They want me to help!

I turned 72 yesterday. Where did that time go. The other day I was visiting a fire station and chatting with the officer, a man I have known for nearly 27 years. We were talking about the age of some of the fire fighters and joking that when I began as chaplain, he was one of the youngest serving fire fighters.  Then he said, "If you don't mind me asking, how old are you, Dave?" "I'll be 72 this weekend. Getting old. I wonder where the time went?" He grinned, "Hell" he said, "You are a very young 72 year old!" Sometimes I feel every bit a 72 year old, at other times I feel like a young man. At times I talk about somebody I met as an "Elderly man" then suddenly realise that he was probably actually younger than me! I have got old without knowing it. I think mixing with younger people keeps you younger in mind.

So I turned 72, yesterday. On Saturday we packed up and went to Karitane, a sea side village about a half hour drive north from our place. We had the loan of a little cottage there for a couple of nights just as a bit of a relax. As we were packing I went to the mail box to check for letters. There were no birthday cards nor presents for me. I said to my wife, "My kids have forgotten my birthday." It clashes with "Father's Day" here in New Zealand and all my boys are fathers, so I figured that they were distracted. We had skyped twice with my son in Edinburgh, we are worried about him and his family with the runaway Covid 19 situation there. I felt a bit dejected. But I was wrong.

On Sunday, my birthday, my daughter and her husband came out to join us at our cottage for a birthday lunch. Just as dessert began she came into the room with a bag with two reasonably small heavy boxes in it. "This is from the boys and me." she said. I unwrapped this "Stanley Impact driver". Then she told me the story of the boys discussing it and even talking her through the purchase on the phone in the hardware store. My phone rang, and it was my oldest son, checking that I liked my present. He chatted about it and why he recommended it. Then he said, "You can bring it when you work on my house." He went on to say that my youngest son wants me to take it with me when I work on the fences at his house this summer. "I'm not working with him, he abuses me worse than you do!" I joked. He laughed and said, "I told him you enjoy it!" A little while later my youngest son rang, and wished me happy birthday, and asked if I liked my present. He told me that he was going to build fences and hoped I would come and help him. "You can bring your impact driver!" he said. When I hung up, my daughter's husband said that they had started to do renovations on their last room in their house. "Your help would be welcome!" he said, "It is a long job for just us two." We had helped them rebuild the back part of their elderly house. We had helped them insulate and reline every other room in the house, now they were asking for our help to complete the job. 

As I reflected on my birthday I felt warm, loved and wanted. Each one of my children are better than I am at DIY stuff, but I had helped them get into it. I simply love that they still wanted me to work on their projects with them as a 72 year old! My youngest son is now a qualified carpenter. My oldest boy sets up displays and exhibitions in the National Museum. My daughter and her husband are very accomplished at renovating. They have a flair for design and colour and are fussy about the finished job.  My son in Edinburgh does marvellously around his house. He goes on line and finds out the correct way to do things and does well, better than I would. Yet I LOVE that they all want to work with me. My boys give me a hard time, teasing me while I work. "Come on Brown," my youngest says, "Time is money!" I get out my folding rule to measure something, and my oldest boy will say, "Put that old bit of crap away, and measure it properly with a tape!" "Have you got that measurement right?" "Don't muck around thinking about it, do it!" My Edinburgh boy will say, "Nah, let me show you how it's done old man!" and so it goes on. But I think they feel more confident with me there. I think they like showing off their skills to me, and enjoy the time with their old Dad. The birthday present, I loved. I used one my son had in Edinburgh and have coveted one ever since. But the fact that they still like working with me warmed my heart and made this old guy feel good. 

I had been given an old table saw without a motor. We checked out how much a motor would cost and found out that they were selling new table saws for less than it would cost to get a suitable motor. I had been given a donation for doing a funeral recently, so we decided that for my birthday we would purchase this new table saw. I am reasonably well equipped now for building stuff. I've had a very profitable birthday.

The Local Church: to be or not to be?

 At our local Church tomorrow there are to be meetings that could decide if the Church continues or not. I deeply believe it ought to continue, but we have a revue group from Presbyterian hierarchy who are to research the current position of the Church and its activities and make a recommendation.  I am aware that there are others, tired with the long hall that work in a small church can be, who would gladly declare it as not a viable Church. We were given a few questions and were asked to give our thoughts bouncing off these. I share a bit of an abridged version of what I sent in to the revue committee as our response...

1) What role, if any, does Emmanuel have in the Sawyers Bay and Port Chalmers community in 2020 onward?

·       A faith “presence”. Even the building where active worship is maintained reminds the people of the neighbourhood of deeper aspects of life. (This would be lost or even tend to reinforce a negative message about the gospel if we shut down- “Jesus is outdated” When I have shown people around an empty Iona Church that seems to be the message people get. “I suppose religion has had its day.” was one typical comment.) I see empty churches as sad memorials and reminders of the inability of the Church to rethink/reword the faith in changing circumstance, to adapt and keep on adapting. I think it was Einstein who said something like, “Evolution shows that it is not necessarily the strongest species who survive, but those who have the ability to adapt.” The Church is a way behind. (It is not just fiddling with music or three-ring-circus-type services - people in churches do not often experience our faith as a “spirituality” – it is more an “add on” in life.)

·       The building is an ideal location. We can use it to have gatherings where people can relate constructively and in a caring way. E.g. we have “Afternoon teas on Tuesday” We have had "Rumpus room” “Christmas Neighbourhood barbeque” and possible Parenting seminars or other things could be held there … I believe the caring relationship is important… not a place to “Bible Bash.” Building “community” and offering hospitality is an important service the church can offer. There are lonely or desperate people or people who at different times are “Lonely, friendless or desperate” in our community and I would love for our church to be seen as a place of supportive friendship where people can be genuinely “met”.

·       We are providing a worship place for the community. Our experience of Emmanuel has only been in the last 6-7 years and in that time the group attending has been added to by 8 people and there is another who has come once who is very interested in continuing. Without too much active outreach these people from the community have come.  If we as an active Church were not here it is possible many of these would not have involved themselves in a worshipping community. (In terms of percentage of the congregation, if most Presbyterian Churches in NZ had a similar “growth” we would be reasonably pleased?) In that time though 6 others have died, left the area or stopped attending because of age. – though there are others who have visited and not returned.

·       I would like to see us be seen as a loving community, willing to help meet needs. Members do meet needs in the neighbourhood in an individual way. People have shared garden produce with local families, transport, hospitality, firewood, (Russell & Cathy with Richard and others want to do this more intentionally) etc. It would be good if we could look for opportunities to serve needs in our community. (A quick idea – since the community could not “celebrate” ANZAC day this year, what about a “Remembrance Day” service we invite the community to? …Just thinking out loud.) The Church in today’s world needs to earn its credibility.

·       I believe we could in non-threatening ways share spiritual/gospel values with people. E.g. Movies with meaning. Parenting seminars etc.

My theme would be to see Emmanuel as a place of hospitality where people are met with friendship, acceptance and love. This can be in worship but through other opportunities to meet and share with people.

 

2) What are the major challenges facing Emmanuel?

·       We are mostly elderly folk.

·       Currently our Session Clerk is retired and nobody wants to take her place.  Personally, I think we make things much more complicated than we need to. Our active membership would be a group of just 20-30 people, but we continue to operate as if we were a much bigger Church with all the processes.

·       I know just a little bit about the Fuel Church in Fairfield. The Fairfield Church essentially closed but East Taieri Church has taken it under its wing. There are greater resources, innovation and some of the burdens of running the Church have been taken over. Could not something similar be arranged with say – Opoho or Leith Valley?

·       We have a burden in that we have to be custodians of the historic Iona Church building. This involves expense and people’s energy and contribution.

·       Consistency in the nature and quality of our worship. E.g. we cannot do a series because we have different leaders each week. E.g.It also prevents the weekly consistent “conversation” as the lectionary readings follow each other – Gospel themes cannot be easily developed.

·       finances

3) What could be done to encourage attendance and participation?

·       As above consistency in worship quality.

·       Relating with the community. “Christendom” has gone. The Church can no longer just hold worship and hope people will attend. The Church in NZ needs to earn its credibility in finding ways to serve and relate with people in the community in which it is placed. We simply need to find avenues of service, offering hospitality and relating. (Listening)

·       Encourage participation? - Our experience (and others have mentioned it too) has been that the established leadership welcomes people getting involved but it seems to be that new people should “continue with business as usual.” Don’t challenge existing ways of doing things, don’t rock the boat. “Come and do stuff for us, but do it our way” is the message we have felt.  – Business as usual hasn’t worked for many years, we need to keep trying different things… there needs to be the freedom to try and fail and encouragement to keep trying.

·       Other examples of things that tended to discourage our participation…. (There I include a couple of examples where we had explored change ideas but the process of looking into them seemed stacked against change happening)

·       There seems to be a reluctance to discuss at depth the directions of the church.

·       More effective signage out the front at footpath level.

 

4) If resources were not an issue, what would you consider to be the important things the church should be doing or involved with?

Because I believe 3 things;

(i) Small Churches have strengths to offer people and communities that are part of being a more intimate group;

(ii) and that small Churches ought to be able to operate differently and have a different approach to functioning and worship and the things they offer;

(iii) and that our Church building is in an ideal position to provide hospitality in our community.

 

If resources were not an issue, I would do a renovation of our buildings to make them more welcoming and suitable for “hospitality”.

 

In the Chapel I would carpet the floor, have flexible comfortable seating to give more options for worship and other gatherings and do away with the current “fenced pulpit”.

 

In the hall (perhaps that is the only place we would be permitted to touch) I would make a neat storage area down the harbour end of the hall for tables etc. (Stained plywood cupboard space) Carpet the hall (maybe.) with carpet from Iona hall.  Tidy the cupboards, paint walls, ceilings etc. and have a heat pump. Maybe some more comfortable seating. It is tidier than it has been, but there are broken cupboard doors, spouting stored on the floor and old chairs. – We would not have these things in our home lounges.

(I realise that it would be nice to renovate the kitchen and toilets etc. but I think to have the public areas looking welcoming is a first priority)

 

If resources were really not an issue, I would hire a minister. She/he would have to have passion, be outward looking and innovative in their thinking and passion, be able to be involved with people in the community in an open, friendly way, and lead positive warm friendly open services.

 

5) Any comments you would like to make for consideration.

·       Theology Prof. Paul Trebilco Speaking to St John Chaplains a few years ago, said that “ in New Testament times all the Churches, with the exception of perhaps Rome, had memberships of less than 20 people! They were home churches and had to fit into relatively small houses.” These days we would write them off as “not viable” and yet these Churches turned the world upside down. Small Churches have advantages big Churches do not have. Even elderly people have things younger people cannot offer. Isn’t it true that many of us when we get on in years have just about  worked out what is truly important in life? ( but nobody wants to know) We often have perspective and wisdom to offer. (I have seen grandmothers informally help dysfunctional families and stressed mums just by chatting over coffee. I have seen old guys entertain, befriend and support unemployed “street people” -some with mental health issues- just by chatting of their experiences and listening) I do not think we should sell ourselves short because we are small and most of us are “seniors”. We have valuable stuff to offer.

·       BUT small churches with elderly memberships should not be run in the same way as a bigger established church would run.  Systems and priorities may be different. Different ways of working and worshipping should/could be explored. E.g. Cathedral type worship may not fit, but more relaxed conversational type could be more appropriate?

·      We are 10k away from the nearest Presbyterian Church. It is the “establishment” denomination for Otago – if we were not to continue it is a considerable failure for the denomination and people would have to be keen to make a regular trip to a church in town. Our community needs an active Church, open and flexible to demonstrate the love of God for people. (incarnating God’s love as the Body of Christ)

·      We need to be a Jesus-centred Church … not “Churchianity”, Denominational focused, or “Religious” culture. “What would Jesus do?” is a simple but relevant question.

While I am retired and cannot now do all that I would like to do, I still feel passionate about the way of Jesus and still see it as relevant for NZ people today. I have long had a “love/hate” relationship with the Church, and feel that it is a distortion of all it should be. I have, however,  stayed in ministry (though many of my colleagues have left it behind)  because the Church is the only place the story of Jesus is kept alive.

All the best for your work in Christ.

Dave & Jean Brown

After thought...

On my way home from visiting fire stations I stewed on tomorrow's conversations. Again as I sat in front of the fire with mindless TV going, I stewed some more.... I ought to have said that as followers of Jesus the main question we ought to be asking is....

"We are a group of Christians in this congregation together. As followers of Jesus who calls us to be loving servants, salt and light in our community, with the resources we have (the buildings, our selves etc.) how can we best serve the people of our community?"

Maybe I'll slip that in tomorrow.  

Our Church building is situated about where the bottom of the "R" is in "Sawyers Bay" on the map. Congregation members come from a wider area of the West Harbour on either side of the map, but most are centred on Sawyers Bay. The Church building is right next to the School and Kindergarten. 

For USA readers - fact check.

He lies again....

The President of the United States at least three times recently has said that "New Zealand is in the grip of a terrific surge in Covid19 cases." He said it is "terrible!" and the "we (i.e. the United States) would not want that." Fact check from New Zealand. Our prime minister tactfully said, "That's patently wrong." Here are the facts.... 

(a) Anybody that comes into the country has to quarantine in facilities for two weeks. There have been some cases in these facilities. Confined.

(b) We went 102 days without any community transmission. They continued to do a lot of testing but no community transmission came to light.

(c) Then there was found to be one family of four who tested positive for the virus in Auckland. This one family had contacts with workplaces, schools, relatives and friends. There has been an increase in testing in Auckland and tracing done. The Auckland region has gone into level 3 Lockdown, the rest of the country is in Level 2 (We have to keep social distancing and more emphasis on hand washing, and the elderly remaining home as much as possible. Rest homes are in Lockdown. )

(d) From that one family there is now a cluster of about 80 people in the city of Auckland. There have been no new deaths. There has been limits on travel in and out of Auckland. Auckland region has about 1.6 million people. The "surge" (If "surge" can be used of such few cases - 11 new cases found today... 5 yesterday) is totally limited to Auckland and northern North Island. It is believed through tracing and genome tests that the cluster is now "circled". The rest of the country is free of Covid19.

(e) New Zealand has a Covid Death rate of 4.5 deaths per million population. The United states has 528.2 deaths per million. The United States has 16,563 cases per million people. We have 269 cases per million people. I would suspect most Americans would prefer New Zealand figures rather than the figures they have currently.... yet Mr Trump says, "We wouldn't want that." Our increase was disappointing but I know where I would rather live. All deaths are sad. All cases are sad. ....

... BUT Mr Trump you "mis spoke", "Your information is incorrect" or "You are lying!".

Sorry to post again but I love NZ and I think our Prime minister and the health officials have done and are doing a good job and I dislike their efforts being mis-represented.

... and Mr Trump we did not do well just to "get at you" - Our leaders and cooperating population did it for the good of our country and our people. 

It is far from over, I hope we can keep on being responsible until there is an adequate vaccine for this nasty bug.

Zooming with St John Chaplains.

Blogging again?

 In frustration I am writing about a St John Ambulance chaplains’ seminar event that happened on Tuesday. Because of medical conditions I was unable to attend the last chaplains’ conference so I was looking forward to the seminar even though it had to be a zoom gathering because of Covid restrictions. The well-known Professor Lineham was guest speaker and we were told he was going to comment on the “Wilberforce report”.  I spent time reading up on it so that I would be ready to learn and would have done some thinking about it.

I was disappointed in his presentation. It was a mass of statistical information and for myself, who has worked as a Church minister for over 40 years and had 27 years working as a chaplain in secular settings, it presented really very little that was new information that I was not aware of at a gut level. While the Professor had learned the history of St John and its governance etc. I felt he did not have a good understanding of St John as an operating organisation. St John is a complicated beast with the St John Order, community work (cadets, FED’s, shuttles, fellowship, events etc. and Area Committees) and then the operational Ambulance side.  It is, though, essentially a secular organisation that has Christian origins. Most of the people in the Dunedin St John are nice people, and I love and appreciate them dearly, but most would declare themselves to be atheists or as the Professor called them “nones”. (No religious affiliation) I began there as Workplace Support Chaplain (Inter-church Trade and Industry Mission) I think in 1999 and in 2011 transferred to being a St John Chaplain, a voluntary position. I have had a long association with them. I have married and led funerals for quite a number. I have also led funerals for some of their parents, siblings and friends along the way. I have had endless lunchtime conversations, one-on-one chats, lots of laughs and occasional rides in the Ambulances on jobs.  On some jobs I have even been useful. (I have been chaplain to the Dunedin fire service for nearly 27 years and to a brewery for 26 years while ministering in a local Associated Churches of Christ until “retirement” at the end of 2013.) I continue with my chaplaincies and help out now in our local Presbyterian Church.  With lots of community involvement, and years of chaplaincy work, I have learned a lot about representing Christ in a secular context and the secularisation of NZ culture. (We did learn from the stats that NZ is a more secular country than even Australia.) I was disappointed that the Professor did not really go on past endless stats to truly explore “what they mean for your work”. Even the brief discussion later did not explore that in any depth. Why, for instance is Christianity seen as a “religion” and not as a “spirituality” giving a sense of spiritual “connection”? What is wrong with how we present it so that it becomes for people “dogma”, and is not seen as a living “spirituality”? How do people get the negative pictures of the Church that he listed off from the Wilberforce report? How might we as chaplains contribute to that negative perception, or how might we as chaplains “be” so as to change those perceptions? I felt that largely the day was wasted. (I am going to have to do chaplaincy at the fire service today that ought to have been done yesterday and I am annoyed that I wasted the day.)  To add context, I would call myself a “progressive Christian” a part of the “emergent Church.” (I was once described as “an evangelical liberal”) I am very Jesus centred and “incarnational”, and community focused, believing the faith has to be lived out in servanthood in today’s secular world. The Church needs to earn its credibility.

The "Venerable Order of St John."

I have deep concerns for the Christian element in St John. I attended an investiture in Dunedin Anglican Cathedral, with all its pomp and ceremony. There I watched people who in discussions at lunch times on station had declared themselves to being atheists, being “invested” into the Order and making vows that were deeply Christian in nature? I saw people who were members of the Order standing making promises to keep the faith, attend worship etc. when in fact I knew that in conversation they would sometimes rubbish the faith and never darkened the doors of a church. Now I say again, these are good people who I enjoy, respect and appreciate and who deserve whatever recognition comes their way. But the whole “religious process” within St John makes liars of them and in my view, cheapens the faith. With a bit of thought, can’t we do better? Traditional Ambulance dedications annoy me too. Ambulance staff will attend out of loyalty, but the words of the prayers are religious mumbo jumbo. (Some of the theology in one version is really suspect. We pray that the benefactors -i.e. donors- would receive eternal life!!? In any version of the gospel I do not think you can buy your way into heaven?)  We are discouraged from venturing outside of the St John Chaplain’s prayer book. If I am going to stand up the front and represent Jesus, I want to use words that have meaning for and communicate with the people attending.

In the little stilted discussion there was (stilted because of Zoom) I tried to communicate my passion about this, and I talked about funeral and dedication prayers. I told how I often introduce and word prayers as a “Prayer or affirmation” so that secular people can participate and not feel excluded. I do not see the point in using religious jargon that does not communicate clearly to the secular person. The secular folk we minister to have spiritual depth and longings they do not fully fathom. (like we Christians too) The Christian faith celebrates that we are brothers and sisters together in life, they sense that too. The Christian faith exults compassion, empathy and love, so do they. The experiences of sadness, loss and grief and wider accountability are Christian but also deep “spiritual” yearnings in ordinary people, as all these things are. I try to use ordinary language about these “spiritual” experiences so that the participants can identify with it and can be led, in spite of their “anti-religious” stance, to experience something of the “sacred in life” – God. That is better than jargon that washes off them that they just endure. (“Dave’s doing his religious thing – we’ll humour him.”) I speak from years of grappling with these issues. When I tried to raise these sorts of issues in our Zoom seminar discussion, people jumped in and in a scolding tone said, “You don’t have to apologise for your faith!” I am NOT apologising, I am just trying to communicate, to lead in a real and helpful way.  Why have people left the Churches and chase other spiritualities? – one of the reasons I believe, is because the language used did not lead them to spiritual depth.

Empathetic, meaningful communication?

I once attended a funeral with a group of St John paramedics. It was led by a friend of the deceased, was well done and “real’, but there was no religious content. In discussion after one of the paramedics raved. “What a great funeral. There was none of that religious crap!” Thinking that we are being comforting and helpful, the words we Christians say at funeral time, can offend, minimise and hurt. Words we might see as comforting can minimise the experience they are going through. As a young teenager I suffered the loss of my father suddenly.  Many well-meaning Christians came up to me at the funeral saying something like, “God loves him, he’s in heaven with Him now.” I nodded and smiled, but inside I wanted to scream, “If God loves us, Dad would be here now! He’s no bloody use to me in heaven!” A worker once told me of attending Church as he grew into his older teenage years, earnestly listening, praying and enthusiastically singing hymns, hoping it would gell with him and make sense. “But it was like a foreign language!” he said, “It didn’t happen and I wanted it to!”  In retirement half of my Sundays I sit in church listening to others lead and I am often disappointed, angered and frustrated too.

 All that to say that I was hoping that, yes we would get the (challenging) stats about religion in NZ and the information from the Wilberforce report, but then go on to explore in more depth what that means for what we do and how we do it. God knows, this is what the Christian workers need to explore in today’s world. What does in mean today to be “all things to all people”? (Paul in I Corinthians 9) What does the apostle Paul’s example in Athens (Acts 17) mean, when he began with their spirituality and talked about the God in whom they “lived and moved and had their being” and quoting their poets?  The example of Jesus himself is worth discussing. He talked of mustard seeds, yeast, farming, feasting and wages, and led people to think about the “realm of God”. As chaplains everything we do communicates about God, for better or worse… what does that mean as chaplains in St John?

I speak from hard experience and yet I believe I have made some progress. A new fire fighter attended a funeral I conducted. When I next visited his fire station he said, “Normally when I see a minister leading a funeral, I switch off and let him carry on with his waffle, but with you… I couldn’t, you talked sense.” Another officer, came and said, “I appreciate your funerals. You don’t have to leave your brain at the door like you do for most ministers.” I get feedback like that. I am journeying, still trying to grapple with such issues and was hoping to think these through with other St John Chaplains. I was hoping to find collegiality, insight and encouragement. I came away disappointed, feeling lonely and discouraged. I am a 72-year-old still growing, still energised and still strangely “called”, but last night I began to feel like maybe it is my time to retire. I’ll let you know. 

First Birthday Celebration.

My son and wife in Christchurch 362 KMs north of Dunedin had invited us to go to their youngest daughter's first birthday party which happened today. I had a peer support meeting to attend on Saturday, and there were other commitments in town. We told them that we couldn't possibly come.  Then Covid 19 re-emerging in New Zealand, which meant that these things were cancelled! Our newest car had broken down, but we did have two other older 1990's cars that could make the trip, though with a measure of uncertainty.  I was a little uncertain about our vehicles, but willing to take one of them. My wife was talking to my daughter who is financial administrator for the Dominican Sisters. She got back to us saying that the Sisters had a spare car doing nothing at the moment and that the sisters would be happy to loan it to us. "It needs a decent run" we were told. We decided to go through to Christchurch to attend the birthday. So we picked up this 2010 Toyota, on Saturday drove through to Christchurch, and today, Sunday, attended the birthday party with my son's wife's local family. It has been a while since we had seen the kids in person, so it was great to catch up with their growth and development, conversing and playing with them and to spend Sunday just relaxing in the warm sun at their home. Tomorrow we head back to Dunedin, and a St John Ambulance Chaplains Zoom conference day on Tuesday. We will have lunch with friends about half way home tomorrow. 

Simon our son (adopted) Steph (his Canadian born wife) Theodore (7) Vida (4) and baby Olive (1).

I am slowly learning that I need to make keeping up with relationships much more of a priority than I have been used to. I neglect family and friendships and make other commitments, (relating with other people and work) more important. That has been my mode of operating during my working life, but now that I am mostly retired I realise that I am still doing it. I happily report that it was really good to relax with my son and family today. It will be good also to spend time with friends over lunch tomorrow. A weekend well spent.

But age catches up.

I recall in 1969/70's, in my. 20's, my wife's parents lived in Christchurch. We would drive from Dunedin after work on a Friday night, (five hours) in a 1956 low powered car. Then on Sunday evening drive back to Dunedin, and both of us would be ready for work the next day. I recall a few years later driving twice that distance to meetings and then drive home. The roads in New Zealand are mostly not long straight wide highways. But now at nearly 72 years of age, in quite a significantly more comfortable and roadworthy car, I drive that distance and feel really worn out. I actually love driving! There is no denying that age causes you to slow down. "Gettin' old ain't for sissy's" my American mate says.

Back into Covid restrictions

 Yesterday the wider Auckland City in New Zealand went into Covid Alert level 3. People are rushing to get groceries and Covid tests. The rest of New Zealand has gone into Covid level 2 where there are lockdowns for rest homes, social distancing and no gatherings of over 100. We are in the South Island so we are reasonably safe. Initially it is for three days while they work on tracing to find out where and how it happened and how widespread it is. We are cautious because our "neighbours" in Melbourne Australia had Covid pretty much under control, but it got away on them again. So our Government wants to clamp down on it as fast as possible so that does not happen here.  I received an email from the boss at the Brewery that I cannot do my chaplaincy visit there today. (It was funny - the manager wrote "If you need a listening ear to let off steam, feel free to give me a phone call." - that is my role in the company! It was a nice offer.) I checked with the fire service, and I can visit fire stations but there are protocols in place. I feel for the Government and Prime minister. They have done a really good job, but after 102 days of no community transmission there was one family found to have Covid19.  There is now discussion locally about whether we ought to have Church on Sunday. The problem is that most of us at Church are in the "vulnerable" age group. They have not yet banished us oldies to stay home, but caution us about getting out and about.

There is an election to happen here in September, so the opposition party are busy highlighting the failure. Earlier they were wanting open borders and a freeing up of things. They claimed the Government was being too cautious. It is amazing how politicians' ideas change when they think they can score points.

Vehicle woes. 

Early this week I also had some other bad news. My 2002 Nissan Presage car broke down early in Lockdown. A link to the Anti sway bar broke. As soon as I could I ordered a new one which was "20 working days" out of Japan. At about 30 working days I emailed and they said, it is now "8 weeks away!" That expired on Monday so I emailed and was told that it is in a container on the wharf in Japan, still 4-6 weeks away! I had tried wreckers without success. I even asked an engineer if it was repairable. I had been looking at the part and stewing about a possible repair myself. So, late on Monday afternoon I buried myself in the workshop and spent a few hours grinding, drilling, hammering and ended up with a "repaired" link. Yesterday, Wednesday, with mist falling I jacked up my car and fitted it. Amazingly the plan in my mind went well in practice. It fitted! I went for a drive waiting for it to break, or rattle but it seems to be going well. 

There is something good about a plan that you have stewed on in your head, coming together! Whatever you are working on, if you have stewed on it and have a dream, when it eventuates there is a feeling of fulfilment, an inner affirmation that you are not so stupid after all. It may not last but it only has to last 6 weeks, hopefully! If we go into lockdown again, it will not get much use. I have another much older vehicle but it does have issues. Wish me luck.

Faith today

 Unsettled at Church

Last month, on the first Sunday of the month, the Interim Moderator at our local little Presbyterian Church was to lead the service. (A retired Presbyterian minister who keeps an eye on us) He leads a traditional "Blah" service and I get angry because it feels to me that he does not put the effort into it that he ought. It would not encourage a person to come to Church. We often find a reason to be elsewhere when he is on. But this particular Sunday I talked my wife into going, saying that we ought to support the place even when we do not enjoy it. It was his worst yet! I fumed all day! It seemed to me to be blasphemy! The Church is in a very uncertain predicament. The leaders are getting older and wanting to retire. One important person, the "session Clerk" who has really kept the place together, has really resigned now. (At 86 yrs old!) A group of "experts" are to come in to ascertain whether we should keep going. We are on the outreach committee and even amongst those on this more positive group, there are differences about what we want to do. After the Covid Lockdown the steam seems to have gone out of our plans for reaching out. All this has led me to ask myself, where am I? I would love to have the church keep going, I feel the community needs to have a functioning Christian presence. 

Well this month we decided we would skip his service and go out of town for a couple of nights away. On the Saturday we drove about 1.5 hours north to a town called Oamaru and booked into a motel there. We texted my brother who lives in Waimate, a township 3/4 of an hour north and told him we'd visit for lunch the next day, bringing lunch with us. We found out that his wife had been admitted to hospital in Timaru, a bigger town still further north. On the Sunday then, we drove through to there and spent time with both of them. Walking with my brother on the beach we were surprised by this seal which scampered out of greenery toward the shoreline in front of us.

On Monday we came home because I had been asked if I would operate the sound system and basically host a funeral that was being held in the historic Iona Church which is essentially surplus to our requirements and in the process of restoration. Driving home I was stewing about where I am faith-wise, because I have felt this real disappointment with the Church.  As I drove I thought out two essential statements that rang true for me. I went to the funeral, opened the doors, turned on heating, sorted out sound system requirements and controlled the sound knobs for a nearly two hour funeral conducted by a Baptist Pastor. Going by what he said, I think I'll end up in hell! I locked up and came home. 

 But in my stewing about where I am faith-wise I came up with a short statement…with two parts to it.

 

(A) “God is love, the cosmic creativity present everywhere and in everything gently urging all toward the good.” (The opening sentence of a creed by a guy called Jim Burklo)

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Note: This is not so much a definition of God, but more a way of saying this is how I see/experience God. NOT as an old man in the sky, nor as a puppet master pulling the strings, but a mysterious presence with us and in us. "In him we live and move and have our being." (Acts 17)

 

(B) Jesus, was a man who was so in touch with God and this movement of love that he displayed and taught the essence of what is good - God's essence. He invites us into a fulfilling lifestyle by joining God in that activity. In his day he called it “the Kingdom of God". To "seek first the Kingdom of God” is to ask in every circumstances and relationship, “How can I nudge the world (or more correctly some little part of it) toward the good?” I like to call this experience of "the Kingdom”, “Living in the currents of God’s love.” Jesus' Prayer centred on "Thy will be done, thy kingdom come on earth..."

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Notes..

• The theme of Jesus' teaching and life was this "Kingdom of God" or the "current of God's will and being in the world", "NOT getting to heaven when we die". Realising that opens up the gospels for me.
• The Kingdom was a mysterious growing presence, like that which makes a seed grow, or the mystery of how yeast changes dough when making bread. A dynamic life enhancing flow.
•  When Barak Obama was asked about his faith when he was a senator he replied, "So I have a deep faith. I'm rooted in the Christian Tradition. I believe that there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people, that there are values that transcend race or culture, that move us forward, and that there's an obligation for all of us individually as well as collectively to take responsibility to make those values lived out." That rings bells for me.

In simple terms - that sums up where I am. 

The Church? - I struggle with. It deeply distorts the way of Jesus, but it is still the place the Jesus story is kept alive, so I have stuck with it. Among the followers of Jesus, should worship be the focus of the Church? We have played around with different styles of worship and music and people have their preferences, but in my mind that is not "making the Church relevant". Jesus only mentions worship once! The guts of Kingdom living for him was servanthood. I think we need to explore much more how in our communities our Churches and we as individuals become a loving, serving presence. We ought to be saying, not "come to our worship" but rather "how can we be with you in love in life's journey?"

Another favourite perspective

 John 10:10 has Jesus say, I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

Bishop John Spong was once asked, “What is the best verse in the Bible?” His answer… “The text with which I close most of my lectures is from John 10. They are words attributed to Jesus. …. To me, they are so true to who he is. And that's the phrase, ‘I've come that they might have life and have it abundantly.’ The way that I see Christianity is that its role is to enhance the life of every person. My basis of morality is this: does this action enhance life, or does it denigrate life? Does it build up or does it tear down?” 

When Bishop John Shelby Spong would repeat John 10:10 where Jesus says "I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly." he often added a line which interpreted “life abundant”;

"To live fully, love wastefully, and be all that you can be; and dedicate yourself to building a world in which everyone has an opportunity to do the same."