A Lenten Pilgrimage 2026

Daily Office Prepare to Bloom Immediately after his baptism, having received the greatest possible endorsement from God Himself - “This is my Son, with whom I am well-pleased” - we expect Jesus to begin his ministry. He should start at once to heal and comfort and teach. He should do battle with the powers of evil. He should exercise his divinity. But he does not. Instead, Jesus walks into the wilderness where, for 40 long days, he does nothing except allow the fullness of God to gather within him. He is disciplining himself to do the will of his Father in Heaven. Satan tries to throw Jesus off the scent of such holiness. He tempts Jesus with self-importance. “Don’t  just stand there being hungry,” he says. “You have a mandate from God, and there’s work to do. So turn these stones into bread, and eat, and then get busy.” But Jesus does not. Instead, he feeds on hunger - hunger to know his Father’s business, and then hunger to do it. “Man shall not live on bread alone,” Jesus says, ...

  2 Kgs 5:1-15a; Ps 42:1-2; Lk 4:24-30 In a world full of monarchs God chose a haughty sigma male with withered wings to arrogantly grace the scene of our beloved Biblical Canon…. lame man. More like Naaman hehe. These stories are full of those who are full of themselves hey? Maybe? Pt1 Why on earth does this random Aramean traipse onto stage and have an encounter with Yahweh way before Jesus comes. Naaman makes a strange entrance here. A pagan, a non-inheritor of the blessings of Jacob’s line, and he doesn’t want any of this funky spirituality of lame-o Samaria and their squalourly Jordan river. Honestly, I know of much grander rivers myself as well as Naaman. And to have travelled all that way with a packed caravan to be ordered to perform some repetitious ablutions? If this healer Elisha is the real deal why couldn’t he have just bippity boppity booped me into rightness?  … The deer where I’m from are prim and proper folk pampered by human food and bustling rivers? Panting?...

  Ex 17:1-7; Ps 95; Rom 5:1-11; Jn 4:5-42   On average, the human body is about 60% water. When we are thirsty, then, we experience a uniquely existential kind of discomfort. We do not have enough of what we already are.  With this in mind, I felt rather sorry for the Israelites in my first few readings of today’s passage from Exodus 17. There they are, wandering in circles, 60% of their bodies evaporating in the dry desert air, until God finally helps Moses to give everybody a drink. Sure, they could work on their attitudes—“Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” (v. 3) isn’t the greatest thing to say to someone who parted an entire sea to get you out of slavery—but they had been through a lot and probably weren’t sleeping well. And yet they get a lot of flak for their grumpiness! These Israelites are name-checked in Psalm 95, which has God say:  For forty years I loathed that generation     and said, ‘ T...

  A Reflective moment (or hour) on a morning in Kauwai Mark 6:30-34  Psalms 119:9-16  1 Kings 3:3-14 After reading the above scriptures I have come to the conclusion that if you really wanted to follow Jesus, and/or be one with God, or perhaps a leader of others or followers, that you merely had to be trained and follow some basic principles and be tutoured by one appointed through God. Specifically, in Mark 6: The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest .   Jesus wanted some rest and a chance to discuss what they had seen and learned. This of course wasn’t to be, as the crowds had followed Him and that about 5000 joined him for dinner consisting of a meal of bread and fish.  David writes in Psalms of his instructions he received: How can a youn...

    https://pixabay.com/images/download/pexels-light-1866712_1920.jpg     Gen 37:3-4, 12-28; Mt 21:33-46; Ps 17:1-8   On the Good Side I am often awed with how human scripture sometimes is, and not always on the good side of humanity. The Genesis and Matthew verses are two such readings. The first, a story of Israel and his sons, (for who should be better than the namesakes of the Jewish nation and his forebears?), is rife with favouritism, enmity, jealousy, resentment, hatred, thoughts of murder, lying, saving face, manipulation, utter rejection, betrayal, and slavery. And Jesus' parable and the Pharisees, in Matthew fare no better. The parable’s tenants beat, stone, and/or kill their owner’s slaves and son, keeping or stealing what wasn’t theirs. In this case, Jesus says they will face death and their opportunity will be given over to others who will work with the owner or “produces the fruit of the kingdom.” The Pharisees catch the drift that the parable is a...