Colourful Dreamer

I am a servant
Of God Most Glorious
Source of all being
Eternal Word
And Holy Spirit
Who loved us into being
And in Love brings us into life
In Love God gave all
Became nothing
Poor naked helpless
Arms outstretched
Begging Mary’s breast
Blood soaked embrace
In this is love breathed

My God and my all
I am nothing
In the face of such love
A lesser brother
Rendered poor and naked
By one in whom there is only love
I am nothing
I am the object of that love
I am
In that love
I struggle to be

I feel so helpless and angry about all this. I do nto support Hizzbolloh and their rocket attackes on Israeli's. I do not support the kidnapping of teenage soldiers. But nor do I support a state that uses terrorism to acheive its aims. I wonder who will pay for teh amazinf amount of destruction wrought on Gaza and Lebanon once this is all over? Will Israel? I doubt it! Then who?

There will be no peace until both sides talk and find just ways forward. Civilians will suffer the most in this war. And it is now a war.

What saddens me is that nations who cound bring pressure to bear only add to the madness. Is there any hope? what can I do?

Dear Friends,

For the past forty years we have been largely alone on this desert fighting a predator that not only has robbed us of all but a small piece of our historic homeland, but threatens the traditions and holy sites of Christianity. We are tired, weary, sick, and wounded. We need your help.

We have seen and we have been the recipients of the generosity of ourAmerican and British friends. We cherish the support of everyone throughout the world who stands with us in solidarity. Daily, I hear from many of them who express outrage at the arrogant and aggressive positions of President Bush, Secretary Rice, Senator Clinton, and Prime Minister Blair. I am saddened to realise just how much the deserved prestige of the United States and Britain has declined as a result of politicians who seem to devalue human life and suffering. And, I am disturbed that the Zionist Christian community is damaging America's image as never before.

Little more than a week ago, we were focused on the plig…

My life is complete
U2 have anounced their new date....November 24 in Auckland. It is probably 18 years since I last saw them. They have sung such sweet poetry that has resonated with my own musings. This will be a spiriutal experince.

Life is good! God is good!
Amen and amen

I can’t say how I feel any better than this great leader:

The Archbishop of Canterbury condemns the escalating violence in the Middle East

Writing to the Heads of Churches in the Lebanon, Dr Williams said

"I have been alarmed at the spiral of violence, the vicious circle of attack and retaliation, that has developed over the last few days. My prayers and sympathy are with the principal victims, the innocent civilians on both sides of the border, who now live in terror and are powerless to prevent the collective suffering at the hands of at the hands of Hizballah and the Israeli military.

"The distress felt at the destruction not only of life but also the infrastructure so painstakingly rebuilt after years of conflict will, I know, be acute and reinforce the sense of helplessness at being caught up in a wider regional struggle. My condemnation of this resort to violence is unequivocal."

The full text of the letter is below.

To Our beloved Brothers in the Lord
The Heads of Chu…

A Franciscan Collegue of mine sent me this in an email. In a way it is very simplistic. And yet, it is how Francis worked, and he was renouned as a peace maker. I wonder???


I'm reminded of the response that Francis gave when asked why his brothers did not carry books and keep libraries. He replied that the first and greatest commandment was to love God with all his heart, mind and strength. Since he hadn't even begun to accomplish that, he didn't concern himself with other more perplexing questions and debates about theological issues. We should use every opportunity to share with others in our community that we each have a far way to go in living out our Principles and Rule. That should be our primary goal and focus. Peace..........

I went to see "As it is in Heaven" on Monday afternoon. It is a wonderful "foreign film" made in Sweden. It has some really interesting themes around the power of love.

It is about a famous conductor who for health reasons retires and returns to the village he grew up in till be was 9. No-one knows he was from there.

He wanted to remain a recluse, but is persuaded to help with the local church choir. In the process he learns about love, and his choir learn to love through music, with life changing consequences.

As I watched it I was reminded of the early theologians I read for my Masters course last semester. God as Love was one of the dominant images fro Athanasius, Augustine and Julian. In fact Julian said that in God there is only love. And I was then reminded of the statement from the Anglican Bishops of the Global South who, in response to the session the Archbishop of Canterbury led them in, came very close to rejecting as adequate God as love, and instead focus…

Ideas from a discussion of the Professional Diocesan youth Staff (PADYS) and others at forum 2006;
This is not a New Zealand problem. Michael’s observation is that it is a world wide cross denominational problem
UK and USA are all struggling to find people
What insight does Lloyd Martin's research published in “Real Work” offer in terms of working conditions and stress of the position of youth worker?
No one is being trained in Anglican youth ministry. So we have to steal from other churches
Also a question of what is happening to people who are going through our current youth ministries? Why do none of them want to work with young people?
Often the positions are not sustainable, so there is a high turn over. Because of the pay levels and the lack of role models of people doing it as a long term ministry it is not considered a career
As a consequence we do not have people who are trained or qualified or who have the experience or maturity
We do have school leavers applying for…