John Hebenton's Podcast

John explores All Saints/All Souls as a day to celebrate the lives of those who have gone before us, living each day as a gift both from God and those we celebrate.John also explores blessings and woes from Luke as what it really means to live each day as gift from God

I explore the question "who are God’s Chosen People?" I suggest that we are all God’s chosen people and that we have done and can do nothing to earn that we are all invited to “see” and to respond to that by loving GodTo love God we are to love neighbour rather than obey rules and laws.we do that by praying unceasingly for justice for all God’s people

Using Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7 and Luke 17:11-19 John explores how God refuses to be pinned down by our rules and asks what rules that we have made about God do we need to let go of

To celebrate St. Francis of Assisi I tell the story of Francis and the Lepper, and Francis and the wolf of Gubbio. I apply it to our Gospel today and fisnish by asking who or what do we fear, loathe or despise, and what is a faithful trusting response.

In this sermon I use the story of Elizabeth of Hungary to shed light on the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man. How can we live out what this story is suggestingIn response I hope people will talk about who is at their/our gate, and how do we and how might we respond

John explores Luke 16:1-13, the story of the Wasteful Steward. He wonders whether he really was dishonest, or lazy. He goes on to use this story to talk about the living wage concept and the upcoming local body elections.

John Hebenton talks about his time in the Solomon Islands, Australia and South Africa, offering some thoughts along the way.

Explores Lukes story of Mary and Martha, partly as it addresses the challenge of offering hospitality for house churches, and partly as Jesus opening up all roles to all people.

Today’s Gospel reading, despite its familiarity, never fails to challenge my thinking and to kick start my efforts to live out my faith in my life!Today we hear Jesus tell a story in which three men see a man in the ditch – but only one stops to help him. It is a story about being a neighbour and it emphasises Jesus’ priority of loving God and loving one’s neighbour. Having told the story, Jesus turns back to the lawyer again and catches him out on the very question which the lawyer had thought that he would trap Jesus with. “Which of the three was a neighbour?”This is the question that always challenges me. In his response to Jesus the lawyer can’t even bring himself to speak of the Samaritan. The only way that the lawyer could bring himself to acknowledge this was by answering “he who showed mercy”.In telling this story Jesus has shattered the stereotypes of social boundaries and class division. He has shown us the true meaning of neighbourliness. We, like the Samaritan, are sent out to be good neighbours

In this sermon I explore the sending out of the seventy in Luke, using the rise of the Mendicant Orders in the Western Church. I do so in the hope that we will all hold lightly to money and grow in faith

Uses the story of Elisha healing Naaman to look at how our God will not conform to our expectations and hopes and keeps doing the unexpected

In this sermon I talk about who we are passing our mantle on to and what are we passing on?In response I hope those who hear this will reflect on the important people in their lives and how they helped shaped them today; how they seek to help shape and support younger people today; and what they need to let go of to pass on the mantle of Christ

Wendy Showan explores the story of the Sinful Woman in Luke 7, and compares her actions to Simon the Pharisee, and us.

I explore why we would want to celebrate Te Pouhere, the constitution of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. I examine the central place of Te Tiriti o Waitangi tin that constitution, and use Paul to look at how the early church sturggled with similar issues. My hope in doing this is that people will be better informed about Te Pouhere and think about how we might live it out.

Readings:Hebrew Scripture: Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31 Psalm:Psalm: 8Epistle:Romans 5:1-5Gospel: John 16:12-15 What I want to say:I suggest that a good understanding of the Trinity is important to help us understand who we are and what is ours to do. I explore Social Trinitarianism and suggest things we might need to let go of . As it was time for our AGM I talk about things we might need to let go of as church and my visionWhat I want to happen:People to be more engaged in knowing Jesus and making Jesus known

I suggest that the miracle of Pentecost is not that the Spirit God came down in power and allowed the early followers to win converts through signs and wonders. I think the miracle of Pentecost is:people were to able worship God in own languagethe early followers stopped looking for the day when God would return and restore the Kingdom of Israel and they would be in winners circle, but with humility and love worked among both poorest and wealthiest living out – loving God with heart, and soul and mind and strength, and loving neighbour as themselves.What I want to happen:what expectations or hopes are we invited to let go of this Pentecost?once we let those go, where do we see Spirit of God at work in those around us?

We read a lot about prayer in today’s readings. In Acts 16:16-34 Paul and Silas are on their way to pray when Paul stops to expel the spirit from a slave girl who was making a great deal of money from her fortune telling ‘gifts’. Not surprisingly, the slave girl’s owners were incensed as they saw their earnings disappearing! They seized Paul and Silas and brought them before the authorities. They were thrown into solitary confinement and their feet put in stocks. We read that they were “praying and singing hymns to God”. They were obviously quite certain that God was a) going to hear their prayers and b) going to act in response.The focus of the Gospel reading is also prayer, this time Jesus’ prayer to God. John’s placing of this in his narrative seems all the more poignant when we realise that Jesus is praying immediately prior to his arrest, trial and death.For us, as a community of faith, the context and tenor of Jesus’ prayer is, I believe, an amazing statement of assurance, hope and truth.

An exploration of the story in John 5 where Jesus heals the man at the pool by the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem. We continued to explore why we struggle to love one another, and how who we love and how we love keeps being made smaller by culture and religion. In light of that we looked at how Jesus overcomes all of that to see, know, and speak to the man, healing him of both his disease (physical symptoms) and illness (broken relationships with God and family) and returns him to the community of God.

An exploration of the New Commandment given by Jesus as recorded by John, noting that loving one another is not easy – as New Testament (Acts, Pauls writing) show or as history church shows. Our failure to live out this “simple commandment” has led directly to us standing at dawn remembering those went to war on “our behalf”. Then explore the examples of Henare Wiremu Taratoa and Heni Te Kiri Karamu as examples of the risk of loving as Christ loves “Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.”Who do we struggle to loveHow might God be inviting us to love today?

Readings:First Reading: Acts 9:36-43 Psalm:23Epistle:Rev 7:9-17 Gospel: John 10:22-30I want people to continue to embrace a bigger understanding of what it means to be the people of GodPeople to spend more time knowing “his” voice, and listening