I wonder if this story is relevant for the younger members of our congregation, the tale of Snow White? Maybe it helps us to recognise the amount of time that’s passed between our childhood and those of our young ones today. Maybe we have a few more lines on our faces, flecks of grey in our hair, maybe we’re afraid to ask the question that the Queen asks of the enchanted mirror in this story of Snow White.

For Christians, when it comes to our Salvation, we try to get in on the act, we think that we have a hand in it, that we can do enough good to deserve it, and so we do this deed and that deed, because we want to pat ourselves on the back. As we approach Easter, can we consider ‘letting go’ of the idea that the safety of our eternal souls might depend on us. If I ever thought that your eternal salvation depended on the quality of my speech, or the way that I present the gospel, I’d quit now, I know I wouldn’t ever be good enough, the pressure would be too much for me to bear.

We have been exploring our Reformed tradition, our covenantal story, and some of the foundational doctrines of our Presbyterian heritage, and there are few more fitting places that these truths come together than the First Sunday of Lent. The gospel reading in Matthew is a place where Jesus’ journey in the wilderness is not just a moral example for us, it’s one of the most pivotal steps toward our freedom through grace.

The word ‘covenant’ in our modern world tends to sit in contracts, the ‘legalese’ of property and finance and other such spheres. It would bore most of us to death but would likely cause us huge issues if we didn’t understand them or didn't read the fine print. In the areas where this word is used in modern life, I think most of us would try to find an excuse to be somewhere else.

Just a few years ago there was a young man called Billy Guyton who played for the Blues, the Crusaders, the Hurricanes and the Māori All Blacks, and was on the cusp of the top tier. After a lifetime playing rugby, he was diagnosed with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (essentially, he got too many heavy head knocks). It forced him into retirement at 28 struggling with mental health issues and he died 5 years later. Many might look at this young man and ask, where is God when things like this happen?

For Christians, who’s in charge on Monday? In our hearts, which authority comes first, the civil authority or the heavenly authority? In our passage this week, Matthew 22:15-22, a passage you’ve all read before, this tension arises. And the doctrine in reformed theology that we will explore is ‘The Two Kingdoms’ doctrine, or as it’s known in Latin, Duplex Regnum. Both John Calvin and Martin Luther explored the idea of there being a Spiritual Kingdom and a Civil Kingdom and how we as Christians might navigate the authority of these two spheres in our lives.

This year will be a year of discovery where we systematically explore our faith, the robust, beautiful and historically grounded doctrines that have shaped who we are as Presbyterians in Aotearoa New Zealand. We have found our way to this church somehow, and we add to this church with our own histories, but also with God-given gifts and talents. But do we know what we are a part of? Do we know the rich theological heritage of this church? Our church did not just appear out of thin air; it has a history that stretches back to the Scots who established a church for settlers here. Our heritage goes back before them to giants of the Reformation like John Calvin and John Knox. It goes back to the Apostles that we read about in our bibles today, and ultimately to the first verse of Genesis, “In the beginning God…”

Jesus asks us the ultimate question: “What are you looking for?” He does not offer a map; He offers an invitation: “Haere mai, kia kite” (Come and see). He looks past our flaws and sees our potential, renaming us and calling us into His life. We are invited to behold the Lamb and, in doing so, become the light we were always meant to be. “He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.” — Psalm 40:3

I suppose there’s all sorts of reasons why some seem so intent on sharing their lives with people that they might never meet or speak to. Some people make millions of dollars sharing their content, some people actually help others with their content, but I think there’s a multitude who are seeking to soothe a persistent ache in their soul of feeling unseen, unknown or even insignificant.

This Sunday we are already four days into the New Year of 2026, and I pray that we continue to be unashamed of our identity as followers of Jesus, that we find comfort in His teachings and hope in His promises. One of the most important questions we might ask though is which Jesus are we actually following? Because many people and many religions have a completely different idea of Jesus than that which is presented in scripture. In fact they would often mould their idea of Jesus to suit their own views and perspectives, unfortunately if we ‘customise’ Jesus to suit us, that Jesus will have no power to save.

As we sit in this church, we are on the same land where so many faithful Christians have stood, have prayed, sung and ministered to one another for well over one hundred years. You know there’s something quite sobering in that thought. Down at the beach we look out and see the same almost timeless view of Rangitoto that our forebears did, and this can sometimes make us feel the weight of the years passing and maybe question the part that we are to play in this place.

This Advent season says, “this is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.” It might seem trite to say, but love can conquer all, and scripture was quite explicit in saying that God is Love. God sent Jesus who is a gift of Love to us, our comfort and our ultimate hope in a world that always seems to be in a state of unravelling. We will consider Love this Sunday, with 1 John 4:7-12 as a focus.

Someone once said that ‘for someone to be truly happy in this world, they need someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.’ Actually, if we are looking for a true and everlasting joy, that quote isn’t too far from the mark because scripture points us to a Person to love, who calls us to do His will, but in whom we find perfect and everlasting hope. Let me invite you to take a moment to read our passage for this week, Psalm 16:5-11, but do so with an open and thankful heart.

After seeing the wounds of their Lord’s hands and side, they were overjoyed and, in their relief, Jesus said again, “Peace be with you!” Twice that night Jesus gave His peace, and a week later Jesus said it again to Thomas who was not there in the locked room, nor convinced of what the others had told him.

As much as we might feel the pressure of this time of year, if we filter our worries and anxieties through the lens of Christ, it will always help us to prioritise the right things. It will also help us to be more attuned to God-inspired opportunities through which we might bless others. So often the pressures of life corrupt our motives and our decisions, and this in turn compromises the purity of Christ’s love working through us, and it is Christ’s Hope, Peace, Joy and Love which should be the essence of Christmas.

Well this Sunday we will close off our series on prayer as we come to the end of ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ and specifically where we ask, ‘our Father’ to ‘…lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.’ This is the final petition that our Lord Jesus taught us to pray and hopefully it will provide some semblance of an answer to the question above. Take a moment to read Matthew 6:5-14 once again and may God bless you in this, because through Scripture, God is still speaking.

I think everyone has at some point in their life wondered if their needs would be met in some way before the day’s end, to the point of being in extreme worry or anxiety. If we’re honest, we’ve all wrestled with worry, even constant worry about having enough of something, maybe about being able to provide for our family, or having a roof, food or maybe just securing our own future. And to make things worse we see others living life with a naïve carelessness and we might even look at them with envy.

We must be strong and continue to work faithfully because the glory of God is guaranteed and God’s promises never return void and the promise that we find in Haggai is this: "The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house." Let us maintain our faith in this season of change.

What if prayer can help us recover a little of what we have lost? Because the ease of satisfying our personal desires, it seems, often drowns out the call to something greater, the call to something beyond our lives. Could a patient prayer life transform us in a way that leads to a spiritual flourishing that sustains us through the inevitable trials we will all experience in this life?

As I continue to sit with prayer, for every answer one might come to, two questions take its place. For instance, have you ever wondered about the contrast between the warmth of a loving Father and this being who is the awe-inspiring, vast and majestic Creator of the universe? This contrast is what theologians might describe as a God who is both immanent and transcendent.