Colourful Dreamer

The Calming of the Storm Gate Pa: June 24 2012 Readings: Hebrew Scripture:    Isaiah 40: 1-11 Psalm:                      85: 7-13 Epistle:                     2 Corinthians 6: 1-13         Gospel:                     Mark 4: 35-41          What I want to say: where do we feel like in midst chaos lost control there is no hope as imitators of Christ – not rely on God to fix everything but like Christ who slept in the storm to trust God who is source of all goodness, who bends down in compassionate love and embraces us even What I want to happen: people to continue to know whose th...

Life seems to be way too busy. In part this is due to time spent trying to get technology to work (and failing - how hard is it to get a wireless keyboard to work). In part it is due to last week being so so busy. I spent Tuesday and Wednesday in Gisborne at our annual clergy conference which was held with our Tikanga partners Te Tai Rawhiti. It was enjoyable being there with friends, Maori and Pakeha. As an aside, the issue for us in the Bay of Plenty is that we do not have any occasions to meet and build relationships with the Maori clergy from this area, which is in a different Hui Amorangi. Never the less it was good. The Monday before I left I went to the karakia (prayers) for the week leading up to the Deed of Settlement signing between Ngati Ranginui and the Crown . I then drove back from Gisborne (4 hours) on Wednesday night so that I could be at the actual signing on Thursday. It was a real privilege to be among the @1,000 people who attended this and who took part in th...

Landmark Christian-Muslim Peace Summit opens in Beirut It is events like this that offer me hope. Hope that God is at work in the world when all seems lost. Hope that ways can be found to work with those who seem so far from what we believe. Hope that we do not need to descend into violence and despair, no matter what the vote conscious politicain demands. Let us hope that these seeds of hope are allowed to germinate and grow.

Archbishop Rowan Williams asks the very simple question: What gift do we leave our children?

Yesterday we celebrated Te Pouhere Sunday, a week late. We again used lot of Te Reo Maori, including me leading He Tikanga Whakapono. For my kauwhau I briefly described the nature of our three Tikanga constitution, and then gave a brief (it is all relative) summary of the history of Te Haahi Mihinare and how we came to this point, including the role of our church in the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. To be honest it was a tad long, but people seemed to appreciate it. It felt like another good day. This week is the signing of the Deed of Settlement between Ngati Ranginui . I joined a small number of Ngati Ranginui and Pakeha supporters in gathering for prayer this morning at Te Ranga, the site of the battle that saw over 150 Maori butchered in a little of 15 minutes, and then led to the massive confiscations, which in turn led to the treaty claim. It was good to be there, and I look forward to being there again on Thursday for the Treaty settlement signing. Tomorrow I am...

Lost in arrogance and self-sufficiency. Defending all I am and all I have. Blind to the pain of injustice and silence I glimpse the glory of the coming of the Lord “Give us today our daily bread”. We learn to touch and see each other’s being and pain, to see and touch our own pain. We learn to hear, to act and be “we” “Give us today our daily bread”. Letting go, we are fed on the common loaf of longing in the silence of solitude. ( written on the Clergy retreat with Justin Duckworth, May 2012)

Last Sunday was Te Pouhere Sunday, where we remember who we are as Anglicans in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia and celebrate our unique constitution . We had our AGM so I moved it to this Sunday. It is amazing how little people across our church know about the constitution and how we work, and even less about why we are structured in this way. We keep talking about how this is a new thing, and yet it is 20 years ago that it came into being. There is now a generation of Anglicans who have only ever known the church in this form. One of the resources is a report written for the 1986 General Synod entitled "Te Kaupapa Tikanga Rua." which explored the place of the Treaty of Waitangi in the life of our church. It is a sobering read really. So this Sunday we have a chance to celebrate the gift of God that our constitution is, and remember that we are one church expressed in three tikanga. Do I think we are living it out well? Not even close. But I will continue to stan...

Well done the editorial team for the magazine for the Auckland Diocese, and to Brittany Kusserow in particularly. It is a courageous edition, which explores the reality of being a LGTB young person in the church, and which offers some really helpful resources. It is in line with some of the decisions at last years Synod, but even so it is good to see material aimed at young people that stands with the LGTB community, and does not demonise them as so often happens. This truly is the grace of God at work.

I wonder what this new Commission will achieve. I guess it will provide a good summary of the work already done by various church entities on the various issues, including blessing same sex relationships and ordination. And I guess it will clarify what the likely consequences of any decision or non-decision will be. But in the end there will still need to have a debate, and it might not be pretty. So, I hope that this commission will allow us to do that in an informed and less brutal way. My fear is that it will stall the debate for longer, and gay people continue to pay the price for our inaction. Let us hope and pray for a good outcome.

We had our AGM for the church on Sunday, after we gathered for Eucharist. We combined our 9.30am with our 8.00am, and it was nice to have us all together for once. I wanted to offer a few thoughts to frame our AGM so that we were not so concerned with keeping our Parish going. I want us to think less  about ourselves, and to be much more missionally focused. So I used St. Columba, St. Francis (I can always sneak him in somewhere) and the exodus story to posit three questions that we need to work on: whose are we who are we what is ours to do. I offer the notes for my talk below. Hope in a strange land What I want to say: That we are in a strange land, and we have been for some time Easy to fear the future and to get locked into how good it was in the past As we approach AGM it is important to acknowledge that, and not let that shape how we face our future Need to be more like Columba or Francis Use the retreat experience to explore what it is like bein...

Tuesday was the day before yesterday, and it was quite the busy day. I had our mid week service at 9.30, which is always small, and always fun. I just use 730, and use the second form of prayers out of 404. There is not sermon, but we have a conversation about the gospel reading. 10.30 I was off to Fraser Manor to help lead a service with one of our parishioners. He is a kiwifruit grower, so always brings in stuff from the farm, and talks about what is happening and a bit of theology. Good stuff for people who are not allowed outside really. I do prayers and reading and lead the singing. What strange times are these when I lead the singing. Then off to Whanau Aroha Childcare center to meet the manager and work out what will need to be talked about at the upcoming management committee meeting, which I now chair. then back to the office for lunch and to catch up on emails and stuff with the parish secretary, before returning to the Childcare for the meeting. Then after a two...

I am posting this from the Anglican Communion News Service . It seems to me that what we as a church, and as a world need is less rhetoric and holding strong to our positions, and more listening to each other, and hearing God's invitation to be one. This seems to offer hope for this. By ACNS staff An initiative to enable mission by strengthening relationship between parishes, dioceses and Provinces has been celebrated by participants and evaluators as “an important tool” and “wonderful gift” for the Anglican Communion. Continuing Indaba , an official ministry of the Communion, has, for three years, been promoting cross-Provincial/diocesan dialogue, visits and the production of theological resources aimed at supporting the process of enabling “conversation across difference”. A recently published progress report Continuing Indaba – Celebrating A Journey revealed that those involved considered Indaba to be “an important tool for moving forward together as a 21st ce...