Colourful Dreamer

Tuesday I trained off to Lytham. This is where Helen, our house guest during the first COVID lockdown and now friend comes from, and she and Dave have come back for awhile. Bonnie and I listen to Ruth Galloway murder mysteries by Elly Griffiths. In one of the books we read around that time she described Lytham as boring. I don't know she has ever been there. Helen and Dave are running an AirBnB and they are so busy catering for all the big events happening nearly every weekend over the summer. It is a grand place. A small village. It has a lovely feel. It has a windmill, lovely walks, Lytham Hall, and a beer cafe. What more could you want. And it is close to Blackpool and Lancaster, and pretty close to Manchester and more importantly Liverpool.   Wednesday I was left to my own devices, so I caught the bus to Blackpool. I hadn't planned to do this, but the train I caught to Lytham was going to Blackpool, and I thought, why not. Blackpool! Famous for its own version of the Eiffel

On the Monday I headed off to Great Malvern Station from London. Actually I had only bought a ticket to Malvern Link. I really don't know how that happened. So my friend Jacky was waiting for me at Malvern Link. Thank goodness for cellphones and roaming. Jacky has lived and taught in Hereford for the last 8 years, and is in the process of moving back to Aotearoa. I was her last visitor. I have tried before but it never worked. But this time it did. Wonderful. So over the next 24 hours she showed me some wonderful sites, some of her treasures. A thousand year old font carved by the Hereford carving school, sitting in a little Norman Church (visibly built on an Anglo Saxon Church) out in the country. Just marvelous.  We visited beautiful little towns and drove through wonderful scenery. We ended up in Hereford, where Jacky has been living. We walked the river and took in lovely views of the cathedral.  I had a zoom call about the next morning, and then we headed off to see her local

On August 10 I flew out of Tauranga, to London, via Auckland and New York. My three month pilgrimage (sabbatical) had begun. Begun in style with an upgrade to premiere economy on the leg to New York. Once in London I found my way to where I was staying, showered, snoozed, and then set off to meet Rebekah. Rebekah is our youngest daughter and moved to London in May to experience life away from Aotearoa. Life has not been as great as she hoped. Jobs are hard to get. Accommodation is also hard to get. So it was great to see here again. We met at a pub that sells Timothy Taylors Landlord. A great beer. And then we set off for several days of fun, including fancy dinners, the London Eye, A Strange Loop, visiting my aunt, and pizza watching a move. We found old Roman walls, the COVID memorial wall, Buckingham Palace, New Zealand War Memorial, and so much more. Saturday remains my biggest day so far with nearly 16km walked, according to Samsung. Some days have come close. It was so nice to se

Our daughter, Rebekah, is current.y living in London, and is a great fan of musical theatre. As she is poor, I offered to take her to any musical she might want to see. So we went to see A Strange Loop.  A Strange Loop is the story of Usher. He’s a black gay man… writing a musical about a black gay man… writing a musical about a black gay man… surrounded by his chorus of six larger than life ‘Thoughts’ playing the characters in Usher’s mind, from self-berating entities like ‘Daily Self Loathing’ to caricatured depictions of Usher’s parents, to six-packed fantasy men, all while Usher tries to write the musical that we’re watching." (https://strangeloopmusical.com/about/) What a musical. And what an experience as a straight white guy in a theatre where I may have been the minority, with so many gay men around me identifying with the experience of Usher. And yet I am sure also challenged by Usher. Usher offers the same critique of white gay men that womanist writers offer of fe

For our St George's Day celebration I wrote this little play about St George, the Serpent (no dragons in this play thank-you!) and the Empress Alexandra (no damsels in this play either - enough of that nonsense.) You can listen to it here. George and the Serpent! Today we are going to act out the story of St George who do we need? -         George -         Serpent -         Empress Alexandria -         Emperor Diocletian -         Sub-emperor -         Christian commanders -         Non-Christian commanders and torturers   Along time ago (around 300CE) there was an emperor called Diocletian. He ruled all the Roman Empire from Britain all the way to Persia and down to North Africa He was tough He made Rome great again.   He had some soldiers who were always with him They were called the Praetorian Guard One of their commanders was George George was born either in Palestine or Turkey He was known to be brave and fearless in battle He was a Chri

  This week’s gospel reading ( Matt 14:13-21 ) is another well-known story. It is one of those stories where you need to read around it. And when we do we find that there are two meals – one leading to death and one offering hope. The story before is of Herod’s depraved meal where Jesus’ teacher, mentor and friend, John, is beheaded. Jesus is trying to grieve. Instead he finds a crowd also filled with grief and anger, looking for hope. Herod’s birthday party is full of self-centeredness and greed, symbolic of all that is wrong with Herod, Rome, and the Temple leadership. As a Tribune in the Roman Emperor’s bodyguard, this is the world St George often lived in. But as a Christian he was drawn to Jesus. The Jesus who in his grief still meets the poor and discarded masses with generosity and compassion. In contrast to the abuse of power encountered in the Herod’s birthday bash, and in the Roman court, Jesus lives out God’s faithfulness, gracious abundance, and compassion. Despite the impo