John Hebenton's Podcast
453 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 months ago -Sunday sermons preached at St. George's Anglican Church, Gate Pa, Tauranga. These are mostly based on the RCL Lectionary readings for that Sunday, with a few variations for our own lectionary in this Province, and special events here at Gate Pa.
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Episodes
Living a Resurrection Life
June 05, 2019 04:00 - 19 minutes - 8.95 MBJohn asks what a resurrection life might look like, and finishes with story of Carol and butterfly effect from “How to be a Bad Christian: ... And a better human being” by Dave Tomlinson. You can read the notes from this sermon here.
The Word
May 28, 2019 02:00 - 19 minutes - 9.21 MBJohn explores what is Jesus word – to ask how we hear this word, what it says to us and how we keep it. He goes on to say that for him this word is loving unity, where the Holy Spirit works to join us to each other and indwelling God in mutual love. This word invites us into the deep love between God the Father and Jesus out of which Jesus lives and continues to teach through the Holy Spirit. You can read the notes for this sermon here
Love One Another – Yeah Right!
May 21, 2019 02:00 - 18 minutes - 8.72 MBJohn asks people what questions and ideas they bring to this readying. He goes on to explore two of his questions - In what way is this new? - How did Jesus live love? o removing cloak authority, status, leadership, honour, power o humbly washing the feet of those who deny, betray and dessert him Loving one another is not easy – as New Testament (Acts, Paul's writing) show or as history church shows failure to live out this “simple commandment” has led directly to...
Today’s Shepherds
May 14, 2019 00:00 - 22 minutes - 10.2 MBJohn talks about the good shepherd tradition, and how the gospel writers and John in particular apply that to Jesus. This gives rise to 3 questions what voices compete for our attention how do we take time hear and respond voice good shepherd? in what ways do others see God the good shepherd at work in us? Notes for this sermon can be found here
Give us Hope in our Calling
May 07, 2019 05:00 - 24 minutes - 11.1 MBJohn explores what the stories of the re-call of Peter and the call of Paul, offer us as we seek to live out Jesus' resurrection today
Easter – so what?
April 24, 2019 22:00 - 11 minutes - 5.28 MBWhat difference does Easter make for you in how you live your life? Does it make any difference at all? For me Easter is not so much about getting into heaven as it is an affirmation by God of all Jesus said and did; is a statement of God’s utter and profound commitment to this world and all who live in it; and an invitation to live in anticipation of completion of that. Importantly, Easter is not the end of the story in John, it is one step – life and ministry of Jesus; denial and betrayal...
Peace March
April 16, 2019 00:00 - 12 minutes - 5.72 MBJohn used Chapter 32 in Brian McLaren's "We Make the Road by Walking" (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 2014) - Peace March Palm Sunday, to invite people into the story of Palm Sunday. There are a couple of monor changes in his text. John finishes with some of the questions Brian asks at the end of his chapter 1. Engage. What one thought or idea from today’s lesson especially intrigued, provoked, disturbed, challenged, encouraged, warmed, warned, helped or surprised you? 2. Activate: T...
Echoes and Threads
April 08, 2019 04:00 - 18 minutes - 8.69 MBJohn explores some of the threads and echoes in this important story - in every gospel in some form so tells something of “way” - relationship with Luke 15 – scandalous love - fragrance of death vs fragrance of life? - echoes of Cana – giving Jesus courage to do what needs to be done - poor are with us always – Deuteronomy 15 The notes for this sermon can be found here
The Lost Family by Any Other Name
April 01, 2019 04:00 - 18 minutes - 8.4 MBJohn has a conversation about how the names we apply to stories like “The Parable of the Prodigal Son” both help us understand it and blind us to what is happening in the story using a number of titles given this story. He finishes by asking "No matter what title/s we apply to this story, how do we finish it in our lives?" Notes on this sermon can be found at <https://colourfuldreamer.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-lost-family-by-any-other-name.html>
Re-visioning Repentance
March 25, 2019 04:00 - 16 minutes - 7.48 MBJohn uses “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life” by Mark Manson to explore repentance as re-visioning. He asks - What values do we use to ascribe success in our lives and what do we need to let go of? - As we approach the parish AGM what values do we use to ascribe success in this parish and what do we need to repent of? - What new ways of seeing success might we be invited into? The notes for this sermon can be found here
Determinedly Committed to Hope
March 20, 2019 04:00 - 24 minutes - 11 MBIn light of the appalling events in Christchurch, John looks at the various versions of the covenant between Abram and God where the people of God are blessed to be a blessing. But what happens when we simply want to be blessed, special, better than others? What happens when we forget about being a blessing? Christchurch happens. To help us think about how we might respond, John explores Jesus' commitment to hope expressed in his determination for follow his call to Jerusalem. What did/does...
Following the Footsteps of Francis in Lent
March 14, 2019 04:00 - 19 minutes - 9.15 MBJohn was asked to talk at the ecumenical Ash Wednesday service about a Franciscan approach to Lent. He describes being Franciscan as being called to walk in the footsteps of St.’s Francis and Clare of Assisi as they walked in footsteps of Christ Using the life of Francis Johns offers several themes which help us ask questions of the nature of God and ourselves as we walk towards Good Friday and the cross
Testing our Identity
March 14, 2019 04:00 - 24 minutes - 11.3 MBJohn describes the story of Jesus in the wilderness as a story of a test of identity that asks who is Jesus as “son of God”? What kind of son of God will he be? Like the Roman Emperor, Adam, David? All carry the title “son of God”. We too are beloved children of God. How do we understand that and how is that identify tested? John then offers some thoughts on how to approach lent in light of all this from a Franciscan perspective based on the Ash Wednesday homily. The notes for this sermon...
Living in Anticipation That God’s Will Be Done On Earth As In Heaven
March 04, 2019 05:00 - 23 minutes - 11 MBJohn begins by reminding people that we read Luke through Luke 4 and the Magnificat. This week’s reading is the third set of wisdom sayings on how to live no in anticipation of that day when God’s will is done on earth as in heaven – what we pray for every time we pray the Lords prayer. He then leads a Lectio Divina process to help people prayerfully hear what Christ the Word might be saying to them in this passage’s message – finishing with “What is Christ the Word inviting me to this Lent”...
Living the Gospel like Francis and Tapu
February 25, 2019 05:00 - 18 minutes - 8.61 MBJohn uses the stories of St. Francis of Assisi and his friend Tapu, who died this week, to explore how Luke 6:27-38 is a description of both how we live in response to realising that we are wrapped in love and where to look for the unfolding reign of God
A Plain Sermon
February 18, 2019 05:00 - 23 minutes - 10.9 MBJohn explores Luke’s important but rarely read in the lectionary version of the Beatitudes asking, - why is it on a plain and not on a Mount; - and what might Luke have thought “blessed” meant compared to what we too easily think it meant. In light of all that, where do I fit with all of this – I think I am numbered in the group being “woed” and warned.
My Ongoing Journey in Understanding Te Tiriti o Waitangi - The Treaty of Waitangi
February 14, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 51.8 MBFollowing on from the two lectures on the Battle of Gate Pā, the Anglican Parish of Gate Pā was very fortunate to have the Rev Dr David Williams FRSNZ give this talk on the Treaty of Waitangi. Last year David was elected a Fellow of the Academy of the Royal Society Te Apārangi in recognition of his research, scholarship and the advancement of knowledge in the areas of constitutional law, colonial legal history and the Treaty of Waitangi. In this talk he describes both his own journey in und...
Here I am Lord, Send The Other Guy!
February 11, 2019 05:00 - 18 minutes - 8.48 MBMy plan was to explore how people respond to the call of God using the stories of Luke and Isaiah, suggesting that they are not as straightforward as we often read them. What are some other biblical stories about call that might give us hope – Jeremiah, Amos, Jonah? I also talk about how, when we ask “What are we called to?”, we often answer with "working for Christ". In Luke Peter is called to let go of everything he knows about fishing and to fish anyway. He becomes the means by which Je...
Hard Love
February 06, 2019 05:00 - 21 minutes - 9.94 MBExploring what is love using Paul's letter to the Corinthians; and who to love using the story of Jesus in Nazareth in Luke 4. It is all pretty challenging if we are honest. Who do we struggle to love and why?
Hearing the Way
January 28, 2019 05:00 - 21 minutes - 9.79 MBJohn talks about how Luke 4: 14-21 is Jesus owning for himself everything he has been taught up to this point. It is how Jesus understood himself - how he answered: whose am I? who am I? and what is mine to do? It is the way we are to interpret everything else that is in Luke What does that look like for us today? Where do we see this happening? What would it look like for this to be fulfilled today?
Abundance
January 23, 2019 05:00 - 15 minutes - 7.28 MBJohn starts with some fun facts about John's gospel, and asks why has John started with this story? He retells the story as a story of abundant grace among people who only had an abundance of poverty and then ask - Where we have tasted, seen, felt, heard, touched this kind of abundant grace? - How do we live in this grace?
Dangerous Love
December 22, 2018 22:00 - 13 minutes - 6.39 MBHow does Marys song help us understand and live out God’s relentlessly faithful and dangerous love
Joy to the Word and Such
December 18, 2018 00:00 - 17 minutes - 8.05 MBJohn uses “The Book of Joy - Lasting Happiness in a Changing World”, by the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Douglas Abrams to explore the nature of joy. He suggests that joy is not happiness. Unlike happiness joy is a gift. It is planted deep down and there are things we can do to help nurture our joy. He uses the research done Sonja Lyubomirsky to explore 3 ways to be joyful. John the Baptist shows us how to live lives of joy, unbound for that which takes us away from joy – when ...
A Santa Claus to Hope In
December 11, 2018 03:00 - 30 minutes - 13.9 MBJohn uses the recent controversy around the Maori Santa (Hana Koko) appearing in a Santa Parade in Nelson to explore how advent helps us remember that Christmas is important, but it is not the point. Advent points to Christ in history, Christ in mystery and Christ in majesty. What does hope look like in all that? He then uses the stories of Robben Island and Hanukkah to explore Jim Wallis’s description of how to live in hope.
Happy Advent?
December 03, 2018 23:00 - 13 minutes - 6.1 MBJohn uses Elie Wiesel’s “Night” to explore our reading from Jeremiah as voice hope in time when even God is dying. Are we in such a time? Luke warns us to not be distracted by what goes on around us to the stand up and raise our heads. Again Elie Wiesel warns us what happens when we do not heed this warning. How do we stand up and raise our heads as we go through this time of madness to Christmas. Remember, Christmas is important but it is not the point! What then is the point?
Christ the King?
November 27, 2018 01:00 - 18 minutes - 8.68 MBJohn uses Archbishop Welby's comments that God is neither male nor female to explore both the story of the first Bishop of Aotearoa and what the reign of Christ might look not like. He goes on to invite people to ask for themselves what the reign of Christ might look like. Where is it and how do we recognise it?
Large Stones in our Shoes
November 19, 2018 23:00 - 21 minutes - 9.79 MBJohn explores how are faith gets colonised by large stones – large stone like making our churches great again, or keeping Britain great, or making Germany or America great again. In light of that he asks "what captures our imagination?" He wonders what Mark’s Jesus is inviting us to let go of, and what might shape our imagination as we enter into another advent?
Marking the Centenary of the End of the War to End All Wars
November 13, 2018 06:00 - 11 minutes - 5.42 MBLieutenant Colonel Cliff Simons offers some reflections on how to approach the commemoration of the end of WWI. As we mark this important date in our nations history, what exactly are we marking and how do we look to the future in light of the commemorations over the last four years?
Tribalism, Ruth and the cost of All Saints
November 13, 2018 06:00 - 21 minutes - 9.88 MBGraham Cameron uses the story of Ruth to help us explore real tribalism and how death reshapes whole communities. It is this that we commemorate on this All Saints - All Souls. We pause to remember those who have died, and what that has meant for their whanau/families, and for their communities.
Being Blind
October 29, 2018 04:00 - 15 minutes - 7.34 MBJohn explores how our images of God blind us to God and to each other. How did Job end up with that happy ending, and is it that happy really? Why did Job's friends not join him praying TO God, rather than trying to convince him ABOUT God? How does Bartemaeus act as an icon to the disciples blindness both to him and to what Jesus was teaching them about God? Because October 28th is also the Day of Remembrance, when we remember the New Zealand Land Wars, John wonders how the British image of ...
SPCA, Francis of Assisi, and the Wolf of Gubbio
October 22, 2018 04:00 - 12 minutes - 5.67 MBJohn tells the story of St. Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio to introduce St. Francis and his invitation for us to see all of creation and all who live in creation as our brothers and sisters. How might this help us address climate change and how might this help our appreciation for the work of the SPCA
God, free me of god
October 22, 2018 04:00 - 14 minutes - 6.51 MBJohn explores the invitation from Job (Job 38:1-7, 34-41) to pray Meister Ekhart’s prayer – “God free me of god” and asks what ideas about God do we need to be freed of?
Who do you say I am?
September 17, 2018 04:00 - 19 minutes - 8.88 MBJohn uses the questions Jesus asked of his disciples to have a conversation exploring our responses, and what those responses reveal about who God is for us and what it means for us to be followers or disciples of this God
Bad Jesus or Voices on the Edge
September 10, 2018 04:00 - 22 minutes - 10.3 MBJohn explores the story of the Syrophonecian woman as a story about Jesus coming face to face with the ramifications of what he had been teaching; that the reign of God plays by nobody’s rules but God’s, not even Jesus’ rules. He then asks who might be acting as the Syrophonecian woman today?
Seeing into the Heart of Things
September 03, 2018 04:00 - 21 minutes - 10 MBJohn tries to build on last week’s sermon by Bonnie Hebenton about the line by using Mark 7 to explore the themes of the place of law and how to read law and scripture. Introduce the daily examen as a way of responding to Jesus invitation to pay attention to our hearts rather than just our actions.
The Line
August 27, 2018 04:00 - 21 minutes - 10 MBBonnie Hebenton explores the 5th and last reading from John 6; this time verses 56-71. In this reading John invites us into a space of confidence and doubt, faith and abandonment, of living out our faith and failing to live out our faith. Bonnie explores this real place, and God's ongoing response of welcome every time we return. She finishes with a song from John Michael Talbot
Cursillo in Waiapu
August 16, 2018 04:00 - 15 minutes - 7.04 MBGillian, Barbara and Mihi talk about Cursillo and their own expereince of going on a weekend event.Cursillo is - An opportunity to grow in faith and in spirituality - A deeper understanding of the teachings of Jesus and how we can serve Him. - An experience of living and sharing with others in a loving and caring Christian community and realizing that this can be extended into our own environment - A continuing community that gives support and encouragement to help Christi...
Bread of Life
August 07, 2018 04:00 - 16 minutes - 7.75 MBJohn explores how this series of readings on Jesus being the Bread of Life help us into the Eucharist
Christains Against Poverty
July 23, 2018 04:00 - 25 minutes - 11.8 MBChancy Rattanong from CAP, Christians Against Poverty, talks about why they are passionate about working with local churches to release Kiwis from a life sentence of debt, poverty and its causes – into a life filled with hope and freedom.For more information go to http://www.capnz.org/
Depraved Banquets, Beheading John the Baptizer, and Being LGBTIQ+ in Church
July 16, 2018 04:00 - 20 minutes - 9.53 MBMark 6:14-29 is such a yuk story if we read it on its own. This story has echoes with previous stories and reminds us of the ongoing stories, including the stories in Tauranga Moana over the last week. They remind us of the story of St. George and the battles that happened here and Te Ranga in 1864. They remind me of the experiences I had with the rainbow members of TSSF in Australia and here in Aotearoa.But this is not a story on its own. It immediately contrasts with the stories of the feed...
Being a People of the Edge
July 09, 2018 04:00 - 19 minutes - 9.15 MBJohn explores how the ways of God are not what is expected, and in light of that offers some of his reflections on things noticed while away; particularly the gift of our prayer book.
Being a People of the Edge
July 09, 2018 04:00 - 19 minutes - 9.13 MBJohn explores how the ways of God are not what is expected, and in light of that offers some of his reflections on things noticed while away; particularly the gift of our prayer book.
Open the Doors
July 03, 2018 04:00 - 17 minutes - 7.97 MBGraham Cameron invites us to consider leaving the doors of our church open all the time
Sufficient Success
June 12, 2018 04:00 - 18 minutes - 8.62 MBJohn looks at what we think sufficient success on earth is and compare that to what it might have looked like for Jesus. In his story it meant being accused of being possessed by the evil one, described as out of his mind by his family, people leaving him because if got too hard, and then crucifixion. So what is sufficient success on earth for us?
Racist as bro or Taika Waititi, Te Pouhere and Mark
June 04, 2018 04:00 - 24 minutes - 11.1 MBJohn looks at Taika Waititi’s comments about how New Zealand is “racist as ****” and explores how our structures can either deprive people of life or they can help people thrive. Te Pouhere has the potential to help us thrive if we let it
Nicodemus and the Dance of Trinity
May 28, 2018 04:00 - 13 minutes - 6.38 MBJohn uses the story of Nicodemus to suggest that rather than trying to understand God as Trinity, we might instead start with the relationship with the Trinity. Using the ancient metaphor of that relationship being a dance, he invites us to learn to live in the dance. What might the idea of “Trinity” offer us in our daily lives?
The Work of the Holy Spirit at General Synod
May 21, 2018 04:00 - 24 minutes - 11.3 MBJohn briefly explores what that first Pentecost was all about - turning frightened an confused people inside out and sending them out to live the good news of hope found in Jesus. We see that same story in this land, with much of the first evangelistic work being done by Maori, some of them not very likely. We saw that same Spirit at work in our recent General Synod Te Hinota Whanui in New Plymouth. That same Spirit is at work in us sending us out to live the good news of hope found in Jesus.
Nothing Can Trouble
May 14, 2018 04:00 - 12 minutes - 5.84 MBBonnie Hebenton uses her experiences growing up in New Plymouth and now as a teacher using Play Centred Learning to explore the gospel for this Sunday after Ascension - John 17: 1-11- It's OK to take risks - God will protect us
Families and Jesus
May 07, 2018 04:00 - 20 minutes - 9.46 MBAs we prepare for Mother’s Day next week John invites people to talk about how would you describe a family?what is the role of mothers in families?what do families offer us and what do we offer families?He then explores different kinds of family, and what Jesus teaches us through these about our priorities and about God’s love
Resurrecting Thomas
April 09, 2018 04:00 - 20 minutes - 9.27 MBLets stop calling Thomas “Doubting Thomas”. It distracts us from what is going on in this story.The resurrection is God’s Big Yes to the way of the cross. In the way of the cross we are reminded that all people are made in the image of God and we are invited to see God’s image in all people. In the resurrection God is faithful to all the covenants, that through Israel humanity is renewed and creation restored.In the resurrection we are invited to live in the way of the cross