Colourful Dreamer

Today is our harvest festival. Harvest festivals have been around for as long as humanity has been growing food. They are important times as communities give thanks for the harvest that will sustain them for another year. We give thanks to God for the harvest, and for those who work in this land and overseas providing the food we eat. We are reminded of God’s ongoing generosity and of the invitation to be as generous with what God has provided. It is also Matariki. In Tauranga Moana this is a time for preparing the soil for the next crop. There is no harvest without the earth. Harvest festivals remind us of the need to cherish and protect the land and water we need to grow the crop. This week a number of Anglican bishops from around the world published an international response to the Black Lives Matter movement entitled ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM – WHEN #BLACKLIVESDON’T MATTER. As we give thanks for our harvest let us keep these wider issues in mind. “Black lives are disproportiona...

A sad day for so many Anglicans in England and Wales, and for many around the world. I would be appalled if it were compulsory for churches to have to take gay weddings, a step too far. But to ban the C of E and C of Wales from taking them is equally a step too far, and once again LGBT Anglicans are told that this church does not want them, recognise them, even want them to exist. God's love is only for the straight community.  As I read this and then reflect on Brian Mclarens thoughts on John the Baptist in " Why did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road?" I can't help but wonder how we became such an exclusive group, and how we managed to take a message of God's all encompassing love and confine it to "people like us" . This Advent we really do need Johns baptism of repenta nce.

This is a stunning piece of news. Archbishop David has been in my humble opinion the glue that has held this church together. He certainly has worked very hard to keep the three archbishops working well together, and they have been one hopeful sign in our fractured relationships. He is a man of deep spirituality, and has a profound love of God and all God's people (that is all people). He will be greatly missed.  But I am really glad to him. Being Archbishop in any church is hard, but has been super hard in this church. Despite our promotional blitz at ACC at how well we live together, we are barely holding it together. This last 6 years has taken a huge toll on this man, and I am glad his gifts can be used in a less stressful place, and as a gift to the whole communion. May our blessed Lady pray for you David May Saint Francis and Clare pray for you May all the Saints of God pray for you May the holy angels watch over you, and befriend to protect you. May our Lord Jesus gi...

It is always good to see young people being encouraged to write about how they understand life and ministry. So well done Cathy for making this happen. I look forward to seeing this in Auckland. Young people see the world and see faith differently from us older people. They have grown up in a different world for the one I grew up in, and that shapes how they understand life differently. Too often their voice is not heard, and that silence costs us as people and as a church.

It worries me that we Christians seem to want to simplify conflict where other Christians are involved, even when we are involved. We describe it as being about our Christian faith. It seems to be important to people that we are persecuted. And we seem to just love to hate the Muslims. I mean, they hate us so, and do such bad things to Christians. One of the weirdest experiences I had was at a youth event in Northern Ireland, at the Corrymeela Community . ( Corrymeela's mission is: embracing difference, healing division and enabling reconciliation. Our vision is of a peaceful and sustainable society based on social justice, positive relationships and respect for diversity. The Corrymeela Community strives to embody these values in every aspect of our lives.) The group was using the community just as a venue and the programme was being run by the Barnabas Trust. They were talking about how all these Christians all over the world were being persecuted for their faith. I asked t...

In the end there was no way the covenant could fly in this church given the comments about our constitution in the Windsor report that lead to the draft covenants. But I applaud out ongoing commitment to the Anglican Communion and hope we can be part of finding another way of holding together. That way has got to be based on a mutual commitment and respect of each other, and a real desire to be together. It cannot be based on the threat of punitive measures and expulsion. Is it possible. I don't know, but I hope so.

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.

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 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...

Thought provoking stuff. I wonder how this "doctrine of destiny" continues to shape our attitudes to Maori today. When we pakeha say Maori should get over the treaty issues and get on with life, that is I think shaped in some way by this doctrine. How then do we as a church stand against that and work for God's peace and justice. With Te Pouhere Sunday coming up I wonder how I can use this as part of our celebration of the constituion of our church. Hmmmm

Jean is a friend. Her offer to go to Brisbane meant she was not at Parachute, where she was greatly missed. But her Franciscan spirit led her to go and be with these people. It is an example of what the Anglican Communion is about at its best. Here are some of her reflections

I wonder what hope there is for our Communion when my Anglican brothers and sisters  seek to preach a gospel of hate and violence. This is in direct contravention to any Lambeth Resolution. Let alone the gospel. Some might argue they are being pastoral. I would suggest they are simply bigots who do not represent anything of the Gospel I read about in the Bible. Where can we go in this situation. And why bother with a covenant which will not hold us together?