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• The 13.30 from Inverness

  The Rev. Dr. Hilary Oxford Smith 24 October 2014

  There is something blissfully solitary about train journeys unless you feel minded to share stories with the traveller seated opposite who is, like you, bored with paperback melodramas, texting the world and fleeting fields. more»

  
  Reflection, Meditation, Travel, Faith, St. Paul, St. Luke

• Beyond the Gloom

  The Rev. John Fairbrother 19 September 2014

  The record of post-colonial deconstruction across Asia, Africa and the Middle East has illustrated the ultimate futility of military might and associated political advantage being a conveyor of cultural values and technology. more»
  Meditation, Reflection, War, Conflict

• Road Trip Aotearoa

  The Rev. Gayanne Frater 16 July 2014

  Heart song rises
  as landscape shifts and changes
  at each turn of the road... more»

  
  Poetry, Heart, Song, Beauty, Love

• A Solstice Story

  The Rev. Dr. Hilary Oxford Smith 21 June 2014

  Youthful midsummers were filled with heady playtimes, swimming with dolphins and dancing with seals, searching for crabs and other sea creatures in rock pools…our footsteps and shadows sending them into hiding. more»

  
  Solstice, Winter, Midsummer, John the Baptist, Light, Darkness

• Sport

  Susan Smith 16 June 2014

  I have just read a headline in the New Zealand Herald (6 June 2014) in which All Black coach Steve Hansen describes Jerome Kaino as "a caged animal" who will be doing all that he can to prove that he is at home among the big beasts of the international game. more»
  Meditation, Reflection, Sport, St. Paul

• To be silent is to be unfaithful

  The Rev. Dr. Hilary Oxford Smith 12 May 2014

  World leaders and the media are speaking and writing much about 276 schoolgirls kidnapped over a month ago by Islamist militant group Boko Haram in Nigeria. more»

  
  Meditation, Reflection, Freedom, Slavery

• On ANZAC Day

  The Rev. Dr. Hilary Oxford Smith 25 April 2014

  It is decent and honourable to commit ourselves anew to creating a world in which all that is good and precious and shining will grow and flourish. more»

  
  Reflection, Meditation, ANZAC, Peace, Church

• Bread and Wine

  Margaret Lyall 16 April 2014

  ...the congregation moves slowly forward,
  slotting into the spaces at the altar rail
  to receive the bread and wine...
  more»

  
  Poetry, Bread, Wine, Communion, Cathedral, Church, Chapel

• Passion

  The Rev. Dr. Hilary Oxford Smith 10 April 2014

   The spider webs glisten in the soft slanting light of a gilded Autumn in Aotearoa. The long white cloud has given way, for the moment, to golden luminosity. The intricate patterns and more»
  Meditation, Reflection, Autumn, Light, Song, Lent

• Solomon's Eden

  The Rev. Dr. Hilary Oxford Smith 10 April 2014

  Children, teenagers, adults are exposed on a daily basis, overtly and subliminally, to a diversity of sexual messages and behaviour on the internet, in printed media, film, television, in the lyrics and performance of popular music, in the fashion industry, in our exhibitionist celebrity culture. more»

  
  Meditation, Reflection, Sexuality, Young People, Song of Songs

• Look at me!

  The Rev. Gayanne Frater 14 March 2014

  Gurgles of delight bubbling upwards,
  held captive
  to keep faith with others on holy retreat.
  more»

  
  Poetry, Justice, Environment

• A Oneness

  The Rev. Dr. Paul McKeown 27 February 2014

  I see her now,
  inched to the edge of her bed:
  duvet down,
  pink flanellette sheets
  giving up the ghost of her warmth. more»
  Poetry, Memory, Caring, Love

• Fearless Inclusivity

  The Rev. John Fairbrother 21 February 2014

  Can one hold a Christian Faith without a supernatural belief? To say 'no' confronts a prominent dimension of Christian orthodoxy. To say 'yes' engages growing numbers asking unconditional questions about Biblical interpretation in the light of current scientific, historical and philosophical research. more»
  Reflection, Meditation, Supernaturaism

• Spacious Spirituality

  The Rev. John Fairbrother 10 February 2014

   You will not have to travel far to appreciate the multi-cultural character of Auckland and much else of New Zealand. The diversity of cultures is obvious at work places, parks, beaches, more»

  
  Reflection, Meditation, Church, Marginalisation, Multiculturalism, Diversity

• Breaking bread

  The Rev. Gayanne Frater 7 February 2014

  Here and now I hold my bread
  Alone at table,
  I gazed with delight at
  freshly baked bread. more»

  
  Poetry, Breaking Bread, Communion

• The wake-up call to beat them all

  The Rev. John Fairbrother 3 February 2014

  A spacecraft millions of kilometres from earth, ten years after launch, being brought out of induced hibernation by mission control. The signals took something like forty five minutes to travel the distance one way. more»

  
  Reflection, Meditation, Imagination, Miracle, Beauty

• A Salty Reverie

  The Rev. Dr. Hilary Oxford Smith 1 February 2014

  It's a warm day. A day to do nothing except think or not think. more»

  
  Reflection, Meditation, Summer, Book of Hours, Contemplation

• Beyond a Prophetic Science

  The Rev. John Fairbrother 31 January 2014

  Invisibility is a challenge. The study of climate change has been a prophetic science. It has served to indicate destructive changes that simply had not been apparent. Prophets of disaster are rarely welcome. more»
  Meditation, Reflection, Climate Change

• Morning, Pluscarden

  The Rev. Dr. Paul McKeown 23 January 2014

  The day began without me;
  dozing 'til the prayer bell summoned us from sleep.
  more»

  
  Poetry, Living the Hours, Pluscarden Abbey, Prayers

• Bedrock of a Democracy

  The Rev. John Fairbrother 21 January 2014

  Get ready for the triennial dose of popularist politicking, facile rhetoric and expedient policy pronouncements. General election year has come round again. more»
  Meditation, Reflection, Democracy

• The risky path of engendering conversations

  The Rev. John Fairbrother 14 January 2014

  Each Sunday, a living relic of an era now passed continues to exhibit life signs. Around the country there are gatherings of Christians of all sorts of theological persuasion. Such gatherings continue to fall under the public classification of Church.
  more»
  Meditation, Reflection, Sunday, Church

• Advent

  Margaret Lyall 25 December 2013

  Minds cannot comprehend;
  Truth is veiled in paradox.
  more»
  Poetry, Advent, Faith, Truth, Love

• Memorials and Myths

  The Rev. John Fairbrother 17 December 2013

  The myths that come from inherited memories are well worth holding with care. Care to serve the realities of lives deserving memorial and care to offer minds yet to come the scope to understand the complex depth of history's tradition on which we stand. more»
  Meditation, Reflection, Christmas, Memorials

• "If you have faith..."

  Susan Smith 26 November 2013

  We are part of a tradition that stretches back through the centuries...outwards to all the world's peoples and which touches us within... more»

  
  Reflection, Meditation, Travel, St. Paul, Faith, Tradition

• Armistice

  The Rev. Dr. Hilary Oxford Smith 20 November 2013

  The hallowing of memory is restorative. It encourages us to bring to birth in our hearts and lives, goodness, justice and peace out of bloody holocausts. more»

  
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Topics

• Poetry [72]
• Reflection [32]
• Meditation [28]
• Advent [16]
• Love [10]
• Church [9]
• Christmastide [8]
• Lent [6]
• Pentecost [6]
• Advent Poetry [5]
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Authors

• The Rev. Dr. Hilary Oxford Smith [48]
• The Rev. John Fairbrother [26]
• The Rev. Canon Dr. James M. McPherson [21]
• Tess Ashton [15]
• The Rev. Maren Tirabassi [12]
• Ana Lisa de Jong [12]
• The Rev. Gayanne Frater [9]
• Susan Smith [8]
• Jan Richardson [5]
• Dr. Julie Thorpe [5]
• All authors »