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Here's the first part of a message I preached at Flagstaff Community Church on Sunday morning.Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the day when we remember that this season is about hope. However, I think hope is a little slippery. You see, I find myself hoping for all sorts of things. Whenever I see an ad for Big Wednesday, I find myself hoping that somehow I will win 27 million dollars, which is an...

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In less than two weeks, we'll be getting on a plane to Adelaide for my first overseas music tour. That's pretty exciting huh?!The tour is to promote the work of the 'Songs that Unite' website, which is an initiative of the Uniting Church of Australia. The site publishes songs from local composers to make them available to the wider church. This is my kind of thing. Without really thinking about it, we've adopted a similar...

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Hey guys, if you're in or around Christchurch, we're heading there today!Tonight (Friday) I'm playing a combined youth event at St Stephen's Presbyterian - Bryndwr (how can it be a word without any real vowels!?!) from 7pm.Tomorrow (Saturday) I'll be leading two workshops at St Marg's Presbyterian in Bishopdale. From 10:30am we'll be looking at 'The story of worship' and after lunch we'll explore 'Worship and mission' - and whether they have anything to say...

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We're just back from 9 days of music in the deep South. Over those days I played, spoke and lead 13 separate times, from little lounge concerts to communion services to music workshops.I'm a bit tired now that we're home. I fell asleep before tea reading Karl Barth.One memory hangs with me. On Friday night, I played a concert in Burns Hall at First Church in Dunedin. We had a wonderful turn out. Some old...

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It’s all about context.There seems to be so many mega churches putting out albums full of generic worship songs that talk about Gods grace and goodness but miss the heart of it all… sometimes it just seems like they are just putting words to paper, and do ‘Worship by numbers’ – now please hear me I’m not saying that these songs aren’t authentic or can’t be used… I just sometimes think they lose their organic-ness...

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This is an image of an icon by an artist called Rublev. It depicts the Trinity, the family of God, sharing a meal at a table. The side of the table that we view the image from is empty, as if we are invited to come and share in fellowship with them.In fact, it isn't 'as if we are invited' - we are. We are drawn and welcomed into this worth-giving, dignity-assuring, value-establishing communion. It...

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A week or so ago, in the wake of the marriage amendment bill being passed, my good friend Rowan (that's him) made a post on facebook. Without really laying his cards on the table, he acknowledged what an emotional journey the debate had been for both sides. To the 'winners' he said, For those who are now able to marry, congratulations! Marriage is a beautiful thing and I pray that you honor the vows that you...

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Success does a funny thing to you. Our of nowhere springs this desire for more, of the same kind.Yesterday we had another amazing album release gig. This time in Tauranga. I played to my adopted 'home crowd', and a big one it was too. It was a truly wonderful afternoon, with many old friends from Katikati coming to share in the celebration. It was also very special, because Ness (my wife) sang with me. This hasn't...

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http://nztop40.co.nz/chart/nzalbumsWe had a wonderful album release at St Columba's last Sunday. We had two wonderful services, sharing some of the songs, and a great chance to talk about the depth and breadth of worship - the rich and living conversation God calls us and frees us to share with him.It was beautiful. People connected. We gave the songs we'd been given, and people responded. They bought albums and took the songs home so they could...

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