how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?

Talks & sermons

Deep in the Anglican tradition is a prayer asking God for the grace to hear, read, learn, mark and inwardly digest the parts of the Bible we read each Sunday. The Bible is a complex and contested book. But if we inwardly digest it, the Living God changes our lives for the better. That's why each week, we ask someone to wrestle with what God is saying to the church through this strange and beautiful book, and to report the results to the rest of us. That's what we call a sermon. Some of the results can be found below …

Storm Warning

Māmari Stephens

Jeremiah 31:27-34 • 2 Timothy 3:14–4:5 • Luke 18:1-8 Māmari reflects on Colin McCahon's painting Storm Warning, karakia, and prayer/inoi.

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Why Be a Christian in 2022, part I. The Stories People Live By

Rev. Dr. Tim McKenzie

We all have stories we live by, whether explicit or hidden. Christians seek to live by the gospel's story. But why is it a better story than some others on offer? Tim McKenzie summarises 4 common stories on the loose in our contemporary world, and suggests that they are out-narrated by the Christian story, the truest story of them all... Note: this sermon was rerecorded after failing during the Sunday service itself.

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Knowing God as Trinity

Tim McKenzie

How do I know God? Why all this Trinity stuff? Christians often feel befuddled by the doctrine of the Trinity. Rev. Dr. Tim McKenzie suggests that our challenge is to know the God indicated by the doctrine, rather than focusing on knowing the doctrine for its own sake.

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Rebecca Packer: Being Filled with the Holy Spirit

Rebecca Packer

Pentecost Sunday gives us the opportunity to explore the rich imagery Scripture uses to describe the work of the Holy Spirit. That's what Rebecca does here, and on the way, asks us, what does it mean to be filled with the Spirit?

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A Jaded Vicar Wonders: Should We Just Give Up on Christian Unity?

Rev. Dr. Tim McKenzie

In John 17, Jesus prays that the Christians to come would "be one". Why then, is the church so divided? And is there any hope? Acts 16.16-34 Revelation 22.12-17, 20-21 John 17:20-26

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Why Be a Christian: Learning Love from the Source

Ruby Burgess

Who is God? How would the nature of God give us reason to be Christian in 2022? Ruby Burgess guides us in this, the fourth part of our Why Be a Christian series

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How to be a Christian

Dr Philip Fountain

How do you tell a Christian? Protestants have tended to stress having right doctrine. Is that how Jesus would assess our Christian-ness? Dr Philip Fountain examines how to be a Christian in 2022, with special focus on the Sermon on the Mount. Part 5 in our Why Be a Christian in 2022 series

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Is the Christian Story True?

Matthew Bartlett

This is the second sermon in our series on Why Be a Christian in 2022: Stories to Live By. It's all very well saying that the Christian story is a good one to commit to. But what if it's just make believe, or nonsense? In this sermon, Matthew canvasses some of the reasons why we can have confidence that the story is true.

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Having Faith in Public Life

Professor Jonathan Boston

On Palm Sunday, Jesus rides into Jerusalem in public. He brings a religio-political agenda, and engages with the authorities, in public. This sermon examines what we might learn from him about bringing our faith in him into public life.

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Singing the Lamb's Song

Tim McKenzie

After Easter, the lectionary directs us to Revelation in tandem with Acts and the Gospel of John. Why? Could it be so that we can be sustained, by singing the Lord's song in our suffering and our joy?

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Women, power and God's action in the world

Cassandra Burton-Wood

Text: Luke 1:26–56 Cassandra, lately chaplain at Victoria University of Wellington, delivers a final message about Mary the mother of Jesus, before leaving town for love and theological study.

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Love one another – Kia aroha tētahi ki tētahi

Rev Māmari Stephens

Māmari reflects on Facebook community, her iwi's history and our life together right now in light of the divine command to love one another.

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Doubting Thomas and Doubting Tims

Rev Dr Tim McKenzie

Tim McKenzie explores faith, doubt and the resurrection (with a special appearance by Tim Overton). Please forgive the mediocre audio quality in this recording! Texts: Acts 4.32-35; 1 John 1.1-2.2; John 20.19-31

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Vocation, vocation, vocation!

Rev Dr Tim McKenzie

What does 'vocation' mean for Christians? Is it about landing your dream job? Or becoming a priest? Or is your dream job to become a priest? The second in a series on faith & work....

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Two old stories about gods and justice

Matthew Bartlett

Comparing Athens and Jerusalem to find a vision of God's justice for today

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Pray without ceasing – how God's goodness, generosity and sovereignty can encourage us to pray more

Richard Deeble

Texts: 2 Samuel 7:18–29, Ephesians 5:18–21; Luke 11:8–13 Richard begins our series on prayer

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Prayer and 'letting go'

Mel McKenzie

Texts: Psalm 46, Romans 8.26-40 & Mark 1.35-39 Mel spoke on the four S's of contemplative prayer — silence, solitude, stillness and surrender.

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Christ the King & contemporary politics

Dr Ben Thirkell-White

The texts for the day were Ezekiel 34.11-16, 20-24; Ephesians 1.15-23 and Matthew 25.31-46. Dr Ben Thirkell-White, until recently Associate Professor of International Relations, Victoria University of Wellington, now at the Reserve Bank, reflects on Christ the King Sunday and its political message for today. Christ the King is a recent feast — instituted by Pope Pius XI in the troubled period between the world wars. Ben draws comparisons with our contemporary situation, looking at the perhaps clashing models of kingship we find in the Bible.

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Māori, Missionaries, Christianity & Me

Māmari Stephens

Were Christian missionaries a tool of colonialism? Did Christianity ruin Māoridom? Were Māori passive victims of Christianity? Do we need to go back to pre-contact, pre-Christian Māori to find the truly authentic Māori culture? Māmari Stephens (Te Rarawa, Ngāti Pākehā; Reader in Law at Victoria University of Wellington) explores these questions and more in this final lecture in the St Michael's 2018 Spring Series.

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Online church: 26 April 2020

Richard Deeble

The whole Sunday service. From about 22 minutes in, you can catch Richard Deeble continuing our sermon series on the book of 1 Peter, concentrating on 1 Peter 2:1-25.

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Values, Geopolitics & Realpolitik

Prof Robert Ayson

Talk #2 in the Stuff That Matters series: Since the Cold War, international relations have been in a state of flux. China's Peaceful Rise, Brexit, Trump, Russia Today and Cambridge Analytica... the list goes on. In this lecture, Professor Robert Ayson, from Victoria University of Wellington's Department of Strategic Studies, analyses the flux, and asks whether there's any place left for values in the confusing new geopolitical world.

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Lent 2: Climate Change: Lament, Repentance, Renewal, Action

Matthew Bartlett

The texts for the day were Psalm 69; Isaiah 24:4–13; John 3:1–17

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Lent 1: Lament in the Bible & in us

Rev Dr Tim McKenzie

Psalm 13; Lamentations 3; Matthew 4:1–11. Tim introduces the Biblical genre of lament as one pattern for our conversations with God. Image thanks to Dennis Jarvis on Flickr

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New Zealand: Incredibly Religiously Diverse. Kiwis: Incredibly Religiously Illiterate

Dr Phil Fountain & Dr Geoff Troughton

In this first talk in the St Michael's Stuff That Matters series, Phil Fountain and Geoff Troughton, from Victoria University of Wellington's Religious Studies department, challenge all of us to upgrade our understanding of New Zealand's religious diversity. They especially challenge Christians to ponder how they engage their faith as a shrinking presence in the expanded marketplace of religious commitments.

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Salt, Light & the NZ housing crisis

Tim McKenzie

Tim the vicar preached from the lectionary readings for 9 February, Isaiah 58:1-9; 1 Corinthians 2:1-12; Matthew 5:13-20

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Letting God Deal with False Teachers: 2 Peter 2

Zac Clarke

2 Peter 2 is a pretty tricky chapter, full of colourful invective against Peter's opponents. Which raises the question: should we follow suit and throw mud at the Christians we disagree with? Zac Clarke shares from his experience how mudslinging is not Peter's point, and how we're to leave such matters to God.

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Waiting for the Dawn: acts of imagination and faith

Rev Jenny Dawkins

The Rev Jenny Dawkins, from All Saints Peckham, South London, visits and preaches for the first Sunday in Advent. The texts were Isaiah 2:1–5, 2 Peter 1:1-11, 19–21 and Matthew 24:36–44.

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Abortion and the Church

Emily Hockly

The texts were Psalm 139:1–6, 13–18, Acts 4:32–35 and Matthew 25:31–46

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