Colourful Dreamer

A couple of posting ago I put up some thoughts about bad taste liturgy. These are some of my reflections. I really appreciated the thoughts about bad taste. I think however we need to be careful. I spent some time with some youth leaders in Nelson who were appalled by Marva Dawn and her anti-modern modern /Hillsong+ Parachute style music comments. If you have read some of my comments, you will know I am not a big fan either, but I think there is a difference between my comments and hers. Most were left wondering if the Anglican Church has anything to offer them and the young people we work with. So instead of being anti something, I liked the comments about re-connecting with the tradition, and letting that expand. The group I worked with really took to that. In the end, my bad taste is another’s art. So we do need to be careful not to end up being cultural snobs, but ready to embrace, and to let that speak to us, as I would hope what we love speaks to what they offer. Then we will cre...

Another busy month. Here are some reflections. I went to the Order of Saint Stephen retreat in Wellington about 3 weeks ago. OSS is a religious order for 16-25 year olds. It acts as a community that both supports young people through the transitions of that age group, and offers a disciplined way to develop the spiritual disciplines needed for a life of faith. I think it is a great idea. One of the tasks ahead of us is how to spread the word and invite other young people into the order. It is this kind of creative thinking that links us back to the 2000 years of Christian tradition and spirituality, but reinvents it for today’s context. It is my privilege to be the national guardian of this order and to be part of this exciting and innovative enterprise. We spent a whole day doing a theological reflection on what it meant to be a member of this order. It is a profound thing to be part of that kind of reflection, to see people explore their experience and discover some quite profound m...