Reader comments:

"As an ex-Christian, I have gone through a lot of pain in deconverting ... you are the very first Christian who doesn't make me feel like God (the God I think I don't believe in) hates me. May you and yours be richly blessed ..."

"Nothing is more welcome on Darwin's birthday than a reminder that we can differ and still be one humanity."

(From an atheist) "I just stumbled across your 'Friendly to Atheists?' page, and I wanted to tell you - I'm really impressed, and if more Christians (and atheists) were like you, the world would be a better place."

"How refreshing this is. Keep it up."

Latest sermons - Changing your destiny // empathizing with an arrogant guest // a mini-drama for use in church // Christians in politics // was Jesus a psychologist?

Welcome to preachers who are using the Revised Common Lectionary. We aim to have a sermon for you every week, a week or more in advance:

For September 5, I have a third pyschological story, called Choose your destiny. It's based on a story where the prophet Jeremiah sees a potter reshaping a piece of clay that he has accidentally broken. Jeremiah is saying that God can change people's lives. I agree with him, and I'd say that one example of this is psychology.

For August 29, I study another psychological parable told by Jesus. This time, it's about an arrogant person who feels entitled to be treated better than everybody else. It's part of a book I'm publishing in November. Check out this preview study, called Jesus showed empathy to an arrogant person.

For August 15, we've got a one-act play for use in churches. King David wrote a beautiful psalm about how insignificant humans are, compared to the stars. It's a comparison many modern people have made, with views of Earth from space. Our fantasy gets King David to take a view from space today. We include jpeg files to use with the play. It's showing to five Auckland churches in August, and provoked a lot of favorable comment in its first showing. It's called Supernova summit, and includes a new hymn.

For August 8, I try to bring a fresh viewpoint on the topic of  religion getting mixed into politics. The Jewish prophet, Isaiah, for instance, gives heaps of political advice. My objection is not to the mixture but the way he prefixes his advice with "thus saith the Lord". I would rephrase that as "Thus saith Isaiah, follow my social agenda or else."

Was Jesus a psychologist? That's the view I've come to after studying a number of Jesus' parables, and I outline one of them in a sermon for August 1. The parable was told following a conversation Jesus had with a poor man, but in the parable, the hero is a rich man. Do the two stories match?

Roll on, peace; roll on, hospitality; roll on, understanding. That's my translation of three lines from the Lord's Prayer, in a sermon for July 25. Because although this famous prayer seems like it's addressed to God, in fact almost every line of it raises the possibility that we might have to answer it ourselves.

They also serve who only sit and listen. That was my topic for July 18, and it's based on a story about two women who were entertaining Jesus in their home. One prepared a meal while the other sat and listened.

For July 11, I offered some thoughts about the Good Samaritan. I ask: which is more important, loving God or loving your neighbor? I come to the surprising conclusion that for Jesus it was more important to love your neighbor! What do you reckon?

One of my hopes for this site is that it may help to increase goodwill between Christians and atheists. Many people jump to the conclusion that Christianity and atheism are opposites, but it ain't necessarily so. For my full statement on why we should be friendly to atheists, click here. This article has attracted more visitors than any other. So far it has received 7500 clicks. It gets more each week than my latest sermon (must improve those sermons).