Richard Bonifant

​

10 May 2026

Easter 6

Acts 17:22-31

John 14:15-21

​

In 1974 the IRA bombed two pubs in Guildford, London. The pubs had been chosen due to their popularity with English military personnel. In the explosions 5 people were killed and 65 people were wounded. English police moved swiftly to identify those involved in the bombing in order to bring them to justice. The police initially arrested four young Irish people aged between 17 and 25. All had recently left Ireland to make their home in London. The police claimed that these four had carried out the attack.  Following further investigations, the police arrested and charged a further 7 people who they believed had handled the explosives used in the bombing. Of these 7 people the oldest member of the group, Giuseppe Conlon was 52. The youngest, Patrick Maguire, was only 14. These two groups came to be known as the Guildford Four and the Maguire Seven.​

Susan Adams

​

26 April 2026

Easter 4

Acts 2:42-47

John 10:1-10

​

The straits of Homouz are open,

The straits of Homouz are closed

We have enough oil and gas,

The petrol has run out

I have the numbers

He’s dropped further in the polls

We are fixing the economy

The economy is in dire straits

Who to listen to? ….. what to believe?

Both of today’s readings today direct us to pondering these questions: Who to listen to, What to believe?

Grace Behm

​

19 April 2026

Easter 3

Acts 2:14, 36-41

Luke 24:13–35

​

​I think a lot of us come to scripture hoping it will help things make sense, not in a big abstract way, but in the middle of actual life. When something hasn’t gone the way we expected, or when we’re trying to make sense of something we didn’t choose, we come looking for something we can hold onto. A way of understanding what’s happening, or at least something that might steady us in it. And often what we’re really looking for is reassurance, words that will make things feel ordered again, or explain the unexplainable. But instead, we’re met with the kinds of phrases that try, but fail to do that work: “everything happens for a reason,” or “God won’t give you more than you can handle,” or “this will all make sense one day.” They’re usually said with good intentions, but if you’ve ever been on the receiving end of a platitude, you’ll know they hardly ever land well, because life is not tidy like these clichés.

Richard Bonifant

​

12 April 2026

Easter 2

Ezekiel 37:1-14

John 11:1-45

​

Of the readings set down for this week, the story of Ezekiel in the valley of dry bones is definitely the one that captures our attention. Many of you will know the traditional spiritual song Dem Bones which is based upon this story. That song has been stuck in my head all week.  While it’s tempting to now sing a couple of verses, so you all get it stuck in your heads as well, I am going to resist. To really understand what this passage is saying we need to consider the metanarrative it belongs to. A metanarrative is an overarching theme that is repeated many times throughout scripture. For example, the exodus is one of these grand stories of scripture. While it refers to the Israelites escape from captivity in Egypt, a greater understanding of the exodus is that it is the story of liberation. An exodus is the movement from captivity to freedom. Moses was a liberator of the people. But he is not the only one. So was David and so was Jesus and many more besides. Metanarratives are stories that get told over and over again in many different ways.​

Cate Thorn

​

5 April 2026

Easter Day

Acts 10:34-43

John 20:1-18

​

Easter day is here. How many of you find a lightness, a quiet joy that comes with the dawning of this day? Perhaps it surprises you. My guess is this is particular to Christians, given the Easter story is a Christian one, telling of death overcome. Of God, made in human form in Jesus, vanquishing death as oblivion and gifting this to those who believe. A story first arising from the experience of those who were witness to the events of Jesus’ death. A story that developed as those first witnesses tried to make sense of what had happened. A story that’s become Christian tradition. Evolving over time as each generation in their time and place tried to make sense of how this still speaks.  Maybe in our day whether it still does. What it has to say of how we are to live within the world and context we find ourselves.

Richard Bonifant

​

22 March 2026

Lent 5

Ezekiel 37:1-14

John 11:1-45

​

Of the readings set down for this week, the story of Ezekiel in the valley of dry bones is definitely the one that captures our attention. Many of you will know the traditional spiritual song Dem Bones which is based upon this story. That song has been stuck in my head all week.  While it’s tempting to now sing a couple of verses, so you all get it stuck in your heads as well, I am going to resist. To really understand what this passage is saying we need to consider the metanarrative it belongs to. A metanarrative is an overarching theme that is repeated many times throughout scripture. For example, the exodus is one of these grand stories of scripture.

Grace Behm

​

15 March 2026

Lent 4

1 Samuel 16:1-13

John 9:1-41

​

One of the most persistent habits human beings have, is the need to explain suffering. When something goes wrong, we want to know why. We ask questions that are meant to make the world feel orderly again: What caused this? Who is responsible? What did they do? Sometimes those questions lead to understanding. But, more often than not, they reveal something else: our deep discomfort with uncertainty. If suffering has a clear cause, then perhaps the world still makes sense. Perhaps it still feels manageable. The Gospel reading today from St John begins with exactly that impulse.

Cate Thorn

​

1 March 2026

Lent 2

Genesis 12:1-4a

John 3:1-7

​

In today’s readings first of Abram, then Nicodemus and Jesus we approach the unknown. Abram goes, no idea where or quite why but, on God’s direction, he steps toward the unknown. Nicodemus comes at night to question Jesus, for there’s something unknown about Jesus.

Nicodemus comes and asks, well, it’s more of a statement, “We know you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” The signs thus far include changing water to wine, at a wedding in Cana, at his mother’s insistence and driving the traders and money changers out of the temple. Driven by ‘Zeal for God’s house’, according to John. We can only assume Jesus’ actions and passion have stirred something in Nicodemus. Nicodemus is brave, or perhaps foolish enough, to enquire further. Even though a religious teacher, Nicodemus is willing to press the edge of what he knows, of what God expressing might look like.

Richard Bonifant

​

22 February 2026

Lent 1

Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-5

Matthew 4:1-11

​

I can resist anything but temptation. Some of you might be familiar with that quote from Oscar Wilde. The cleverness of Oscar Wilde was his ability to make observations about very human thoughts and behaviours in ways that were playful and entertaining. This is, more or less, the definition of what it is to be a witty person which Oscar Wilde definitely was. The line, I can resist anything but temptation, is funny because often something described as a temptation is cast as being a poor or unhealthy option, and yet part of us still desires to make the bad choice. I can remember watching cartoons as a child where a character was faced with two choices. Suddenly that character would have an angel appear on one shoulder and a devil on the other, with each spiritual being advocating for one of the two options. And being that these were cartoons designed to entertain children, the devil always won the debate and would lead the character into some sort of mischief with funny and sometimes dire consequences.

Richard Bonifant

​

8 February 2026

Ordinary 5

Isaiah 58:1-9a

Matthew 5:13-20

​

All buildings tell a story. Some buildings become well known for the stories they tell and become places of tourism or even of pilgrimage. Some of us here will have travelled great distances to see places, the Eiffel tower in Paris, the leaning tower of Pisa, or the Taj Mahal in India. Closer to home we have iconic structures such as the Beehive in Wellington, and dare I say it, the Sky Tower looming over us next door. Perhaps you are more interested in famous ruins such as the colosseum in Rome, or Angkor Wat in Cambodia. There are remnants of other constructions here in Aotearoa that are also very interesting. As a child I frequently visited the remains of Te Porere Redoubt on the central plateau where Te Kooti held out against government forces. It was here that I began to learn some of the stories of the New Zealand wars and how they continue to shape our history.

Cate Thorn

​

1 February 2026

Micah 6:1-8

Matthew 5:1-12

​​

​

Today we've heard Matthew's version of the Beatitudes. How many of you hold the Beatitudes dear? I’ve always struggled with the Beatitudes. I know many of my colleagues are delighted when the Beatitudes comes round and it’s their turn to preach.  I’m not sure exactly why but it’s as if there’s an easy feel good factor that puts me on alert. As if we take them as a guide for how to win in the God quest. Ways to get the reward, all you have to do is decide which reward you want and then go about enacting the behaviour required. Shades of a capitalist approach to gospel living, expected rewards for type work. I know, perhaps a tad cynical.  Which isn’t to suggest such intent resides within the text, more how it’s been tamed for comfort. As reflected in the startling words penned this week by Matt Moberg, Minneapolis pastor from his context:...​

Richard Bonifant

​

25 January 2026

Epiphany 3

Isaiah 9:1-4

Matthew 4:12-23

​

One of the great joys of the post-Christmas season is finding a new calendar! I have a new calendar hanging in our home which includes a wide range of interesting facts. For example, earlier this week the fact for the day was that on that day in 1351 an English cook was sentenced to one day in the stocks for cooking a chicken pastry described by the magistrate as, “foul and stinking and an abomination to all humankind.” This is not the entry on this calendar that I’m going to speak about today, but I couldn’t resist sharing it because it made me laugh.

Susan Adams

​

18 January 2026

Epiphany 2

Isaiah 49:1-7

John 1:29-42

​

At the beginning of a new year, many of us make New Year resolutions! Some of them are big and potentially life changing, like this is the year when I join a housing project for the poor, or get a new job, and some are smaller like I’m going to look after a grandchild once a week. But big or small they reflect the hope we have for life in the new year. If we’re lucky, we’ve survived those hopeful days of resolutions without feeling we’ve failed before the year has really begun; survived that brief, hopeful period when we are convinced that this will be the year we become better people through cutting out sugar, counting steps, or colour-coding our calendars. By about now, most of us will have renegotiated those hopeful ambitions into something more realistic, like “being kinder to ourselves” or “not buying quite so many books we don’t read.” 

Cate Thorn

​

11 January 2026

Baptism of Jesus

Isaiah 42:1-9

Matthew 3:13-17

​

The season of Epiphany, is upon us, last week the Epiphany of the wise men, this week of Jesus - the heavens torn open at his baptism. All we hear from Matthew’s gospel is a seeming private interchange between John and Jesus then Jesus baptism and epiphany moment. It’s an abrupt shift from the turmoil of the preceding verses. Crowds streaming to John the Baptist who in full voice thunders words of warning and doom. In midst of such chaos wanders Jesus. He engages John in this quiet exchange, which seems to be missed by the crowds pushing and jostling by the river..

Grace Behm

​

4 January 2026

The Epiphany

Isaiah 60:1-6

Matthew 2:1-12

​

Every summer, many of us step outside after dark and look up. The air is warm, the days are long, and when the light finally fades, the sky opens wide. For some of us, it’s the only time all year we notice the stars properly- standing barefoot on the grass, or pausing at the beach while the tide comes in. We might recognise the Southern Cross, maybe Te Ika-o-te-rangi, or maybe Orion’s Belt and we remember that long before streetlights and screens, the night sky was not simply background scenery but a map, a story, a guide.