Sermons: Archive

16 November 2008: Timing is everything!
The Reverend Yvonne McLean tssf
...what is God saying to us today about his plans and timing for our lives? How have you spent the gifts that God has given to you?

In the season of Advent as we look forward to Christ's return and it's good to ponder such questions. Advent is a seasonal reminder of God's timing.

I couldn't help but link the Barak from our Old Testament reading with the recently elected president of America - Barak Obama. Many believe that it was God's timing for the USA to have its first Black American President. There were many sermons preached along this line throughout American churches last week, you can find them on the internet. Here in New Zealand we have been told for weeks that "It's time for a change". For we know that very few governments have more than 3 terms in office. If we believe that God is in control of all things, then can we say that this was just God's timing? In all three of our readings we can see that we have a part to play too! I
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9 November 2008: A New Commandment
The Reverend Allen Michel
The New Commandment given by our Lord to his disciples is very familiar to us. We hear it almost every Sunday and yet have we really thought about it. When we hear it do we think of the summary of the second part of the Law of Moses "You shall love your neighbour as yourself" we might even think of the Golden Rule "do unto others as you would have them do unto you".

But this commandment has one important difference. You and I are replaced by Christ. We are not to love each other as we love, we are called to love others as Christ loves us. In this new commandment we are called to be Christ like; to love, to care, to respect others as he did.

What a calling this is! What a challenge!
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2 November 2008: All Saints
The Reverend Allen Michel
Today then we are celebrating our day. We the consecrated people who have dedicated our lives to Christ.

Today as we remember the Saints who have gone before us, those who have touched our lives and shown us the way to live our faith, we also celebrate the people alive today whose lives are consecrated to the living God and they include you and me.

Today is their day and our day and today we are celebrating.
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19 October 2008: The Art of Music
Dean Charles Tyrrell QSO
Here we are now in beautiful Nelson, and the music goes on. We don’t have the resources of the big cities but we have faithful souls, young people and adults, who maintain the ministry of music here as either singers or organists. I am proud and very grateful for them all. As you may know our previous Director of Music, John Wesley Barker, died suddenly last year and since then we have been helped and assisted by several people. Alan Gray from London is planning to arrive here in January to take up the position of Organist and Minister of Music. Please pray for him and us as we finalise the arrangements.

But why does the Church like her music so much? Go to the Bible and you will get your answer. King David of Israel was an expert on the lyre and used it to soothe the mind of his predecessor King Saul. It was David whom it is believed went on to write many of the psalms, the hymn book of the Old Testament. Where would we be without Psalm 23 for example, ‘The Lord’s my Shepherd and I shall lack nothing?’ Or let us never forget the fantastically musical Psalm 150 which the Mayor read to us a little earlier. And this week I was reminded again of the start of the 33rd Psalm
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5 October 2008: Blessing of the Animals
Callum Irvine BVSc (Hons)
... as we celebrate the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi and his unique understanding and ability to communicate with animals, which is also the World Day for Animals, we should reflect on the special relationship that we have with our four, or two, and occasionally no legged friends.

Every day in veterinary practice we see examples of the bond that develops between an owner and their pet, which is like no other. I believe that God intended animals to be our companions, so not only do we have an obligation for their care, but there is also a mutuality of relationship, so that as we care for our pet, they also care for us! Once that relationship is formed, the love we receive from our pet is essentially unconditional, regardless of whether you are having a bad hair day or are just plain cranky, the affection you receive is the same. Interestingly, many animals form deep relationships with each other also. My old dog Darby mourned so badly after we lost a kitten that he had become very attached to that he refused to eat for 3 weeks – lucky his owner was a vet!
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28 September 2008: St Michael and All Angel′s
The Reverend Yvonne McLean tssf
Yesterday and today we have had much to celebrate. Many hundreds of people have come through the gates of this Cathedral, a cathedral which by its existence brought into being the city of Nelson.

This is the house of God and we are the gates to heaven - well I hope that the good news preached here and the presence of God′s Holy Spirit become gates for all people to enter into God′s presence.

And our readings, one from Genesis and one from Revelation are very apt too,
The beginning and the end of the Bible,
The Alpha and the Omega,
God with us from start to finish.
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27 September 2008: 150th Anniversary Service
Bishop Richard Ellena
Today my cell-phone expects me to be bi-lingual – I have to stop and think when my daughter texts me. Aah – the good old days when life was easier and everyone knew their place. When Vicars treated their Bishop with deference and respect for fear of being banished to Ross, South-Westland! The days when we said the Lord’s Prayer in a version everyone could recite – actually the days when people could still recite any version of the Lord’s Prayer….

So is that what this weekend’s all about?

Is it simply an opportunity to look back with a bit of good, old-fashioned nostalgia?

Yes, of course that’s part of it. But it’s deeper than mere nostalgia. These are our roots; this is our foundation and the philosopher George Santayana once said that those who can’t remember the past are condemned to repeat it….’

But actually it was the Mayor who started me thinking about what I might say this afternoon when he said last Thursday night that the bottom line for him – as Mayor – was that it’s all about community. Now I know I’m Anglican and so therefore I’m not prone to outbursts of emotion – but I wanted to jump up and down and shout for joy because it is all about community – and I had never picked Kerry as a theologian.

But just in case the Mayor thinks that he’s come up with something brilliantly original I need to say that it might be brilliant but it ain’t original. In fact we believe that community was God’s idea – or to be even more radical – part of the very nature of God.
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28 September 2008: Eucharist - Weekend of 150th Anniversary of the Diocese & City of Nelson
Dean Charles Tyrrell QSO
This weekend has been one of celebration and praise. Together with our bishop, we have marked the 150th anniversary of the diocese and the city with great style and rejoicing. We can feel very proud of the concerted efforts of everyone who has made this possible. Congratulations!

As well as all of this, the diocesan synod met this week, starting with Eucharist on Wednesday evening and running until Friday afternoon. Synod is the local church in council and although we sometimes ‘pull a face’ at the prospect of days of debate, it is an important opportunity for the diocese to seek God’s will for its proper functioning and development.
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14 September 2008: Holy Cross Day
Dean Charles Tyrrell QSO
So, was the cross a necessary evil? Was it a foregone conclusion that Jesus would die that way he did? I don’t see the cross as a necessary evil but by the content of what Jesus was teaching and by his healing ministry, Jesus found himself on a collision course with authority, both religious and civil.

If Jesus were alive today, I doubt civil and religious authority would deal with him by killing him but by locking him up and throwing away the key. Either that or by discrediting him and his teaching with clever argument. The fact is that Jesus was alive at a time when death was the easy punishment meted out for crime. To kill the criminal in such a public way was regarded as the best deterrent against the teaching taking hold and growing in the community.

Today we would use the ballot box, then it was execution.
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14 September 2008: Holy Cross Day
The Reverend Yvonne McLean tssf
One way we can make Christ known and loved is by wearing a crucifix.
It is a powerful symbol.

We do not worship the symbol, but we use the symbol to represent our faith, our beliefs, our remembrance of what Christ has done for us.

For without the cross there would be no sacrificial death
and without Christ′ death there would be no payment for our sins.
and without the cancellation of our sins we could not enter into God′s holy presence.

To wear a cross means that we now belong to God,
we are adopted as children of God.

As part of one of his addresses at our retreat Reverend Dr Raymond Pelly explained what wearing a cross meant to him.
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7 September 2008: Staying Alive
The Reverend Dr Raymond Pelly
Staying alive – that’s what today’s readings are about. They tell us that staying alive (in God – that’s the bottom line) drinks from three wellsprings: memory, nurturing life in the present, and being open to the future. Each is as vital as the other two. Memory without a future or any life in the present degenerates into conservatism; life now without memory or any real future is like a boat without a keel going nowhere; a love-affair with the future without a vibrant present or a remembered past can be vacuous – like living on dreams and candy-puffs.

So what do today’s readings teach us about staying fully alive?
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31 August 2008: Losing your life to find it
The Reverend Yvonne McLean tssf
It is not the amount of possessions we own that gives us joy but knowing that we are loved by God, and then giving that love to others.

We can′t take our possessions with us but love is eternal.

To lose our lives for Christ means we lose our selfish focus and we gain our lives through unselfish service to God

Which brings me back to "Through the Looking Glass". Those without faith just don′t understand why we as Christians behave as we do, why our values are so different. Our world seems completely opposite to theirs.
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24 August 2008: St Bartholomew’s Day
Dean Charles Tyrrell QSO
Bartholomew is to us an unknown quantity but to Jesus and the disciples he was a faithful follower whom they could trust. He was known not to be deceitful but utterly trustworthy, unlike Judas who had his finger in the till from the start! In many ways, Bartholomew stands for the quiet, sometimes unseen, member of the church, the solid foundation upon which the church of Christ is built. In the church, there are those who become well known because of the high office to which they have been appointed and those who grab the headlines often for reasons known only to themselves. For example, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, who at heart is an academic, a theologian, was called to the office of bishop and then archbishop, first of Wales then of Canterbury. I am sure that at heart he would love to get back to the halls of academia rather than dealing with what seems to be controversy after controversy! Dr Williams is one in whom there is no guile, no deceit. I wish those who seem to be opposing him at present will remember that.
Let’s take a brief look at each of the three readings set down for this morning’s services. In so doing, I hope we can pick up a lesson and apply it to ourselves today.
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17 August 2008: Pergamum
The Reverend Allen Michel
If Ephesus is the Auckland and Smyrna the Christchurch of the Province then Pergamum is the Wellington. It was where the political power base was and where the Roman Consul lived. Due to it’s geographical position Pergamum could never achieve the commercial greatness of Ephesus or Smyrna but it surpassed both as a centre of culture.

It was famous for it’s great library of more than two hundred thousand parchment rolls, that attracted scholars from many countries. A library that was second only to the great library of Alexandria. Did you know that the word Parchment is derived from the word Pergamum Charta. This writing material made from treated animal skins that was developed in Pergamum after Ptolemy the Pharaoh of Egypt prohibited the export of papyrus.
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10 August 2008: A Flexible Approach to Commending the Faith
Canon Mark Chamberlain
Many of you will have seen the video taken of the falling tree at the corner of Bridge and Collingwood Streets last week. It provoked me into thinking about the trees that survived. Maybe they were the ones with a little more flexibility – a little more give than the trees that fell. Certainly the one tree on our property that could have blown down but didn’t, was tall and flexible – it bent but it did not break!

Tonight I want to talk about being flexible and adaptable.
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10 August 2008: A Still Small Voice
The Reverend Allen Michel
Sometimes we need to just stop and listen. To listen to the silence! To look for God in the calm - instead of in the midst of activity. That is what Elijah was led to do. Elijah, in his exhaustion, in his fear, took time out. He has managed to get away for a while from the activities that God had called him to do; and in his fear and his pain, his loneliness and his hunger he calls out to God and tells God of his weakness and then seeks God′s presence.

And God became present to him in the sheer silence within - and in that moment, God equipped Elijah to once again go out and perform those things that God wanted him to do, - he commissioned Elijah, and he assured Elijah that he was not alone - that many faithful persons were still with him.
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3 August 2008: Sin and Generosity
The Reverend Yvonne McLean tssf
Abel lost his life, so did St Stephen and so did the many believers who came after him. Faithful Christians today are still being persecuted, beaten and killed. It just doesn′t make the headlines. Today we are more likely to see verbal massacres. People′s reputations sacrificed for the their ability to sell newspapers.

So what has all this got to say to us today?

Today is our foundation day. We are built on Christ, our faith and our lives are founded on Christ and all he does for us. That faith was so strong in St Stephen that he could stand still while he was being stoned to death asking God to forgive those who were killing him. That′s just incomprehensibly amazing.
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3 August 2008: Christ the Sure Foundation
Dean Charles Tyrrell QSO
The annual celebration of the day we have come to call ‘Foundation Day’ is a good opportunity to think about the ministry and mission of the church since its founding by Christ. Now that’s a tall order because with the best will in the world, it is impossible to review two millennia of Christian history in the short time allocated to me today. And so, here is how I intend to tackle it.

First of all I will take a quick look at the scriptures chosen for our Communion services today and acknowledge the Lord who is our sure foundation.

Then, in light of the fact that the Lambeth Conference of bishops is just about to begin its third and final week of meeting in Canterbury, I want to share some of my thoughts about the global church, and the challenges which are coming our way as a result.

Finally, I want to acknowledge the ministry here at Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson, and to put forward a few ideas about our life together as a Christian congregation at the heart of this city.
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27 July 2008: Kingdom Knowledge
The Reverend Yvonne McLean tssf
Jesus spent 3 years training his disciples. They didn′t gain understanding in just one lesson. In fact they carried on learning long after Jesus′ death.

Knowledge, understanding what is meant by the kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God, doesn′t come easily, which is why Jesus used so many different parables to help his hearers to understand.

In today′s gospel reading Jesus spoke the kingdom in parables of a mustard seed, yeast, treasure, a fine pearl and a net.

The mustard seed and the yeast are both very tiny but both grow into something many, many times bigger. The treasure and fine pearl are both of great value and the net catches fish, some good and some bad. So let′s look at these analogies of the kingdom of God and see what wisdom and understanding we can gain.
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20 July 2008: Bible Sunday
Reverend Dr Tim Harris
Today is National Bible Sunday – a special focus close to my heart. There has never been a time when the Bible has been more readily available. We very often have multiple copies in differing translations. The Bible is available in print, on tapes, CDs and as MP3 downloads. Likewise there is an abundance of resources to explore and understand the Bible – dictionaries, encyclopaedias, commentaries, specialist books. We can learn masses and masses of information about the Bible.

Yet for all this, we live in biblically illiterate times. The vast majority of our community know next to nothing about the Bible and the great story of salvation it contains. And disturbingly, many surveys are showing that believers within our churches are opening the Bible less and less.
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20 July 2008: Sea Sunday Service
Dean Charles Tyrrell QSO
In my first parish back in Liverpool UK, I had a good friend called David who was an officer on a merchant vessel and spent most of the year travelling the world. I will always remember him sharing some of the stories of the last voyage to what seemed to me exotic places like the Pacific islands and New Zealand.

David shared with me how he found that many seafarers became quite thoughtful and philosophical about life. For some, this was as far as it got but for others, time at sea gave them the opportunity to get nearer to God.
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13 July 2008: Silas, Companion of St Paul
The Reverend Yvonne McLean tssf
To be a companion means to be there for each other. It's someone to pray with, to build up and encourage. Someone to share the good times and the laughter and someone to share the pain and the hardships, even to the point of being thrown into prison together!

Silas was just such a companion to Paul and Timothy. But Paul is the one we remember, the one whose words are quoted and actions emulated.

Behind every great person there are always others, which although going unnoticed for much of the time, make a significant contribution.
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6 July 2008: Zacchaeus - the man in the sycamore tree
The Reverend Allen Michel
If we are called to be Christ’s eyes, ears, hands and feet it is our duty to be out there in the community among those who have lost their faith or never had faith. We are called to reflect Christ′s glory in our own community. To bring the Zacchaeus’s in our community down out of their sycamore trees and into the family of Christ. It might only be a smile or a daily good morning to a neighbour, it might be visiting a sick friend, or talking to the person who has lost their job. Caring for the lonely or unloved or just being there for someone. Through us they encounter Christ in their lives and through Christ lives are changed.
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29 June 2008: Not under the law but under Grace
The Reverend Yvonne McLean tssf
Christianity places radical demands on every aspect of life our values and our resulting actions. The Christian framework leads us to righteousness. It′s like choosing the direction that you travel in.

Different roads have different destinations.

There may seem very little difference between two exits from a roundabout but one could take you to Golden Bay and the other to Christchurch! The decision to choose God′s ways above any other option can seem quite a small difference. "And who would know anyway" we may tell ourselves, but the resulting destination can be much further off track than we first realise.
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22 June 2008: God Invites Us
The Reverend Yvonne McLean tssf
First of all it was a great dinner and many people were invited. There is nothing small about this banquet.

It is normal in Eastern tradition to send out the invitations ahead of time, just as we do. But then the host follows up the invitation with the announcement that the banquet is now ready – a sort of last minute reminder. The banquet has been catered based on the number of acceptances received, the right amount of food prepared and appropriate quantity of wine purchased.

Not to come to a banquet where you had previously indicated acceptance was a grave breach of social etiquette, it was an insult to the host.
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15 June 2008: Who are we to stand in judgement?
The Reverend Yvonne McLean tssf
So what are our motives when we evaluate others? Are we measuring their actions against their ability to honour God? Or against our values and prejudices? Do we put people in boxes? Do we condemn them for their actions? Do we have an ′Us and Them′ attitude?

In history our judgement of others has led to bloodshed. Jew and Arab, Christian and Muslim, Protestant and Catholic

Boxes, labels, judgments!

God will judge us all one day, and I think the things that he will highlight will be quite different to what we expect.
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8 June 2008: Mission Sunday
Dean Charles Tyrrell QSO
Back in the days when I sang as a choirboy in our Parish Church, I loved it when missionaries came to speak to us about their work overseas. I suppose in those days, having never been anywhere overseas myself, this added to the mystique and romantic nature of it all! They spoke about the joys and hardships of mission in exotic places. It was gripping stuff.
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8 June 2008: Mission Sunday
The Reverend Yvonne McLean tssf
We each are asked to give an account of the reason for our faith in our own immediate environment. And there are practical ways we can help too. We have our weekly donations for the food bank. Have you noticed the blue plastic container on the trolley as you enter? This food is used to help people in need here in Nelson. There are also meals needed for the Parish nursing team to take to those who are housebound. Taking time to visit neighbours and fellow parishioners is important too and letting the staff know if someone is in need. These are all part of being missionaries for God.

Prayer, giving, loving care and support. Reaching out to the world here in Nelson, in Papua New Guinea and to the ends of the earth.
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1 June 2008: Jesus Our Rock
Dean Charles Tyrrell QSO
It is a long time since I preached about Noah and his ark. The Old Testament contains several interesting and challenging sagas, and this is one of them. It’s one of the stories I recall from Sunday school, enjoying singing with all my friends,
The animals went in two by two, hurrah! hurrah!
The animals went in two by two, hurrah! hurrah!
The animals went in two by two, the elephant and the kangaroo
And they all went into the ark, for to get out of the rain.
And so it went on until the last verse which made us laugh and giggle
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1 June 2008: The Parable of the Seed
The Reverend Allen Michel
Jesus knew that people are different and told this parable: "Listen!" he said, "A Sower went out to sow and as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and was trampled on and the birds of the air ate it up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold."
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28 May 2008: Ministry of Reconciliation
Dean Charles Tyrrell QSO
Before we even dare to think about the Anglican Church and her current challenges, let's start nearer home, with ourselves. As Jesus himself said one day, First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbour's eye. St Matthew 7:5 There Jesus was talking about those who spend their time judging each other when all the time they have a need to sort out their own problems. In the same light, we could go on and on about the threatened schism in our Church, when what we really need to do is to take a look at ourselves, our own hearts - if you like, and discern what is breaking us up, what it is that is pulling us apart, inside, deep down in the core of our being. For in my understanding the ministry of reconciliation begins with self and our personal relationship to God in Christ.
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25 May 2008: Don't Worry
The Reverend Yvonne McLean tssf
"Why can't you sleep?" a wife asked her husband as he paces the floor at 3am. "Honey", he replies, I borrowed a thousand dollars from Sam next door and I'm due to pay it back tomorrow but I haven't got it!" "I just don't have the money!" he says wringing his hands. The man's wife jumps out of bed and flings open the bedroom window. "Sam! Sam!" she shouts. After a few minutes their groggy neighbour opens his window. "What is it?" he mumbles. "You know that $1,000 dollars my husband owes you? Well, he doesn't have it," the woman yells. Then she closes the window and turns to her husband. "Now you go to sleep and let him pace the floor!"
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18 May 2008: Trinity Sunday
Dean Charles Tyrrell QSO
One day last week I was working at the desk in my study. All of a sudden I heard shouting which had a sense of urgency about it. My wife Elaine was calling me from the kitchen and for a split second I panicked, worrying that something was wrong. When I arrived in the kitchen Elaine was pointing outside towards our back garden. And there, as plain as anything, was the most beautifully formed rainbow, which seemed to cover the whole of our parish. Being a cloudy day, the colours were even more vivid. It was awesome.
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11 May 2008: Pentecost
Dean Charles Tyrrell QSO
As I was preparing this sermon, I was faced with a dilemma! Today we acknowledge the coming of the Holy Spirit on the disciples at the time known as Pentecost, 50 days after Easter. After reading about people in both old and new testaments prophesying, of eerie winds and visions of flame, it all seems so esoteric, so obscure when compared to the suffering of the people of Myanmar and the unresolved situation in Zimbabwe, for example. Is all this talk of Pentecost other worldly or have I just got it wrong?
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4 May 2008: Ascension
The Reverend Yvonne McLean tssf
Ascension brings to a close the resurrection appearances; hence the paschal candle is now extinguished. Jesus has prepared his followers for the coming of the Kingdom of God and now he returns to heaven to bring about the means which will enable the kingdom to begin.
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4 May 2008: Meditation on 'Hope'
Dean Charles Tyrrell QSO
Today is the final Sunday of this Easter season. Having said that, Easter must go on, it has to gone, for in the seeds of Easter are planted the only hope for a dying world. So, on Thursday next which is Ascension Day, even though the paschal candle, the Easter candle, will be processed out of the Cathedral at the end of the early evening service, we will continue to declare that "Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia!"
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27 April 2008: Resurrection Hope
Dean Charles Tyrrell QSO
Today is the final Sunday of this Easter season. Having said that, Easter must go on, it has to gone, for in the seeds of Easter are planted the only hope for a dying world. So, on Thursday next which is Ascension Day, even though the paschal candle, the Easter candle, will be processed out of the Cathedral at the end of the early evening service, we will continue to declare that "Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia!"
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Christ Church Cathedral

Piki Mai, Trafalgar Square, Nelson, New Zealand. TEL. +64 3 548 1008

www.nelsoncathedral.org office@nelsoncathedral.org

Christ Church Cathedral

Nelson, New Zealand

Sermons: Archive