Waiapu Academy

The Day of Pentecost sits within Christian consciousness not as an ancient Jewish feast but as our annual celebration of the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church. It comes as the climax of the Easter season, in which the risen Christ, ascended to a place of power in God’s heavenly presence, shares that with presence with his waiting disciples on earth, empowering us in our mission to transform our world. Well that is what we think we are up to. For my podcasts on the Gospel reading and the Lesson from Acts 2, follow this link. … but leave feedback, please!
Howard Pilgrim

After my appeal for feedback before I produce any more not-to-be-viewed videos, and comments from Robert Bruere (onsite) and Jenny Chalmers (in person) that the last two weeks’ videos were inaccessible, two new things have happened…
1. People started accessing the first video (Easter 5), so there was nothing wrong with that one.
2. A consultation with my website-wizzo son Aman this afternoon soon established that the later page (Easter 6) was saved in draft form so that it was inaccessible if you were not logged in – that is, to everyone except me. Dumb mistake! From now on I promise to test drive every video page after logging out.

Meanwhile, I still want more feedback about the content of what I put up. Every post and video page has a comments section at the bottom, so please let me know what you value and how I might up my game.

I expect to back in production next week for Pentecost.

Howard Pilgrim

Last week, as I prepared for my brother’s funeral, I also took a day out to produce my weekly video podcast in the Preparing to Preach series on this site. To date, no one has downloaded it. The previous week’s effort met a similar reception.

These events, taken in conjunction, have led me to think it is high time for me to review what I am doing with my time and spiritual gifts. Life is too short, and my desire to make the best use of my gifts in God’s service too pressing, for me to keep churning out stuff that is of no use to anyone. I brought this series back into production a few months ago because people from Waiapu whom I respect expressed their regret that I had stopped. What I need now is further feedback, and I need it right here on this page, in the comments box, from people who leave their names with their comments.

You might help me consider these questions:-
1. Have the podcasts been helpful, in general, to those who preach and/or to those who listen to sermons?
2. Are there specific ways in which I can improve the form or content to make them more accessible?
3. Should I switch to other more topic-focused presentations rather than discussing the weekly lectionary readings? This is my default option if I get no other advice.

So now I shall leave this up here for a few weeks and see if anyone responds ….

Howard Pilgrim

If you have visited this site earlier because you read my notice in Waiapu’s ENews advertising a video commenting on all four RCL readings for next Sunday, I’m sorry it took so long to produce. Some of you will know that my brother Godfrey Nicholson died on Sunday, so I have been rather preoccupied.
Nevertheless, I am glad to get this week’s video done, as it addresses an issue dear to my heart as a preacher. What are we to do when some aspects of the Gospel reading seem contrary to our fundamental convictions about the good news we are called to proclaim? Just ignore the reading and preach on something else? That is certainly one option. Another is to meet the problem head on. For my take on this Sunday’s readings, go to this page. And yes, I will be preaching on it, at St Andrew’s Taupo.
Howard Pilgrim

This week’s reading from the Gospel of John is centred on one of the great paradoxes of Jesus’ death and resurrection: the idea that his betrayal by two of his disciples is actually the moment in which he is most honoured by God. How could that work in the ancient world, and how can we experience its power today? For my thoughts on this aspect of the Easter mystery, listen up …
Howard Pilgrim

As the Easter season unfolds, our readings in John’s Gospel take us deep into the heart of the paschal mystery, exploring the intimate connection between the risen Christ and his faithful people. In John’s vision and experience of the Church and its mission, everything flows from this ongoing relationship. Jesus has never left us, continuing in his role as shepherd of God’s flock for all ages, and our wellbeing as his people and the effectiveness of our mission all depend on the vitality of that living relationship.

As I will be overseas for the next two weeks, enjoying some R&R, I have done some advance recording of comments on the Gospel passages for coming Sundays, which you can access here….

3rd Sunday in Easter

4th Sunday in Easter

I shall keep an eye on the website from afar, and will respond to any comments you may offer.

Christ is Risen!
Howard Pilgrim

Two years ago I produced a video commenting on the second Sunday in Easter gospel reading. It was the one from John 20:19-31 about Jesus’ appearance to his disciples in a locked room on the first Easter evening, and his subsequent appearance with Thomas present. Familiar with that passage? You should be: it is the same one we have every year on this Sunday in Easter if we follow the Revised Common Lectionary.
Listening to my video two years later, I think it was one of my best, certainly if passion for the Christian mission is the criterion. On the one hand I argued that the dominance of John’s narrative over other Easter stories (Matthew’s then, Luke’s now) suppresses vital understandings of the resurrection valued by the early Church in its canonical process. But I also affirmed much that I find positive in the passage.
Many people downloaded that video, but none gave me feedback. Please give it a hearing by following this link. Then let me and others know what you think in the comment box, here or on that page.
Alleluia, Christ is Risen!
Howard Pilgrim

From within the heart of Holy Week, deep within our emotional and imaginative identification with Jesus’ suffering and death, we preachers begin to prepare for our celebration of his glorious resurrection on Easter Day. Which is just as it should be. His death and resurrection are inseparable, whether we consider them as the central elements of Christian theology, are as defining aspects of the ongoing experience of our transformation as Christian believers.
This year, as always, the RCL lectionary invites us to focus on the resurrection account in John’s gospel. Luke’s story of that morning is offered as an alternative, a second-best for those not perennially wowed by Mary-meets-Jesus etc. For my take on Luke’s account, probing what it suggests about our ongoing experience of Jesus’ risen life within his Church, follow this link….
However you get to it, from Luke or John, Have a Joyous Easter.
Christ is Risen!
Howard Pilgrim

P.S. I know how many of you download each video, but not who you are. Leave comments, please.

In Luke’s Gospel, even more than the others if that is really possible, the whole point about Jesus’ demonstrative entry into Jerusalem in the week before his death is that he was making an unmistakable claim to be the God-given King of Israel. This dangerous challenge to the power and legitimacy of the Roman Empire left everyone uncomfortable. What have we done to that first disciples’ brave proclamation with our Palm Sunday rituals? For my comments on the Gospel reading, click here…

Back, not like General MacArthur storming the Philippines, certainly not like Lazarus raised from the dead in the story leading up to this Sunday’s Gospel reading, nor in a puff of smoke like Houdini, just quietly and rather shamefacedly back recording and posting videos after much too long a break. My health crisis is over, thank God, the parishes I have been looking after are in good shape and God’s hands, and I have even had several preachers within the diocese asking when I will be back online. That last element was the real motivator, so please give me the feedback I crave to reinforce my own sense of calling as I invest the time and energy needed to get my little commentaries up and running each week.

This coming Sunday’s Gospel reading is John’s story of Mary anointing the feet of Jesus in preparation for his coming death. Please use the opportunity to make you own comments below.

Howard Pilgrim