
Views from the Pews & God Talk



Views from the Pews: Something to think about
Among the joys of belonging to a thoughtful worshipping community are the weekly opportunities to learn more about our faith – mainly from the clergy, of course, but also from each other. Lots of people sitting in the pews week after week ponder the offerings put before us in the readings and the liturgy, and often have thoughts about them worth sharing. They come from all sorts of backgrounds, in law, medicine, science, music, arts, sociology, history – and, of course, many of them also read widely in theology. Given the opportunity, some are willing to share their ideas with the congregation.
To encourage that, we have begun offering a series of five-minute theological think-pieces, as regular contributions to the weekly pew sheets. The series started with a group of discussion ideas on the theology of creation from a scientist. Later items came from parishioners sharing other view points from their different experiences of life and faith as lawyers, linguists, administrators, soldiers and mothers.
In this endeavour we are following in the footsteps of the tangata whenua of the Waikato, who for centuries assembled on this hill to learn about and share the wisdom of their ancestors. Since then, people of other cultures have travelled to Aotearoa willing to share memories of the learning opportunities of other sacred places, ranging from the community assemblies of island peoples to the medieval cathedrals of Europe. The more we understand of each other’s experiences of faith in the real world, the more we can work together as members of the household of God.
Kim King
Views from the Pews
God Talk Study Booklets
June 2023
4 June 2023 Tongues of men and angels
11 June 2023 Let us now praise marglinalised men
May 2023
14 May 2023 The King goes to Hamburg
7 May 2023 Please pray for our local hospital
April 2023
30 April 2023 A lamb's view of the Good Shepherd
23 April 2023 Clyclonic Hospitality
16 April 2023 Resurrection of the faithful
MARCH 2023
FEBRUARY 2023
23.02.19 Outward and visible signs
23.02.05 Getting to know your neighbours
JANUARY 2023
23.01.29 Presenting the Christ child in the Temple
23.01.01 The Twelve Days of Christmas
DECEMBER 2022
22.12.18 Faith and the Y Chromosone
22.12.11 Faith of a Hermit Crab
22.12.04 Crab-life and a new life
NOVEMBER 2022
22.11.06 Optimists and pessimists
22.11.20 The Feast of Christ the King
22.11.27 Isaiah prophesies the decline of war
OCTOBER 2022
22.10.09 Time, Talents and Treasures
22.10.23 The Church as a bicycle
22.10.30 St Paul warns of disinformation
SEPTEMBER 2022
AUGUST 2022
22.08.07 Translation of Liturgy into Maori
22.08.28 How pure is distilled water?
JULY 2022
22.07.10 The contribution of Church music and singing
JUNE 2022
22.06.12 Americans come and go
MAY 2022
22.05.22 And Herod and Pilate become friends
APRIL 2022
MARCH 2022
22.03.06 Saying sorry Pacific style Lent 1
22.03.13 Brain surgeon in Eden Lent 2
22.03.27 Unconditional forgiveness Lent 4
FEBRUARY 2022
JANUARY 2022
DECEMBER 2021
21.12. 12 Advent 3 Worship with animals
NOVEMBER 2021
21.11.7 The Kingdom of God - 5 As Jesus taught it
21.11.21. The Feast of Christ the King
OCTOBER 2021
21.10.10 Kingdom of God - 2 Mystery and paradox
21.10.17 Kingdom of God - 3 Kingdom parables
21.10.24 Kingdom of God - 4 Task for today
SEPTEMBER 2021
21.9.5 Carbon and Bread of Life
21.9.19 Human and animal nature
21.9.26 The Kingdom of God - History of the idea
AUGUST 2021
21.8.22 Who do you think you are
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JULY 2021
21.7.11 The Flying Angel Sea Sunday
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JUNE 2021
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MAY 2021
21.5.9 Seeing and believing
21.5.16. Ascension
21.5.23 Why we name our festivals
21.5.30 Trinity
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APRIL 2021
21.4.11 The virus stole my Easter
21.4.18 A Tribute to Prince Philip
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MARCH 2021
21.3.21 First and second things
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FEBRUARY 2021
21.2.7 Is the Eucharist a sacrifice
21.2.14 Preaching from the book of nature
21.2.21 The Blessings of Gratitude
21.2.28 How Christ's teaching exceeds nature
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JANUARY 2021
21.1.3 Origins of the Eucharist
21.1.10 Shape of the Liturgy Part 1
21.1.17 Shape of the Liturgy Part 2
21.1.24 Shape of the Liturgy Part 3
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DECEMBER 2020
20.12.13 A translator's view on naming God in Māori
20.12.27 A translator's_view on the Māori Magnificat
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NOVEMBER 2020
20.11.15. A translator's_view on finding the right words
20.11.22 A translator's_view on changes in meaning
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OCTOBER 2020
20.10.4. St Francis and the wolf of Gubbio
20.10.18 Christians and Patriotism
20.10.25 How do we respond to the environmental crisis
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SEPTEMBER 2020
20. 9.6 What was God doing at the beginning of time
20. 9.13 Does science undermine the Biblical theology of creation
20. 9.20 The Wisdom of Solomon
20. 9.27 How things are and which things matter
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AUGUST 2020