Earlier this week I had a conversation with my five year old son, Sam about the significance of Holy Week. I have been fascinated by Jesus' statement, 'Father forgive them, they don't know what they're doing' (Luke 23:34). If Jesus reveals to us who God is (Col 1:19, John 14:7) then this offer of grace to those who aren't even looking for it is mind boggling.I wanted to help this truth make its home in...
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The story of the Prodigal Son comes up in the lectionary readings this Sunday. People who know me will be aware that I believe this short story to be a better piece of work than anything from Narnia, the Lord of the Rings, Roald Dahl or even Captain Underpants (the last two reveal something of my son's bedtime reading demands at present).When we look at the three stories of Luke 15 together we often focus...
Read MoreRead MoreA new song for Advent written by my 5 year old son, Sam and I. We're getting great reports from around the world on this one. Its also part of the Illustrated Gospel Project, and you can get the sheet music over there too.Peace, Malcs...
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Over the weekend I had the privilege of leading a church leadership team on a retreat exploring creative worship. To begin I led them through the traditional flow of worship, in a pretty non-traditional way.Beginning with our Call to worship, we scattered around the complex. We listened to this song, and as we felt drawn to respond, we came and took our seats in the circle.We moved into thanksgiving, where we wrote the names of...
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The Rev Catherine Hollister Jones was a Deaconess in the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand. She was among the first women to be ordained. She was a sage guide and mentor of mine. Our daughter Lucy Heather Catherine Gordon is named (in part) in honour of her. She passed away at the beginning of last year.A month or so ago I was asked by a friend to write a song celebrating the 50th anniversary...
Read MoreRead MoreHere are the songs (with links and music where possible) that we used over the two days of the Synod AGM.God of our Fathers and Mothers by Malcolm Gordon, lead sheet: God of our Fathers and Mothers LSResurrection Hymn (See what a morning) by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. Full sheet music available here. Chord chart and lead sheet available on SongSelect: www.songselect.co.nz (CCLI members only).Beneath the Southern Cross by Malcolm Gordon, leadsheet: Beneath the Southern Cross LSOpen our eyes...
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'The Empty Tomb' by George Richardson - available for purchase here: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/the-empty-tomb-george-richardson.htmlIt is well attested in the New Testament that God raised Jesus to life (1 Cor 6:14, Eph 1:20, Acts 4:10 and others). Jesus didn’t raise himself. In fact, the book of Acts alone contains almost a dozen references to the truth that God the Father raised Jesus to life. Acts is the second part of Luke’s gospel. My friend Sarah, a bonafide Lukan...
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I was splitting firewood today. I scored a pile of free wood from an arborist who needed to get rid of it, and today was my first chance to get at with, first with the chainsaw, then the log splitter.I was reminded of how beautiful the inside of a log of wood can be. My favourite is red wattle, it has an almost checkered interior with red and white squares. It fades quite quickly once...
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Is there a more conflicted day in the church year than Palm Sunday? My memories of these worship services growing up don’t tend to attend to this complexity. I remember palm branches and singing ‘Hosanna’ guitar choruses and that's about it.But as I reflect on this day now, I see it as a day of getting it, losing it and realising we never had it.Palm Sunday cannot be a simple celebration of Jesus as Lord,...
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