The Night Shelter Trust can buy its buildings!

Our front gate with an advert painted on it.

One of the many media photos of me and my mate John from the Night Shelter Trust. The buildings we will buy are in the background.

The slogan for the student sleep out and our campaign.

Success at last.
The local newspaper announced it today. You can see it on the front page and page number three. We at the Night Shelter have been successful in raising the funds to purchase the buildings we currently rent.  We had a phone call from a Trust who invited us to put an application in for the remainder of the money we needed, and they granted it within minutes of me sending the application in. We still needed $25,659 of the $595,000 total.  Today I phoned our lawyer and he is making the arrangements to purchase the buildings. It has been a three year (at least) fund raising journey. When we told people that we had to raise $595,000 often the conversation went quiet. You could hear people thinking, "Yeah right - you'll never do it!" But we did. 
The feelings are strange. 
I have lived with this for so long it feels strange to be finished the project.  My study, my computer desktop and my workshop are cluttered with things related to raising money for the Night Shelter buildings purchase. Even our front gate was painted with a fundraising "Eat the Elephant" slogan. It is strange to finish it. There's a certain emptiness, part of my life is gone. Something else will fill it, but just now there's a hole.
The second feeling is one of absolute relief. We have chosen this "ownership road" which was a massive step to take. It would have been disastrous for the credibility of the Dunedin Night Shelter Trust if we had failed.  There were moments when I thought we might fail. A couple trusts that we had expected a lot from, who seemed to show a lot of interest and asked a lot of questions turned us down.  I had put a lot of work into preparing the applications and felt that we fitted their specifications. Without them I knew our job was pretty tough. So I feel absolutely relieved.
The third feeling is that of appreciation. The Dunedin community got in behind our cause. A kindergarten had a pajama day. A primary school's Young Vinnies group organised a mufti day. A couple of Rotary groups gave us a $1000. The University Students did their sleep out raising $12000.  The HR department at the University ran a quiz night and gave us $1500 Some rich people gave us $10,000. All the Trusts who gave us money were local Dunedin based Trusts. The Dunedin Community newspaper promoted our campaign for ten weeks...and so it went on... heaps and heaps of Dunedin people supported our cause.  Dunedin as a city has shown itself to be a caring community wanting to ensure there is care for the vulnerable. I so appreciate the generosity of my fellow citizens, young and old, rich and poor.
The fourth feeling is that of feeling absolutely responsible. The City has given the Night Shelter Trust this $595,000 asset. In a sense these two houses belong to the city and it is our job to use them well, I feel incredibly humbled by the generosity, but an added weight of responsibility to make sure we use the buildings wisely and well. 

Two Rants.."God" and "Ad libbing".

"Try God"
I was driving home from Christchurch the other day. We take a "short cut" through Timaru, one of the towns on the way, which takes us through the suburbs and away from the traffic lights and busyness of the main road. We past this modern looking Church which looked well cared for and it had a big street sign which read, "Try God".
Now there was a time in my ministry career when I could have had that on a Church noticeboard. As I drove past it the other day it grated. Somehow it assumed that the average person has no deep spiritual experiences and that this "religion" was going to put them in touch with "God".  But my view of God is greater than that. The Apostle Paul speaking about God, said to the Athenians that "in Him we live and move and have our being." He was speaking to the people of Athens and was trying to build on their religious experiences, and recognised that they were already "religious". God is not hidden in Church buildings. The sacred is experienced in the midst of life. We have insights into what is right.  We sense a deep call from "somewhere" to help, "it just seems the right thing to do" people say - "I had to do it." These are "spiritual experiences", they are experiences of the sacred, of "God" and most people, religious or non-religious have them. So people like me driving past this Church already experience God. Many have and are "trying God". It is wrong, and in some ways disrespectful, to assume they aren't. I would prefer something like, "Together we deepen our life." or "Join us exploring depth in life." .....Just sayin...
I was talking to a man in one of my chaplaincies the other day. He opened up about personal difficulties he battled with and our conversation was deep and meaningful. He asked me "Why did you became a minister?" and we chatted about religious perspectives. Then he told me of experiences of compassion at work, compassion toward him. He then went on to tell of the "Buzz" that he and others experienced when they helped somebody, or helped each other during difficult times. You see, he had begun to relate his "God Experiences"...  as a workplace chaplain I do not bring God into his workplace.... God is already there and I encounter Him along side, and within the workers there.
"He just ad-libs..."
When my wife and I went for morning tea this morning, as we entered a cafe we bumped into a minister from a different denomination who we both know well. He greeted us and shared some comments but both my wife and I felt that his attitude and comments were patronising, as if he felt he was superior to us. I suspected that he saw himself as a real minister, properly academically trained and that Church of Christ ministers were a lower breed. Now I would stack my training up against his at anytime. Both academically and practically it would be superior. I also have kept up my academic reading. He has been in a congregation where I have spoken, and that could be the problem. I speak without notes, not from behind a pulpit but just standing on the platform with nothing between me and the congregation and I often use simple life stories to illustrate. I suspect he does not see that as a "proper dissertation" and probably would say "Oh he just ad libs." When I do not use notes it does not mean that I do not prepare. I perhaps prepare more than most.  A man who has made a far greater impact than I ever have or will, never used notes when he went into a lecture or sermon. Dr Albert Schweitzer never used notes at the pulpit or lectern. But he wrote in his autobiography, that he wrote his lecture or sermon out at least three times in preparation. It looked like he was just ad libbing, but he was profoundly and deeply prepared. When I speak, (as I did the other day in a secular setting with student volunteers) I have written it out several times. I have mulled over illustrations and sentences, honing them so that they make their point as directly and as concisely as possible. I am not just "ad libbing", I am presenting a carefully worked dissertatioin without notes, because it allows me to connect with the listeners in a better way.  I tell simple life stories that do not make my sermons sound like academic dissertations, because I want to connect with my hearers, sometimes at a different level than just their intellect. I suspect some ministers would look down on them as being a bit too much like children's talks. But I know they communicate! The aforementioned minister sat in one of my services once. The next week he was leading the service and he commented that he was "pleasantly surprised" with my service the week before. .. now that was patronising!  But it was interesting that instead of reading his sermon like he usually does, he decided he would try to be chatty and ad lib.  It was terrible... long, wordy, meandering and all over the place. Not using notes is NOT ad libbing. 

Preachers please, please, please prepare, and prepare well, with your listeners in mind. It is an important job that you do!

Different generations.

My son with the completed garden area.

The Students were amazing... this one incredible.

Hand in pocket is bad form.  "David, you were so wonderful to listen to." someone said. 
smile emoticon

Our foster daughter's (with Retts syndrome) art.

She had an exhibition on Saturday.

She looked resplendent.

Funeral
Last Friday we drove the 5 hours north to Christchurch to attend the funeral of a retired minister who was thirteen years older than me. I first met this man when he was a theology student and helping to run an after-school children's happy hour in my Childhood Church hall. He had three ministries then went into a management position in another denomination's Social Work organisation. He had been very supportive to my sister during a tough time in her life and they were close friends, so we felt we should go to the funeral. So we said "Goodbye" to a member of an older generation.
Family
We then drove to a different part of Christchurch and stayed for Saturday and Sunday at my son's new house, with him, his wife and their two and a half year old son. My son and I worked on building a fence around an area in the back yard then digging a vegetable garden in the enclosure. I enjoy working with him, we tease each other, but work well together. So I worked with "the current generation". While there I read to and played with my grandson and their young dog - "the next generation." 
One year older..
On the Sunday I celebrated my birthday, another year older. Now when people hear my age they will round it up to "Oh - he's a seventy year old!"

While in Christchurch I received information about a positive development in our Night Shelter fundraising campaign to purchase our buildings. We drove home on the Monday to a busy week, chaplaincies, a funding application, a monthly Night Shelter Trust meeting and I was invited to say something at a gathering of university student volunteers and hand out certificates. 
The younger generation. 
It was rather short notice, but I discovered that I was billed as "the guest speaker." I went along and present were a whole lot of students who had volunteered for various agencies, some community representatives and people from agencies who had used student volunteers. Some of the students were those who ran the Night Shelter Sleep-out we enjoyed in town. I was duly introduced and spoke to the assembled group (feedback suggested I was good) then presented certificates to students who had excelled in voluntary contributions. As their achievements were read out I was really impressed with their work, they were impressive young people. 

The final part of my talk went like this.  I told of the perspective on history that NZ writer and historian Michael King passed on though it was not original to him. He said history is like a long on-going conversation in a lounge or bar. At a certain point in time each one of us enters the room and joins the conversation. We listen to what has gone before. We learn and dialogue with others in the conversation, and we make our contributions. But it is true for each of us that sooner or later we have to excuse ourselves and leave the room. The conversation though, goes on, and others must build on our contribution and contribute themselves. I said in my speech that this perspective has us asking, "What sort of contribution am I making to the conversation? Is it positive, constructive and unifying? or is it negative, destructive and divisive?"  I then went on to say that the second part is "that relatively soon I will have to excuse myself and leave the room. But that my experience of working with student volunteers (that I had talked about earlier in the speech) means that I will be able to leave the room knowing that there are people with a social conscience, energy, creativity and a willingness to get involved who will continue to contribute in a constructive way in the ongoing conversation of history." 
It has been a week of reflecting on different generations and the passing of time. 

Privileged parson...

I am a retired minister, but somehow not retired. Being chairman of the local Night Shelter Trust has been like a full-time job, because we have been on a campaign to raise $595,000 to purchase the buildings we currently rent. We have $42,000 to go and I am getting excited because I sense we are soon going to meet our target. Secondly I do "Industrial Chaplaincy" visiting the Fire Stations and a local brewery. I also do voluntary chaplaincy with St John Ambulance. 
Last Friday I got a call from a man who used to come to the drop-in centre we held at the Church I retired from. He copes with mental health issues. In 2002 I conducted his mother's funeral when she died quite unexpectedly. He always said he wanted me to take his father's funeral, and last Friday his father died.  He rang saying "David said he would take my father's funeral." That was not what I had said really, but I thought that I ought to. I met with the family and spent a long time gathering their memories. On Wednesday I conducted the funeral. I am good at funerals. It took me a lot of work in preparation, a bit of stress and nervousness, but I could tell even during the service that my words were helpful and healing. Feedback after the service confirmed that. I was absolutely exhausted but knew that sense of fulfillment.  A sort of, "For this I was born" experience. 
Today I went into the brewery to do my chaplaincy time there. I had several long conversations. People seemed to want to talk with me. A couple of guys let off steam about issues. Others just talked naturally about life and events. Another raised a family sadness he faced. It felt "good". It felt like I was "connecting" in the journey of life with these people. Again I felt privileged.
I am a fortunate man indeed. 

A dig at my Aussie mates

I have been busy and life seems to be getting busier without me trying. I was in Wellington, New Zealand's capital city for an Order of St John Chaplains' conference for three days early this week. I had a phone call on Friday from a man whose father had just died. Years ago he had told me that he wanted me to take his father's funeral when it happened.  I had taken his mothers funeral in 2002. When he rang today my wife answered the phone and he said, "David said he would take Dad's funeral." Well I don't remember it that way, but what could I say. So next Wednesday I will be "funeralising." Not long before his phone call I had one from my sister. An old minister of hers, and now her close friend had died. I felt sad because he was a little part of my history as well, but he was a great support to her in her journey through life. I feel like I should travel the 5 hours to his funeral later in the week, he was a colleague. We also had a phone call last Friday from another ex-minister I have known all my life. He was principal of the Bible College I attended for a year when I first decided to train for ministry. He is now nearly ninety and is recovering after a nasty fall in hospital. He was a member of my old Church, but he wanted to catch up with us. I have visited him twice and while I was away my wife has been a support to him, doing his washing and supporting him in an important meeting about his health and future.  Today I spent most of the day at the Night Shelter doing odd jobs.
I am feeling flat, frustrated and mystified. I look at next week and I can see me working hard every day and still not getting everything completed. My disappointment is that I did not want retirement to be like this. I wanted to do some constructive community caring stuff, but somehow to slow down and do other things I had put on hold during my working life.  That slow down is not happening and I am worried it may not happen while I still live in this city. So tonight I am sad and flat. 
I thought I would perk myself up by including this joke for my Aussie friends. I lived in Australia for four years a long time ago and suffered four years of jokes against Kiwis. This is part of my revenge. I feel better already. To those further afield - "Wallabies" is the name of the Australian rugby team. "All Blacks" is the name of the New Zealand world champion rugby team. There is a World Cup starting in a few weeks time in the UK.

A Social conscience.

Major Campbell Roberts.. a truly great man. 

Crowds protested throughout the country.

I like the cheeky sentiment. Our PM is in my view a slick, but shallow man.

Workplace Support Chaplains' Conference.
On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of last week I joined with other chaplains in a conference entitled "Raising a Social Conscience". The speaker was a man I have admired from afar. Major Campbell Roberts from the Salvation Army Research and Parliamentary Affairs unit is often seen on TV making some comment on social issues. He talked of talking with parliamentarians and even the Prime Minister in the role that he has. He has been a clever advocate for the poor in New Zealand, he researches carefully, speaks wisely and bravely on public issues. He is a quietly spoken man who is not afraid to stand up to be counted so I was looking forward to the time to actually meet him and learn from him. He also has a history with Industrial Chaplaincy in Dunedin. He was the first chaplain in Dunedin, and Inter-church Trade and Industry Missions' first director.  So as he talked he knew where workplace chaplains were coming from and how we operate. Much of the material he presented on the Biblical call to be involved in Social Justice issues I was familiar with. He introduced us to the Neo-Liberal mindset that is prevalent in the world today and its impacts on life and society.  He also critiqued the opposite stance but suggested the Neo-Liberal position was showing some frailty, and that maybe the time was ripe for different perspectives and view points. I enjoyed the sessions he ran, he had depth and  a beautiful wise perspective. He also spoke from a position of years of practicing what he "preached". 
Night Shelter progress.
I was thinking that I could blot out all Night Shelter issues for three days, but even though I had limited access to the internet, I received emails and phone calls that demanded attention. I report now that we are down to "only" needing to raise $80,000 to complete our purchase of the Night Shelter buildings. Today I sent away an application for $50,000 and another seeking funding support from another Trust. I have other Trusts to apply to, so it is getting to the exciting stage when we might cross the finish line within weeks. When it happens I am determined to have a party to celebrate!
TPPA - Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.
Our government is negotiating to sign this trade agreement. I was first introduced to this over a year ago when I had a conversation at a Farmers Market on Waiheke Island.  I have tried to sort out conspiracy theory from fact. First it is hard to know the facts because the negotiations and content of the agreement  are all secret and not even Parliament gets to vote on it. That rubs against my understanding of democracy and makes me feel unsettled. The documents that have been leaked seem to indicate that big overseas business corporates will have a lot of power to influence what goes on in New Zealand. I have seen documentaries about how some of these corporates rule the roost in the USA and impact food production, having all sorts of unfair power over ordinary farmers, environmentalists and legislators. I do not want that here! On Saturday there was a national day of action to let the powers that be know our discontent about this, and a protest march was organised to walk through the main street of Dunedin to the Octagon in the centre of the city. My wife and I felt so strongly about this that we interrupted our Saturday to join this protest. There were about 2500 -3000 people walking. (play the U tube clip to catch the spirit of it) There was a controlled sense of frustration and anger against the Neo-Liberal mindset behind the TPPA and the non-democratic and arrogant way it was being progressed. Cars hooted their encouragement, people on the footpaths cheered us and many joined in. The numbers involved were very impressive given that the day was cool and threatened rain. I felt excited and yet scared. Here was rebellious people-power, at this point controlled and well mannered, but you could sense the seething anger. It was a spine tingling experience walking along to the beat of a drum chanting slogans among so many people, young and old, rich and poor from all walks of life. The same sort of support was expressed in cities and towns throughout the country.  I doubt John Key and his ministers will listen, and that scares me! New Zealanders love their democratic rights and even apathetic people will rise up and rebel if these are seen to be trampled on. 

It seemed like an exclamation mark on my three days of learning about and discussing social justice topics. 

You are as good as the people around you...

Me and my friend from the politicians office. He called me "legendary"?

The "Dongle" that got left behind!

The St John Colour party practice while I panic!

People gathering for the service unaware of the drama.

A Legend?
When I was talking about our night sleeping out in the centre of town I mentioned that as I was being introduced to the crowd the speaker called me "an all round legend".  One of the guys that works for the local politician had a photo on his face book and the caption read, "It was a real pleasure to sleep out in the Octagon with the fantastic team from the Dunedin Night Shelter and the truly legendary Dave Brown." Yeah right?  When I was collecting during our street appeal week people often came up and gushed, "You are doing such a good work! You are sooo good!" On the Saturday I was collecting and this young woman arrived in front of me asking questions. She had asked one of the other collectors if I was around. (My photo has been in the paper so often) He had sent her to me. She asked questions about the Night Shelter. Then asked questions about me. "How did you get involved?" "Why are you involved?" As she left she gushed, "I told my partner I just had to meet this man. I have heard and read so much about you!" 
Now I cannot really take such affirmation and adulation seriously. Mostly it is just polite flattery that is felt to be fit for the occasion. When I hear it I squirm. I want to shout, "It is not me! It really is the people I mix with." Whether my achievements are seen as the annual Christmas Day dinners; the Habitat for Humanity stuff we did; the Drop-in centre at the Church; the various community ministries; the chaplaincies; the Night Shelter etc. - all these are not my doing, they are the result of group action, groups of people pulling together for a cause.  You really are as good as the people you have around you. Others lift you up. Others draw you out. Others make up for your weaknesses. I am not a legend. People power is the legend - people working together make things happen. 
Near melt-down at Church Parade!
The Order of St John where I do voluntary chaplaincy, has a once a year Church Parade. At the Area Committee, which I am part of, they reminded me that I had to organise one. I groaned inwardly. It is quite a task to get ourselves invited along to the usual service of one of the inner-city churches. They have to change some things to suit this group of people coming along - and you never know how many will attend - and St John has to fit into whatever liturgy, religious language that they have going on. In the experience of many it probably does not work out well for both groups. The next meeting I made a suggestion. "Why not have our own, St John, Church Parade?"  Now while historically St John is rooted in Christianity, these days it is quite a secular group of people. They agreed to give it a go. So we took over the funeral chapel of a local Funeral Director firm (They were happy to host us and extended warm hospitality providing afternoon tea) I arranged a service called "Celebrating Compassion" and we advertised. The day turned out to be snowy in Dunedin and the roads in many of the suburbs were impassable, so that limited numbers. But we had our service and also dedicated a new ambulance. It was not without incident. The chapel was about 15k away from our home. I had all sorts of things on power points - song clips, wording for the hymns, a reading and movie clips. I wanted to make it an interesting service for the secular people attending.  I went in on Friday and tried it all out, with the manager of the firm being most helpful. My Apple laptop needed a "dongle" - a little connector adapter so that it could connect into their system. On Friday I had it with me.  On Sunday, however, I drove in thinking I had everything I needed and when we were unpacking realised I did not have this little "dongle"! My wife said she would go back for it. It would be at least 35 - 40 minutes to do the return trip, and I had very little confidence she would find it in my messy study when she got there. She insisted, which left me there feeling helpless. I rang my daughter several times but she wasn't answering her phone. I rang a friend, who lived closer, and she rushed down with several "dongles" but none were the right one. My daughter seeing my many frantic phone calls on her phone arrived, and my ever patient son-in-law rushed off to see if he could find one at his work. Eventually my wife returned with about a quarter of an hour to spare, (She must have sped!) AND she had found the right one! My daughter and the manager hooked up the "dongle" and we began the service on time and all went well without the congregation knowing of the drama. But I must confess I was "crapping my pants" as they say. If I did not have that dongle my service would have been ruined! I would have looked incredibly silly and unprofessional. The traditionalists would have said, "We told you so!" I had adrenalin rushing through my veins, I was pacing and at the same time trying to converse and organise other facets of the service with others. I was close to meltdown.... but again, the people around me enabled me to conduct the service as if nothing went wrong. You are as good as the people around you!