Food for thought from Ben Witherington.

Surprisingly, this has proved to be a perennial issue over my last 30 years of ministry. You’ll need a cup of coffee followed a slug of red to get through this but worth the effort…

Witherington’s argument certainly doesn’t spring from an Anglican perspective (he clearly has no time for the three fold order of ministry and even less time for the Constantinian settlement – apologies to Leslie Newbigin in this last respect). Rather, he comes from the conservative Protestant stable. This is what makes his argument all the more interesting since he takes on other conservatives on their own ground.

His argument is a bit patchy in places. His view on the particularity of some of the texts (e.g 1 Timothy 2 and Romans 6 passages), raises more questions than it solves for me and he ignores the ontological issues raised in Ephesians 5:23 even though he cites Ephesians 5:21 to support his reading of following teaching. His treatment of women deacons and elders in the pastoral epistles is also very vague and he makes no mention of Romans 16:7 which many argue suggests Junia was the first woman apostle.

Being fair, it would be interesting to read his commentary rather than this summary post. Just the same, Witherington covers a fair amount of terrain so it’s a useful read…

Continue reading Why Arguments Against Women in Ministry Aren’t Biblical →

Dear Covenanters. This Saturday is our Renewal of Commitment retreat. James and Erin have written to you about this. Please the link to A Renewal-of-Commitment , to review the revised Covenant that has come out of our previous one day and Waiorongomai retreats.

See you Saturday. David

by Chris Green

A few years back, I was invited to speak at a conference. It wasn’t huge, but it was one I’d heard of, and I was enormously flattered to be asked. It was also extremely well organised, so I had over a year to get ready for my talks (the organiser liked to announce the programme for the forthcoming conference as the previous one closed).

I gave my talk, it went OK, and I settled back to enjoy the rest of the speakers. The next morning I was making conversation, and someone asked me, ’Chris, how do you find time for all that reading?’

I was about to burble something about it not being difficult to read a bit and prepare when you have over a year’s notice, when a familiar, precise, and booming voice spoke over the breakfast table:

“He doesn’t find time. He makes it.”

John Stott. Typically arresting – and typically true… Continue reading John Stott’s Secret →

Our Waiorongomai Retreat is coming up fast – now only three weekends away. If you haven’t registered please do so right away as we confirm numbers this coming Monday.

Come and spend time with your fellow Covenanters at this beautiful location. We are also inviting other SMK-ers who are interested in becoming part of the renewing core of our church.

The key details are:

What’s Pope Francis saying?
The big themes and study series structure

Here is a really quick overview of the content of Pope Frances’ encyclical Praise Be to You! showing what we’ll cover each week in our study series. You might also want to check out my sermon notes on this site in which I give a slightly longer ‘first take’ on the encyclical.

Also included below are the bible studies and suggested video which act as a commentary on the chapter we are reading together that week.

Cheers, Matt Bartlett

Download God’s Earth – Our Home series structure as a PDF or a PPTX file if that works better for you. Working from above, we tackle +Francis’ encyclical over five sessions like this… Continue reading God’s Earth – Our Home – Study Series →

This sermon was given by Matthew Bartlett, October 2015, as a kind of late St. Frances Day sermon (it had been the week before). It’s a great summary of his first read through Pope Frances’ encyclical on care for our world – Laudato Si’.

Matthew took a clutch of texts as background to his comments: Psalm 24; Genesis 1:26–30; 2:15–17; 3:17–19; Romans 8:18–25; Matthew 6:25–27. Numbers in brackets (x) refer to marked paragraphs in the encyclical. Links to other sites are in red.

Watch this space for more as our lenten study
God’s Earth – Our Home progresses over the next five weeks…

Recently Michael Brantley spoke about St Francis’ impact on the world, and on his own life. In this address we will look at another person whose life has been shaped by that 13^th century saint. Jorge Mario Bergoglio – Pope Francis as he is now called. In particular I want to give a brief ‘first response’ to my reading of his recent encyclical Laudato Si’.

What’s an encyclical?

An encyclical is a circular letter. Popes have been writing them for about the last three centuries. Usually papal encyclicals are addressed to the bishops of some particular area, or of the whole world. In this case, Pope Francis writes, ‘Now, faced as we are with global environmental deterioration, I wish to address every person living on this planet… From the outset he declares, ‘In this Encyclical, I would like to enter into dialogue with all people about our common home.’ (3)

Columnist Lindsay Abrams see’s the Popes encyclical as a “green Manifesto”, cataloguing a litany of woes. Though not pulling his punches, especially in the opening two chapters, Pope Frances himself, I think, would see it as much more than that. He writes…

‘The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change. (13)

Why is it called Laudato Si’?

Laudato Si’ is medieval Italian. It’s a line from St Francis’s famous poem ‘Canticle of the Sun’, and means ‘Praise be to you’, or ‘Be Praised’, as in ‘Be praised, my Lord, through all Your creatures, especially through my lord Brother Sun, who brings the day’. So the title is signalling that key to this letter is going to be Saint Francis, and about God.

What does it say?

Lots — it’s about 180 small pages. Continue reading God’s Earth – Our Home →

This post was first a sermon by Gillian Cameron on October 2013, to mark St. Francis Day and to promote the ‘caring for creation’ section of our parish library. The charm and simplicity of Gillian’s delivery only serve to point up the profundity of the issues she notes from Prof. Richard Bauckham’s great little book – Living with Other Creatures.

A few weeks ago I was telling the Vicar about a book I’d just read – Living with other creatures by English biblical scholar Richard Bauckham – and regaled him with the story of Irish Saint Colman and his friend the fly. The upshot was David asked me to give today’s sermon on the feast of St Francis. Next time I’ll know to keep my mouth shut! But here goes!

Living with other creatures is essentially about how we – human creatures – relate to the rest of God’s creation.[1] Bauckham identifies two streams of Christian thought about the place of humans in the world: the first of these he calls the dominant tradition; the second he calls the alternative tradition.

Continue reading Our (human) family and other animals →

‘Keep the sacrifices that are appointed,
and commit your way to the Lord.’

So said the Psalmist and it’s still Godly advice.

Dearest Covenanters. As most of you will know from service announcements, this lent we are going deep into Pope Francis’ encyclical in our study series God’s Earth, Our Home. The series starts next Wednesday 17^th – more on that soon.

Meantime, why not do something related to our theme? Commit to a genuine lenten fast as the ancients did – either a no meat or restricted meat diet. To see why follow this link. 

Start your lenten fast this Wednesday by coming to our Ash Wednesday service to make your vow.

I for one will find this a challenge. The first couple of weeks are always the hardest but together we can do it.

Warm regards in Christ
David

A gift from God and the common home of humanity, the earth is threatened by our rebellion against God. In his encyclical Laudato Si’ (Praise be to You), Pope Francis challenges both Christians to praise and thank God for his glorious creation and all people  to work together with God to safeguard her.

We’ll be using Laudato Si’ as the basis of this year’s Lenten study series God’s earth – Our Home. Francis’ encyclical will set the agenda for much of our teaching next year. It’s a rich document and I’m receiving a great blessing from reading it – slowly. Though we’ll be handing out extracts for the study series, I urge you to get hold of a copy (only $21 from Book Depository) and read it joyfully as prep for our penitential season. 

 The summary below is adapted from Amazon. Given that  Francis’ concern is with ‘conversion’ and discipleship, I recommend also reading Matt Bartlett’s sermon God’s Earth – Our Home (to be posted soon) for a more insightful summary of Laudato Si’ themes and some helpful reflections on where too from here.

Grace to you, Newt

Popes Benedict XVI, John Paul II, and Paul VI addressed key themes regarding stewardship of God’s creation, but Francis is the first to devote an entire encyclical to the subject. The encyclical takes its name from Saint Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Creatures, which depicts cre­ation as “a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us”. Pope Francis declares, “This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her.”

Francis calls for an “integral ecology” based on what Pope Saint John Paul II called an “ecological conversion”—a moral transformation linking the proper response to God for the gift of his creation to concern for justice, especially for the poor. He challenges people to understand ecology in terms of the right ordering of the fundamental relationships of the human person: with God, oneself, other people, and the rest of creation.

Francis examines such ecological concerns as pollution, waste, and what he calls “the throwaway culture”. Climate, he insists, is a common good to be protected. He explores notions such as sustainability from a Judeo-Christian perspective. The loss of biodiversity and the unequal distribution of resources, largely caused by the consumerism and excessive individualism of the wealthier nations, threaten the good order of creation, he writes. While valuing technology, he rejects efforts to repudiate the natural order, including the moral law inscribed in human nature. He cautions against an over-reliance on science to solve ecological problems and emphasizes the need for openness to God and awe for God’s creation.

Expounding the biblical tradition regarding creation and redemption in Christ, Francis stresses man’s subordination to God’s purposes for his creation – including humanity. He insists on the primacy of the human person in creation and rejects treating it as if it were “divine”, yet he traces the roots of the ecological crisis to man’s self-contentedness and the rise of practical relativism. While emphasising the need for political changes and the restructuring of the political economy, he implores people to change their hearts and their ways of life.