kingdom of God

I was talking about the kingdom of God with the youth group the other night... I suggested that the kingdom way is more often seen when you are on the way, living into its way, than seen for what it is by a wondering bystander (and of course as soon as you begin to see it it turns out to be bigger than you could ever imagine and thus something you will never really get).



I shared some little examples of how I live in the kingdom way... like my attitude at the supermarket. Quite often when I'm walking through the car park, if I see a trolley left where it souldn't be, I walk it in and put it away even if I have no use of it myself. No one sees this, no one cares whether I do this or not... I don't do it to score points with people, to feel good or even think that God will treat me any differently than God already treats me... I do it primarily because I live into another reality where I treat people as I have been treated by God in Christ... Someone might need that parking space and a trolley is in the way...

someone has to collect the trolleys, at times in some pretty horrible weather, and I imagine that that person having to go and get a trolley from some obscure corner of the car park might feel resentment towards others and might find whatever job satisfaction they have harder to find on that day...

so I serve...

I try to live this way in all facets of my life and fail on most fronts most days... but God is not finished with me yet...

soundings

Soundings

(my weekly email to St Stephen's folk)

At St Stephen’s this week we are focusing on the theme of Creativity…
It has been sparked by a combination of the set readings and a painting that Amos Dalkie has recently completed that he will bring along to show… it is quite lovely.

When you think about what creativity is what comes to your mind? I tend to think immediately of the creative arts – music, painting, needle-work etc. And all too soon I lament my lack of such talents…
But does our view have to be so limited?
What if we were to widen our view and think about creativity as partnership in God’s creativity… (Michelangelo’s ‘hand of God in creation’ picture from the Sistine Chapel depicts the partnership)… what then?

Here’s a warm-up quote… “Creativity is a way of living life, no matter what our vocation or how we earn a living.” [Madeline L’Engle]

Now that is a wide view and no one gets excluded because they may not be as able to paint as well as Michelangelo or Amos Dalkie!!!

You've got to live it to get it

Yesterday I made a comment regarding Colin McCahon's elusive art... and Jesus' Kingdom being similarly elusive...
Anne found the following quote from the dancer Anna Pavlova: when asked "What do you say when you dance?"she replied "If I could tell you I wouldn't dance."

For me the Kingdom of God can't be grasped by any other means than being immersed in it... you've got to live it to get it.

And another U2 lyric just to introduce a bit of Kingdom paradox... from the song City Of Blinding Lights:
"The more you see the less you know
The less you find out as you go
I knew much more then than I do now."

So to conclude... you can't grasp the Kingdom except by jumping in, and once you jump in you find you can't grasp it... so jump!

Go Barack Obama

I'm hoping a praying that the Democrat Party nomination will go Obama's way - and soon - he heralds a new season and boy do we need a new season...

Hinewai

Last weekend I went with some of the St Stephen's youth group to bunk down at the lodge at the Hinewai Reserve on Banks Peninsula, over the hill behind the town of Akaroa. The weather was blizzard-like, but apart from a 1-30am water-leak on the first night and a long clean-up operation, we were cosy and warm in the beautifully converted shearing shed and there was a long-enough break in the weather for us to go tramping along some of the upper tracks.

The reserve was established 20 years ago with the intention of fostering the regrowth of the native vegetation - when the trust began its work there were a few pockets of kanuka (kunzea ericoides), totara (podocarpus totara) and red beech(nothofagus fusca), but mostly paddock and virulent introduced gorse (ulex europaeus)... but with the removal of grazing animals, serious work at reducing the rabbit and possum population along with the avoidance of fire, the regeneration of bush has been stunning. The work is overseen by a small group with Hugh Wilson, a botanist, who is the resident manager - he is quite a character!

We used the context to look at issues facing the planet and how we might begin to address them from a Christian perspective.

The opening photo is a view of the reserve with the lodge to the left and down to Otanerito Bay in the distance. The gorse was conveniently in flower, but if all goes well, in another ten years it won't be there at all - the forest will have used the gorse as an incubator and then killed the gorse off once the gorse was starved of light. In many areas this has already occurred.

The second photo is of the others in the group taken in front of a red beech tree. It is rare to have beech forests near the coast on the eastern side of the south island.

The third image is the Fuschia Falls - just a short distance from the lodge. The native fuschia (fuschia excorticata or Kotukutuku) has prospered in this environment.

one has to believe to see

I've just spent half an hour reading William McCahon's article about his father's art in A Question of Faith. (Colin McCahon is New Zealand's foremost modernist artist.) The article made a very good point about the difficulty most people have had interpreting McCahon's paintings and the artist's unwillingness to explain the art for them - McCahon seemingly took seriously the notion that if people have eyes then let them see. In other words - one has to believe to see . There's a U2 line from the song Walk On that goes - You're packing a suitcase for a place none of has been, a place that has to be believed to be seen.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about Jesus' Kingdom of God of late. I like the way that Jesus alludes to its nature but refrains from giving explicit detail - he paints a picture of it, but one will only get the dimensions of it by entering through the narrow gate (him).

It strikes me that people's attempts to break 'entering Jesus' Kingdom of God' into easy steps, clear pictures and formulations is misguided.

This of course presents an ongoing challenge to the preacher - to respect the mystery and not play with the listeners by suggesting that they can easily get what Jesus is on about. I like that Jesus sidestepped those who tried to pin him down. I like the way that as soon as you try to box Jesus he slips away and pops up somewhere else.

I like that McCahon, committed to the way of Jesus, left his art to do its own talking.


Here are a few McCahon paintings... one of my favourites is Otago Peninsula (1946) it is in the Dunedin City Library... I walked in one day and asked one of the staff if she could point out the Colin McCahon piece - she didn't know there was one there, nor did she know of the brilliant Ralph Hotere and Nigel Brown works. I found it soon enough. If you stand in the stairwell and look up it stares you in the face. (It was approximately 8 metres from where the woman worked!)

Another I have included is simply titled One. It has McCahon's trademark triangle in the corner - the Trinity... hinted at in the Scriptures but not easily understood... but the nature of God nevertheless - the truth despite us.


See more McCahon works at http://www.mccahon.co.nz/browse.asp

free tibet

Here's a clever cartoon from the Melbourne Age paper - over here in NZ one or two athletes have also stated that if the chance came to offer some resistance to the powers they would take that opportunity up...

Story of Stuff

Have a gawk at this site - a wonderful way of showing how the stuff we buy comes to be where it is and at whose expense. www.storyofstuff.com

Surrounded by the Perilous Poozers of Pompelmoose Pass

I'm working on tomorrow's sermon and being helped by Poozers!
My parents encouraged me and my siblings to read - books were always part of our birthdays and Christmases. Dr Suess was a favourite with his wacky language and brilliant artwork. He was also something of a subversive, taking the opportunity to point out a few truths to the world. My favourite is Yertle the Turtle. I have used that story as part of a presentation on The Powers & the Church. It went down particularly well in Vanuatu. As Anne and I were planning for this Sunday I remembered the story I had trouble in getting to Solla Sollew where the character is surrounded by the Perilous Poozers of Pompelmoose Pass all because he is trying to find a place where he will be free from troubles. Of course there is no such place. The character heads back home understanding that he has to tackle the troubles rather than run from them.
Anne and I will share the story at church.
Here's where some of my thoughts are heading...
Sometimes our wounds are overwhelming [like it is in the Dr Suess story] Do we run from what surrounds us, threatens us, and wounds us? Or do we walk into the situations and find our way through despite our wounds?
Do we run from our troubles or find a way to make the best of them?
Personally I think that our wounds heal better when we face them rather than try to deny them. But don’t you think for a minute that I am here to tell you that there is a clear way to handle difficult situations. Sometimes stepping back from a troubling situation is the best option, and sometimes making the best of what you have is the best option. And both alternatives can leave you with deep wounds that are hard to heal. But facing the reality of these wounds is, by and large, an essential part of their healing. Trying to escape life’s wounds by heading off to Solla Sollew ‘where they have no troubles, at least very few’ isn’t going to get anyone that far in the long-term, because troubles in life are not optional.

river tragedy

The following cartoon in today's The Press is a fine example of how we should respond to the tragic loss of six 16 year olds and their teacher in the waters of the Mangatapopo River, in the central North Island this week. While there is a great deal of hand-wringing about why such things happen, and while there will be the necessary enquiries as to whether the right safety precautions were in place, and while many will look for someone to blame (the usual human practice of seeking a scapegoat), Mike Moreu captured something about what we can do now that needs few words...
[see this and other cartoons by Moreu on http://www.stuff.co.nz/693207a17217.html]

Leunig on Anzac Day

Michael Leunig usually reserves his words for the characters in his wonderful cartoons - but a few years back he wrote an opinion article for Anzac Day in the Melbourne Age newspaper. I uncovered it this week - it is worth a read...

Here's a snippet:
"Anzac Day, it seems, must now be done with bluster, hoopla and media hypnotism. Like the landing and the campaign itself, there is something appalling about this in the eyes of many Australians new and old - some disgraceful misuse of humanity by the wielders of political and economic power."

And I cannot resist another snippet, as he has a go at the appalling Onward Christian Soldiers hymn that in 20 years in ministry I have never chosen for a service (though once someone else chose it and I had to put up with it)...

"Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus going on before.
Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe; Forward into battle see his banners go!" This drab, common little hymn, this melodramatic Anglo jihad song was taught to us in the 1950s, and in Sunday school or religious instruction class we were often heard singing it. The volume and gusto we usually displayed came from the intuitive belief that if we sang loudly and vigorously enough we would somehow have the choral momentum to go the distance and get through it quickly - a bit like running fast over hot coals.
To sing it on the back foot might mean that the song would become so feeble as to break down and groan to a halt, leaving us stranded forever in the dull wasteland of its meaningless words.
The lyrics seemed to be more about a rampaging gang of morons than a wandering prophet who espoused radical love.

My grandfather Lloyd Campbell Stewart fought in Italy in 1943-45. He returned but said little - my father recalls that he came back a different man - dark hair replaced with grey - but more than that, distant. On Anzac Day I want to remember the cost and sacrifice without glorifying warfare. I believe that war is ugly and dehumanizing - a denial of God's creativity. Even though at times a stand has to be taken...

Read more...
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/04/26/1177459869956.html

artistic scary facts

I've just found the following site 'Running the Numbers. An American Self-Portrait' by Chris Jordan, where he depicts the reality of waste in massive displays that are made up of the thing he is talking about. Sounds complicated but click below and all will be revealed.

Depicted here are two million plastic beverage bottles, the number used in the US every five minutes - the second two images are zoomed in.

http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php?icl=7

Good old Huckabee

QUOTE OF THE WEEK [from Sojourners]
As easy as it is for those of us who are white to look back and say, "That's a terrible statement," I grew up in a very segregated South, and I think that you have to cut some slack. And I'm going to be probably the only conservative in America who's going to say something like this, but I'm just telling you: We've got to cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told, "You have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can't sit out there with everyone else. There's a separate waiting room in the doctor's office. Here's where you sit on the bus." And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you have to just say, I probably would too. I probably would too. In fact, I may have had ... more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.
- Mike Huckabee, offering his perspective on the preaching of Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Split Enz in Christchurch

And a few days ago we took my old school friends Tony and Carolyn Bunting to see Split Enz in the Westpac Centre in Christchurch. What a night! The band were in great form - playing all those songs that we grew up with as if they were still 25 years younger! I had all of their records from the True Colours/Frenzy era onwards but had never seen them live. We were dazzled by the set, lighting and costumes (thanks to Noel Crombie's brilliance) but the musicianship was the highlight... brilliant keyboards, guitar, bass and drumming and then the Finn's singing. It was good to see Neil Finn playing in the band that formed him - he and Tim Finn were a great tandem act - in Split Enz they both offered as much as each other, whereas since then Neil's light has shone brightest.

It was also fun being in an audience of people predominantly my age and older! The opening band was The Phoenix Foundation a rising star in the NZ music scene who I hadn't really heard before.

How spoilt we are - Crowded House in November and Split Enz in March - awesome!

Juno

Anne and I watched the movie Juno yesterday (before the movies stopped showing it!). It was great! It dealt with the serious issues of teenage pregnancy, infertility, parenting, and what makes for a good relationship with humour and grace. It didn't seem to be like most American movies which can at times seem a bit too far removed from reality or the script a bit corny. This could have been set in NZ or Australia given the style, the undergirding humour and the gentle way the issues were handled.
We enjoyed seeing Alison Janney (CJ in The West Wing) in a different role as Juno's stepmother. Both the parents in the movie modelled something very good - a few deep breaths, seeing the lighter side of what loomed as a dark situation, cna being slow to judge and quick to care... good stuff! Highly recommended!

Barack Obama takes us to a greater threshold

Obama's recent speech on race issues and politics could have just been a defence of his different views to his pastor or worse, using his pastor as a scapegoat - a political discard (Easter revisited!) - instead he opens up a whole new dimension of how everyone needs to give some thought to where next and how people want to be... it is a powerful speech written by Obama himself - no speech-writers here... thus we gain a great insight into his heart...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/18/obama-race-speech-read-t_n_92077.html

an idea for Easter that sounds reasonable!

Last year some people from my church presented me with this little card they picked up in England - facetiously suggesting that it might be an idea around here! I tried it out but there were no takers! But this is a new year - a new Easter...

Holy Week

There is a green hill far away,

Outside a city wall,

Where the dear Lord was crucified,

Who died to save us all.

We may not know, we cannot tell,

What pains He had to bear;

But we believe it was for us

He hung and suffered there.

Vanuatu Truck Purchase

THE EBULE TRAINING CENTRE
IN PORT VILA, VANUATU HAS A NEW
TRUCK!

Rob Meier (pictured with a couple of students) recently purchased a Citroen diesel 1.9 litre, 2002 model with 78,000 km on the clock. It has a 3 month mechanical warranty and drives like a dream. It is very multifunctional with room enough for full size sheets of plywood lying flat. The cost was 1.350 million vatu, and rego and warrant a further 112,000vt. This leaves sufficient money for the insurance and maintenance for the next year.

Thanks for your help!
Once again it has been proved that anything is possible when a few people get together. We are very grateful for the support from seventy-two households, churches or businesses. We are reminded of Jesus sending out 70 (or 72) saying: “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.” We risked asking, and the harvest was plentiful! Well done!

Martin & Anne Stewart March 2008

rubbish free

I've just been reading www.rubbishfreeyear.co.nz/ - a Christchurch couple attempting to live rubbish free all year. They offer great tips for recycling, avoiding waste etc. They have hens - we've been thinking about getting some as well as we try to live more simply.

who looks?

In the latest magazine of Spanz (my denominational magazine which can also be viewed online at http://www.presbyterian.org.nz/) my colleague Fyfe Blair (from Highgate, Dunedin days) and I contributed some ideas about blogging - you can read the article here: http://www.presbyterian.org.nz/4800.0.html.
I am rather cautious about the whole concept of blogging and even more so after reading Ben Elton's latest and excellent novel Blind Faith. Elton exposes how many of the things of our culture can be taken too far, get too serious, be too personally invasive etc etc.

In the last week I've had a couple of encouraging emails from overseas ministers who say they enjoy my blog - which is encouraging (though I have no idea how they found their way to it). But I do wonder how many people do look, and whether those who do might have any suggestions about what kind of content they enjoy and would like more of.
Would you dare to email me martin@ststephens.co.nz or hit the comment header below and share a thought?

address at rochester & rutherford halls

I've picked up the chaplaincy responsibility at R & R Halls - a student residential college at Canterbury University. We had our commencement service and meal last Thursday. I gave the following address on freedom and boundaries, mentioning among other things a reference to Yann Martel's Life of Pi and the outcome of the Tea Ropati rape trial...
I wonder how you are going as you settle into life in Christchurch, at University and at R&R in particular.
Because of talking with you tonight I’ve thought a lot about my own experience starting at university – living in a hall and what it was like (Knox College in Dunedin for me).

Actually I revelled in the residential hall experience – after a few days of adjustment that is. I recall dealing with the competing feelings of excitement at the great adventure of it all, along with the grief associated with moving away from a life I had known and enjoyed… everything had changed…

I think home-sickness is a lot about the grief associated with letting go what was good and safe and secure… it affects people differently because some people are more attached to the life of home than others…
In my observation, come the second weekend away, almost all home-sickness finds its rightful place – not so overwhelming, more a gentle reminder that you are loved and you are missed and that whatever this place becomes, there is always another place called home.

Mostly I recall the sense of freedom associated with shifting away and going to university. It was great – I had entered another world with significantly fewer constraints – if I was absent from something no one checked up on me – if I wanted to go out I could – if there was something on that I wanted to go to I did.

Are you enjoying that freedom?

But I also recall the sense of security that went along with that freedom because of where I lived – the security of knowing where my next meal was coming from – the comfort of a warm place to sleep at night surrounded by my things – the sanctuary of being in a community of peers, many of whom I got to know and enjoy and whose support I valued.

As much as I revelled in the freedom of being at university, I also valued the boundaries that were in my life, especially because of being in a hostel. I could go out but there was always a base to head back to.

That’s the strange thing about freedom – it seems to need boundaries around it for it to exist.

I’ll try and explain.

There’s a great little novel by Yann Martel called Life of Pi. Have you read it? It’s mostly about a boy who ends up on a lifeboat with 227 days with a tiger named Richard Parker. Pi’s father owned a zoo in India and they were relocating to another country when the ship sunk. The bit about freedom that I found fascinating was Pi’s observation about whether the animals in the zoo were freer in the wild or in the zoo. He observed that in the zoo the animals could relax in a way that they never would in the wild. Surrounded by fences they were free of the threat of predators and free of the worry over their next meal. Zoo life was almost stress-free for these animals – and they generally lived much longer because of it.

I think it was the same with my children – by having some rules and boundaries they have been able to be free to grow without great stress in their lives. They have known lines that are not to be crossed (mostly for their safety and my sanity), and they have known who is in charge, and as they have grown those boundaries have loosened as they have been ready for more independence. Around me at times have been other parents who have not provided such boundaries – their children act out, always seemed to be over-tired, and many of them struggled among their peers and in their schooling. They were stressed. Why? Because those kids were in charge before they were mature enough to handle the responsibility – those kids were in charge, whereas the adults should have been.

What do you get if life has no boundaries? Anarchy. Of course, every so often the boundaries need to be challenged. That’s the problem with boundaries – the fences can get too high and too unyielding and they begin to oppress people. But if there are no boundaries then people have no security – no safe-guards and no freedom.

I don’t know if you are familiar with the 10 Commandments [Exodus 20:2–17 and Deuteronomy 5:6–21]. The ‘thou shalt not’s’ of the Old Testament. For a long time I kind of resented the way they were used in the church as a kind of stick to beat people around with. But lately I’ve come to understand their role as being the boundaries for human freedom. Kind of like a fence that we can live within and be free. The commandments were given to Israel when they were in the desert having escaped enslavement in Egypt and before they entered the Promised Land. These boundaries were about how the people could be truly free in their new land and how they could achieve that freedom by being attentive to how they were before God and before each other.

I want to suggest that if there are not some good boundaries in place in your new life in Christchurch then you will be vulnerable to some things that might cause you considerable harm and distress and work to rob you of your freedom.

I don’t know if you caught up with the outcome of the Tea Ropati trial a week or two ago. He was acquitted of a rape charge. It appears that the woman who had laid the complaint of rape was grossly intoxicated and in a blackout phase (which doesn’t mean she was comatosed but rather that she could function but without any clear memory of what was going on). But it also appears that Ropati was aware of that state and still pursued a sexual encounter with her.

Was it rape? No, the court determined. But was it honourable on Ropati’s part? No, but there is no law against being dishonourable. Was the woman free? Hang no, she was incredibly vulnerable – very at risk, and fundamentally she put herself into the position where it was unclear whether the sex was consensual or not. She didn’t have appropriate boundaries in her life. But neither did Ropati – who also had a partner and family. Both of them have a lot to think about.

The Apostle Paul had given thought to the freedom that he experienced in Jesus Christ. He saw that once he had been a slave to a life of having to get everything right in his own strength – and he had even overseen the killing of followers of this Jesus thinking that he was right. But it all changed for him in knowing Jesus.

“It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life,” he wrote to the church in the region of Galatia (modern day Turkey). “Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?”

My prayer is that as you enter this new season in your lives and enter into the adventure of it, that you will also find your security and thereby your freedom in some of the boundaries offered to you in the discipline of study, the loyalty of new friendships, and especially in your life in this Hall. Keep yourselves safe and God bless you and keep you! Amen.

So long Madge

Madge Allsop has died.

Actress Emily Perry, who played Dame Edna Everidge's glum-faced, brow-beaten bridesmaid, died in an English retirement home on Wednesday, aged 100.

Barry Humphries (aka Dame Edna) commented that he thought if Dame Edna was to pay tribute, she'd say: "I'd wish I'd been nicer to her."

I have from time to time wondered if a Madge Allsop-type figure sitting near the pulpit of most preachers would be a good foil for those times when the preacher is a bit excessive and over-the-top. To have a Madge sitting deadpan and unresponsive would be the perfect foil - a counter-measure to any flights of ego.

In her blankness Madge was a perfect foil to Dame Edna's flambouyance - a reminder that some balance helps the world go around as it should.

great site

I've just linked up with free range studios and their stunning series on YouTube: "The Story of Stuff" - my friend Bruce Hamill pointed me in that direction, and in the direction of an acquainatnce Jolyon White who is attempting to live on $1 a day in Dunedin starting 5 Feb. You can track him by hitting: http://www.onedollaraday.net.nz

http://www.youtube.com/Freerangestudios

a quote from Sojourners Community

The Creator goes off on one wild, specific tangent after another, or millions simultaneously, with an exuberance that would seem to be unwarranted, and with an abandoned energy sprung from an unfathomable font. What is going on here? The point of the dragonfly’s terrible lip, the giant water bug, birdsong, or the beautiful dazzle and flash of sunlighted minnows, is not that it all fits together like clockwork—for it doesn’t, particularly, not even inside the goldfish bowl—but that it all flows so freely wild, like the creek, that it all surges in such a free fringed tangle. Freedom is the world’s water and weather, the world’s nourishment freely given, its soil and sap: and the creator loves pizzazz.
- Annie Dillard Teaching a Stone to Talk

Bernard's poem

My friend Bernard Thornton writes poems - the ones I see are often related to conversations we have - he picks up something and takes it somewhere special. His latest came through a couple of weeks ago and he wasn't unhappy about it appearing in the blog...

Disciple

For our New Year’s resolution
let us agree
to find new ways
of letting things
enter us

shoals
simply having the faith
to put out our nets
without question
without anxiety concerning outcomes

let us be ready
standing quietly
patiently
at the edge of things
listening looking

Bernard Thornton

Barack Obama

Anne and I are big fans of Barack Obama - the attached speech on reconciling faith and politcs from 2006 is very interesting... we hope he makes it this year but are nervous about monsters with guns in the land of polarisations.

http://www.barackobama.com/2006/06/28/call_to_renewal_keynote_address.php

Power, madness & victory Part 2

the rant on power etc from last Tuesday turned into the following sermon by Sunday...

http://www.ststephens.co.nz/ministry/sermons/collection/20080127.1201313698.php

folly of our ways

Foolishness
by Bertrand Russell

Modern methods of production have given us the possibility of ease and security for all; we have chosen, instead, to have overwork for some and starvation for others. Hitherto we have continued to be as energetic as we were before there were machines; in this we have been foolish, but there is no reason to go on being foolish forever.

Source: In Praise of Idleness
from: inward/outward

Thoughts on the church and power

I'm enjoying receiving daily 'thoughts' from the 'inward/outward' site of the Church of the Savior in Washington DC. You even get a chance to interact! Here's one thought they sent a couple of days ago and my interaction - these can be viewed at http://www.inwardoutward.org/?p=620


Moving From Talk to PowerWritten by admin January 24th, 2008 in on the way
By John Perkins
If we as Christians can see the issues of our day—the poverty, the racism, war and injustice—and if we can use the skills and resources that we get from our training at school or on the job, and if we can really be open to being equipped by the Spirit of God, then we will be used. We must lie on our beds at night and wrestle with how we can individually and collectively bring our faith from talk to power, how we can bring our faith and works to bear on the real issues of human need.
I believe that right now we are facing a most difficult time in history. We are discovering that old strategies have failed and that the new ones, or rediscovered ones, will not let us hold onto our old lifestyles.
Source: A Quiet Revolution

and...
Martin Stewart Jan 24th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Parts of John’s words work for me and other parts cause concern - without a doubt he is right to say that our faith should move to action. But what kind of action. His use of the word power (instead of action) makes me nervous. Being a Power is not the calling of the church - rather we are to call the powers to account and remind them of their vocation which is to serve. Excellent work on this has been done by Marva Dawn in recent times, and the likes of Jacques Ellul and William Stringfellow in the past 50 years. If we become a power and powerful then we will oppress, we will cause injustice, etc. Our posture before the world is that of Christ - who acted, spoke out and exposed the powers, and then submitted to them. He never called us to power, but to serve.

Prayer

A man prayed, and at first he thought that prayer was talking. But he became more and more quiet until in the end he realized that prayer is listening.

- Søren KierkegaardChristian Discourses

Power, madness & victory

Today's news... kind of bleak really - that five top military advisors to Nato and the US are promoting the idea of pre-emptive nuclear strikes as a way of the West protecting their way of life and dealing with other countries that are going down the nuclear weapons road. Great! Here is the way to handle people different from us - hit them with the very thing we want to discourage them from having! Yeah right! Why is the military option always the only option? In what ways does escalation and threat prevent a repsonse of escalation and threat?
God help us!
I popped onto the website of The Press the Christchurch daily, and here is a fairly sad list of what else is going on...

More World Stories
Zimbabwe opposition challenges protest ban
Sick Indonesian man has bird flu
Russia to investigate opposition challenger
Militants kill five Pakistani troops
Chess champion Bobby Fischer buried in Iceland
Transport problems persist in flooded UK
No peace deal if Israel keeps building
Diana bodyguard to reveal details of her final moments
Double killing shocks Tonga
Israel agrees to ease Gaza blockade after protests
Italy govt wobbles as party withdraws support
US White House contenders celebrate King legacy
Musharraf pledges free elections
Beijing denies 10 deaths at Olympics stadium
Heavy rains kill 17 canoeing on Zambia lake
Parliament challenges Brown on EU treaty
Bomber kills 15 at funeral in northern Iraq
Israeli blockade deepens hardship in Gaza
Security breach after UK defence ministry laptop stolen
Ukraine family seeking asylum saved from Swiss Alps
Kenya condemns opposition 'sabotage' plan
France's oldest man - a WW1 vet - dies
Top Fiji businessman slams military regime
Graffitists swept to death in Sydney drain
Nationalist ahead in first round Serb president vote
New pictures of Madeleine 'suspect' released
Metal detectors to fight knife crime in British schools
McCain, Clinton look to next White House battle
Lights go out in Gaza as power plant shuts down
Man dies after police taser gun shot
Cambodian police block Mia Farrow's rally
McCain expects to do well in Florida
Japan follows Europe by tapping offshore wind for power
Three killed in Kenya clashes, opposition defiant
Pakistan forces press attack on militant stronghold
Georgia, Russia pledge better ties at inauguration
Mountain searched after Angolan plane crash

Sometimes it is getting hard to breathe and I need to go up for air...
I subscribe to a daily 'thought' from the Church of the Savior in Washington and got the air I needed today from these words of William Stringfellow (one of my heroes)

"It is worse than you think it is and you are freer than you think you are. The powers are raging beyond your control and they are already overcome in Christ. The division is an uncrossable spiritual chasm and it's been crossed."
Source: Conference on Religion and Race, Chicago, 1963

We Christians live into another reality - the victory won and the kingdom coming... it is our Christ-given, hopeful, radical posture before ther world with all its travail and woe... "God help us, God give me hope. Amen."

http://inwardoutward.org/

Sir Edmund Hillary

I was writing to a correspondent from North Carolina yesterday and mentioned the following about Sir Edmund Hillary's death: "We are mourning the loss of Sir Edmund Hillary over here – he died last Friday… he kind of epitomizes what kind of people we like to think we [NZers] are… he was humble and generous to the poor… not a bad role model really!
The Maori people of New Zealand talk of the death of a significant person as being like a mighty Totara tree falling… it makes a big noise and leaves a huge gap in the landscape. That’s how it feels here."


One of the early images of Sir Edmund epitomises the man... while he is credited with being the first to summit Mt Everest, he actually was there because of a partnership with the local Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay... that partnership proved in time to be more than a means to an end to get up the mountain, it became a partnership with a people. Sir Ed used the prestige bestowed on him to serve the impoverished Nepalese people. That's the kind of person I admire. I have less and less time for people who use their fame to satiate their egos. Sir Ed's humility was one of his most endearing qualities.
Here are few quotes of his that illustrate that humility:
"It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves."
"People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things."
"You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things – to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated."

Perhaps the best one is his thought that it wasn't so much that he conquered the mountain but that the mountain relented to let them up.

Truck progress #15

We are over the $20,000 mark now - $20,810!! Any money over the $20,000 purchase price will be used to enable maintenance - this money will be held in the Global Mission Office. Yesterday we got a donation from a couple who had already donated last month! Great!

Christmas New Year and stuff like that

I found an old message I sent out a few Christmases ago... I've adapted it for now...

I have decided to declare my New Year's resolutions even though I don't do that sort of thing and never intend to keep them anyway - but you never know...
#1 ignore the television for the summer... I totally ignore TV news anyway - I have done for 3 years now and there are no side effects - but there are huge benefits... for instance, I am more pleasant to be around because I no longer argue out loud with the newsreaders about their content, their assumptions and their blatant manipulation of the news in order to entice an audience.
#2 instead of drinking too much, I have decided to drink less more often. (I don't think I drink too much anyway but have decided to make this resolution just in case I am tempted).
#3 befriend dairy farmers. Actually I will only need to befriend one and immediately there will be the thrill of basking in the company of someone who has $800,000 plus surplus money this year. If I earned $800,000 in one year I could move a few mountains, but these people have received on average $800,000 as a bonus payment above the existing record payouts for milk this year - come on you lot... do something amazing with that money!
#4 stage a protest at the cost of cheese, milk, butter and meat. The cheese prices have doubled in the last three years - why? Everywhere you look there is a blimmin cow eating grass. Our water ways are being polluted with the excess nitrates from all the fertiliser applied, the cows fart all the time, and every farm looks the same with huge paddocks and all the trees removed. This has to be bad for the land in the long term... good things in excess always have a cost... so at least can't we get discount milk products??? Soon we will have to import cheese because our local stuff costs too much - how dumb is that when there is a bloody cow wherever you look?
#5 stop swearing
#6 live each day as if it is the last one. This might sound easy to you but it is not for me - it means not wishing any time away (including the shitty things of life) and it means never winning Lotto because I will not invest in it (I know that this is radical counter-culture thing in NZ society, to not believe that something will appear out of nowhere and make my life all better, but I am prepared to stick out in the crowd on this one). Another way of putting this is to live life to the full... each blessed minute... I put this to the test this year when I went to visit the dentist. There I was sitting in the chair watching as the needle approached and saying to myself - live in the moment mate... look for the good, take the pain, wear a gummy smile on your face as you part with a significant proprortion of your weekly income - and hey, it was ok! I have finally found a very competent dentist! (And I will have this to say to my new-found cow farmer friends: "Go to the dentist as soon as possible and you will have only half the pain you usually have because with your big payout you won't notice what happens as you do the tally up at the reception desk!)
#7 make more time to talk with George Bush about why I think his foreign policy is nothing more than fearmongering and doing wease [Rory (see comment below) thinks it is wees but I think he only thinks that way because he is such a small guy] into the wind, and advise him to read Brave New World by Huxley. If he is not available I will set up a meeting with Condolezza Rice and the people standing for election as President. This is very important.
#8 vote Labour in the 2008 election. The signs are there that Labour may struggle to hold office after the election, and as I have a heart for the underdog I will vote for them. Added to this, I still don't detect any heart at all for the underdog in the National Party's policies.
#9 try not to save the world in 2008. You might think this is silly, but to actually step back and trust that God has the salvation thing in hand is a big thing for any Christian. I truly wonder how many people would hear God saying 'Shut up and let me handle this' if they would only shut up and listen to God instead of putting words into God's mouth.
#10 make war less, make love more, stop to smell flowers, smile at children, take a deep breath before responding to fools, and give thanks in all things.

#7 looks do-able but I may struggle with the rest

Truck progress #10

$12,810 as of today - a few parishes have had people contribute... St Mark's in Avonhead, and St Martin's in St Martin's (yeah I know) - they have had an ongoing relationship with the Meier's and wanted to support this! Thanks! There's room for a few more to be on board as well!

A Touch of Sleeve

On Monday night I was involved in the launching of my friend Susan Bell's amazing book, A Touch of Sleeve. Susan asked if I would be the launcher which was an honour and a privilege (if the two things aren't the same!). Around 90 people gathered at the University Bookshop and we had a lot of fun... the neat thing was that Hisashi (who the book is about) was able to be there. He is in his late 80's.

Hisashi is Japanese and has done what Japanese men don't do - he has recounted to Susan his experience of life in Japan during World War II, the defeat and occupation. Culturally he has broken a kind of taboo - and according to a proverb he relates, been the frog who opens his mouth so wide that the contents of his insides can be seen...

The insight into Japanese life that comes from this opening his mouth widely is profound. I read some of the early draft chapters (that have since been radically revised as the book took its current shape) and the account of the fire bombing of Tokyo in particular was both harrowing and astonishing.

Until now, little has been known of the Japanese side of the war experience.

Susan with Hisashi's help has opened the window for us to look in - it promises to be a break-through book and I wish Susan well!

It is available around the country for $39.95 - I hope people get the opportunity to read it.

http://www.longacre.co.nz/books/Sleeve.html

Truck Progress #8

I didn't get time to do the Friday update - so here is Friday and Saturday combined...

we are up to $11,000! One couple were particularly generous sending in a $2000 cheque! That really helped. Things had been a bit slower...

Hopefully there are some others out there who will help us meet at least the truck cost of $20,000! But we are over halfway!

I am in Dunedin for a couple of days to catch up with Anne and help launch a book - more on that later so the next update will be Wednesday.

Truck progress #6

$7450 after today's mail. What was really pleasing was to receive three donations from people who have heard about it from others! Great! Thanks!

Truck progress #1

Today's mail contained the first cheques for the Vanuatu Truck - $1100 - we are on the way!

A Truck for Vanuatu

THE EBULE TRAINING CENTRE IN PORT VILA, VANUATU
NEEDS A TRUCK

A photo I took of Rob Meier & trainees at the Ebule Urban Training Centre

And Anne and I are trying to raise $25,000 in three weeks so that it can be purchased. We have sent out 108 letters to people we know with the following options:

#1 Tell us where to go
#2 Say ‘Oh I wish I could but I have no spare cash.’
#3 Ask for more info – email or phone Mart the Rev
#4 Be bold and make a commitment, post it to us asap

Cheques made out to 'Global Mission office' can be sent to Martin & Anne Stewart, 5a Truman Rd, Bryndwr Christchurch. Receipts will be issued for tax purposes.

Can you help?

We will post a running total each week!

A lot of music at the moment

Anne and I have just had an influx of new cds and dvds that we are loving after a few months of the decemberists, crowded house and the cowboy junkies new album

Here is what has pushed the buttons for us...

Bruce Springsteen's Magic (some of the old magic that got us hooked with his The Rising album) Liam Finn's I'll be lightening, (which has some startling rhythms - the title track stands out so far and has Neil Finn demonstrating his genius on bass), David Gilmour's Live at the Royal Albert Hall DVD is a classic - especially enhanced by having Crosby and Nash singing, and the Cowboy Junkies Trinity Revisited - it is a CD and DVD where they go back to the Holy Trinity Church in downtown Toronto and do the same tracks as the original The Trinity Sessions album of 20 years ago with a few other musicians in tow. We watched the DVD for the first time last night and it was quite brilliant. The cinematography is fantastic and adds to the wonderful sound. It was recorded in a day just like the original. Ryan Adams, Vic Chesnutt and especially Natalie Merchant, add ouitstanding vocals to Margo Timmins' (pictured) uncomplicated sonic genius.

If people are new to the Junkies then I have suggested they start with The Trinity Sessions, but now, they need to start with Revisited.

We are also in the process of purchasing tickets to the Split Enz concert in Christchurch next March - yeah!

Crowded House Concert

Well, it was great!

Pluto had the hard graft of being first up - they had a few good sounds in their set but the mix was wrong and we worried that this would be the problem of the venue...

But Supergroove settled that with their Blues Brothers style and sound - they were wonderfully energetic and the sound was great. Che Fu was stunning. I hadn't seen them live before and I was most impressed.

But the night belonged to Neil Finn and his team. The lift professionally was amazing from band to band, and with Crowded House, we entered the stratosphere. I was pleasantly surprised with the choice of songs - many from Together Alone and a few of the more obscure songs from their debut album and only three from Woodface (Fall at your Feet, Weather With You & Four Seasons).

The new songs came across really well although I found Transit Lounge didn't come across as well as I hoped ('though the reviewer in The Press seemed to like it the most - actually it was a poor review - he seemed to be trying to provide an intellectual analysis of the three bands aside from the reality of it being a live concert - and his claim that half of the House set was from the new album was quite a stretch given that in the two hours there were only five or six songs off Time on Earth - actually I was amazed how little of the new album they used and wished they had done my favourites Pour Le Monde & English Trees).

What that reviewer also missed was mentioning the brilliant set. The unusual images, the light and the blend of effects was very artistic and kind of theatrical - after U2 and all their stunning computer-generated effects I couldn't imagine that there cound be a visual equivalent offered by another band - but there was here.

The three encores was much-appreciated as well... a great night thanks!

Crowded House Day

Tonight Anne and I are off to see Crowded House play in Christchurch with Supergroove & Pluto! Yay!

Remembering Parihaka

A colleague, John Hunt, reminded me this week that the 5th November is the anniversary of the invasion of the peaceful settlement of Parihaka in 1881 and the subsequent arrest of Te Whiti, Tohu and many others, and their incarceration in the South Island without trial, so that their land could be given to settlers.
John reckoned that it was of more significance in a NZ context to remember this than Guy Fawkes… I am planning to do this on Sunday with the whole focus on what happened at Parihaka. In light of recent events in NZ it kind of fits that we think about things from another angle… and Te Whiti’s non-violent passive resistance stands out as model for us all as to the way we might live the gospel… apparently Ghandi knew of Te Whiti and his way.

[the painting is by Seraphine Pick of Dunedin]

Here’s a poem…

THERE WAS A MAN

There was a man
preached peace
to warrior chiefs.

He built a pa
at Parihaka.
Soldiers burned it down

robbed the people
of their land
and livelihood.

He preached
to them as well.
They would not listen.

Our history
would be different
if they had.

How much longer
must we reap
their bitter harvest?

J C Sturm
[thought to be the first Maori woman to receive a university degree in 1949]

10 years of the St Stephen's Community Centre

And we are having a party! If you are in Christchurch, come along on Friday 26th 6pm - 7.30pm to St Stephen's, cnr Aorangi & Ilam Roads!!!

the decemberists

My daughter Hana sent Anne and I a copy of The Crame Wife by The Decemberists. It has been very well-received - I'm about to rave about it!

This music - folk-rock style, is very very good. The musicianship is tremendous, and the lyrics and singing unique and absorbing. The songs are folk ballads with guitars, drums and a glorious Hammond organ, with a few other instruments from time to time.

Last week we took Hana, Sam and Josh to the Gold Coast in Australia and this was the only CD we had in the car - we didn't get sick of it but all liked it. That in itself is quite something for we all have quite varied musical tastes.

I think you can download some songs from their webpage... http://www.decemberists.com/

I highly recommend this album!

article in Candour

Candour is an on-line journal for people in ministry in the Presbyt Church in NZ - I was editor of it years ago. Recently I was asked to submit an essay on hope in a climate of fear... here is what I came up with...
Fear: the enemy of hope that dances to death’s tune.

As I recall it, Alvin Tofler predicted in his 1970’s book Future Shock that fear and anxiety would be some of the by-products of our crazy fast-changing technological world, with people getting left behind because the future will come at them too fast. It looks like he was right… the proliferation of Prozac and other anti-depressants among people in the so-called developed world would suggest that depression and anxiety are part of the cost of change.
But I wonder if along with fear being a by-product of our peculiar society fear is also being used as a mechanism to manipulate people. Here are a few examples I can think of:
- the fear-mongering about a possible bird flu epidemic. A year or so ago we were ‘done for’ and people were stockpiling tamiflu pills, even though there was next to no evidence that those pills would be able to treat a virus that didn’t yet exist. Why the panic when there wasn’t anything we could do about it anyway?
- the projection of worse-case scenarios as actuality – we saw an example of this last month with President Bush announcing that inaction against Iran will likely result in nuclear holocaust. But more commonly we see this in the use of statistics as a way of projecting the future, and the results are almost always bleak. We even see these worse-case scenarios being used to provoke certain kinds of mission-action in the church. I find this use of statistics to predict the future of the church highly speculative and rather manipulative. A colleague listening to such stuff was reminded of a frequent comment from one of the characters in Dad’s Army who, speaking out of his congenital pessimism, would announce in almost every episode: “We’re doomed Captain Mannering.” Statistics are usually suggest we are doomed – and they get us all scrambling around in a dance of death . I think it was Lloyd Geering who suggested in the 1960’s that the last Presbyterian and Anglican would be meeting to close the door of the last church in the year 2000. Um… not quite, I like to think that God had another idea about that.
- fear of the enemy being used to stimulate nationalism and economic growth. This has been a consistent feature of the way successive United States administrations have behaved since World War II. As I understand it, from my geo-politics studies at university, the US has operated on a war economy since 1941… the economic growth from being almost constantly involved in warring has been astounding, and has, in the eyes of the powers that be, justified hideously large sums being used to manufacture the machinery and armaments of war, as well as popping up to the moon and back. Whether the enemy exists or not isn’t all that important – enemies can be created… (do you remember President Reagan invading Grenada?) Iraq is once such creation. The irony of the first Gulf War was that the missiles being directed at US aircraft by Iraqi forces were made in the US! It turns out that for many years Iraq had been supplied US arms as a buffer against Iran. While I am cautious about conspiracy theories, is it too much to imagine that the first President Bush deliberately left Iraq’s leadership intact for another day when it would be more convenient to invade? But then a problem emerged… there needed to be a reason to invade. Umm… what if we say that Iraq had Weapons of Mass Destruction? Now we are being told that Vietnam wasn’t so bad, but that it was the leaving of it that was a problem!
- the proliferation of end times theory as fact (the worst of these can be found in the hideous Left Behind novels), and the associated justification of violence, prejudice, intolerance, scape-goating and ignorance, as well as a laziness when it comes to attending to the tasks of making peace, caring for the environment, loving one’s neighbour, etc.

Of course there are many more examples, but what is most disturbing is the complicity of the church in this fear-mongering. I believe that hope is the attitude that Christians are called to exhibit in a fearful world that seems to bow to the triumph of death. Christian hope is not blind optimism or reality avoidance, but a living demonstration of there being a bigger story – a meta-narrative as some theologians describe it.
This big story is the narrative of God’s saving work in the world; the presence of the kingdom of God among us, yet still to come in its fullness; and a living into the reality of the victory of Christ over the powers of this world that seek to dominate us [see Colossians 2:13-15].
I believe that there is an explicit call for the people of God, who find themselves to be strangers in a strange land, to nevertheless live fearlessly, confidently and hopefully in God’s promises [Isaiah 43 etc].
It is our calling as the church of Jesus Christ to demonstrate to the fearful world that there is another way of seeing things for live this side of the incarnation, we live this side of the ministry of Jesus, we live this side of his death on the cross, we live this side of his resurrection and we live this side of his ascension. Thus we live hopefully, not fearfully. We live to the tune of life in its fullness and not to the march of death in all its fearfulness.
William Stringfellow, a lawyer and theologian, offered these words for the church in a world where the powers of fear and death seem to be reigning:
“In the face of death, live humanly. In the middle of chaos, celebrate the Word. Amidst babel… speak the truth. Confront the noise and verbiage and falsehood of death with the truth and potency and efficacy of the Word of God. Know the Word, teach the Word, nurture the Word, preach the Word, defend the Word, incarnate the Word, do the Word, live the Word. And more than that, in the Word of God, expose death and all death’s works and wiles, rebuke lies, cast out demons, exorcise, cleanse the possessed, raise those who are dead in mind and conscience.” [An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land 1973 p143]

on Christian political parties

I've submitted the following letter to the editor of The Press in Christchurch...
Destiny & Future NZ
I believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ cannot be reduced to political slogans or a set of policies, thus the notion of Christian political parties bothers me.
Destiny/Future NZ say they want to put families first, bring ‘morals’ into the political arena, and that ‘life means life’ in relation to how we treat violent offenders. But how can this be done in a way that doesn’t a)marginalise people who don’t fit into traditional categories; b) look out for those who are different from those in the Christian party, and c) restore offenders to a meaningful life with the possibility of release being the incentive for the changes they make? Aren’t these also gospel imperatives?
Jesus associated with those who the religious powers of his day marginalised. He challenged those who tried to enshrine God into a set of laws. Jesus never formed a party, instead, he called them to account. Herein lies what Christians can offer in the political arena: a voice among the voices, influence, encouragement, a reminder of what is important, and a challenge when necessary.
I have a few friends in Parliament and a colleague standing for Council who are all Christians. They are good people who I trust to bring an important and necessary gospel-informed perspective to the debates of the day. But they are not there suggesting that the gospel can automatically be turned into policy nor are they saying that their perspective represents what it means to be Christian.

a story I'm thinking of using on Sunday

Christian counselor Dennis Linn tells this wonderful story about how his mind was changed about God. He describes how his image of God was like stern old Uncle George, that Good Old Uncle George was the sort of person that people respected the old fashioned way [raising arm and fist to indicate 'respect' by brute force]. Then he tells this story of how his mind was changed:
One day Hilda came to me crying because her son had tried to commit suicide for the fourth time. She told me that he was involved in prostitution, drug dealing and murder. She ended her list of her son's "big sins" with, "What bothers me most is that my son says he wants nothing to do with God. What will happen to my son if he commits suicide without repenting and wanting nothing to do with God?"
Since at the time my image of God was like Good Old Uncle George, I thought "God will probably send your son to hell." But I didn't want to tell Hilda that. I was glad that my ... training had taught me ... to [instead] ask ..., "What do you think?"
"Well," Hilda replied, "I think that when you die, you appear before the judgment seat of God. If you have lived a good life, God will send you to heaven. If you have lived a bad life, God will send you to hell." [In other words, Hilda's God punishes and rewards. Our image of God has changed much since Moses, has it?!] Sadly, she concluded, "Since my son has lived such a bad life, if he were to die without repenting, God would certainly send him to hell."
Although I tended to agree with her, I didn't want to say, "Right on, Hilda! Your son would probably be sent to hell." I was again grateful for my theological training which taught me a second strategy: when you don't know how to solve a theological problem, then let God solve it. So I said to Hilda, "Close your eyes. Imagine that you are sitting next to the judgment seat of God. Imagine also that your son has died with all these serious sins and without repenting. Your son has just arrived at the judgment seat of God. Squeeze my hand when you can imagine that."
A few minutes later Hilda squeezed my hand. She described to me the entire judgment scene. Then I asked her, "Hilda, how does your son feel?" Hilda answered, "My son feels so lonely and empty." I asked Hilda what she would do. She said, "I want to throw my arms around my son." She lifted her arms and began to cry as she imagined herself holding her son tightly.
Finally, when she had stopped crying, I asked her to look into God's eyes and watch what God wanted to do. God stepped down from the throne, and just as Hilda did, embraced Hilda's son. And the three of them, Hilda, her son, and God, cried together and held one another.
I was stunned. What Hilda taught me in those few minutes is the bottom line of healthy Christian spirituality: God loves us at least as much as the person who loves us the most.
[as told by Paul J. Nuechterlein in a stunning sermon I am going to have to borrow heavily from http://girardianlectionary.net/year_c/proper19c_1995_ser.htm]

Glenn babes

Here he is in all his billboard glory!!!

fridge magnets

And while I'm at it here at St Stephen's we have a little mission to a village in Ethiopia where we help care for 60 elderly people with a modest amount of money, as well as helping the odd village with their water supply. This year as part of the mission report in our Annual Report we are including a fridge magnet for people to stick on their... fridges...

U2 communion thingee

In Christchurch we're working towards a kiwi version of the U2-charist worship service containing music by U2...

A group of us Presbyterians are holding it on 7 October (World Communion Sunday) at 5-45pm in the Hornby Community Presbyterian Church. I've tried to reproduce the poster for the blog...

Elections coming

I'm about to go and take a picture of my colleague Glenn Livingstone's billboard... he is standing for the local community board and the City Council... what is annoying is that he already has a moustache thus it is hard to deface the billboard - not that I have ever done that kind of things before but never before has it been a friend who I can make fun of in this way!

Before I go and get it here's a Leunig cartoon that kind of illustrates the path that politicians take... be careful Glenn! [source: The Age webpage]

Emerging from the wilderness

Not only have I not blogged since my return from Vanuatu, but I have been without the internet. Five weeks off-line has been ok actually.

The Vanuatu experience was fantastic - the highlight was the week at Talua Ministry College and the warmth of the people, their generosity and their searching questions. I also enjoyed the snorkelling opportunities.

The night-time dogs and early-morning roosters incited murderous thoughts, and the stolen passport was a bit of a problem but otherwise... it was great!

I am currently reading Chris Crump's story of her 18 years on Nguna Island near Efate where her husband Ken was a minister, doctor, dentist, farmer, mechanic, and whatever else, in the late 1930's to 50's. I knew Chris and Ken and know some of their family as well - the story is all the more interesting because of my trip.

My ten days have nothing on those years of commitment and at times great sacrifice, but it was good to be there and remember them and the many others who have served over the years in that lovely country, as well as make friends with the Meier's and Parkes who are serving over there at the moment.

hey

Halo from Vanuatu
This is the first oportunity I have had to get blog out - getting on line costs quite a bit so... it will be short
Phil and I are having a great time - the weather is warm to hot and fairly dry...
Our first night in Port Vila was below average with all the dogs in the area barking all night... all night, mostly it was one telling the story with others offering encouragement (kind of like what I think Alcoholics Anon meetings are like) and then another would take up with a story... now I know it, dogs do talk... but I wish they didn't!
The next night they did the same but we were more tired so got more sleep but not what we need. I have only had one of those.
We went around Efate Island on Thursday with Rob & Barb Meier - it was great though the road was appaling in places and I forgot to take my camera (it was camouflaged on the sleeping bag!). I included a picture from the air of Havannah harbour where the US Pacific Fleet was stationed in WWII - quite a place.
The people are lovely - warm, friendly and safe to be around. The local food is quite nice.
We have been snorkeling at Hideaway Island...- the fish are stunning and our trip out a bit where the fish around us were sometimes a metre long easily rivaled the Barrier Reef trip of a few years ago.
I also got to deliver the 2000+ condoms that St Stephen's people collected to the Family Health Centre - they were very pleased with us!
I was scheduled to preach at a church in Port Vila but they never got to me... this despite assurances that it had been set up from the NZ end. Apparently this is not the first time. Oh well, we got a rather long-winded thingee in the Bislama tongue instead...
The flight to Espiritu Santo was great with the aerial views quite spectacular. Talua Ministry Training College is well-run and the first of the seminars seemed to go quite well with very thoughtful responses from the students.

Off to Vanuatu

I head off tomorrow (Wednesday) to Vanuatu, where among other things, a colleague and I are conducting five days of seminars at Talua Ministry School on the island of Espiritu Santo. I doubt that I will get to blog while there but you never know.
I embark on this trip with luggage including over 2000 condoms - a gift to a family health clinic from the people of St Stephen's - many of whom have gone to their doctors and asked for a prescription! It has been quite entertaining hearing of the reactions of the doctors when some fairly elderly widows have made their requests!
I wonder how it will be going through customs with my 'supplies.'