with David Hines

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David Hines © 23^rd September 2018.

The Unitarian Universalist covenant on the wall includes:

the goal of world community, with peace, liberty and justice for all.

but there is a conflict there: If there’s justice for all, doesn’t that mean some people will have to be punished, with a bottom line punishment of jail. But if some have to go to jail that means that there would not be liberty for all. And our goal would be nonsense? Continue reading Does New Zealand put too many people into jail? →

with David Hines

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David Hines © 26^th August 2018

Introduction

When Clay asked me to take this service back in July I had just had a heart attack, and like many others who’ve been through this kind of event, it made me re-think where my life was heading.
But I had also just been on a holiday on the Great Barrier Reef …. And that also made me rethink … in a more positive kind… so I thought good events can be life-changing. Continue reading Life-changing events you didn’t ask for →

with David Hines

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David Hines © 3^rd June 2018

1. Intro. What makes it an issue again?

   There are two law changes being proposed in New Zealand this year, and it seems to me they are heading for a collision. What do you think?: Continue reading Blasphemy and the right to hate religion →

with David Hines

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David Hines © 20^th May 2018

Intro

The book of Acts has a lot of over-the-top stories about the Christian gospel spreading out to other nations. There’s one about Peter dreaming of a Roman Centurion called Cornelius, who just happens to be dreaming about a man called Peter. There’s an earthquake that breaks open the prison two apostles have been locked into, but the apostles just stay in jail, singing. About a dozen of these stories altogether. Continue reading The Transgender Bookworm →

David Hines

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David Hines © 11^th March 2018

I’d like to thank Sean for asking me to preach on Being Pākehā Now. (He won this prize in our parish auction). I have never called myself a Pākehā, but had never asked myself why not. So this was a challenge for me to investigate something new, and also to investigate my own attitude.

After studying it – I was surprised to find how controversial it is, and to discover that Pākehā is not a term I want to use myself … but I can understand why other people do.

So I want to look at three examples of New Zealanders who have or haven’t called themselves Pākehā. Continue reading Don’t call me a Pākehā →

David Hines

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David Hines © 7^th January 2018

Yesterday was the day when Christians celebrate the story of the wise men visiting the baby Jesus. The gospel writer referred to as Matthew says they had been guided there by a star. Since then, there have been numerous theories about whether this really was a star, or a supernova, or a comet, or just a piece of fiction. Continue reading Jesus meets Halley’s Comet →

David Hines

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David Hines © 19 November 2017

I’m relatively new to being an atheist. I took that step in my mind back in 1986 …. but it was mixed in with my Christianity….. and I didn’t join an atheist organisation till five years ago … so I’m speaking today as a learner. And I want to focus on what difference it makes to our lives. Because atheists, Christians, humanists, Jews have a lot in common, which is possibly more important than the things where they are different. Continue reading How many atheists does it take to change a lightbulb? →

David Hines

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David Hines © 22 October 2017

Introduction

I got a surprise recently to count how many white lies I had told in a single week, or deliberate evasions to keep people in the dark and my score was five. I should add a couple to that for the times when other people said things that were wrong; and I zipped my lip, and deliberately left them with a false impression, because the truth was not something I was not ready to talk about with those people.

And of course there have been dozens of these white lies in the media over the couple of months of the election campaign. Continue reading How many white lies is too many? →

David Hines

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David Hines © 1 October 2017

Introduction

Its quite difficult trying to pick a sermon topic a month ahead, so Clay can put it onto the church noticeboard.
So a month ago I took a big gamble, and I thought, On October the first we will have had the election, but we still won’t know who is going to be the government. Continue reading Relentless Positivity →

David Hines

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David Hines © 20 August 2017

I saw a surprising Facebook post from my oldest daughter Karen a few weeks ago. It was paying tribute to Aunty Phyll. Now, I didn’t know she had an aunty Phyll so I thought it must have been one of her husband’s aunts, and didn’t reply.

Then a few days later I got another Facebook post, from my youngest daughter Nikki, who lives near Levin. She was asking if I could pick her up from the airport in a couple of days time, to take her to Aunty Phyll’s funeral in Auckland. I was embarrassed because by now I had guessed who Aunty Phyll might be, but I wasn’t be sure. And didn’t like to admit I didn’t know. Continue reading Good outcomes from broken homes? →