In her first sermon as priest, Denise Kelsall, fearlessly takes on Matthew, Isaiah, Yahweh as a war god, the rapture, American foreign policy, apocalyptic literature and offers a softer view of Advent as we wait pregnant with the Christ within. "In spite of the popularity of the “Left Behind” series of books, most of the Americans I have met are rational and reasonably aware, pretty much like you and me. Live and let live you could say. Often they are people I like to talk and eat and share ideas with. I even work with a couple. However, it appears that the views carried in these books may encourage or perhaps have emerged alongside misguided conservative policies. Bernard Shaw said; “A nation armed for war can no more help going to war than a chicken can help laying an egg.” If he is right, then America, an avowedly Christian nation, with all its massive military might is a nation predicated on war, further legitimised by this lethal and aggressive fundamentalism. This might help to explain why the powerful, in that potentially and sometimes magnificent country, continue on what is seen by much of the world as a course of intimidation, violence and domination." Full text at http://www.stmatthews.org.nz/nav.php?sid=328&id=788.