Colourful Dreamer

This sermon can be listened to here Gate Pa – 12 th   Sunday in Ordinary Time- Year A - 2020 Readings: Psalm                          Psalm: 86:1-10, 16-17 First Reading:               Genesis 21:8-21 Second Reading:        Rom 6:1b-11    Gospel:                        Matt 10:24-39 What I want to say: We have spent 10 years hearing about not having maps for how to do church anymore. We certainly had no maps for doing church over the last 3 months. We had to make it up as we went. What I want to happen: What was your best experience of church during the lock down What was the hardest thing What was the gift of that time What thre...

A few weeks ago I went to a clergy training day, a gathering of the clergy in the Bay of Plenty, stipendiary, non- stipendiary, and retired. We talked about the statistics presented at our Diocesan Synod a couple of weeks before that by the vicar general, statistics that make grim reading. Numbers of stipendiary priests a fraction of what they were 40 years ago, numbers attending church falling dramatically, age structure aging by the second, finances looking very wobbly. The ensuing conversation seemed to be all about how to get people to come to church. I find this so frustrating. The point of church is not to get people to join us. The point of church is to be a people who engage with God in mission. Others felt this was irresponsible and that as clergy our role is to ensure that the church carries on. Why would we want that I wonder? One idea was to close a pretty significant 8am service because they will eventually die (true they mostly are older, but so what) and use th...

I have to say I agree absolutely with this. But it is so hard to convince a parish on the brink that this is what we need to do. Even when we think of ways to living out the whole love your neighbour thing, it is amazing how quicly it gets colonised by "this will bring people into church", which fo course mostly it won't. And that is ok.

This is a great day both for Wellington and for the whole church in this land. Two big questions were answered, would Justin wear shoes, and would a mitre fit. The answer to the first was no, and the answer to the second was yes.  I am looking forward to all that Justin brings. He is a smart cookie, has spent his whole ministry among the poorest "giving his best for the least" and working for a society where everyone can contribute and benefit, and has brought a high degree of innovation to that ministry. He has walked the talk. He will challenge us, but not as an angry young man, as I am accused of being, but of a motivator and cajoler. I look forward to all that the next few years will bring.

This has been an interesting week. Most of it has been on retreat with Justin Duckworth, the new Bishop of Wellington (well he will be in July) who helped us think about where the church is today by using the story of the Exodus. We were asked to think about the world as it was (Egypt) and how much of that we still carry with us, what it is like being in the wilderness, what the signs of the promised land might look like, and what resources we have in this journey, as a church and as individuals. I might even blog about this sometime. I did the same thing with another group a year ago. I was feeling very despondent then and realised how much that retreat turned me around and allowed me to become anchored in God's hope. Nothing has changed, but I approach it all with hope. I don't have any more answers, but I have hope. Today we had an awesome pre -school music session, and then a good visit with a parishioner. This afternoon I have been working on the Service and Sermon f...

A couple of weeks ago I attended (and helped run) Raukura, a training event for run by Toru for the diocesan and regional youth staff in the Anglican church in Aotearoa-New Zealand within Tikanga Maori and Tikanga Pakeha. Each of those attending were asked to write a reflection on what leadership is for them based on the presentations (by Bishop Philip Richardson, and Rev Jemma Allen) and the discussions that ensued from these. This week I went to Fiji to run some of the Manu Rui module for the archdeaconry youth co-ordinators in Polynesia, and Don Tamihere was to run his biblical modules. Sadly, Don injured himself and was not able to go, and so to fill in the extra sessions (apart from sitting one out in Nadi airport when the flight was delayed for three hours) I reused some of the leadership material, and the draft reader that Don had prepared for Raukura. What is below is my reflection based on both these events, my earlier reflections on being a priest, and the course on Leadershi...

On Monday I had a basal cell cut out of my head, and have had to take things very quietly so as not to do anything nasty to the stitches. As part of my taking things quietly I watched a DVD of a TV mini-series called Fidel and Che. It was not the greatest thing I have ever watched But two things stood out for me. The first was a a statement at the end of the “movie” by Fidel to America. “Before 1959 your policy towards Cuba was to exploit. After 1959 it was to destroy. Your policy is that American businesses should be able to sell what they like to who they want where they want, with your military backing them up, and the CIA assassinating anyone who stands in their way. And you call this democracy?” It summed it up for me really. And Castro stood strong against that and was determined that Cuba made decisions for Cubans to benefit, and not American businesses. The second was associated with this, and is a warning to anyone in leadership. He became entwined with his vision. It was his...