Colourful Dreamer

We are rapidly approaching the Feast of St. Francis. Because I am away on the 7th, we are holding a pet service with the SPCA on the 14th. I have been wondering what I might say at that service. I found this to be a really helpful sermon from a fellow walker in the footsteps of Francis.

 Gate Pa – 25 th   Sunday in Ordinary Time 23rd September 2012 Readings: Hebrew Scripture:     Prov 31: 10 - 31             Psalm:                          1          Epistle:                        James 3: 13- 4: 3, 7-8a Gospel:                        Mark 9:30-37 What I want to say: overriding question is still who is Jesus what does it mean to be a loyal and fruitful follower of Jesus questions disciples grappling with questions Marks readers grappling with are they our questions too?  disciples a...

An old door sits locked in a concrete brick wall beaten and chipped by years of keeping its secrets locked in quiet darkness. The keys hang wedged ceremonially on freshly painted blue. Now both decorate the ambience for those gathered to savour quiet lunches and ingest dark coffees. I wonder as I sip, when I will become an old battered door decorating the lives of others?

I received this question from my post " Waiapu Synod 2012 " Hi John, I'm curious after reading your notes about the Waiapu Synod ... Why do people think that appointing Synods reps from every parish who are under 40 to Synod, is a fundamentally good thing to do? Isn't synod about more than that? What happens if parishes don't have any under 40s available to appoint? Sounds like the church is panicking again and grasping at straws. Did the motion pass? A good question. My response is that we have a really old synod. I am still one of the youngest clergy, and I am well into my 50's. we have one or lay reps under 50, which doubles when the youth reps attend. The truth is many of our parishes do not have many younger people, but even when they do they tend to look for older people to attend these august functions. Being older is the norm in our diocese. We tend to think that is what society is like (my cynical view). It used to be mandatory to have one of ...

It is sad that people have to prove that they are right by denigrating those they disagree with. It is sadder still when Christians resort to this. Did Jesus ever do this? No, he sat with those pushed to the edges, who were hated and despised and declared God's profound selfless love for them. Why o why do we who seek to walk in the footsteps of Christ seek to spread hate on others. It is good to see religious leaders in this country taking a stand for humility and care for each other.

I took this from the Waiapu Diocesan news email. It is a good summary of what I was doing all weekend. I moved the motion on Resourcing Paid Lay Ministry. For me this motion is about how we value lay people in paid ministry. I was sad a vicar spoke against it, on the grounds that it would cost too much. We clergy do not get paid magnificently, but what we get is non negotiable, i.e. the parish has to pay it whether they like it or not. We are in a privileged position. Do we use that position to support and advocate for others or to maintain our privilege? Sadly my experience is that lay people have to keep negotiating (asking) which is pretty soul destroying. I know, being in youth ministry for 23 years meant I was treated like a lay person in many ways for much of that time. It becomes soul destroying and after a while you just stop asking and pay for it yourself. This was a good synod really. We did some significant times in small groups, and studied scripture together using a lecti...

The biggest single event over the last three weeks has been being on holiday in Cairns for 9 days. We went for a wedding, and managed to squeeze in two other family birthdays, a wedding anniversary, a tiny bit of shopping, and a little bit of sightseeing. It was so nice being with Bonnie’s family, and being somewhere warm for a while. Before we went I had a full day taking services at Fraser Manor, and meeting with Huikakahu Kawe, the Chairman of the Ngati Ranginui Iwi Society Inc. I asked for this to being a conversation with Ngati Ranginui now that they have settled. The Kaupapa was the upcoming 150th remembrance of the Battle of Gate Pa, and an invitation to Ngati Ranginui to consider how they might make more use of our facilities. It was low key, but a good start. I hope we can build on it. The first Sunday back Cliff Simons preached, we farewelled our Parish Administrator, and held a missional mapping workshop, thinking about how we might engage with our wider communi...