles like Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego throw themselves into life in Babylon, in line with Jeremiah's instructions in Jeremiah 29. They dig in to life in Babylon, but they also dig into life with God. And then, when they're asked to cross the line, they know when to say "No". In this sermon, Tim encourages us to do the same; to "dig in" to where God's call takes us,and to "dig in" to God.

Readings

from Daniel 1,

from Daniel 3

Luke 20.20-26