Today is Trinity Sunday and I provide a reflection on the notion of a triune God, drawing particularly on Proverbs 8, as well as Genesis 1 and Romans 5. The crux of it is that relationality is central to the being of God – the three-in-oneness of God. Therefore, the core of human life also is relationality. We need to invest in relationships, and we need to give particular attention to those relationships that are struggling or fragile.
Watch the video below of this 42-minute message. Yes, much longer than usual! I’m sorry about that, but it is – I think – worth the time, as a close reading of John 20:19-29 sheds to much light on Jesus’ character, his relationship with the disciples and his work as the Son of God. My notes are available below the video
Verses 19, 26 Both times Jesus “stood right in the middle of them”
Christ is the centre – not the priest, Bible, APB – only the person Christ
Christ-centred church
1, 19, 26 Easter Sunday morning – Jesus appears to Mary
Easter Sunday evening – Jesus appears in the upper room
Following Sunday (today) – Jesus appears again, to Thomas
19, 21, 26 Peace be with you – Shalom alechem x3
Easter Sunday – Christ made peace between us and God
Forgiveness of sins – done, paid for, wiped clean, forgotten, cast the deep
Everything is good. It’s all okay
Easter is the Great Forgiveness!
20 He showed them his hands and side
Emphasis on bodily resurrection, reconnected to his people
Not just some spiritual, esoteric thing
He is fully embodied, albeit with some unusual capacities
20 He could have come back healed, but doesn’t. Why?
His identification with us, solidarity with our pain & suffering
He remains the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 (4-5):
He took up our pain and bore our suffering. He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
20 The disciples were overjoyed – full of joy
Joy (chara) & grace/gift (charis) – joy is a gift of God – because Jesus is back
21 “As the father has sent me, I am sending you”
We are to continue God’s work. We are sent, just as Christ was sent
Jn 3:16/7 “God so loved the world that he gave [sent] his one and only Son … For God did not send his Son to condemn the world, but to save it”
Every Christian is sent – not just clergy or evangelists
22 He breathed on them, “Receive the Holy Spirit”
Hebrew for spirit & breath are both? Ruach
Gen 1:2: Spirit of God hovering
22 Gen 2:7: “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being”
To receive Jesus’ breath & Holy Spirit is to be made a new living being
22 To receive Jesus’ breath & Holy Spirit is a grace/gift (charis)
As the Spirit/breath was active in the creation of earth and humanity
2 Cor 5:17: “If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old has passed away, the new has come.”
22 Holy Spirit poured out on Pentecost: Easter Season is from Easter Sunday to Pentecost
23 Forgive anyone’s sin
The gift of HS is not so much miraculous signs, etc.
Instead the central commission – sending – is to forgive
And to warn that to not repent = no forgiveness
The Great Forgiveness!
24 Thomas was not with the disciples when Jesus came.
Where was he? He should have been in church! We should be in church!
27 Touch, see
V20. Jesus showed them his hands and side.
Thomas wants what the others got – to see. But also to touch
Our Eucharist is a see and touch moment
– receive the body of Christ broken for you (not receive this bread)
– receive the blood of Christ (not receive this wine)
Not clear if Thomas did actually touch: “Thomas answered and said…”
Perhaps seeing and the invitation to touch was enough for him
27 Stop doubting and believe. Be a believer!!
Accept the small and periodic signs of God and believe into him
28 My Lord and my God!
Hebrew: Yahweh & Elohim – names for God
Greek: Kyrie & Theos – names for God
The only place in the Gospels where Jesus is referred to as God – A profound statement of faith – perhaps the most
This 20-minute message is part of a larger reflection on Jesus’ beatitude, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9). Today, the day before Maundy Thursday, we reflect on peacemaking in a broken world, by considering the story of Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego’s encounter with the grandiose, narcissist, golden King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 3. This passage – about imperialism and oppression, about the power of God, and about tyranny’s downfall – has great relevance in this world in 2025. The passage speaks to the presence of Christ in suffering. It speaks to the downfall of empires. It speaks to the power of disobedience, and the triumph of faith and smallness. Daniel 3 is a passage for today.
Click here to listen to the audio recording of this 17-minute message. Or watch the video here on Facebook (the message starts around 25 minutes into the recording) – for this sermon, the video is much better than just the audio – you need to see it. Or read the text summary below (photos included below).
Today we celebrate Christ’s baptism, which inaugurates his ministry. John the Baptist had been preaching a Gospel of repentance for the forgiveness of sin, made tangible through baptism. And Jesus came to him to be baptised, even though Jesus was without sin.
As Jesus comes up out of the water, the heavens open and the Spirit of God descends on Jesus in the form of a dove, and the voice of God is heard saying, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” This is the only place in the Bible where Father, Son and Holy Spirit are tangibly present at the same time. This is an expression of the Epiphany, which is the season we’re currently in – Epiphany being all about God’s revelation of God’s self to the world. And this scene is certainly a great revelation of the triune God!
We could also think about this moment as an incarnation not only of Christ himself, but of all three persons of the Trinity – Jesus is there in the flesh, the Holy Spirit comes in bodily form like a dove, and God’s voice is audible to human ears (sound waves moving through the air). Father, Son and Spirit all materialise in the human world in that brief moment. This conveys the sense that the triune God works together for the salvation of humankind.
In our service, I invited three people to create a tableaux of the Father, the Spirit and the Son, similar to the paintings of Jesus’ baptism (see picture below). They are standing with their arms outstretched in love. This is an image of the triune God: three persons working in perfect harmony to pour out God’s love and salvation on humanity.
This expression of the triune God is flooded with love. Today’s first testament reading from Isaiah 43:1-7 contains these words from God: I created you, I have redeemed you, I have summoned you by name, I will be with you, I love you, I am with you, I will bring you, I will gather you, I formed you, I made you. And in Luke 3:22, we hear God saying, “You are my son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased”. We hear in these words the great enduring love that God has for his son and for us. And this is expressed through the incarnation and through the epiphany. It reminds us that love is the central characteristic of God – the foundation on which God engages within the triune Godhead and on which God engages with us.
We are encouraged, therefore, to rest into the great and generous love that God lavishes on us, which we see so clearly in the baptism of Christ.
Click here to listen to the audio recording of this 20-minute message. Or watch the video here on Facebook (the message starts 25 minutes into the recording). Or read the text summary below.
Today we celebrate St Stephen, after whom our church is named. It is our church’s patronal festival, our birthday.
Stephen was a young man, appointed a deacon in the early church. He appears only in Acts 6 and 7, but in those few pages, he makes a remarkable impression and impact. He is the first Christian martyr – stoned to death because he challenged the Jew people’s lack of faith in Jesus Christ.
While we walk primarily in the footsteps of Jesus Christ – he is God incarnate, our teacher and our Lord and saviour – we give heed also to the example of Stephen, and seek to continue his legacy in our parish community today.
Our readings centre on Acts, omitting Stephen’s long, but very impressive and persuasive sermon. This are supported by a reading from 2 Chronicles, where Zechariah (an earlier Zechariah – not the father of John the Baptist) is stoned to death for speaking God’s Word. Psalm 31, which includes the words that both Jesus and Stephen speak as they died. And John 6, which is the ordinary reading for today, from Jesus’ long sermon on the Bread of Life. I have tabulated these three people, because there are significant and meaningful similarities between them, that speak to all Christians, and especially those who are members of a church named after St Stephen:
| Topic | Zechariah | Jesus | Stephen |
| Reading | 2 Chronicles 24:17-22 | John 6:24-35 | Acts 6:8-10 & 7:54-60 |
| Holy Spirit | Spirit of God came on him | Baptised by John and the Holy Spirit descended on him | Full of Holy Spirit, faith, grace and power |
| Care for the poor | – | Fed 5000 men (plus women and children) with bread and fish | Oversaw the daily distribution of food |
| Challenges with the people | They were chasing after other Gods | They just wanted food and miracles | Wanted quiet conformity with the past |
| Challenging the people | Why do you disobey the Lord’s commands? | Do not work for food that spoils | You stiff necked people! Your hearts are uncircumcised! You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? |
| Consequences for God’s messengers | Stoned to death | Crucified | Stoned to death |
| Their final words | May the Lord see this and call you to account. | Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing. | Lord, do not hold this sin against them. |
| Final prayer | – | Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit (in Luke) | Lord Jesus, receive my spirit (Psalm 31:5) |
So, what do we take from this, and particularly from Stephen, into our daily lives?
Click here to listen to the audio recording of this 22-minute message. Or watch the video here on Facebook (the message starts 24 minutes into the recording). Or read the text summary below.
The Trinity (the three-in-one God) is a central belief for Christians, even though the term is not in the Bible and there are few explicit statements about a three-in-one God in the Bible. But there are hints and clues all over the place, e.g., in today’s readings with have:
Jews and Muslims share with us Christians the First Testament, and so it can be argued (though not all will agree) that we all worship the same God, whether by the name of Jehovah, Allah or God our Father. And all recognise Jesus as a significant person, though Jews see him as a Rabbi and Muslims as a Prophet, while we see him as God the Son. They do not recognise God as three-in-one; indeed, it sounds to them like we have three Gods. For Jews and Muslims, God is a single, male ruler – a King. They follow a pattern of a single line of authority, similar to how the military is structured. There is only One God.
For Christians, by contrast, God is plural, diverse and relational. But this plurality in the Godhead, however we might understand it, is characterised by harmony and concord. There is no conflict, competition or divergence in the triune Godhead. This is a very different conception of God.
Do we understand God’s three-in-oneness? Can we rationalise it and explain it? No, not really. It is hard enough to understand a single human being; how much harder is it to explain God, let alone a triune God! We can, should and do think about the Trinity – we theologise and theorise how God be both three and one. But ultimately, we do not find fully satisfying explanations and understandings. We often come up with analogies to explain God’s three-in-oneness: states of water, an egg, a clover, family, etc. But all of these lead us into one or other heresy about the nature of God.
We are well advised to discard all these analogies and simply gaze upon the mystery of the Godhead. We should apprehend God, not analyse or dissect God. All we can really conclude with any confidence is that God is inherently relational – there are relationships within the centre of the Godhead; relationships characterised by immense, enduring and steadfast love. Let us hold to this beautiful mystery.
So, God is not a monarch, but a cooperative, and that leads me to think about words starting with co- and com-
These co-/com- words emphasise the relational quality that is central to the being of God. And because these are central to who God is, they are central to the world that God has created. And they are central to how we live our lives. Everything that God does is relational and we are part of this relational mix. Our readings today provide important examples of this:
The key implication for us worshiping a triune, collective God is to develop collective thinking and behaving. Relationships are primary to God and primary to us.
Featured image from https://www.stpaulscalgary.ca/podcasts/media/2020-06-07-trinity-sunday
Click here to listen to the audio recording of this 28-minute message. Or watch the video here on Facebook (the message starts about 25 minutes into the recording). Or read the text summary below.
Today (28 May – this post is going out a bit late – sorry) is Pentecost, where we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit of God. We talk a lot in church about God the Father and God the Son, but much less about God the Holy Spirit. So, today I thought to share 10 fun facts about Holy Spirit, so that we have a better understanding and appreciation of who s/he is. Let’s call it “Pneumatology 101”! Are you ready? Here we go!
It is my hope that these ideas, which you may agree with more or less, will stimulate your interest in Holy Spirit, learning more about her and getting to know her better.
Featured image from https://www.christiantruthcenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/holy-spirit.jpg
Click here to listen to the audio of this 16-minute message. Or watch the video on Facebook here (the message starts at about 36 minutes – video and sound quality are unfortunately not great).
Today we celebrate and remember Jesus’ transfiguration, where he revealed his divine glory to Peter, James and John on the mountain top (Luke 9:28-36). We must remember that this moment was a transfiguration, not a transformation. A transformation implies that Jesus changes form, e.g., from ordinary human to divine being. But this not how we understand what happened on that mountain – there is no change of ‘form’ as if there are two Jesuses – one human and one divine. Instead, what changes is the ordering or configuration of Jesus – his divinity has been inside him since his conception. It was just set behind his humanity – what changed is the order what we see: his divinity comes to the fore for that short time. Hence, it is a transfiguration.
We have heard many sermons about what happens on the mountain and response of the disciples. I don’t want to repeat that today. Instead, I’d invite us to reflect on what it means for us, for our daily lives as Christians.
2 Corinthians 3:3-18 speaks of this event and contrasts it with the similar glory that Moses displayed after he had met with God on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:29-35). Surely, the glory that Moses radiated was impressive. But Paul’s emphasizes that Moses’ glory was based in the old Covenant of the Law, which was written on tablets of stone, which was transient and which had now passed away. Instead, the glory in Paul’s time was based in the new Covenant of Christ and the Spirit of God, which are enduring and which are so much more glorious.
Paul goes on to emphasize that while Moses covered his face, because God’s glory that radiated off him made people afraid, we go around with our faces uncovered. He encourages us to be bold and let God’s glory be seen for what it is. And this glory is transformational (now this is the right word to use), in that it changes us from the inside out, into the image of Christ.
So, let’s cycle back to the question asked: What does the transfiguration mean for us, for our daily lives as Christians? Most importantly, we are urged to accept that the glory of God – through Christ and through Holy Spirit – resides within us. We might not feel it and we may not adequately reflect it in life; but it is a true reality. Put your hand on your chest and press it a bit – here is where the glory of God resides – within us, in our heart, as Paul writes, “written with the Spirit of the living God on tablets of human hearts” (2 Cor 3:3). And, so where we are, the glory of God is.
And this truth, even if we don’t embody it very well, can inspire us to be bold, to be holy and to be compassionate.
Click here to listen to the audio recording of this 19-minute message. Or watch the video on Facebook (the message starts at about 25 minutes).
I am fortunate to belong to a church named after a great figure in the early church – St Stephen. He was one of the first second-generation leaders in the church (meaning people who came after Jesus’ ascension). Stephen fills up two chapters of Acts (chapters 6 & 7). The first person to become a leader after the first disciples was Matthias, who replaced Judas as the 12th disciple (Acts 1:23-26) – Matthias is not mentioned anywhere else in our Bible. Next, were seven deacons, who were appointed in Acts 6:5-6. Stephen is one of these seven, and the only to be discussed in any detail. Saul (who later becomes Paul) is introduced right at the end of the story about Stephen, as being present at Stephen’s stoning (Acts 7:58).
Stephen is described in some detail in the first verses of Acts 6, as being full of faith, full of the Holy Spirit, full of God’s grace, full of wisdom and full of power. He is also described as having “the face of an angel” (which might refer to a look of power and authority, more than pale cherub-like skin).
Stephen’s primary role as deacon was to take care of the widows in the early church. But he is described also as performing great signs and wonders and teaching authoritatively (as we see in his 50-verse sermon in Acts 7). Stephen was the first follower of Christ to die for his faith – the first Christian martyr. And he demonstrated his profound faith while being stoned to death and, like Jesus, forgave his murderers as he died. In many ways, Stephen exemplifies what Jesus says to his disciples in Matthew 10:17-22: “You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
While we are primarily followers of Christ, we are also all followers of St Stephen, particularly in the following ways:
What a great privilege it is to be a follower not only of Christ, but also of Stephen. His life reflects many of the qualities of Jesus that we appreciate and that we should emulate.
Click here to listen to the audio recording of this 15-minute message. Or watch the video on Facebook here (the message starts at about 22 minutes into the video).
We live in a world that is fraught with challenges and unpredictabilities. We think of Russia’s war on Ukraine, the continued challenges of the people of Palestine and the various conflicts in Africa. We think in South Africa of increasing unemployment, rising inflation, the upcoming petrol price hike. We think of loadshedding and the ongoing challenges of Covid. We think of the water crisis in Nelson Mandela Bay and the devastation of the floods in KwaZulu-Natal. The world is unpredictable. Our lives are often unpredictable. Sometimes, we may feel disoriented and anxious because of the many challenges that we face at personal, national and global levels.
In these times, it is reassuring to recognise that while life may be unpredictable, God is consistent. God persists. God has always, continues to and will always engage with us. When life feels chaotic, we have a God we can rely on.
Today’s reading from John 14:23-27 is particularly strong in reassuring us of God’s continuity. Jesus starts in v23 with himself: “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.” And then he immediately continues, “My Father will love them.” Here is the first affirmation of consistency – between God the Son and God the Father. Jesus draws the immediate and strong link between himself, his Father and us – rooted in love – our love for Christ and the Father’s love for us. And he continues with these amazing words, “and we will come to them and make our home with them”. I love this use of ‘we’ and ‘our’ – here Jesus is referring to himself and his Father as operating together, as a partnership, and of coming dwell with us as a partnership. What a great reassurance of the continuity between the Father and the Son. And Jesus continues further, “These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me” – yet further reassurance of continuity and consistency between God the Father and God the Son.
Jesus then continues, introducing the Holy Spirit as “the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name”. In this short phrase we have Father, Son and Holy Spirit, collaborating together – the Father sends the Holy Spirit in the Son’s name. And the role of the Holy Spirit will be to “teach you all things and [to] remind you of everything I have said to you”. Here again, we have continuity and consistency – Holy Spirit does not start a new work in us, but rather continues the work of the Son, by reinforcing his teachings in us.
The result of all of this continuity from the Father of the Old Testament, the Son of the Gospels and the Spirit of the New Testament church is peace. Peace! Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” We can breathe out, we can rest in God, we can trust that God has been consistently and persistently at work throughout history, from the creation until now and into the future. Do not be troubled. Do not be afraid. Be at peace.
And these reassurances of God’s continuity extend into the future. Revelation 21:10 and 21:22-22:5 paint a compelling image of the heaven. John is taken by the Spirit – the same Spirit Jesus has spoken about in John’s Gospel – and sees the new Jerusalem, the Holy City coming down out of heaven from God. It is a glorious sight! There is no temple there, because God (the Father) and the Lamb (the Son) are its temple. God’s light shines out brilliantly. The gates of the city are always open. There is a river running through the city, with the water of life, and the tree of life, with leaves for the healing of the nations. We can see God’s face.
John’s vision is a deep reassurance of God’s continuity – what have seen in the Father throughout the first Testament, what we have seen confirmed in the life of the Son in the Gospels, and what we have been promised and experienced in the coming of Holy Spirit in the early Church and continuing until today, will continue into the future, until the day Christ returns.
We can rest deeply into the continuity of God, into God’s steadfast faithfulness and persistence. We can hold onto a God who is faithful, even when our own faith is frail or when life’s burdens overwhelm or depress us. We can hold fast to God’s continuity.
Reflections of God's Love 
