Mike Oliver's Messages

Last spring I climbed Mt Somers with two others.  I was the oldest and the weakest and invited them to follow me.  Once we had climbed the mountain I took them to the edge of the sheer south face.  I marched over to the most exposed rock and sat there enjoying the view.  One of them cautiously followed me but the other became paralysed about five metres behind us.  The fear of falling from that great height over the precipice overcame him.  He never did get within three metres of where we were sitting.  I must admit the first time I approached that sheer face a few months earlier I was also slightly anxious.  However, even on that first event though cautious, I sat on the edge without fear dominating my life.  I was not trying to save my life because nobody was going to take it from me; God and I have a thing going on. A similar incident happened recently while walking around Mt Maunganui. I was taking a photograph of my son and daughter-in...

In this reading Jesus has been seeking, much like us, some peace away from the ministry in the region of the coast.  In the Mark version it says that Jesus entered a house and wanted nobody to know it, but he could not be hidden.  I so know how that feels and yet there are moments of gold in it all.  Shelley and I have been on retreat in these last two weeks.  This was our break away from ministry and machine testing to take time out as it were to plug in to the source and recharge your batteries.  Christian friends graciously allowed us to use their Mt Maunganui place again; a quite luxurious three storied apartment.  From there we took walks on the beaches the of the ocean side or the Harbour side, even around the mount which we did.  Many coffee shops were less than a minute away, restaurants, picture theatre, shops and of all types.  It is a beautiful place to be and a contrast to the beauty of the Canterbury scenery.  Boats moo...

I so wanted to sail it myself. When I was about twelve I guess my older brother had been working with my Pop building a P Class yacht. When it was finished I watched my brother sail his beautiful red and white creation all over the place. Then one day while on holiday at Mairangi Bay, north Auckland, I was given my chance. I was eager but also fearful at the same time; eager to sail into the horizon and fearful of what might happen if the yacht capsized on me away out there in the deep. I guess I prayed about it, I don’t remember. The idea came to me to get rid of my fear by purposely flipping the boat to practice righting it again in the shallows and relative safety of the bay. So I hauled in the main sheet, pulled the tiller hard over and climbed over the side as the sail dropped to the water stood on the keel and up she popped again as I climbed back in hardly even wet. Now that I had conquered the mind numbing fear that burdened me I had of faith not a doubt in the world t...

Now I know it’s a big word but I want to help you understand the importance of "contextualising" the Gospel message. To accomplish this I am playing for you the 2005 Coldplay hit song “Fix You.” Then will tell you a story. I will bring this to relevance with today’s readings. “Fix You” is a nice song for some and others peculiar, even odd I guess. But in 2005 our daughter Paula suffered bouts of terrible headaches, migraines; stress about up-coming examinations said one doctor. I remember well a November morning standing in the courtyard at work talking to the boss and his son when the phone call came through. Our girl had been unable to sleep with these head pains and Shelley finally took her to A&E. The doctors pumped her full of pain relief but to no avail, then relenting, took her for a CT scan. There they found a unexpected mass the size of a tennis ball in the back of her head. I remember Shelley’s words over the phone, vividly, as we enjoyed the morning sun outs...

Shelley and I were invited to take the service for St James Presbyterian at Tinwald, Ashburton on Sunday and although I had a written message the Spirit had other plans and we preached directly from a prepared clip of The Lion King where the wise man Rafiki meets the maturing runaway Simba. I recount the themes brought from the clip that may well have been inspired by John's Gospel Ch 14: Youtube: Simba meets Rafiki Youtube: Simba sees his father There was a place prepared for Simba as the heir to the kingdom of his father Mufasa. Jesus said I go to prepare a place for you that where I am you shall also be. This does not necessarily mean when you pass on into heaven but in going to the cross Jesus prepared a place for his disciples, by his shed blood instead of ours, in His kingdom of the Holy Spirit who would come fifty days later if they stayed as instructed in the prepared place in Jerusalem. When the Holy Spirit came Jesus who was in the Father and the Father in Him woul...

Some ladies could be heard outside the church a few days ago. I didn’t think much of their background chatter until my wife arrived back from town in the car and going out to help her with the heavy groceries I was asked if we had a key to the church. I informed the ladies that the church wasn’t locked and proceeded to help them to enter in, knowing the way the latch worked. It occurred to me that people have many differing views of how one may enter in to the Kingdom of God, even to the Church. Some see a theatre of coming to the sacramental altar of the historically continuous church, others a lecture room of the word and sacrament, others the presence of the Holy Spirit in Christian fellowship. Some have feared God believing there is no way their unrighteousness could ever darken the door of the church. Matthew 21 sets a similar story before us as Jesus re-enters the fallen habitation of peace (Jerusalem) for the Passover festival after a long period of being “On the road to Jerusa...

Along with so many others my own sister became a victim of the Christchurch Quake with her house being cracked, out of level and yet liveable once power, water and finally we hope sewage restored. Following the second big quake one of her much loved privacy trees began to slowly lean over until it fell against the front door. I volunteered to bring the chainsaw and cut it up so she could regain her freedom to go out and come in to her house. The operation went well and over two hours we turned the offensive tree into a couple of trailer loads ready for the dump and some logs for firewood. As you do these days communication began to emerge on Facebook about appreciation for our doing this for her and comments about the great influx of light into her house. I made the comment “Could put a whole new theology to the words "Let there be light" in removing one tree…” The offending tree would have to be the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” mentioned in Gen. 2:17 as the only...