Colourful Dreamer

This was in an email I received just before Christmas. It saddens me to see how new Zealand is slowly pulling back on any commitments to the UN Millennium Developments Goals and Poverty Eradication under the guidance of Murry MCully. I never thought I would say it, but I miss Winston as our Foreign Affairs Minister . CWS statement on Government funding 17 December 2010 At 65 years Christian World Service is at the crossroads.  On Thursday December 16, CWS received notice that only one of its six applications for government funding was successful.  Ama Takiloa in Tonga is an effective organisation that is a broad ranging programme to improve the livelihoods of local people.  So are the other partner groups but for reasons unclear to CWS they did not receive funding.  CWS has a strong track record of effective partnership relationships and has always received very positive reviews for its work from independent and government development ...

Happy new year to any one who reads this. I drove past Auckland Grammar today. Boys were lurking in their uniform, ready for another year. Wait, most schools go back next week! so what was that about? Any how, I did laugh at this pretentious school last week. They are so wanting to be a private church school without the church stuff (like a few church schools really). Any how again, I laughed at the rationale given last week as to why they were encouraging their boys year 11 level to not do NCEA and to do Cambridge exams instead. because ti will motivate them! really! My experience of being a boy, of teaching 15 year old boys, and watching our boy is, yeah right! all they will do is slack of all year, and so enough at the end of the year to do well enough. their marks may be higher. But what will they learn? isn't that what schools are really about, learning and not the grades? My daughter has rightly pointed out that your school marks count for very little once you have left ...

U2 2010 “One man betrayed with a kiss.” A line in a song Sung on a TV Heard so long ago. A small line that sparked A love Like a mole Going down excavation Higher now In the sky Elevation. A line sung again Crushed in and lifted Amongst the many who loved as well. Giving word to my hopes A song to my dreams. I know I have touched angel lips Felt the healing finger tips But I still haven’t found what I am looking for. Drawn back to the poetry Quickened by the fast paced edgy guitar Driven by bass and drum Made aware again Of the rhythm of my soul. I sing again “One man betrayed with a kiss.”

On Monday of next week I will be flying to Fiji with about 30 others from Aotearoa for Tikanga Youth Exchange and the launch of the launch of the Youth Yeah for the Diocese of Polynesia. All up 130 young people and leaders from 5 countries are expected in Suva for a week of learning about what it means to be a three Tikanga Anglican church, how we, led by God's Spirit have sought to incarnate the gospel in each culture that is part of our church, and yet seek to still be one together. Cool stuff. Anyhow, there will be live blogs, picture galleries put up each day, and interviews with speakers and participants posted each day. Check it out. Keep up to date. Pray for us.

DECLARATION OF THE CONFERENCE OF THE FOUR RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF MELANESIA ON SOCIAL JUSTICE, HUMAN RIGHTS AND ADVOCACY Tabalia, West Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, November 21-28, 2010 Beloved in Christ: From November 21 through 28, 2010, we, 152 members of the four religious communities of the Anglican Church of Melanesia, have met together at Tabalia, West Guadalcanal, the headquarters of the Melanesian Brotherhood, for prayer, biblical reflection, discussion and planning on issues of social justice, human rights and advocacy in Solomon Islands and beyond. We are members of the Community of the Sisters of Melanesia, the Society of St. Francis, the Community of the Sisters of the Church and the Melanesian Brotherhood. It is the first time in the history of the Anglican Church of Melanesia (ACOM) that the four religious communities have met together for such an event. We rejoice in the new friendship and cooperation that has emerged among us, breaking d...

To be fair, this article gives a little more detail than a NZ herald article I first read.   I do not oppose welfare reform per se, but I do oppose anything that reduces people to components of an economy, and that fails to acknowledge that nearly all those on welfare have been tax payers who deserve the care and support of the society in which they are a part. It should also acknowledge that most of the invalids and sickness beneficiaries would love to work again. Offering genuine help, rather than stigmatising, as some reports have done is the way ahead. I acknowledge that there are some people who have come to see their benefit as a right, and who have no aspiration to work for money. That is a problem, But most beneficiaries want to work, and should be treated with dignity and support. We are living through a recession at the moment. There are no jobs. So blaming beneficiaries for not working seems a little churlish at the moment. The proposals about Solo Mums do worry me. ...