New Years day wedding.

I was privileged to attend the new years day morning wedding of Mike and Christine, the owners of the latest Habitat for Humanity house. They had been together 25 years, had 10 children and one grandchild and decided it was time to get married. It was held at their new house and was delightful. A great way to start the New Year. We spent some time there after the ceremony, eating hangi food, talking and relaxing (getting sun burnt) When we came to leave the bride and two of her friends escorted us to our car singing a wiata. There were warm hugs all around. I felt like an honoured guest.

Photos:

• The bride arrives with her father... who surprised her by walking into her lounge after flying from Wellington on New Years eve.
• The happy couple make heartfelt vows.
• People chatting around the house after the ceremony.

A book for me?

I am reading a book entitled "Saving Jesus from the Church" by Robin Meyers. I have only got about a quarter of the way through and I am thinking, "This guy knows me!" Here are some bits.

• Sub-title - "How to stop worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus"
• Dedication- "I dedicate this book to all the men and women who have chosen the parish ministry as their life's work, and yet do not wish to be considered harmless artifacts from another age. May all those who labor in the most misunderstood, dangerous, and sublime of all professions be encouraged and inspired by the possibility that one's head and one's heart can be equal partners in faith. Lest the church end up a museum piece whose clergy are affable but laughable cartoons, we must once again dedicate ourselves to this wild calling - one that led us away from more comfortable lives and into the only profession where radical truth-telling is part of the job description. ..."
  
• Hey he has a Sunday nap too! - "I came home one cold January afternoon after serving communion to mt beloved flock and took a nap, which is my Sunday ritual. Parish ministry is tiring in ways most people do not understand, and a Sunday afternoon nap is as sacred to a middle-aged clergyman as the Psalms. Rising before dawn and still fooling with the sermon (or finishing it), many of us preachers are obsessive-compulsive types who believe that no matter how many times we have done this before, this time we will get it right. Preaching is after all, an audacious and dangerous act."
• Describing his church - "... we are doing our best to avoid the worship of Christ and trying to get back to something much more fulfilling and transformative: following Jesus."

I could go on giving quotations I identify with. It is encouraging to find people thinking the same sorts of thoughts, asking the same questions and having the same struggles. It is good to to have such clever people put into words your own jumbled thinking. Reading such writers helps you to identify your own journey.... I find myself saying, "That's what I would say if I could have thought of it that way! Amen to that!" Reading such books feeds the inner being. Thank you Robin Meyers.

Holiday pics

Photos:

(1) Cattle on my mountain track. Tonight there were cattle on the track up my mountain! Without my permission. It was all a bit tricky... there were people coming down the track behind them and I wanted to go up the track. The cattle didn't know where to go. We sorted it.

(2-4) Pics of our foster daughter's 32nd birthday last Sunday. Pania is a Rett syndrome sufferer, but I delight in her. She's "my special girlfriend", the only person in the world who appreciates my singing.  She can light up a room with her smile and giggle.  Though she cannot speak a word her beautiful brown eyes speak to your heart. She looks at you with such intensity.

No gifts at Christmas!

The only gifts I received over this Christmas weekend were a DVD ("The Good Life" series) from my wife and a $1 scratchy thingy (I won $3) which is a bit of a tradition from my son. Both people, however, broke a family rule. Without consulting me, we as a family decided that there would be no gift giving this Christmas. The decision was reported to me a few days before Christmas. We have two weddings in 2010, one near Nelson in February and one in Poland in July. Therefore the combined wisdom of everybody but me, decided that we need all the money we can get to attend and do justice to these two events. So on Christmas evening, my son from Wellington and his partner (soon to be wife) and my daughter and her husband, along with our foster daughter (who has a severe intellectual handicap - Rett syndrome) and my wife and I gathered for a Christmas meal, but no gifts were exchanged. Did you know that I never missed the gifts? It wasn't until I read the news on the Internet this morning that people were selling their unwanted gifts on "Trade me" that I remembered that our Christmas was different. Christmas without gifts? It sounds like a "pub with no beer". Yet the truth is we had just as good a time without the expense!

What did you get for Christmas ?

This is the question often asked at this time of the year. Here is a list of the things I received. On Christmas day I received heaps of gratitude because I fronted the Community Christmas Day dinner at our Church. People, helpers as well as guests, came up to me and thanked me for making their day. As I thanked a volunteer on Sunday, the man replied, "I got several times more out of it than I ever I gave." Being the front man I received the gratitude that a lot of other people deserved. I received texts from friends and family. I got to sit and listen to my children, now adults, converse about life and stuff. I learned more about them and their partners and I got to enjoy their company. I received two special phone calls from children who were not there. On Saturday I got to walk and talk and sometimes just enjoy companionable silence with my oldest son for five hours. On Sunday I drove home from Church alone with my foster daughter. I took a more scenic route and meandered home singing to her all the way. When it was safe we held hands. I sang, she giggled with glee and rocked in time to my singing. No material gift could top that. In the afternoon as we talked as a family she sat on my knee and we gently rocked as we listened to the conversation. Two people connecting and together without words. I have received love, connection and relationship and in the midst of that forgot altogether that my Christmas lacked gifts, at least of the material kind. 

Photos: Two cruise ships heading out of Otago Harbour. I photographed these while on a bike ride to Aromoana tonight. Another gift to myself. 

 

I made it... with a little help from my friends.

I have had a busy couple of weeks. Here are some things that I have been involved in.

• I have started a new chaplaincy position, adding another 4 hours of chaplaincy a week.... though I have not been there often yet, it is a scary process.
• I have been one of two people sorting out a job description, advertising and selecting a new night time supervisor for the local night shelter.
• I have been busy with others trying to make sure the Habitat for Humanity house was ready for occupation before Christmas. We held the opening last Sunday afternoon.
• I have conducted the funeral for the dad of a paramedic at my St John Ambulance chaplaincy.
• I have been organising and leading the community Christmas Day dinner for poor or lonely in Dunedin.
• I have had normal services to conduct and of course my family who wants to share Christmas with us.

I made it!

Many years ago I went climbing the Mungatuas near Dunedin. It was winter time and at one stage the track ran out and we had to push our way through bracken that was waste high to get to the tussock country and snow at the top. It was tough going, but we could see the clearer land that we were headed for, and just kept pushing on, aching, sweating and getting scratched and tangled. Eventually we got through it and I remember my dog at the time pushing out of the bracken and breaking loose with a mad circular run of freedom and glee in the open space. Its been a bit like that for me. I have felt that I have not had enough hours in the day to get what I needed to get done. I have been getting up early and working late to get things done. Because of the physical work at the house and preparing for Christmas dinner, I have had aching muscles for weeks it seems. But I knew that now, Sunday evening 27th December would come and I could ease up. I have made it and in all modesty, I believe I have done well. I have been pleased with what has happened. This afternoon in a relaxed mood I snoozed in my lazy boy chair. (only to wake to find my family taking a photo of me)

I have friends!

One thing I have learned is that in spite of the fact that I have often said that I have few friends, I do have friends. Let me list some. Richard has been a great working mate in Habitat. They say that "when the going gets tough the tough get going." Well Richard has been like that. He has set himself the target of opening the house and worked hard to get it done. I appreciated that sense of collegiality, partnership and friendship. Kevin has led the Night shelter work and being more familiar with the employment processes has patiently guided me through it. Paul has been a quiet partner at the funeral, (driving the vintage fire truck), and transporting tables for the Christmas dinner. Alex cooked the veges in his "Little India" restaurant and passed on a bottle of wine to us. Shona and kids, Kiri, Raewyn, Josie, Ian, Margaret, Muthia, Malini, Noel, Cristina, Maureen, Colin and other mates all were volunteers working to make the Christmas day a success. Ken dropped in and gave a substantial donation. The firemen expressed their friendship in heaps of ways. I had one come to me and shake my hand warmly, "Thank you for your friendship during the year!" Others expressed the same sort of sentiment and appreciation. They turned up in numbers at the Christmas day dinner and threw themselves into it with enthusiasm.  The firemen took over the meat. "Don't worry about the meat Dave, we'll look after it!" Then of course there is my own family who have been in there with me. I made it because of the many friends I have. I have felt very humble because of the support I have received. I have a friend who suggests that I don't let people be friends with me, I don't let them "in". That's true, but in spite of my aloofness, people reach out in support and partnership and I am deeply grateful for that.

The lion that roared...

At the Habitat house opening a reporter came to me looking for "Dave?.... I have been told to go talk to Dave?" I said I was "Dave". He asked questions about the house and Habitat for Humanity and I was reported in the paper. (In spite of the fact that I tried to put him on to someone in an official position.) Then on Friday at the Christmas day dinner the same reporter turned up and said, "You again? You are a pretty high profile guy around here aren't you?" "No" I replied, "I just try to do stuff." Once again I was reported in the paper. Winston Churchill said of his roll in the war years something like this. "The people of Britain and the Commonwealth were the lion that roared! I was just the mouth that made the noise." That's the way I have felt. I have been lucky to have had friends and colleagues who have partnered with me enabled so much stuff to get done. I feel so grateful.

A tired tramp...

My son from Wellington visited us for Christmas, staying just three days in the city. He had suggested that he and I should go for a tramp, so on Boxing day we went into the Silver Peaks. I loved it. I was tired, my legs were tired, my whole body was tired from Christmas day, but there was no way I was going to pass up this opportunity. Now I have a delightfully sore knee and hamstring, but a great memory of a companionable five hours with my son. 

Photos: Some pics from Christmas Day Dinner.

A special gift this year....

I have just been talking to a man I see about once a year, sometimes twice. He is the father of an acquaintance of mine and he likes the sort of things we do at this church. He belongs to a different denomination, or at least grew up in a different one, I am not sure of his connections now. He comes to me every Christmas and gives me a substantial cheque for "the stuff you do in your Church" e.g. our Christmas day dinner, drop-in centre etc.

He visited just now with a very substantial cheque. I was away driving a guy to soccer when he arrived but met him in the car park as I drove in. He was getting back to his car after knocking on my office door and sliding an envelope through. Upon questioning him he told me his wife of 55 years was expected to die in the next day or so. I talked with him for some time. But here is this man, in the midst of his grief and going through the ultimate separation from the one you have shared life with, and he takes time out to give money to us to help us make peoples' Christmas special. My heart went out to him and his family as they gather for a very different and sad Christmas.

There certainly are some genuinely nice people in this old world. Appreciate and enjoy the ones you have in your life while you have them.

It's that time again...

It is late at night. I was up very early this morning. Tonight a whole bunch of volunteers, many I did not know at all, got stuck in and transformed our chapel area into a Christmas dinner venue. They worked so fast I could not keep up with them and what they were doing. I think they were surprised with the transformation. It will happen, we will enjoy the day, but just now I am dead on my feet.