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The Day of Pentecost sits within Christian consciousness not as an ancient Jewish feast but as our annual celebration of the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church. It comes as the climax of the Easter season, in which the risen Christ, ascended to a place of power in God’s heavenly presence, shares that… Continue reading The Spirit who comes …

After my appeal for feedback before I produce any more not-to-be-viewed videos, and comments from Robert Bruere (onsite) and Jenny Chalmers (in person) that the last two weeks’ videos were inaccessible, two new things have happened… 1. People started accessing the first video (Easter 5), so there was nothing wrong with that one. 2. A… Continue reading Mea Culpa!

Last week, as I prepared for my brother’s funeral, I also took a day out to produce my weekly video podcast in the Preparing to Preach series on this site. To date, no one has downloaded it. The previous week’s effort met a similar reception. These events, taken in conjunction, have led me to think… Continue reading Feedback needed please …

If you have visited this site earlier because you read my notice in Waiapu’s ENews advertising a video commenting on all four RCL readings for next Sunday, I’m sorry it took so long to produce. Some of you will know that my brother Godfrey Nicholson died on Sunday, so I have been rather preoccupied. Nevertheless,… Continue reading Here at last …

This week’s reading from the Gospel of John is centred on one of the great paradoxes of Jesus’ death and resurrection: the idea that his betrayal by two of his disciples is actually the moment in which he is most honoured by God. How could that work in the ancient world, and how can we… Continue reading Betrayal and Glory?

As the Easter season unfolds, our readings in John’s Gospel take us deep into the heart of the paschal mystery, exploring the intimate connection between the risen Christ and his faithful people. In John’s vision and experience of the Church and its mission, everything flows from this ongoing relationship. Jesus has never left us, continuing… Continue reading Our Easter Journey Continues…

Two years ago I produced a video commenting on the second Sunday in Easter gospel reading. It was the one from John 20:19-31 about Jesus’ appearance to his disciples in a locked room on the first Easter evening, and his subsequent appearance with Thomas present. Familiar with that passage? You should be: it is the… Continue reading Old but good?

From within the heart of Holy Week, deep within our emotional and imaginative identification with Jesus’ suffering and death, we preachers begin to prepare for our celebration of his glorious resurrection on Easter Day. Which is just as it should be. His death and resurrection are inseparable, whether we consider them as the central elements… Continue reading He is Risen!

In Luke’s Gospel, even more than the others if that is really possible, the whole point about Jesus’ demonstrative entry into Jerusalem in the week before his death is that he was making an unmistakable claim to be the God-given King of Israel. This dangerous challenge to the power and legitimacy of the Roman Empire… Continue reading Here comes the King!

Back, not like General MacArthur storming the Philippines, certainly not like Lazarus raised from the dead in the story leading up to this Sunday’s Gospel reading, nor in a puff of smoke like Houdini, just quietly and rather shamefacedly back recording and posting videos after much too long a break. My health crisis is over,… Continue reading I’m Back!