Matthew examines Jonah's story and the parallels and differences with that of Jesus. Both descend and rise, but only one reveals a wider mercy.

The challenge for us is sincere faith can still be limited and lacking in compassion beyond our immediate community - personal spiritual matters, but it must lead us outward.

Gospel reading and key texts:

Matthew 12:38-42

Jonah 2

Psalm 42

Using the image from early theologian Irenaeus, Tim describes Jesus and the Holy Spirit as the "two hands of God," through whom He creates, saves and transforms us.

We're also invited to trust God with open hands and to join in on His mission of renewing the world - through the small daily acts but also the larger societal challenges we struggle to hold faith for.

Gospel reading and key texts:

Matthew 28:16-20

Genesis 1:1-2:4a

2 Corinthians 13:11-14

Pentecost marks the shift from Jesus' completed work to the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in believers.

In this sermon Steve encourages us to stop relying on willpower or chasing spiritual highs but instead to intentionally make space for the Holy Spirit to work in and with us daily.

Gospel reading and key texts:

John 20:19-23

Acts 2:1-21

1 Corinthians 12:3-13

Chris delves into a challenging provocation - what if we see the Resurrection and Ascension not as two seperate events, but as two sides of the same reality?

It tells us that Jesus is heaven's champion vindicated by God, not a hero or an emperor. It also tells us that Christ didn't shed his humanity, but that human life is not permanently woven into God's own identity.

Gospel reading and key texts:

John 20:11-18

Acts 1:1-11

Ephesians 1:15-23

Traveling through this week's key texts, Tim reflects on the critique of modern life as producing many who feel entitled, lonely and fearful. Baptism itself has something to tell us, about our antidote, which is to live in loving community, and trust in God's love - where we can find freedom from entitlement, loneliness and fear.

(Earlier in our service we celebrated an infant baptism, you may here some references to this in the sermon. )

Gospel reading and key texts:

John 14.15-21

Acts 17:22-33

1Peter 3:13-22

This sermon investigates what Jesus' statement in John 14, 'I am the way, the truth and the life' can mean for us. Following Jesus isn't a one-time decision but an ongoing choice. As we trust, it transforms how we understand God, live our lives face hardship and even approach death.

The sermon ends with an invitation to reflect on a poem.

The poems referenced are:

The Call | George Herbert

Holy the Heart | Sebastian Barker

Gospel reading and key texts:

John 14:1-14

Acts 7:55-60

1Peter 2:2-10

This sermon looks at scriptures which describe leadership responsibilities in terms of shepherding. God calls all leaders to care for the whole, whether they are in the church, politics, the family or wherever.

John 10.1-11

Ezekiel 34.1-12

1 Peter 2.19-25

Competing with the sound of the rain, Vicar Tim has as rethinking the Emmaus story. As Jesus show ups incognito, interrupting ordinary lives rather than arriving in a blaze of glory - there's a lesson. God's grace often comes by way of interruption but are we too wedded to our own agenda? And we do notice, how do we respond?

Gospel reading and key texts:

Luke 24:13-35

1 Peter 1:17-23

Acts 2:14a, 36-41

Is 'Doubting Thomas' the right label for a man who volunteered to die with Jesus and was the first person in scripture to call Jesus 'my Lord and my God'?

Guest preacher Lawrence challenges us that perhaps doubt isn't the enemy of faith - it's often the pathway to something much deeper.

Gospel reading and key texts:

John 20:19-31

Colossians 1:15-20

Psalm 16

In this discussion, Professor Dr. Cyril Hovorun analyses the religious dimensions of both Trump and Putin's self-projected mythologies.

What do they have in common? And how do they differ? And how does religious myth making help us understand present global affairs?

The book referenced is Political Orthodoxies: The Unorthodoxies of the Church Coerced by Cyril Hovorun.

The Front Porch is a series of community-facing lectures hosted by St Michael's Kelburn that sits at the intersection of Christian faith and public life, with topics like (but not limited to) Aotearoa's bicultural identity, democracy and the pressing social questions of today.