Anglican Taonga Advent 2010 by Anglican Taonga

ADVENT 2010 // No.35

Anglican Taonga

ADVENT 2010

Taonga ANGLICAN

THE BIG QUAKE

Ministering

Angels

Helping new mums through the shakes FA M I LY C A R E

Network tackles violence in homes Y O U N G A D U LT S

Cocktail adds zing to Vic chaplaincy

Jenny Campbellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s drive for justice

ADVENT

2010 Page 1

CWS APPEAL

By Greg Jackson

resilient Haitian mother and child have provided inspiration for the 65th Christmas appeal from Christian World Service. The milestone 65th appeal found the iconic image that drove this year’s theme of “share the care” soon after Haiti’s devastating January 7.0 earthquake. Although smaller than the 7.1 quake that hit Canterbury in September the results were hugely different. Haiti had about 250,000 deaths and still has over 1.5 million displaced people living in appalling conditions in temporary camps. The compelling image of the mother and baby came from a CWS global partner, ACT (Action by Churches Together) Alliance photographer Paul Jeffrey. He was in Haiti within days of the quake when he took his picture of the Haitian mother lovingly bathing her baby among the ruins of the capital, Port-au-Prince. It was one of a series of redemptive images of resilience, courage and love that CWS staff recognised as telling a strong story of how the people of Haiti were coping with disaster. CWS national director Pauline McKay says the image shows vividly how people in crisis can still rise above chaos.

Bathtime rises above

the chaos

It’s this spirit that needs support and encouragement. CWS has both global and local partners in Haiti to support. “What we loved about this picture is that it shows people unwilling to be victims but

instead strong and able even in massive adversity,’’ Pauline says. The image echoes the CWS ethos of supporting people in partnership with an implicit understanding that both parties can learn from each other. The mother and child theme also echoes the underlying Christian ethos that inspired the original Christmas Appeal and those that have followed. In a year when sudden changes to government funding have jeopardised much of the work CWS does, it’s also timely to remind supporters of how much good the organisation has done over the years. It’s almost impossible to quantify how many lives have been changed for the better, so CWS is celebrating its achievements by spotlighting partner stories from Uganda, Tonga, Haiti and Gaza. Supporters will see how CWS supports those caring for HIV and AIDS so everyone gets better quality of life; how healing is helped through therapy programmes for children traumatised by war and disaster; how health supports help mothers and children against a backdrop of war; and how people can reclaim ancestral farming techniques and end up eating healthier and cheaper food.

Anglican Taonga

Anglican Taonga ADVENT 2010

Contents 06

ADVENT 2010

Regular 19 Social justice: Best and worst of the big quake 28 Meditation: Kelvin Wright’s balancing act 29 Film: John Bluck is moon-struck 30 Preaching: Matthew’s revolutionary manual 32 Bible: Wrestling with the humanity of Scripture 33 Advent: A bridge to God’s love 36 Books: on being responsibly Christian, prayer, and the mystery of Jesus

Features

Anglican Taonga is published by the Commission on Communications and distributed to all ministry units and agencies of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia - Te Hahi Mihinare ki Aotearoa ki Niu Tireni ki nga Moutere o Te Moana Nui a Kiwa.

History is made at St Faith’s

Hospital chaplains hit the wards

Editor Brian Thomas 214 Ilam Road Christchurch 8041 Ph 03 351-4404 bjthomas@orcon.net.nz

Study centre elects new convenor

Adding zing to the Vic chaplaincy

Design Marcus Thomas Design Ph 04 389-6964 marcust@orcon.net.nz

Tackling violence in the home

Glynn Cardy on being awfully sick

One woman’s drive for justice

Two sticklers for social justice

Woody, the castaway giraffe

In the steps of two Maori prophets

39 From the Far Side: Imogen de la Bere goes to Rome

Distribution Chris Church Ph 03 351-4404 cfchurch@orcon.net.nz Advertising Brian Watkins Ph 06 875-8488 Mob 021 072-9892 Fax 09 353-1418 brian@grow.co.nz Media Officer Lloyd Ashton Ph 09 521-4439 021 348-470 mediaofficer@ang.org.nz Cover. Undaunted: a few days after Canterbury’s big quake, Chaplains Hilary Barlow (left) and Pam Tizzard with nurse Edna Byron in the neo-natal unit at Christchurch Women’s Hospital. Picture: Lloyd Ashton.

Poihaere’s day

For women

Close to the bone

Just where I am

Tall story

The big quake

Campus cocktail

A year in bed

Fair go!

Jailing Parihaka

A new take on the 14 Stations of the Cross – by Canterbury artist John Badcock – will exhibit in ChristChurch Cathedral through Lent. In a four-week study series (from March 17 to April 7) a variety of speakers will present their interpretations of the Stations, followed by discussion. The aim: to engage in a process of visio divina, the intentional practice of reflection on visual art, seeing with the eyes and listening with the mind to hear the voice of God on the Lenten journey.

• Pictured: “He Meets His Blessed Mother.”

For the latest on the Anglican world, check out our website: www.anglicantaonga.org.nz Page 3

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MILESTONES

Lloyd Ashton witnesses history being made in Rotorua

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Ashley Martin

hen Bishop Ngarahu Katene led Poihaere Knight through her diaconate vows before a packed congregation at St Faith’s Ohinemutu on November 13, they were making history. Because Poihaere is the first woman to be ordained in the 130-year history of that landmark Rotorua church. St Faith’s sits in a special place. It’s on a promontory that juts out into Lake Rotorua, and at the east end of the church there’s that famous etched-glass window of Christ wearing his korowai, walking on the waters. But if you spin on your heels and head out the western doors of the church you see Tamatekapua, the main meeting house of the Arawa tribes, just 100 metres away. This is heartland Te Arawa. In particular, this is Ngati Whakaue territory, and in Ngati Whakaue lore this spot is tapu. Ngati Whakaue are strict about tradition, and some people insist that Ngati Whakaue kawa should apply at St Faith’s, too. No women priests, in other words. No female deacons. When Rahu Katene was ordained Pihopa o te Manawa o te Wheke in October 2006 – at Tamatekapua, in fact – he made it clear that change was on its way. In his first kauwhau as Bishop at St Faith’s, he spelled out why change had to come. The tapu on the land where St Faith’s stands had long since been lifted, he said, and this is now consecrated church ground. At St Faith’s, he was saying, church kawa overrides Ngati Whakaue kawa. First or no first, for Poihaere, of course, her ordination was a special day. For a start, her mum, Heeni te Hurihangatahi Hanna, was the first Maori woman priest in the Diocese of Waiapu. She’d been ordained by Bishop Whakahuihui Vercoe at Poho o Rawiri in Gisborne in 1987. Heeni had died in 1993, and one of the special moments at the November 13 service came when Poihaere’s sisters gave her Heeni’s Paipera Tapu – her Bible, complete with the post-it notes that Heeni had left there. Poihaere is the events manager at Te Puia, which is the business arm for the New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Centre at

Poihaere’s big day out in the heartland Whakarewarewa. Before she took on that mahi, she taught Japanese and Maori at secondary schools. She’s also a wife (her tane: Kurei Knight), mum (to Morgan and BJ Rauhuia) and sister, and she’s two thirds through her training at the Rotorua taapapa. Whew. Tom Poata thinks the ordination was special, too. But he plays down the historical significance of Poihaere’s ordination. “There are those who disagree on social grounds. But church kawa has to override, because that’s who we are. We’re church

before we’re anything else. “All that we did was to be guided by the Spirit. There is no choice, really, when the Spirit decides to do things. “The church has to rise above all sorts of contradictions… and to be able to offer a clear explanation as to why it does what it does. I think that’s been done, fairly well.” So: is Poihaere on the road to priesthood? “If they’ll have me,” says Poihaere. “If they’ll have me, I’d love to be there.” Lloyd Ashton is Media Officer for this church

Anglican Taonga

tronger representation of women on all church bodies is just one aim of the newly elected convenor of the Anglican Women’s Studies Centre, Rev Carole Hughes. “Some provincial bodies and even diocesan committees don’t have any women,” she notes. “This is not our ideal as gathered church, which traditionally offers challenge and opportunity for all men and women.” Carole says her own ministry and faith have been furthered not only by theological education but also by opportunities to serve on committees at diocesan, national and international levels of the church. “Largely this has been due to church leaders mentoring me and believing in me. It’s been the same for all other members of the Women’s Studies Council, which is why we now want to do the same for others.” Carole says her other aim as convenor is to communicate well with those at the flaxroots of the church, and to offer educative support. “Diocesan link people, nominated by the bishops, will have the task of identifying, gathering, facilitating, resourcing and encouraging women in theological education. “We also wish to develop relationships with Kahui Wahine, AAW, Mothers’ Union, and St John’s College, all of whom were represented at our last hui in October.” Carole says the Women’s Studies Council hopes to meet with women in their own situations, to offer administrative support, and to encourage women to publish their resources. She dismisses any talk of the women’s

ADVENT 2010

Fronting up to a new era: The Women’s Studies Council with the ‘link women’ who represent dioceses and hui amorangi.

Opening doors to women council wanting to take over the church or adopting an elitist stance. “Our agenda is simply to inspire, excite, equip and support women.” Carole also rejects suggestions that the council is locked into a power struggle with men. As Vicar of St John’s in Campbells Bay (Auckland), she knows that a vibrant faith community is one where women and men are mutually supportive. “However, there’s currently an imbalance in leadership, which can only be righted by giving women more opportunities, especially in theological education and decision-making roles. “It’s not about exclusion; rather, it’s

recognising that we need to be intentional about equipping women so that we can all contribute generously and responsibly to our church.” Apart from Carole, the three-tikanga women’s council, appointed by General Synod, comprises Dr Jenny Plane Te Paa, Rev Canon Mere Wallace, Ven Taimalelagi Matalavea, Rev Amy Chambers and Rev Erice Fairbrother. As convenor, Carole succeeds Jenny Te Paa who has nurtured the council’s formation since General Synod 2006. Check out the Women’s Studies Centre page on the General Synod website: http://anglican.org.nz/Womens-Studies”.

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Anglican Taonga

ADVENT 2010

A N G L I C A N FA M I LY N E T W O R K

Close to the Anglicans at the sharp end of confronting family violence in the South Pacific met in Lower Hutt recently to nut out how the church can better grapple with that problem. Lloyd Ashton was on hand to see them meet that challenge.

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bone

f guts, experience and skill are what brings success, we may have reached a tipping point on the way to turning back “the sheer, bloody awfulness”1  of domestic violence in our part of the world. Certainly, the 25 delegates to the International Anglican Family Network (IAFN) Oceania Consultation on Violence and the Family are determined that their gathering in Lower Hutt in late October will mark that tipping point. They want their five-day meeting to be remembered as the time when the desire to end domestic violence, first in the church and then in wider communities throughout the South Pacific, became an irresistible movement. The IAFN delegates – from Papua New Guinea; Vanuatu; the Solomons; Hawaii; Fiji; Samoa, Tonga, Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand (along with three Family Network reps from the UK) – have returned to their homes now, armed with plans and

timetables to achieve that in their countries. In the Diocese of Polynesia, for example, three of its most senior figures have committed themselves to developing nonviolence training programmes for clergy, laity, youth and Sunday schools by the end of the year – with pilot programmes under way in January, ready for a roll-out in the churches in February. And they’ve already got a key ally on side. Archbishop Winston Halapua, the new bishop of their diocese, has declared that from now he’ll grant licences only to clergy and lay workers who commit themselves to persistently and consistently spreading the message that domestic violence is unacceptable. Where the New Zealand dioceses are concerned, this much is already clear: • Charles Waldegrave (the co-leader of both the consultation and its hosts the Family Centre), Richard Sawrey (a Wellington clinical psychologist) and

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ADVENT 2010

Anthony Dancer (the church’s Social Justice Commissioner) will seek a commitment from their archbishops and bishops to press ahead with a national stopping violence strategy. • In that strategy they’ll focus on getting the no-violence message embedded into training for ministry at every level – from clergy training through to Bible studies in parishes. • And they’ll work up a system to measure their effectiveness – including the goal of 50 percent of the bishops approving the delivery of non-violence programmes in their dioceses in the first year. Where Tikanga Maori is concerned, the commitments and goals are similar. And Hera Clark (long-time Maori woman and children’s advocate) and Huia Swann (high school counsellor and therapist) told the consultation they’re already thinking of suitable slogans for their campaign. In 1975, for example, when Whina Cooper led the Land March to protest the continued loss of Maori land, marchers chanted the slogan: “Not one more acre!” Where this kaupapa is concerned, the slogan could be: “Not one more death!” The Communion’s primates will be hearing from the consultation, too. It developed a “wish list” that includes having the primates make a strong statement against family violence “in penitence and faith – and affirming the resolved and planned actions from the consultation.”

Yes! Taimalelagi Fagamalama Tuatagaloa, who chaired the IAFN consultation, is a former Anglican Observer to the UN, and a priest. She’s flanked here by the Rev Jonathon Inkpin (left) from Australia) and the Rev Tom Van Culin, of Hawaii.

he IAFN consultation was served with a grim reminder that domestic violence – the violence that rears its head and strikes in homes and communities – isn’t something that just afflicts women and children who don’t go to Anglican churches. In plain language: the wives and children of some clergy are beaten by husbands and fathers who – as Hone Kaa put it – lower

Jessica Ingen from Papua New Guinea

their raised hands on Sundays to celebrate the Eucharist, and to bless people. How do we know this? Because the spouses of some bishops at the 2008 Lambeth Conference said so. Dr Jenny Te Paa told the IAFN gathering that those spouses had spoken of “the code of fear” that these victims are forced to live by, and of the silence on the part of their abusers. That talk among spouses led to the convening of a special session at Lambeth 2008 – the only Lambeth session where the men and women gathered together – to confront the issue of abuse of power. Dr Te Paa led that session. “Any abuse of power,” she said then, “which manifests itself as the despicable and utterly unacceptable practice of violence against women, against girls, against those of us created by God as equally good,

Tom Van Culin from Hawaii

equally worthy, equally capable, is an evil perpetuated against us simply because of who we are .” That was a session, and a message, that apparently wasn’t universally acclaimed. Because a handful of the bishops walked out. •••• Guts, experience and skill? At the Lower Hutt consultation, too, we heard stories from some delegates who’d tasted violence in their own lives. We heard from: Josey Hansen, who is the highly-qualified manager of Aboriginal Services for Anglicare Western Australia. Josey is from the Noongar people of South West Australia, the largest Aboriginal group in Australia. Her mother was 17 when she gave birth to Josey – and when Josey became 17 herself, she buried her mum, who had tried to intervene in a fight between two friends,

Didamain Uibo from Australia

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and was struck a fatal blow. “What did violence cost me?” Josey asked. “I could smell the pain. I could taste it. I could feel and sense it – and the grief was paralysing.” Somehow, she overcame her pain, and has gone on to work for her people. “Our culture,” she told the consultation, “is based upon a different set of values and norms from mainstream culture.” And failure to present “potential beneficial services in a culturally appropriate manner to Noongars,” she said, “can be seen, effectively, as excluding them.” Josey has some thoughts about what the church can contribute to her people’s wellbeing. Her first recommendation? “Listen deeply,” she said, “with your ears, eyes and heart.”

Jessica Ingen, whose husband Nathan is the new Bishop of the Diocese of Aipo Rongo in Papua New Guinea. In earlier days, she and her husband served in a remote highland parish, and one day, on a Mothers’ Union mission, Jessica trekked for hours across a mountain range to visit a village in the next valley where her sister lived. She reached that village at nightfall. That same day her sister was tilling her plot in the village gardens – when her husband attacked her with a bush knife, and killed her. Jessica knew that when the males from her own village heard of their kinswoman’s murder they would immediately come, seeking revenge.

Residential Schools 2011:

So she grabbed a torch and began hiking back over the mountain, praying fervently as she walked through the night. Sure enough, she did encounter that war party – who, on meeting her, melted back the way they had come.

Hone Kaa, who gave a keynote address about Te Kahui Mana Ririki, the national Maori child advocacy organisation he chairs. He spoke of how things were when he was growing up in Rangitukia, among Ngati Porou, in the early 1940s. Back then, he said, violence in that community “was endemic”. “I was fortunate enough to have been brought up in a house that did not possess a stock whip or a flail made of No. 8 wire.” The problems were made worse when the 28 Maori Battalion soldiers returned from World War 2. Those men had never been helped to readjust to normal life. As a result, said Hone, “much of the violence that the children of Rangitukia suffered was perpetrated… by men who, after three or four years overseas, had known only how to kill or be killed.”

The Rev Tom Van Culin, a priest from the Diocese of Hawaii, who had the permission of his wife Tina to share what had happened to her. She was the survivor of 25 years of abuse at the hands of her first husband. Part of her healing had come, she said, when she learned to acknowledge “that I was not to blame for the assaults on my body, mind and soul which that individual

perpetrated. It was impossible to find help in the 1960s, when these bad things happened to me. “There were no laws to protect the victims, there were no shelters, and there were no classes to educate people about what they were going through.” Eighteen years ago she married Tom, and resumed the education that abuse had stolen from her. At the age of 68, Tina is a university graduate contributing to Hawaii in a host of ways, including at the state prison. “Virtually all of the women inmates,” she wrote, “have come from abusive childhoods, and then gone on to become involved in illegal activities.”

he IAFN will shortly publish a report of the Oceania consultation on its website: http://iafn. anglicancommunion.org/index.cfm .   That report will sketch the process followed at Lower Hutt, and stress the value of bringing forward the best of cultural traditions, alongside Christian values, as a way of stopping violence in a specific part of the world.  The reports from the two previous consultations – in Kenya in 2003, and Korea in 2007 – are also available there. 1. A quote from Ian Sparks, who is on the committee of the IAFN, and who has helped organise each of the three IAFN consultations on Violence and the Family (in Kenya, Korea and New Zealand). Ian formerly led the Children’s Society in the UK.

Lloyd Ashton is Media Officer for this church.

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Study Theology from your home Page 8

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A N G L I C A N FA M I LY N E T W O R K LEFT: Charles Waldegrave BELOW: Taimalieutu Kiwi Tamasese

Don’t worry about the paper chase

t one stage, the IAFN Oceania Consultation on Violence and the Family didn’t look like a goer. There’d been a couple of attempts to make it happen elsewhere, but they fizzled. Then the Family Centre in Lower Hutt stepped up to the plate. We’ll do it, they said. We’ll take it on. And, in the minds of the overseas folk who came to the consultation, they didn’t do a bad rescue job. In the minds of many of those visitors, too, one of the biggest revelations was watching two accomplished operators go about their work. Those two are Taimalieutu Kiwi Tamasese and Charles Waldegrave, co-leaders of the consultation, and the leaders of the Pacific and Pakeha sections of the Family Centre. The way they work together set the tone. It helped created a space where everyone, no matter where they came from, felt free to contribute. Terrie Robinson, a priest who’s based in the Anglican Communion Office in London, and who travels widely helping all the Communion networks, describes the Family Centre as “extraordinary.” “I don’t know of any other body linked to the church,” she says, “which is working so closely with its community, and flows so well with its cultural rhythms. They seem to have worked out how to do that, and how to bring out the best of what cultures have to offer.” Indeed, the Family Centre has fashioned quite a record over its 30-year life. It specialises in four areas:

• Family Therapy. “Just Therapy” starts from a place that says, in effect, that if therapists ignore things like unemployment and bad housing, they’re doing a slack job. It’s actually a Family Centre development that is now being taught across the world. • Social Policy Research. Under Charles Waldegrave’s leadership, the Family Centre supplied data that helped persuade the last government to drop market rentals for state houses; to lift superannuation, and to develop the Working for Families package. • Community Development. Example: The Family Centre and Afeafe O Vaetoefaga, a Samoan NGO, recently won a World Bank prize for a project to revive knowledge of traditional Samoan building. Houses built that way, they showed, could reduce the risks climate change poses to Samoa. Their proposal was one of 26 selected by the World Bank for funding, out of 1755 submitted. • Education. The Family Centre’s leadership team teaches across the world, and shares its story of working for change through building strong community and cultural links. And one of the turning points for the Family Centre, as Charles told the consultation, came in 1982 when they went to place a sits vac newspaper ad.

In the late 1970s, Wellington’s then City Missioner was keen to get some churchbased social work happening in the Hutt Valley. Charles Waldegrave, who is a psychologist, a Cambridge theology graduate as well as a priest at St James in Lower Hutt, was asked to check out what might be possible. He was interested in family therapy, which was new in those days, and he was keen. And, in 1979, under the auspices of Anglican Social Services, he and a few like-minded colleagues set up the Family Centre. Every few months, those workers would go on retreat to consider their challenges and their effectiveness. “About 18 months in,” says Charles, “on one of these retreats, we realised that something was missing. “We were completely Pakeha. Middleclass educated Pakeha to boot.” Not only were there no Maori or Pacific Islanders on their team, says Charles, there were very few agencies offering Maori and Pacific Islanders anything, on their own terms. The Family Centre decided to change that. For a start, they would employ a Maori and a Pacific community worker. They had put out feelers to Kokiri Marae in Seaview for the Maori worker by this time, and sketched for them the new direction they intended heading.

The Family Centre in Lower Hutt stepped up to rescue the consultation – and did an ‘extrordinary’ job Page 9

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Then, as most prospective employers do, they set about preparing to advertise their job. They worked up terms and conditions: set the salary, wrote the job description, spelled out a process to be followed in the event of unsatisfactory performance, generally crossing their t’s and dotting their i’s against the employment legislation. Then, having framed their ad, they placed that in the papers. And, the evening before the applications closed, Charles Waldegrave got a call from Keriana Olsen, who was the matriarch of the Kokiri Marae: “Charles, we’ve got the person you need.” “Well yes, whaea, but…” and Charles spluttered something about needing to adhere to their process. The job had been advertised, he told Keriana. Applications closed the next day – but, if the person Keriana had in mind cared to submit an application by then they’d be happy to consider that along with the rest of the applicants… and yadda yadda. Evidently, Keriana had another process in

ABOVE: Quandolita reports from the women’s caucus during the consultation. RIGHT: Wally Campbell

her mind: “Don’t you worry about the paper chase, Charles. “The whanau has met. And we’ve chosen the right person for you.” Well, to cut a long story short, the Family Centre people could see that yes, the person being proposed to them by the Kokiri whanau was of some interest. He did seem to have accumulated an impressive record where work among

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the Hutt Valley Maori community was concerned. And so that man, Wally Campbell, from Ngati Porou, landed the job. The next eye-opener for Charles and the Family Centre crew came on the day when Wally started at the Centre – which was operating by then from the old vicarage behind St James’ Church in Woburn Rd. It wasn’t just a matter of Wally clocking on at 8.30am. He’d brought one or two folk with him. In fact, he was escorted by at least 50 of the Kokiri whanau. And, in the course of the proceedings, one of their kaumatua, Uncle Manaaki, took Wally by the hand, led him to Charles and told Charles straight: “We are giving you this taonga. If you look after him, and keep him warm, we (the Family Centre and the marae) will be knit together like the flax in the kite. “But if you don’t look after him and he becomes cold – we’ll take him back.” Looking back, it seems Keriana Olsen and the Kokiri whanau knew what they were on about. It seems too, that the Family Centre learned the knack for keeping taonga warm. That’s because, 28 years later, Wally Campbell – now an archdeacon in the Pihopatanga, and a QSO – is seen as one of the cornerstones of the Family Centre’s success. Wally’s retired now. But that didn’t stop him coming in several times during the consultation to see how things were going. You could see, again and again, how much Wally is a part of the Family Centre. You could see too, how rethinking a sits vac ad can pay dividends.

Lloyd Ashton

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When did you stop beating your wife, Bishop?

o some bishops beat their wives? When Bishop Catherine Roskam insinuated at Lambeth 2008 that some bishops from developing countries were indeed guilty of that… well, the English tabloids climbed all over that one. The Suffragan Bishop of New York had made her remarks in a Inclusive Church news release. “We have 700 men here,” she wrote. “Do you think any of them beat their wives? Chances are they do.” Many of the bishops, she added, came from places “where it is culturally accepted to beat your wife…” Her remarks got up the noses of a lot of good bishops. Dr John Sentamu, for one, thought they were a cheap shot. “I hope Bishop Catherine has got statistics,” he said then. “If not, she is in danger of causing an unnecessary rumpus. I find guilt by association very difficult.” In hindsight, the greater damage done by Bishop Roskam’s remarks may have been that they angered many bishops ahead of a far more serious attempt to grapple with the subject. Because a few of the spouses at Lambeth had, in fact, raised the subject of abuse meted out by clergy to wives. They’d begun to talk among themselves about that. Their talk led to the convening of a special session there – the only one where the men and women gathered together – called “Equal in God’s sight: when power is abused.” Dr Jenny Te Paa had, at the request of the Spouses’ Design Group, led that session. At the spouses’ request too, men and

women sat on separate sides of the room during that session. It began with a play on the theme of women’s empowerment, followed by a dramatic reading of the rape of Tamar (2 Samuel 13). Then the bishops and spouses broke into same-sex study groups. Afterwards, Jane Williams, the wife of the Archbishop of Canterbury, told a press conference that the session had been a success. She said the church had a duty to address domestic violence, both in society and within the church, for “even disciples fall into ‘patterns of behaviour that are not Christ-like.’ ” Even so, for whatever reason, about 100 bishops walked out of that session. •••• But all those Lambeth goingson, as Jenny Te Paa remarked to the Lower Hutt consultation during her keynote presentation, are ancient history. The real question, she said, is whether any good has been achieved on that front since 2008. “Nearly two and a half years on from Lambeth,” she asked, “can we assure each other that our beloved church now provides inviolate sanctuary for all?” She broadened her focus: “Can we assure God that God’s given right for fullness of life for all women and girls is a priority project for all?” Her own verdict on that charge, she dryly remarked, “is that we remain a somewhat less than credible work in progress.” Where domestic violence is concerned, plenty of the folk in Lower Hutt seemed to be frustrated by church leaders dragging the chain on the issue.

At one stage, the consultation divided itself into men’s and women’s caucuses. And the report from the men’s caucus includes the question: What are the primates afraid of? During that men’s caucus John Rea, who’s an IAFN committee member from the Episcopal Church of Scotland, said that he had the feeling that bishops were “sailing on, unruffled” in the wake of the Lambeth session. In John’s mind, the key question is: “How do we help the mostly male leadership of the church to get from being a significant part of the problem, to becoming a significant part of the solution?” “Because if we’re going to make headway on this, we have got to get our leaders engaged, owning the problem, showing the way.” John thinks that some of the bishops, at least until now, have seen the need for church action on domestic violence and HIV-AIDS to be women’s work. Something for the Mothers’ Union to worry about. Part of the problem may also be that bishops develop “thick skins” to cope with the truckloads of problems that come their way.

n the end, it could be that the Oceania Consultation’s biggest contribution was that it got down to tin tacks. The 25 delegates sketched

John Rea from Scotland.

action plans, province by province, diocese by diocese. So they’ve got something tangible to present to their bishops, to their synods, and they’ve got timetables for making these strategies happen. On the final afternoon, at the end of the poroporoaki, when everybody had said their farewells and thanked their hosts, Charles Waldegrave, who had co-led the consultation, had the last word. For Charles, being in a gathering that wrapped such a heavy-duty subject with a daily Eucharist, with prayer and with the singing of hymns, was satisfying. In most of the social science and psychology forums he attends, he says, spirituality doesn’t get a look-in. “We tend not to be sharp in the church. But here, we’ve engaged with a lot of sharp, cutting-edge thinking. We’ve named the issues, we’ve set goals and targets. “Our goal is to stop violence. To go out and transform. That’s our mission. “But we can’t do that without sorting out our own house first.”

Can we assure each other that our beloved church now provides inviolate sanctuary for all?

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Anglican Taonga

ADVENT 2010

When I look back on my life, I realise that in every conversation and interaction there’s a pattern, there’s a reason, there’s a God incident

Jenny Campbell wi th a handful of gla ss picked up off the practises the three bush floor. An en “R’s” - Reduce, Re vironmental activi use, Recycle. st, she promotes and

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Anglican Taonga

ADVENT 2010

ENVIRONMENT

Mention ‘Jenny Campbell’ and you’ll get either a blank look or a gasp of admiration. Jenny’s low-key approach often helps her escape notice, but don’t be fooled. Here’s a woman with boundless energy and determination to build a just and sustainable world in Godzone. Julanne Clarke-Morris profiles this home-grown prophet.

I am

Just where J

enny Campbell is an extraordinary Anglican. A laywoman from Mossburn in Northern Southland, Jenny is always challenging the church on something, whether it’s human rights, care for the earth, or making hard decisions based on justice. Jenny has been a lay ministry organiser and trainer, a Dunedin synodswoman and a member of General Synod/te Hinota Whanui. In 2008, when she was awarded the QSM for service to community, Bishop George Connor said: “We’re grateful for the way you continue to challenge us all.” When a colleague from Southland Forest and Bird nominated Jenny for a Kiwi Battler award this year, the application showed more than 16 organisations that benefit from Jenny’s work, ranging from recording Southland’s oral histories, to the Human Rights Commission Taku Manawa project. Jenny is often reminding the church about our responsibility to protect the environment. As well as more than 30 years with Forest & Bird, she convenes Invercargill’s Environment Centre, a hub for communication and resources on protecting the earth. Make sure you have your compost and your recycling sorted before Jenny comes to your church! Jenny cares a great deal for people, too. She’s a member of the Anglican Social Justice Commission and the ecumenical social justice network in Southland, where she helps challenge the unjust structures that keep people poor or on the margins. Each year Jenny helps to coordinate a UNIFEM white ribbon day in Southland, for education and training in non-violence, and for years she’s organised a secondhand

book sale, raising thousands for missions and hospital chaplaincy. Currently she works for Supporting Families in Mental Wellness. What drives Jenny Campbell – when half of what she does would exhaust most of us, and the lethargy she often encounters would dampen the strongest resolve? Go back to her roots and you’ll start to understand where all that energy comes from. Jenny’s earliest memories are from a remote sheep station called Hamenga, on the south Wairarapa coast. It was a hard life for Jenny’s mother, with three children, Jenny’s father and up to six other men to feed, and the nearest woman 10km away. “When the rivers came up, we couldn’t get out at all, so Mum fed us from what we could take off the station. It was tough for her to cope with the isolation,” Jenny recalls. Later, on the family farm at Pirinoa, Jenny’s mother not only ran the household and cared for the children, but with her landgirl skills from WW2 she’d work on the farm too. “I remember my mother going out to do lambing beats on horseback for hours and hours. In the evening she’d come home and cook the meal while the men sat down and read the newspaper. “After they’d eaten, she’d still have all the other household chores to do. The men on the farm were paid for what they did, but my mother never got a penny and had no say in the financial decisions.” Watching this, Jenny grew determined that not only she, but other women too, could have power over their lives. She was also motivated to challenge the stereotypes

that limit women’s potential. Although she works to bring about change, Jenny doesn’t focus on the negative. For her, emphasising the positive is where God comes in, “For me it’s all about helping people hold on to hope, looking for the best in people and thinking of positive ways forward. When I look back on my life, I realise that in every conversation and interaction there’s a pattern, there’s a reason, there’s a God incident.”

enny’s introduction to faith was weekly Sunday school led by Mrs Didsbury, a warm, motherly woman, who handed out stars and books and shared a gospel of loving and caring. Through her Bible stories, Jenny came to look for the best from life, to see in God a constant source of hope. She’d heard about fire and brimstone, but it was only when Jenny left Pirinoa school and boarded at Solway College in Masterton that she was really struck by the fearful side of religion. “One of the other boarders, a Brethren girl, used to sit up at night and tell us how we were all wicked sinners and were going to burn in hell. We were really scared, it was horrible. “I used to ask God, ‘How can I be OK if I’m such a terrible sinner?’ It didn’t add up somehow, with the message of love and hope I’d heard in Sunday school.” Before high school finished, the family left the farm and moved near to Greytown. Jenny headed to Kuranui College as a foundation sixth-former and came out as dux. Not that she boasts about it. “I’m not ›› CONTINUED Page 13

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ADVENT 2010

that bright, I’m just a worker.” she says. After school, she set off for Victoria University to study maths, botany and geography for a B.Sc. In her second year she went flatting with some first-year friends from the Anglican women’s hostel. “We had huge discussions about God and spirituality,” she remembers. “We talked about faith and justice, about apartheid and what was happening in Cuba. I really loved the openness of those discussions. “There were student protesters who went on about all these things, but I wasn’t one of them. I was too busy plugging away at my degree.” She got it, of course, and that persistence has become her trademark. “My problem is I can’t remember the arguments when people try to close me down. I just keep going when I know something is right. “At a recent meeting people were bringing out all the old reasons why we shouldn’t have Te Reo Maori in our church services. ‘It’s tokenism’, someone said, and ‘No one understands it.’ So I just said again, ‘But it’s our commitment, we’re in this three-tikanga church.’ They said, ‘There are no Maori in our churches anyway,’ so in the end I just said, ‘Actually, I’m Maori’.” Which is true: Jenny’s Dad was Ngai Tahu, and the family’s marae is Te Rau Aroha in Bluff. “I’m not sure what brought my grandparents to the Wairarapa, whether they met when my Pakeha grandfather was already farming there, or when my Ngai Tahu grandmother was performing in shows in Wellington.” Like a lot of things that are important to Jenny now, her Maori side wasn’t valued when she was young. And neither was the land under her feet. “We used to spend whole days on horseback up in the bush on my uncle’s farm, but I didn’t appreciate its value in those days. We knew the valuable land was flat land that you could grow grass and graze sheep on... It wasn’t till years later that I understood how precious the bush was.” As a teacher, she has stayed open to learning.

“I only found out how valuable the native bush was after I joined Forest and Bird and when I took high school biology students on field trips to Tautuku in the Catlins and the Hollyford Valley. We’d study the bush up close, and there were very knowledgeable parents and helpers to tell us amazing things about it.”

ut let’s go back to before Jenny went teaching, because it was then that her life took a sharp turn. She found herself in a violent relationship, with small children and little support from any direction. “I was totally dependent on my partner for money. He was quite violent. But because of the shame, I couldn’t share what was happening with neighbours or friends. They knew what was going on, but we just didn’t talk about it. That’s where I got my commitment to ‘Say No to Violence’.” Even so, Jenny warns against blaming women who refuse to leave a violent home. “People can be very judgmental. They say, ‘Fancy her staying there with that going on!’ When I was in that situation, I couldn’t defend myself.” She did leave with the children several times but returned each time - against her better judgment, “When I see someone stuck in a violent situation, I feel a responsibility to help them. You have to be a friend, help them to get somewhere safe, get their precious things out, like photo albums or things you can’t take if you leave with just one suitcase. “And you’ve got to keep on being a friend - help make sure they can get a job, or have the monetary resources to not have to go back.” Despite the violence, it wasn’t till Jenny’s third child, Louise, was born that things really hit rock bottom. “When it became clear she wasn’t growing, I recognised there was something wrong, something inside.” In the end, the doctors found out that baby Louise had a heart condition. Jenny and Louise went up to Greenlane Hospital to get help, but they couldn’t do anything for her. “They said she was too little to operate

I was totally dependent on my partner for money. He was quite violent. But because of the shame, I felt I couldn’t share what was happening with neighbours or friends Page 14

on and I should come back when she was 35 pounds. When she died (at 8 months) she was only 9 pounds. “I was completely overwhelmed by the violence and Louise being sick. I used to think that God was punishing her for my mistakes. I was so angry at God for taking it out on her.” Jenny doesn’t know what got her over the anger and the pain, but somehow the loving, hopeful God won out over the tyrant. “When Emma and Amanda (her other children) were about 5 and 3, I just started going back to church. I was encouraged by friends and colleagues, but I think I knew there was more to life.” Later she took a job teaching biology and maths at the local high school, gaining the financial independence that led to the end of the violent relationship. When she found out Louise’s heart had been part of the debacle at Greenlane Hospital, and she’d come to terms with it, she responded by becoming a contact for anyone else in Southland who’d been affected. For Jenny it’s important that what she’s achieved is not what she’s done alone. For her it’s all about seeing where God is in the picture, about building relationships, about community. “I want to recognise God’s presence in everything that happens and look for the spirituality in others, whether or not they call themselves believers.” The way Jenny sees it today, she has a rich life, “I see myself as wealthy because I have choices. I’m financially independent. I have a safe place to live where I’m not subjected to violence. I have a fantastic garden. I have wonderful family and friends who love me unconditionally. “And I don’t just work either. I have time in my life for fun, for walking in the bush, for appreciating my beautiful daughters and grandchildren, for enjoying my freedom of choice.” For Jenny, a verse by John O’Donohue is a good prayer for anyone to take to heart: May I have the courage today To live the life that I would love, To postpone my dreams no longer But do at last what I came here for And waste my heart on fear no more. Julanne Clarke-Morris is Assistant Editor of Anglican Taonga. julanneclarkemorris@gmail.com

Anglican Taonga

ADVENT 2010

Tall story:

the castaway giraffe

by Craig Dixon

uake response in Canterbury has taken many forms but none so quirky as the case of Woody the giraffe. The revelation came to me on the desolate West Coast of the South Island where, bored of ‘baiting, I was kicking through the driftwood at the remote Kapitea Creek north of Hokitika. By some weather-wrought miracle, a broken branch, tossed and turned into a giraffe, found me. Standing at an impressive 2.3 metres, a giraffe from every angle, the duly named ‘Woody’ joined our happy team of St John’s College friends from the early 1980s. She spent the remaining days lying around with us, then was loaded on to a trailer to cross the Great Divide to a new life in Christchurch. And that’s when the fun began. A giraffe suffers greatly during aftershocks. Height is a disadvantage. Nothing for it but to find Woody a home away from the broken plates. Trade Me to the rescue – and in no time Woody had gone ‘viral’. Here’s her story as told on the auction site: Woody has been earning a living as a ‘Whitebait Spotter’ on the West Coast, a little south of Hokitika. Tossed overboard from a passing circus ship, she swam ashore and befriended baiters who took advantage of her great height (2.3metres). She was abandoned when the bait stopped running. I found her two weeks ago, near death. How she survived is beyond me. There were only stones around her. I imagine that Woody must have gained sustenance from sucking on small fragments of

greenstone. I would love to keep her but since bringing her to Christchurch, poor Woody has become traumatised with the aftershocks. The higher up you are they worse they feel. She needs a stable environment and lots of love. 5000+ Trade Me hits, extensive media coverage, and an auction settlement of $41 later, Woody had a new owner. Canterbury had been blessed, distracted and besotted. Warmed by a wooden heart in trying times. Woody confirmed again Reader’s Digest wisdom, ‘Laughter is the best medicine’. EQC payments bring some relief after a disaster. ‘The imperative to ‘Look after Yourself - Look after Others’ also makes sense. But the most effective remedy is to nurture the creative stirrings within, to see the ordinary in extraordinary ways. To laugh and live expansively and lightly find ways through the mire. My sadness at losing Woody through Trade Me has turned to joy. Her new owner, miracle of miracles, is the Administration Manager of ChristChurch Cathedral. OK, Woody hasn’t gained a new life far away from the aftershocks, but better, she now resides in the heart and soul of the City. Plans are afoot for an appearance at this year’s ‘Children and Animals Christmas Service.’ Bishop willing, Woody will take on the central role of ‘Bishop’s Crook’. (Check out Exodus Chapter 4 for the important place of sticks in religious tradition.) Seriously though, despite my penchant for fun, I was surprised at how the chance find of an ordinary piece of driftwood enlivened and

Sticky moment: Craig (left) introduces Woody to her new owner, Chris Oldham, at ChristChurch Cathedral.

excited the media and the many who sought Woody on Trade Me. Some wanted to distance themselves from what they probably thought was trifling behaviour. But by far the majority delighted in the unfolding story. Thousands, young and old, followed the ‘Q&A’ record on Trade Me. There were doubters: “Buyer beware! Woody is just a drifter from the sticks. And if you don’t believe me, check out her family tree.” And there were devotees: “My son Pinocchio is looking for a pet, we also have some stables so could definitely provide the environment you are looking for.” Not since the time of Max, the winged Bambina of Mid-Canterbury, has such lightness focussed on dark times, and laughter rung loud around the ruins. There is a ministry of mirth. I may be growing older but I refuse to grow up! Craig is Woody’s constant friend.

COORDINATOR, CHILDREN & YOUTH MINISTRIES In the context of our Mission Plan entitled ‘Daring to Live God’s Promises’, an opportunity exists as part of the collaborative Wollaston Education Centre to re-establish Anglican Children & Youth Ministries in the Diocese. This is a permanent position for which both clergy and lay people may apply. The core purpose of the Anglican Diocese of Perth is to be a people called to worship God in Christ and by the power of the Spirit to share radical love with the world, building communities of hope, healing and transformation. We are both faithful and entrepreneurial, both catholic and evangelical, and we engage with each other’s theological and spiritual diversity with affection, respect and a delight in learning from one another. Enquiries can be directed to: Jennifer Simpson on +61 (0)8 9325 7455 / jobs@perth.anglican.org For information about this position and selection criteria, please go to: www.perth.anglican.org/web/Ministry_Opportunities/ Page 15

Anglican Taonga

ADVENT 2010

THE BIG QUAKE

Lloyd Ashton arrived in Christchurch the day after the quake – and he could have kidded himself he was a war correspondent. For the next couple of days, he was photographing churches that looked like they’d been hit in bombing raids. Then, in the afternoon before he left the city, he visited two chaplains at Christchurch Hospital. And that was where he saw resurrection at work.

encounters in Christchurch

ike thousands of Cantabrians, Pam Tizzard was jolted awake at 4:35am on Saturday, September 4. Things were toppling in the dark around her. Glass was breaking. Her home was bucking. Pam’s a chaplain at Christchurch Hospital. She rang her sister-in-arms, Hilary Barlow, who’s a chaplain at the next-door Christchurch Women’s Hospital. Neither Pam nor Hilary were down to work that day, but they’re first responders in an emergency, and so they made plans to head into the hospitals at first light. They both threw on jeans – to show they’re easy to talk to – and wore clerical collars and their chaplains' ‘flak jackets’. As they drove through the dawn streets, they braced themselves for the worst. They didn’t find the worst, of course, because that was the miracle of Christchurch. The quake, which hit Canterbury with the same force as the one that killed 230,000 Haitians, killed no one.

The IV poles were swinging wildly in the quake and the staff clutched the cribs with their fragile cargo to prevent them overturning

Page Page 16 16

When Pam and Hilary checked into Christchurch Hospital’s A&E unit they found an elderly woman with a gashed head – she’d been struck by a falling TV – but there weren’t many more casualties than you’d find after a normal Friday night. The toll taken has showed in other ways. For example: Christchurch Hospital normally deals with two to three heart attacks a day. But in the days following the quake, that rate had risen to eight to 10 a day. Never knowing when the next quake will hit, nor how bad it will be, has led to “men’s hearts failing them for fear,” as the KJV puts it. And while the hospitals could postpone elective surgery, the babies queuing to be born around September 4 didn’t take notice of admin priorities like that. In the 24 hours after the first quake, there were 21 births at Christchurch Women’s. That’s a record. Pam and Hilary systematically went through wards at both

hospitals that first morning – first the A&E department (where any casualties would surface), then intensive care and the cardiothoracic unit (where patients awaiting or recovering from heart surgery go). Then they walked, floor by floor, through the Women’s Hospital. They’ve long since learned to read faces, to see the signs of stress, to know when they need to pause, to talk, to encourage or to offer to pray. They were never fazed. ›› CONTINUED PAGE 16

Anglican Taonga

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THE BIG QUAKE

Best of BRITISH

ilary Barlow, the Chaplain at Christchurch Women’s Hospital, thinks Christchurch hospital people have responded to the quakes the way the Brits stood defiant during The Blitz. Hilary ought to know. She’s lived through both. She’s a Geordie. She was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1938, when that city was a shipbuilding centre – and therefore a target in 1940 and ’41 for the Nazi bombers. “Listening to my family, I sensed that spirit of ‘I won’t die – even if they kill me!’ “And I’ve sensed that same determination here: ‘We are going to take care of our patients – because that is our vocation, that is what we do. And we will do it together.’” There is, however, one big difference. During The Blitz, says Hilary, folk “had someone to blame.” “Hitler was roundly cursed. So people could get angry and plan to ‘get even’. And their anger released some of their awful feelings of powerlessness.” But in Christchurch, she says, there’s no one to blame. Not even God. So much damage – and

yet not one person killed. “So instead of anger,” says Hilary, “there is anxiety, and deep tiredness. “All these aftershocks – there was another one this morning. I thought: ‘Oh really. Just go away, will you?’ “But the reality is, we’ll have them until all this energy is released. “We did have a reasonably big one the other day – a 5.1 or something. “I was up in the neo-natal unit at the time. I’d been visiting families and I was passing through a doorway that leads to the lifts when the shaking began. “I just said: ‘Jesus, save our babies.’ The last thing you were doing – that’s what’s in your mind at those moments. “When it stopped, I realised that if I’d reached the lifts before it struck, I’d have got stuck, because they stopped. “I was in the safest place I could’ve been – a doorway. So I think to myself: How much protection do you want, Hilary?” How does she read the ongoing Canterbury crises? “Well, Jesus did say ‘… and I am with you, always.’ “But there’s more to it than that.

ABOVE: Hilary Barlow and Pam Tizzard: sisters in arms at Christchurch Hospital. INSET: Pam stops to chat

Because in the Psalms, there’s the promise of God’s protection. “Not that He will make things go away, but that He will be with us in it. “And it is like the Valley of the Shadow at times down here, darling. “But we’re not going to fear, because God’s presence is with us. “I think everybody is wise enough to realise that there still could be deaths, more awful things could still happen. “So that’s the reality. But it’s actually not been about blame. It’s been about loving each other. Taking care of one another.” In fact, the paradox of the quakes, says Hilary, is that they’ve brought out the best in hospital people. “They really have had an extraordinary effect. People haven’t been closed up by them. We’ve become more open to one another. We’ve been ready to be vulnerable to each other, and to embrace the needs of the patients. “In the midst of all the awfulness, we’ve had touches of Heaven. “I really don’t want that to go away.”

Lloyd Ashton

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THE BIG QUAKE

›› CONTINUED According to Pam and Hilary, the staff have consistently showed calm, reassuring professionalism, too. On that first Saturday, for instance, they came in when their own homes had been broken; and they stayed on after their night shift, not knowing what devastation awaited them at home. But when the chance came to let their guard down... well, Hilary, who counts herself “as the chief hugger” at the Women’s Hospital, says she was well out-hugged following that first shake. When I dropped into the hospital five days after the quake, Hilary and Pam took me to the neo-natal unit at the Women’s Hospital. That’s where newborns, who are clinging to life by a thread, are nursed and nurtured. At any time, there’s more at stake in this place, says Hilary, than just about anywhere

else in the hospitals. “If you were to look in the eyes of an anxious grandmother as she sees her new grandchild in an incubator,” she says, “you’d see that the nurses and doctors hold the hopes, dreams and fears of the parents and their families. And to see the staff responding with such gentleness and kindness… that’s magic.” When that 4:35am quake struck, the IV poles were swinging wildly and the staff clutched the cribs with their fragile cargo to prevent them overturning. When I visited that unit, I found the voices hushed and the lights dim, the strongest coming from monitors on the hi-tech gear. I noticed, too, that Pam and Hilary weren’t intruders. They fitted. They were welcome. They’re part of the team, and there was an intensity of care, a gentleness, focus and

The gift of time

n the end, it comes down to time. The time that you, as a priest, have available to connect to people – and to connect to God on their behalf. That’s the big difference between parish ministry and hospital chaplaincy – as Pam Tizzard and Hilary Barlow see it anyhow. And they should know. Between them, those two Christchurch hospital chaplains have notched up 40 years of ordained ministry, which included long stints as parish vicars. “In my last parish”, says Pam, “I saw people through from birth to their midteens… and when I left I was taking the weddings of people who, when I arrived there, were barely in their teens.” Whereas the stats show that the average stay in Christchurch’s hospitals is four days. Those brief moments still work for Pam. Her primary gifting, she believes, is a pastoral one, and she relishes the chance to ‘be there’ for people at a time when they’re particularly vulnerable. “Anyone who comes into hospital – even for a routine procedure – is in some sort of crisis, because no one ever wants to be in hospital. “I think too, of Paul’s remark about the need to be ‘all things to all people’. While we are Christian chaplains, we are here for all people.” For Hilary, the difference between ministering in a parish and hospital Page 18

chaplaincy is the difference between nurturing a community of faith, and ministering to individuals. Often, she says, those individuals are quite isolated. “In a hospital most people don’t know each other. And so you’re reaching out to people who are separated from a community of faith. “Or who have no faith at all. You’re responding to their spiritual needs from out of whatever is happening in their life. “Then they go out the door, and you may never see them again. And that’s all right, too, because God is God, and we’re just people.” Hospital chaplaincy, says Hilary, is a vicarious ministry. “You see people who are about to have surgery, and they’re frightened. You say: ‘Would you like me to pray with you? Or would you just like to talk?' “Often they’ll say: ‘Well yes, actually. I’d like you to do both.’ And so you engage with God on their behalf. At their request.” Hilary says chaplaincy is a sending ministry, too. “It’s very much like the diaconate. Jesus says ‘Go’ – and you just go out into the hospital community. “We’re thrill seekers at heart, I think. We never know what’s coming around the corner, nor the response we’ll get. “And that,” says Hilary, “is just glorious.”

reverence for life that felt… well, special. A couple of weeks later, during a phone call, I described my reaction to that visit to Hilary – and she wasn’t surprised. “Oh darling,” she said (everybody is darling to Hilary). “I was so aware of the Spirit of God around us that day. It was powerfully strong, but it was warm and tender.” Sometimes, she reckons, she can almost feel the beat of angels’ wings in the hospital. In the children’s wards, especially. When Pam, Hilary and I left the neo-natal unit that afternoon we didn’t chat much. We didn’t want to break that spell. We made our way down to Hilary’s office, where Pam and Hilary showed me the flak jackets they’d worn on Sept 4. We moved into the passageway to take a few photos, and to say our goodbyes. And as I was snapping away, a young woman came down the passageway. She paused when she saw Pam and then, smiling and brushing tears aside, embraced her. Turns out that this young woman had brought her daughter in for a routine operation. Routine, yes – but this little girl had been through many health crises, and while she was in hospital, she’d died. And here was her mum, still in profound sorrow, stopping to thank Pam for the care that she’d given her. When they’d been fighting to save the little girl’s life, her mum had asked to see a chaplain. She was desperate to talk. Not only was she consumed with grief for her child, but she was blaming herself for her daughter’s predicament. Pam had talked and prayed with that young mum – and helped lift the burden of guilt from her. She walked her through what had happened, and helped that young mum see that she couldn’t have changed anything. Not a thing. “When she saw me again that afternoon,” says Pam, “I think she felt that I’d helped her through an enormously stressful period.” That chance encounter was a special moment. But being a chaplain, says Pam, is full of special moments. “When crises come, and I go to the hospital in the middle of the night, people say to me: ‘Thank you so much for coming.’ “I always tell them: ‘It’s a privilege to be allowed into your life.’ ” When Pam and Hilary were driving to the hospital on the morning of Sept 4, they were bracing for the worst. What they’ve found instead, and what they are part of themselves, is the best. Lloyd Ashton is Media Officer for this church.

Anglican Taonga

ADVENT 2010

THE BIG QUAKE

The Canterbury earthquake of September 4 brought out the best and the worst – as Jolyon White discovered while on a mission of mercy

Sticking up

for justice

n Saturday afternoon – the day of the big quake – I jumped into a van with six friends and drove out to Pine Beach and Karakai, two neighbourhoods worst hit by the jolt. We were trying to verify rumours of a landlord pulling a red sticker off her rental doors to get tenants back in and paying rent. The group of students (who recently campaigned to convince a supermarket to donate surplus stock to a foodbank) went door to door and found leads to several concerning incidences – including the red sticker case. After we tracked down both the tenant (whom we’ll call Doug) and landlord (Celia), the story turned out to be a little less black and white than it first seemed. But it was still worth some attention. Celia had ripped down the first red sticker (character reference to remember for later in the story) but that had already been sorted out by neighbours. What was not resolved was whether she would return three weeks’ overpaid rent, and the bond. Doug had continued to pay rent because he was in a lease and was unaware he needed to give only two days’ notice if a property was unliveable. Celia didn’t want to return it, claiming that because his stuff had stayed in the property he was still the occupier; “with his stuff in there I couldn’t get in to clean,” she said.

Well, yes… red sticker meant get out until a written engineer’s report. Orange meant go back in for stuff. She was, however, very reasonable and well spoken. Unfortunately for Doug that still carries undue weight in disputes. She also was the owner of multiple rentals, and, as it turns out, well versed in not giving anyone anything back. We worked through the process with Doug. Negotiated with the landlord, talked, and documented everything needed to lodge a favourable application with the tribunal. I get that it’s difficult for Celia, as with other landlords. The time and money it takes to look after multiple places after a disaster, or just attending to insulation and heating that will not return a capital gain, must be difficult. But, using fair trade as an analogy, the alternative is still called exploitation. If you can’t afford to do it justly then you can’t afford to do it at all. Why do I mention this? Because half of the group that helped with this – the same group who negotiated a deal between a supermarket and a foodbank in a way far more sophisticated than pinching food from the supermarket dumpsters or yelling – are the age of some churches’ young person ministries. Some of those churches are still trying to

work out how to run cool enough events, or have sexy enough music, to attract them in. Conducting, rather than having devotions about, social justice campaigns, I believe, is far more appealing than much of what we offer. Late teens to early 20s are an idealistic group who care a great deal about their world. It’s easy to underestimate them. There are plenty of resources available, from advocacy to community development toolkits. These should form the required reading, thinking and practice of any church ministry, every bit as much as worship music, activities, games and leadership development. That group of young adults is meeting this month to celebrate two victories, two changes in their city, and to ask ‘what next?’ Anyone curious? Jolyon White is social justice enabler for the Diocese of Christchurch. justice@anglicanlife.org.nz

Studying Theology at The University of Auckland The School of Theology’s programmes provide opportunities for you to explore religious beliefs and practices within one major world religion, namely Christianity, through the exploration of Biblical Studies, Christian Thought and History, Spirituality and Ethics and Justice. Please visit the School of Theology’s website for more information: www.arts.auckland.ac.nz/departments/theology Contact Susanne Gomes, phone: +64 9 373 7599 ext 86672, email: s.gomes@auckland.ac.nz www.auckland.ac.nz | 0800 61 62 63 | txt 5533

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ADVENT 2010

man FM manage

Joel Carpenter, Hu

Ramsey

House: in

spired b y an off

beat, re

tro Jesu s

theme.

Kelburn’s vicar has turned around the chaplaincy at Victoria University but it took lots of raving, dreaming and praying. Spanky Moore reports from the heart of Kelburn, the campus cafe

Campus cocktail

hen David Newton turned up to Victoria University to head up the campus chaplaincy, things were very different from what you see today. “The day I was interviewed for the appointment there was a guy outside preaching to a brick wall. The place smelt, the library was in disarray and unused, the walls were festooned with bossy posters about this cause and that, which no one read. It was pretty uninspiring, if not scary.” It was pretty clear to David that the place and its whole approach to chaplaincy needed a serious change of direction. But what? And how? He was and remains the Vicar of St Michael’s, Kelburn, which neighbours the university, but he also brought a unique cocktail of experiences and skills to the table. In a past life David worked in the New Zealand film industry as a scriptwriter, PR consultant, and ran his own cinema sound and production company. He and his wife Page 20

Kirsty also worked on the mission field in the remote Karimoja region of North East Uganda, as well as Egypt and Cyprus. That day of the big interview, despite the smell, he accepted the role as supervising chaplain and set about reimagining what chaplaincy at Vic could be and what God had in mind. “The vision evolved with input from lots of people along the way – lots of raving, dreaming and praying. In the broadest sense we say we’re on about ‘Mission, Formation and Community’. “In essence it’s saying the most missional and most pastoral thing you can do for a student is help ground them in a robust faith to take into the rest of their life.” On a more practical level the new team set out to change five key areas of how they did things on campus over the next five years: establish new patterns of ministry, rebuild the infrastructure, beef up the governance, widen and deepen the funding base, and make the transition to new leadership. Fast forward 10 years and the current

scene is very different and far less smelly. Ramsey House, the chaplaincy HQ at the heart of the Kelburn campus, has been completely renovated, inspired by an offbeat, retro Jesus theme with more than a pinch of kitsch. To some it may sound like decorating heresy but for students it has become a beacon of hospitality. “Early on we decided to move away from the ’70s drop-in’ model to something more ‘normal’. So we opened a café – something normal and mainstream in Wellington. On warm days it spills on to the street which lifts our profile and makes it easier for people to feel comfortable accessing the place.” Ramsey House is the hub for a long list of ministries to students. NewsWatch is a language and friendship programme for international students; X-Nous offers seminars on biblical perspectives of academic concerns; ‘DO SOMETHING!’ is a series that looks at hot social and political issues. Plus there’s a range of Bible study groups, waffle and prayer on Tuesdays, and an on-campus midweek Communion.

Anglican Taonga

ADVENT 2010

David Newto n: ‘Light a ca ndle and think of God’ won’t cut it.

h Blah

t Bla e even en-mik

Blah

They have a well-stocked and growing theological library, study area, lounge, meeting area, brand-new chapel, admin area, and upstairs is a new seven-berth student flat with live-in residents adding to the permanent charm of the place. They’ve even beefed up the IT throughout the building with wi-fi for students and an internet kiosk. And get this – the chaplaincy even has its own radio station. Human FM is a short-reach station that broadcasts from the building. It hosts an open-mike event called Blah Blah Blah which has proven hugely popular, some nights having standing room only. “You could argue we’ve spread ourselves thinly – growing too fast too quickly,” David says. “But our aim is to be a kind of icon into the Gospel on campus, and for that to work it has to be a total package.” All this forces the question though; why aren’t our universities and tertiary institutions more of a missional priority for the church? After all, they’re arguably the most formational years of one’s life, the breeding ground for future leaders, and one of the most common places where faithful young

Christians drift into oblivion. “There’s near enough to 20,000 students at Vic and over 2000 staff. It’s the secondlargest employer in Wellington, not counting Massey, ‘Otago in Wellington’ and a bunch of other tertiary institutions. “So we’re talking of a virtual city within a city. Parishes, including my own, need to seriously investigate what mission within these virtual cities means and begin to engage.” David also has some hunches about how the Anglican Church can better engage young adults – and it doesn’t necessarily mean tossing out the prayer book and wheeling in the rock stars. “I think we need to reclaim our heritage – especially our liturgical one. Rock-n-roll religion has its place but by and large it’s not our heritage so we should play to our strengths. “We’ve been running a fairly trad student-oriented evening service called Substance for some years now. It’s basically ‘by the book’ worship. The emphasis is on word and sacrament. “We’ve also got to start believing we

actually have good news so people can see something credible in us. ‘Light a candle and think of God’ won’t cut it. Neither will an inflexible and defensive or reactionary conservatism.” But after originally committing five years to the process of plotting a new course for the chaplaincy at Victoria University, David has now been there for 10 and is about to hand over the reins. “AngChap needs to go new places. It’s time to pass the ball – though it needs to be a clean pass. We’re expectant that the right person is out there... “I’m looking forward to focusing on parish work. The parish has grown tremendously in recent years but we’ve plateaued and need to go deeper as well as broader.” Check out AngChap online at www.victoria.ac.nz/ chaplains/angchap.html or nod your head along to Human FM at www.humanfm.co.nz. Spanky Moore is young adults’ leader in the Diocese of Christchurch. youngadults@anglicanlife.org.nz

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A year in bed

Life looks different after you’ve been knocked flat on your back. Glynn Cardy reflects on the upside and the downside of spending months in hospital

I remember being in wards where everyone was in acute pain. Some cried, some yelled, some swore, and some were silent. There was a strange camaraderie, a communion.

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ince April Fools’ Day I have spent most of my time lying in bed, reading novels and watching movies. I have consumed more fiction than I have in a decade. It’s a somewhat surreal existence. Mind you, operations, fatigue, rehabilitation and all that, can take the shine off it. But it does sound good. Some days I feel good, and some days I don’t. The good days are the ones where I can stay on my feet for a few hours, take a walk, write something sensible, go out for lunch, or even go to church. I don’t like to remember the bad days. I’ve become very knowledgeable about beds. I like the ones that can go up and down and bend. I’ve learnt how to organise multiple pillows for maximum comfort. I’ve learnt how to reach books, glasses, water and remotes with minimal movement. All skills that I wish never to use again. I’ve also been blessed. With my bed now in the lounge I see a lot of my family. I’m home when they’re home. For once I have time, even if I lack concentration. They get under the duvet and watch television with me. They’ve been very generous and

patient with me. My wife is a saint. I have also been the recipient of enormous quantities of kindness – from extended family, parishioners, colleagues, friends, Rotarians, and strangers. One couple, who prior to my illness I did not know well, have provided us with a Friday feast for months and months. I’ve been the recipient of lots of food, cards, and prayers. It feels very strange to receive all these gifts and not be able to repay them. Even if I cooked a weekly meal for someone else for the rest of my life I doubt I could equal what I’ve been given. I am in debt to the grace extended to me. I imagine I will live the rest of my life in the company of that grace. What I lack is control, or rather the control that I’ve been used to. The control of getting up and down, going out or staying in, working or not working, eating and ablutions. Little by little these things have begun to return. Controlling my own mind is perhaps the greatest discipline, and the scariest part of being sick. In place of control is dependency. I’ve had to learn to rely on others. Others to feed and nurse me, others to look after my family, others to do my work for me, others to

Anglican Taonga

argue publicly for the principles and politics I believe in. There’s a lot of letting go when one’s sick. I now go to a gym that specializes in catering for people with injuries and disabilities. There is lots of chatting, and a distinct lack of lycra. Such gyms are great places to get a reality check if you are tempted to think you’re hard done by. My five cents of suffering is nothing compared with many of my gym buddies. And, of course, they are the ones who can make it to rehab. The medically minded may be wondering what’s wrong with me. I’ll give you the short version: On April 1st I was rushed to hospital with a ruptured bowel, where I endured four operations and remained for six weeks. I was a bit of a mess. I’m now waiting for my body to heal sufficiently for two more operations after which I’m told I’ll be as good as new. Hospital is a strange place. There are lots of comings and goings, tubes and injections, opinions and orders, pills and pain to swallow. I don’t remember sleeping

much. I do remember being in wards where everyone was in acute pain. Some cried, some yelled, some swore, and some were silent. There was a strange camaraderie, a communion. No one was judgmental about others’ pain. Pain is very personal. Slowly I gained some authority over both my mind and body. The latter was decorated with lumps, bumps, holes, and scars. My hair had shed like a dog’s winter coat, likewise my fat stores. It’s taken a while to look at myself in a mirror. The mind is not on display like the body, thank goodness. No one can see my fears. No one can see when I wake up and wonder whether I’m still me. I didn’t have Holy Communion while I was in hospital. Although I know it is a comfort to many, it’s something I prefer to do with a community. That’s the thing about church: it’s a together thing. And the thing I missed most about when we’re together was the music. I did have a friend who came most nights to lead me in Night Prayer, one of the least anachronistic liturgies in A New Zealand

ADVENT 2010

Prayer Book. It meant a lot to me. He offered a presence that was not perturbed by my state. The poetic words were like a mountain stream massaging, giggling, and soothing as it made its way down. I received lots of lovely cards that beautified my hospital corner. I had a rock too, and some Mission Bay sand. Occasionally people came to visit, but I either didn’t know who they were or didn’t remember they’d been. It was in that period when the curtains were morphing into gargoyles and I was going on other crazy drug-induced trips. Life is a crazy thing. One moment everything is going full-steam ahead, decisions to make, crises to manage, words and hopefully wisdom to share. I was running hither and yon, being the best little vicar I could be. And the next moment it all stops. Like a ship in full sail hitting an uncharted reef. On April Fools’ Day. Glynn Cardy is Vicar of St Matthew-in-the City, Auckland. glynn@stmatthews.org.nz

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ADVENT 2010

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Monty and Mere:

sticklers for Page 24

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ADVENT 2010

With three daughters and 40 foster children, Monty and Mere Montgomery could write a book on self-giving love. Their loving isn’t confined to family either. As staunch Anglicans their soul purpose is to see Maori and Pacific Islanders get a fair go – and heaven help anyone who tries to stand in their way. Julanne Clarke-Morris reports

f you want a life where you don’t have to worry about anybody, don’t be Maori. Don’t be Tongan either. Life will be easier.” Dunedin Anglicans Monty and Mere Montgomery would have had an easier life if they hadn’t been Christians, too. But as it is, they’ve lived out their faith as advocates for justice for over 40 years. These days Monty is the administrator at St Paul’s Cathedral in Dunedin, while Mere holds a senior position at the Ministry of Social Development’s Child, Youth and Family service in Dunedin. Since the ‘70s the two have brought up three daughters of their own and 40 foster children. Along the way they’ve also supported and resourced Maori and Pacific Island communities through bilingual and anti-racism education, legal support and prisoners’ rights. For Mere and Monty it’s about bringing the Christian perspective into play by getting people a fair deal and standing up for human dignity. That is, recognising God’s image in whoever they work with. Mere Montgomery (née Meanata) Mere’s family background is Tongan, Maori and Fijian. Her Maori great-grandfather, Pita Meanata, left Kaitaia in 1887 and joined a whaling boat headed for Tonga, where he jumped ship. Only 16, he was raised in the grounds of the Tongan royal family’s palace. Two generations later, in 1940, Mere’s father Sosefo Vailima Meanata came back from Tonga to join the 28th Maori Battalion and to rediscover his roots. After three years’ active service, he returned to New Zealand injured and was granted his family land in Kaitaia. From age 3 to 5, Mere lived there with extended family, four siblings and her mother, Lesieli Soakai, who cared for the household so frugally it was almost subsistence. Mere’s father was working in

Auckland, and when the family joined him in 1958 Lesieli had saved enough to get a house in Ponsonby. Mere has early recollections of racism there – the “brown place,” as some called it. With a growing awareness of racism against Polynesians, Mere came to see advocacy as a key part of working for God’s justice in this country. Mere’s father was Roman Catholic, so she was schooled at Catholic schools, even though her mother was Anglican and her maternal grandfather had supported the foundation of the Anglican Church in Tonga. At school, Mere was already a keen Christian. From age 12 to 15, she lived as a juniorate of the Little Sisters of the Poor in Hastings, serving in a kind of religious apprenticeship. Living away from family in religious community, Mere was inspired by Bible stories, the lives of the saints, and theological reflection. She especially loved the old people in their care, and hearing their stories. But being a nun wasn’t quite the thing for Mere; she had just a little too much spirit. “I was good at sports and school work, and I enjoyed winning. The sisters thought I didn’t show enough humility. I used to get into trouble for singing Millie Small songs out the window during times of silence. They said I was unladylike and they called me a distraction.” So Mere went back to Auckland, even though she wasn’t entirely finished with the idea of religious life. In her late teens Mere encountered again the injustice of racism when Pacific Islander friends asked her to help them find accommodation using her good English. “I’d get to the end of a phone conversation with a landlord and everything would be agreed. Then the landlord would ask for the name. When I gave it, the house was suddenly not available any more.” she says.

a fair go

Spurred on by this, and looking for ways to bring about positive change, Mere became a founding member of the Polynesian Panthers, a chapter of the US social consciousness and advocacy group, the Black Panthers. The Polynesian Panthers helped Pacific Island and Maori people protect themselves from racist landlords and organised legal aid for Maori and Pacific Islanders during dawn raid immigration crackdowns. They also set up homework centres for Polynesian children, took isolated elderly out for recreation and transported visitors to Paremoremo Prison, which was almost impossible to reach without a car. When they visited Maori and Pacific islanders in prison, they made sure they knew what was going on. “We used a booklet by David Lange to educate people about their legal rights. It was actually the beginning of legal aid in this country, but at the time we were seen as disruptive and a threat.” Mere met Monty while they were students at Otago University, even though he too had grown up in an Auckland suburb. Robert (Monty) Montgomery In Monty’s family there are German, Welsh, Irish and Scottish roots. Monty has a strong Anglican identity from his father’s side. Family examples of community and national service fuelled his passion to work with others to redress injustice. Anzac day was important to the family. Stories of the personal cost to those who’d secured the peace, brought with them a commitment to preserve it.

Looking for ways to bring about positive change, Mere became a founding member of the Polynesian Panthers

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ADVENT 2010

Growing up on the North Shore, Monty might have been a candidate for racist attitudes, but he understood from his maternal grandfather not to take things at face value. Like many other veterans, the gandfather had returned from Gallipoli with a respect for the Turks and Maori yet sceptical of British leadership. Monty’s grandmother had lived in high society as a lady’s companion, so when she married Monty’s “hard-case Irish” grandfather it made for a dynamic mix in the following generations. “We grew up knowing how to behave, but being tempted not to behave,” he says. Although from diverse backgrounds, Monty and Mere shared much in common. Early in their relationship, Monty vividly remembers Mere warning him about a fundamental principle of the Polynesian Panthers: “If you’re working for justice, you have to keep yourself clean. If you don’t, you’ll be discredited on a sideshow and you’ll no longer be an advocate.” Last year Monty gave exactly that advice to prisoners on how to keep the focus on injustice, not irrelevant and avoidable misdemeanors. Taking his advice, one prisoner who’d been given a maximum penalty on an internal matter, later received a High Court decision quashing the conviction on grounds that no evidence had been produced at the initial hearing. For the Montgomerys, that experience brought to light some serious hazards in the current political climate of “sensible sentencing” and harsher penalties. “When authorities are under pressure from the community to clamp down on offenders, further injustice is not a solution.” they say. Though Mere and Monty both hail

from the north, they’ve certainly made a contribution in the south. Mere set up the Polynesian Panthers in Dunedin when she came down to study law. She was hard to miss about town with her Afro hairdo, and refused to take grief from anyone. Maori wasn’t offered as a subject at Otago in 1974, so Mere asked to be concurrently enrolled in a Maori language course from Massey, much to the irrirtation of the person at Otago’s admin desk. “She said I couldn’t do that, but that I shouldn’t complain. ‘You’re luckier than the pygmies in Africa,’ she said. ‘At least you can go to university; you should be satisfied with that.’ ” Mere’s response to that comment made sure the university rushed to let her enrol. Later, the Polynesian Panthers and the university’s Maori Club got Maori studies established at Otago. Monty has worked hard to strengthen Maori education in in New Zealand, helping to set up bilingual schools in the North Island and Kura Kaupapa in Dunedin. For many years, Mere and Monty also supported local kaumatua at Otakou on the Otago Peninsula. One crucial meeting on the marae led both Monty and Mere to take up the cause of the community in their treaty claim. At that meeting, the committee heard the devastating news that their school would be closed without consultation and that 90 acres of land (marked as an inalienable right) had been gazetted for sale on the quiet and sold at the buyer’s price. No wonder the Montgomerys committed themselves to helping out. “In those days, the old people were working day and night, just to preserve what they had. They needed additional support to work towards the settlement and promote

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greater social awareness of the issues, especially in government departments.”

ere and Monty learnt from the Black Panthers to keep their eyes open for individuals who abuse power to hurt people. Driven by a sense of gospel justice, both still look out for situations calling for prophetic action. One such opportunity arose for Monty in a school where he worked. “I knew there were three teachers on the staff who were into physical abuse of students. At a staff meeting I advised the staff they should no longer support a cover-up. “After seeing a teacher kicking a student on the ground, I said to the boy, ‘Get your father to phone me tonight and I’ll tell him what really happened’. “ The way Monty saw it, the staff were protecting the abusive teacher from students and parents. But having fostered children whose lives had been marred by abuse, he wasn’t about to stand by and watch it happen again. “I was charged with professional misconduct for going outside the system and speaking directly with the parent, but I wouldn’t back down. It was the last time that abuse took place.” In their struggles for justice, Mere and Monty have been sustained by the words of the Gospel. “Come unto me all who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest means a lot after a bruising week,” Monty testifies. He falls back on the core truths of Christianity. “The spiritual side of all this is to try to deal with everybody as if they were Jesus Christ. I have to think, ‘If that person in front of me were Christ, how would I treat them?’” Monty says. After their marriage, Mere joined Monty in the Anglican Church. Unsurprisingly, Sunday worship has been a staple of the marriage. “In the chaos and the turmoil of the week, it’s good to be still and just be at church as a family. It’s there to draw on in times of need.” Their daughter’s friend once challenged her about going to an Anglican church: “Aren’t the words always the same?” she asked. Aroha Montgomery replied: “You have to go for a lifetime to understand those words are different every week.” Julanne Clarke-Morris is Assistant Editor of Anglican Taonga.

Anglican Taonga

ADVENT 2010

Pick-me-ups

Essentials for loving

world-renowned marriage and relationship educator, Dr Harville Hendrix, and his wife Helen LaKelly Hunt – co-creators of Imago Relationship Therapy – will visit New Zealand in March next year. With a PhD in psychology and theology, Harville has written nine books including a New York Times bestseller, Getting the Love You Want – A Guide for Couples. His educational programmes and comprehensive therapy to support and enhance marriages are offered in 30 countries around the world. Harville begins his tour with an evening public lecture, “Couplehood as a Spiritual Path,” at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Auckland on 1st March. This is a contemporary presentation of marriage as a spiritual journey and covers many levels: mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Harville will follow this with another evening lecture, “The Four Essentials for a Loving Relationship,” in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. He also will present weekend workshops

for couples in Auckland and Wellington, and two-day workshops for counselling professionals. The Rev Canon Caroline Leys, who trained as an Imago Educator in 2007, has been offering the Imago pre-marriage education programme “Start Right, Stay Connected” at Holy Trinity Cathedral. Bishop Ross Bay took this initiative while he was Dean of Holy Trinity, and the programme continues now with the support of Dean Jo Kelly-Moore. “We ask all couples to participate in the Imago marriage preparation course,” she says. “This course has been universally well received and everyone speaks very highly of their experience.” Attending a public lecture or couples workshop would be valuable for those wishing to enhance their relationship, make more sense of relationship challenges, or who are looking for tools to work through difficult issues. For more information: www.imago.org.nz

n Easter-time procession along a litter-strewn street prompted an East Christchurch parish to take practical steps as well as worshipful ones. Members of St Chad’s, Linwood were walking to the nearby Presbyterian church for their Good Friday service when they noticed how dirty the streets were. So they decided to collect it on the return trip. “Once we’d had the service, [St George’s Iona] rustled up a few plastic bags and about half a dozen of us started picking up rubbish as we walked back,” says priest-in-charge Helen Roud. Since then, a small number of parishioners have continued to get together every month to do the lowkey clean-ups in the vicinity of the local shopping mall. They meet at St Chad’s on the same Saturday mornings as the newly established men’s group – and naturally the men are invited to stay and help out. Long-time parishioner Max Joines, one of the regular cleaner-uppers, says: “The Sunday morning after we clean up, it always feels different down there. People actually stop and say what a great job we’re doing.” Max estimates the group collects a “jolly good bootful” of rubbish each collection. “We’ve come back with wheel hubs and all sorts,” Helen adds. St Chad’s doesn’t have council wheelie bins, so participants have to divvy up the debris to take home. Max says they recycle what they can in their domestic recycling bins. Megan Blakie

Harville Hendrix New Zealand Tour March 2011 Public Lectures (Evenings) Tues 01 March Auckland Wed 02 March Auckland Thurs 03 March Wellington Sun 13 March Christchurch

Couplehood as a Spiritual Path (Holy Trinity Cathedral) The Four Essentials for a Loving Relationship The Four Essentials for a Loving Relationship The Four Essentials for a Loving Relationship

Getting The Love You Want—Couples Workshop Fri Evening/Sat/Sun Morning 11-13 March Wellington Getting MORE of the Love You Want—Couples Workshop Fri Evening/Sat 18/19 March Auckland Two Day Training Workshops in Imago Relationship Therapy for Counsellors, Psychologists and Psychotherapists in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch

www.imago.org.nz

Harville Hendrix is a world–renowned marriage and relationship educator and author of nine books including the best seller ‘Getting the Love You Want – A Guide for Couples’

admin@imago.org.nz 0800 462464 Page 27

Anglican Taonga

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M E D I TAT I O N

Kelvin Wright invests heavily in the lucrative international one-legged stool market

Balancing act

o meditate properly you need to learn to sit with your spine straight, your body as symmetrical as you can get it, and you must learn to sit still for as long as it takes. Now if you’re only dabbling, doing it two or three times a week for 10 minutes or so, pretty much any old chair will do. Start getting serious, though, and faults in your posture soon show in little aches and pains in your back and backside and all over the place. In the long term, sitting cross-legged in the posture called the lotus position is the best way to go but us Westerners, with our rolls of fat in all the wrong places and our joints stiffened by too many comfy couches and too many car rides, just can’t manage it. So for us, a small stool that allows us to kneel in the position Zen Buddhists call Seiza is often the best option. It only takes a few weeks for our stiffly padded frames to adapt, and the only difficulty is getting the stool. I bought one from Australia, but it was a bit expensive and too big to fit easily into a suitcase. So I’ve been making some to give away, and improving my design along the way. I’ve made two-legged and one-legged varieties, and if you can’t imagine how a one-legged stool works I have but one

word to say to you: Google. Lying in bed one morning at 3am, the time when I always have my clearest thoughts, a plan came to mind which was brilliant. It was for a one-legged stool that would be light, that would fold for travel and have an easily adjustable seat angle. It would be utterly cool and probably make my fortune on the lucrative international one-legged meditation stool market. So next day off I spent a happy few hours making it out of some old cedar weatherboards I had lying around. It looked exactly as I’d imagined: the height adjusted perfectly and there was that ingenious angle-shifting apparatus which was my pride and joy. I was delighted with it. Until, that is, the varnish dried and I took it into my study and sat on it. The angle-shifting thingummy simply would not hold my weight and no amount of tinkering and adapting could make it do so. So I glued it into one rigid position and found that the clever device was unnecessary anyway. Seat angle relative to my sitting parts could be adjusted simply by moving the stool backwards or forwards a bit. That’s the way with ideas. They’re not really good ideas unless they stack up once

Hospitality, Conversation & Theological Encounter Go to www.vaughanpark.org.nz For Accommodation, Daily Worship, Retreats, Ministry, Scholarship opportunity, Research Centre, Books and more.

Vaughan Park Anglican Retreat and Conference Centre Director John Fairbrother 1043 Beach Road, Long Bay, North Shore

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Email: reception@vaughanpark.org.nz Phone: 09 473 2600

they are transferred from the ephemeral world of our head into the world of bits and bobs we actually live amongst. It’s true of meditation stools but also of every other invented thing. It’s also true of some less material but still real things such as relationships and intentions. After all, how do you really know you love someone unless it is shown in some way demonstrable to both you and the beloved? How do you really know that the two of you would be just great together until you actually set up house and start squabbling about whose turn it is to empty the dishwasher? How do you know that you really could write that novel or learn the guitar unless you actually sit down with a pen or a six string? This is probably why God created the universe. Even for God, everything that is was still just a crazy idea until it found expression in... well, everything that is. Incarnation – that is, making the fancy ideas into actual flesh – is not just about the second person of the Trinity; it is one of the founding principles of creation, woven into every atom and every combination of atoms that there is or ever has been. It’s certainly why The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. It is one thing to affirm that we are loved by the centre of all that is. It is quite another to see in Jesus a life of self giving love which demonstrates. that we are and shows us what it means that we are. So next day off it’s back to my workbench with plane and sander and saw. I have an idea but, as I have learned, as long as it’s just an idea I have nothing. The Rt Rev Dr Kelvin Wright is Bishop of Dunedin. kpw@orcon.net.nz

Anglican Taonga

ADVENT 2010

FILM

Moon-struck John Bluck goes to the movies and is mesmirised by a slice of magic realism, Kiwi-style The Insatiable Moon

ot many movies deserve a whole column in Taonga, but this one does. Not only because it’s the best result of our New Zealand film industry this year, even though the Film Commission got cold feet and withdrew their money. The film was finally made for about $300,000 which is the price of a very small oily rag in this business where The Hobbit has $300 million to play with over the next two years of filming. The Insatiable Moon was shot in five weeks, though writer and theologian Mike Riddell and his wife and film director Rosemary (in her spare time she’s a district court judge) have been working away on this project for eight years. It’s clearly been a labour of love. Gospel love. Because this is a film inspired by the Jesus story like no other New Zealand film I can remember. And in our relentlessly secular Kiwi society, that makes The Insatiable Moon very difficult to finance, produce, market and review. Especially review. Tui Motu magazine understood it, but all the other normally sensible, reliable reviewers I’ve read are completely confused by this movie. They speak patronisingly about its size and budget and local production and dependence on volunteer labour. They worry about what genre to slot this film into, without success. Nobody knows what to call a movie driven by the Gospel in a way that many socalled “religious” films are not.

It’s not religious, said one well-known reviewer, but maybe it’s spiritual. Yeh right. This is a movie all about the Second Son of God meeting the Queen of Heaven. Not religious! The beauty of The Insatiable Moon is that it doesn’t preach, even though it’s full of preachers. Riddell himself was one. The Baptist pastor in Ponsonby, back in the 80’s where he learnt firsthand about the chaos that former psychiatric patients live in under “community care” in halfway houses, and the inspirational lives of those who try to support them. Mike wrote a book back in 1997 based on his experience. Now the film brings it to life on the streets better known for lattes than lunatics. Lunatics poetically, not psychiatrically. The magic effects of the moon are well embedded in this film, from the title to the romance between self-proclaimed Son of God called Arthur and social worker Margaret whom Arthur sees as the Queen of Heaven. Some reviewers baulked at the implausibility of all that, just as they would struggle with the idea of transfiguration or resurrection. Riddell uses the genre of magic realism, much more effectively than Vintner’s Luck managed to do. This is One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest meets Chocolat. The film is part fable, part fantasy, part gritty social documentary on media and real estate greed, all informed with a powerful but never preachy Gospel message about the cost and the redemptive power of

sacrificial love and forgiveness. No wonder it’s so hard to categorise this movie. Despite the fact that The Insatiable Moon has been flying under the radar from the start, audiences are slowly discovering it by word of mouth, and loving what they see. The performances of Rawiri Paratene as Arthur and Sarah Wisemen as Margaret, Greg Johnson as Bob, the grumpy bad-mouthing boarding house proprietor, and Ian Mune as an old drunk are simply extraordinary. If Sir Peter can tease anything like that quality from his Hobbit team at a thousand times the price, he’ll be doing well. And the role of the Anglican vicar trying to do what he can to support the halfway house in a community determined to protect the beautiful people is well portrayed. Reviewers describe him as helpless and hapless. I’d call him brave, even if he is overwhelmed by the issues, as you would be. The Riddells have given us a great story and a memorable film. Our churches are full of equally great stories. If we spent some of our surplus investments on making even three of them a year into movies like this one, the dividends for Gospel proclamation would be hugely valuable. Anglicans have the stories and the money and the talent to make it happen. What we lack is the nerve and the imagination that the Riddells have displayed. Bishop John Bluck lives in Pakari, north of Auckland. JohnBluck@xtra.co.nz

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Anglican Taonga

ADVENT 2010

PREACHING

St Matthew and the Angel by Savoldo, Giovanni Girolamo.

A revolutionary Peter Carrell tackles the challenge of Matthew, Gospel for Year A (2011)

Matthew came up with the Trinity centuries before the church declared its belief

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manual R

ocket science does not quite measure the wisdom Matthew brings to telling his version of the Gospel of Jesus. Kicking off with a genealogy, Matthew cleverly sets out to enlarge the vision for mission of his Jewish Christian audience. Gentile women unexpectedly appear in the male layered line of ascent from Abraham to Jesus. Soon Gentile worshippers appear from the east at infant Jesus’ side. Scattered through the Gospel are hints of mission trials to come when witnesses to Jesus will be dragged before Gentile authorities. Finally, in the last verses of the last chapter Jesus’ Great Commission sends the disciples to ‘make disciples of all nations.’ True, in chapter 10 Jesus sends the disciples on a mission ‘only to Israel’, and in chapter 16 he teases a Gentile woman that he has been sent only to the lost sheep

of Israel, but these express a temporary mission priority, not the general policy. Matthew’s Jewish audience is challenged to receive his version of the Gospel, then to give it away to the Gentile world. Reading Matthew’s Gospel, it is a good idea to keep a bookmark in chapter one. Back there we find the main man introduced with two names, Jesus and Emmanuel, both of which kick-start two significant theological themes in the Gospel. The latter is a little odd because it’s mentioned only this once. But the idea ‘Emmanuel’ captures, that God is with us, reappears twice in words many Christians know by heart: ‘where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them’ (18:20), and ‘I am with you always, to the end of the age’ (28:20). The name Jesus is simply explained ‘for he will save his people from their sins’ (1:21). But what does Matthew’s Jesus do

Anglican Taonga

to save people from their sins? He forgives people their sins, frees them from the power of sin over their lives – heals them and delivers demons from them. In the end Jesus gives his life as a ransom for many, dying on a cross so that sinners might live. There is more: Jesus teaches (and models) what a community of saved lives looks like, especially in chapters 5 to 7 – the Sermon on the Mount. A recurring piece of coded language captures this salvation work, the ‘kingdom of heaven’. A Jesus who saves people from their sins, who makes ‘God with us’ into ‘I am with you’, is a human out of the ordinary. Matthew sets out a case that Jesus is more than extraordinary. Implicitly, he is the king of the kingdom, in keeping with being ‘son of David’ (1:1, 17). Through this ‘son of Abraham’ (1:1, 17) the world will be blessed, as promised of old to Abraham senior. By this new Moses, the laws of the kingdom of heaven are taught in five distinct sections of teaching (5:1-7:29; 10:1-11:1; 13:1-58; 18:1-19:1; 23:1-26:1). Yet none of these forerunners was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Jesus, according to Matthew, is the Son of God. Unsurprisingly, since leaders lead, in Matthew’s narrative we find followers following Jesus. By the time Matthew’s version of the Gospel of Jesus is written, the followers are in their thousands, and the proportion of those who knew Jesus firsthand is growing smaller and smaller. Matthew writes to tell people about Jesus, but cleverly also tells followers about what Jesus wants them to do. His book is a gospel and a manual for discipleship. What are disciples taught here? The starting point is to know one’s need for God. ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit’ is the beginning of Jesus’ teaching. But we are not left to wallow in lament for our spiritual poverty. Jesus sets our sights on serving God as he blesses us. We are to bless those who curse us, hug those who mug us, take up our cross and follow him. Only by dying can we live, only by losing our lives for Jesus’ sake will we find our lives. Matthean disciples have a revolutionary manual in their hands. The Saviour really means to save us. The saved person is done with sin and fit for heaven. He will turn our lives upside-down and inside-

out in order to destroy what is rotten and rebuild what is everlasting. In telling us these things which Jesus taught and did, Matthew faced a dilemma. God was doing a new thing, but what was the relationship to the way God had previously acted in history through Israel? Was this a change, with implications that the past experience of Matthew’s Jewish readers was worthless, or a continuity in which that heritage was valuable but now reconfigured? Again and again Matthew opts for continuity. The beginnings of Jesus’ physical life as well as of his spiritual ministry are heavily underlined as ‘fulfilments’ of prophetic words of former days. Matthew is the integrator linking past and present. But his challenge does not end there. What about the Law of Moses? Was keeping this no longer at the heart of salvation? This kind of question provoked the endlessly brilliant Letter of St Paul to the Romans which still transforms forests into books. Matthew, smarter than a rocket scientist, draws out from Jesus the inexhaustibly profound statement that he had not come to ‘abolish the Law or the Prophets ... but to fulfil them’ (5:17). No space here to reconcile Matthew and Paul, but it can be done. What we should note is that Matthew gets that salvation is not a cheap grace in which God cares not whether we sin. Salvation is God at work in Jesus Christ making people holy. People saved from sin stop sinning and start serving God and others. What the Law was intended to achieve, a holy community of godly people, the Gospel will fulfil. Is that bookmark still in chapter one? We noted that the God of that chapter is the God who is with us. At the end of the book God is still with us, though, as we also noted, it is Jesus identified with God boldly claiming ‘I am with you.’ But the strangest thing happens in the ending to the Gospel. God is identified as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (28:19). Somehow, centuries before the church of God formally and decisively declared its belief in God as Trinity, Matthew

ADVENT 2010

has got there already. His anticipation is extraordinary. Preaching Matthew through this next year is an opportunity to present Jesus as Son and Saviour, integrate Old and New Testaments, motivate for God’s mission as inclusive and expansive, dare ourselves to deeper discipleship, and inspire holy lives fit for the kingdom of heaven. The Rev Dr Peter Carrell is Director of Theology House in the Diocese of Christchurch. director@theologyhouse.ac.nz

Mattheanisms Most of us have favourite words and phrases. Matthew is no exception. Here are some Mattheanisms – words or phrases or characteristics which are rare or not found in other gospels. Righteousness (3:15; 5:6; 5:10; 5:20; 6:1; 6:33; 21:32) Weeping and gnashing of teeth (8:12; 13:42; 13:50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30) Kingdom of heaven (numerous references, never used in Mark, Luke or John) Heavenly Father or Father in heaven (numerous references; rare in Mark or Luke) Brood of vipers (3:7; 12:34; 23:33; just once in Luke 3:7) The Law and the Prophets (5:17; 7:12; 22:40; just once in Luke 16:16) So was fulfilled what was (what the Lord had) said (spoken) (2:15; 2:23; 13:35; see also 2:17; 13:14; 26:54; 26:56: 27:9) Church (16:18; 18:17 x 2; the only gospel to use the word ‘church’) Doublets: Matthew often tells us about two of something compared to one elsewhere Two demoniacs (8:28; compare Mark 5:1-21; Luke 8:26-40) Two blind men (9:27-31 and 20:29-34; former without parallel, the latter paralleled in Mark 10:46-52 and Luke 18:35-43, in each of which is one blind man) Two animals on Palm Sunday (a donkey and a colt travel in 21:1-11; other gospels have just one animal).

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Anglican Taonga

ADVENT 2010

THE BIBLE

Tim Meadowcroft wrestles with the humanity of Scripture

ne of the most difficult questions facing Christians, although not one often enough asked by most church members or by those who lead them, concerns the nature of Scripture as the word of God. It’s difficult because it is a question that confronts the humanity of Scripture. Many Christians I know have some real experience of God speaking to them through the Bible, and as a result have some clearly held, if unexamined, perceptions as to the divine nature of the Bible. They have not thought very much about such questions as: the role of the church in the formation of the canon; the limitations imposed on Scripture by the humanity and the time and space boundedness of its authors; the inescapable fact that any reading and/or translation of the Bible, even one’s own, is also an interpretation with its own limitations. They (and I) long for certainty and objectivity in the matter of communing with the divine and hope for the Bible to be an externally generated and objectively verifiable message from the Creator. It’s difficult to discover that the ancient set of documents we call the Bible has a long history of compilation and collection, a

Through the Spirit, God is present in all the mundane realities of existence including in the human uncertainty around the handling of Scripture.

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Word and Spirit variegated track record of authorship, a diversity of perspectives, and a distressing tendency to call forth competing interpretations from the ranks of its readers. One response is to allow the humanity of Scripture simply to overwhelm any sense of God speaking and to give up the attempt to listen. Assuming that line of least resistance not to be the necessary or best option, how might one truly encounter the word of God in the midst of the human words of Scripture? An opening move is to ensure that the human-ness of Scripture is not overdrawn. The Bible is a wondrously cohesive, if diverse, story of God’s engagement with the cosmos and those who inhabit it, and its teaching is broadly self-consistent.1 A second is to confront the human process behind the production and reading of Scripture, which can be distressing in its subjectivity. This is a necessary move if we are to form in ourselves and in those we influence a robust faith and an accompanying confidence in Scripture which is able to confront a world that is sceptical of the notion that God speaks. But to do so is not easy. The struggle usually arises from one of two inadequacies in understanding the way the Christian relates to the Bible. The first is an ironic desire to eliminate the need for faith in living the life of faith. If the Bible is conceived as entirely a divine word miraculously free from the fingerprint of humanity, whose meaning may be reliably discerned through the exercise of good method, then the need for faith is eliminated. Helmut Thielicke characterizes this desire as a “need to establish Scripture which does not dare any longer to seek God’s Word in it with the help of the testimony of the Holy Spirit but in the passive attitude of a consumer [wanting] to find God’s Word in book form.”2

The second closely related deficiency, the more important of the two, is what I would term an inadequate appreciation of the role of the Holy Spirit in Scripture. It is easy enough to assert in general terms that the Holy Spirit is active at the point of the “inspiration” (whatever that might mean) of the biblical writers, but apparently much more difficult to conceive of the Holy Spirit as active and reliable at each operation through which the words of the Bible came to be and now are experienced as the word of God. Such an appreciation requires a comprehensive sense of the Spirit of God pervasively active in God’s word: when the Creator creates, when the writers wrote, when the editors edited, when the translators translate, when the early church fathers and mothers discerned canonicity, when the scholars study and assemble data, when the commentators write, when readers read, and when preachers and teachers preach and teach. At each point the Spirit is at work bringing the word of God to life. Through the Spirit God is present in all the mundane realities of existence including in the human uncertainty around the handling of Scripture. Just as the “word became flesh and lived for a while among us” (John 1:14), so God’s word takes on the garb of humanity in the collection of texts known as the Bible, but never ceases to bring the word of God into the situations in which the texts are read. This is nowhere better expressed than at 2 Peter 1:19-21. 1. That assumption may be defended in various ways. On a literary level, see Robert Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative (New York: BasicBooks, 1981), 131-54. 2. H. Thielicke, The Evangelical Faith: Volume Three, Theology of the Spirit (trans. and ed. G.W. Bromiley; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982), 192.

The Rev Dr Tim Meadowcroft is Senior Lecturer in Biblical Studies at Laidlaw College and Dean of LaidlawCarey Graduate School.

Anglican Taonga

ADVENT 2010

SPIRITUALITY

Craufurd Murray says Advent and Lent offer bridges to the way of God’s love

dvent is a season of preparation, but some of my own getting ready looked beyond December 25. Every year in the parish, as Christmas approached, I would remind myself to plan ahead and set things in place for Lent. This was not because the incarnation and atonement are inseparably interlinked. It was for a much more practical reason. Unless the date for Easter happened to be late, Lent appeared over the horizon very quickly after the summer holidays. This gave little time for any deliberate preparation, especially if Lenten material needed to be ordered. Last month the latest ‘Harry Potter’ film was released. This series of films has included sequences taken close to my mother’s home in the Scottish Highlands. One in particular features the spectacular Glenfinnan Viaduct, a massive curved construction on the West Highland Railway. Twenty-one arches span almost 400 metres, with the tallest standing some 31 metres above the ground. For years I wrongly assumed this was a magnificent example of 19th century engineering, built of stone. On reading the history of the railway, I discovered it dates from 1901, and was made from “that much maligned material,” concrete! At the time the contract was given, many were strongly critical, anticipating an ugly scar on the landscape. The result, however, was both perfectly functional and totally captivating. For all kinds of reasons we can be narrowly opinionated, causing us to prejudge outcomes when, in fact, they have the potential to be beautiful and enjoyable and

For everything

there is a season enriching. Advent and Lent are intervals in the church’s calendar that provide the opportunity for us to ‘add value’ to our spiritual journeying. Yet our attitudes can get in the way as we project on to these seasons unhelpful thoughts. Advent is often barely acknowledged. The familiar cry is that we are far too busy with end-of-year activities, plans for holidays and preparation for Christmas. Lent can be distorted by thoughts of our sinfulness and the need for self-denial, making it seem a test of endurance and a daunting prospect. Both these seasons offer a wonderful progression – like huge bridges with many arches across seemingly difficult terrain – leading us to grasp God’s love in a way we can understand, and enabling us to see the victory of the Cross over the invasive power of evil.

They are seasons with great potential to draw us closer to Christ and to strengthen the church. They fit well with Abbe Michonneau’s words about the essence of the missionary spirit. He wrote that, by our very nature, we have to be bearers of the Good News, and we “must speak in the name of a Person whom we have some experience of hearing and seeing”. Let us then seek concrete ways at these times to add to our spiritual environments. Readily accessible, low-cost resources for Advent and Lent, available online from ChristChurch Cathedral Shop: • A Handful of Light (A Companion for Advent, Christmas and New Year) edited by Lynda Patterson and Craufurd Murray. (All profits to CanTeen) Published 2008. • Through Grit to Glory (A daily companion for Lent, Holy Week and Easter) by Craufurd Murray. Published 2010.

Craufurd Murray is a Canon Emeritus of ChristChurch Cathedral, and President of St George’s Hospital Incorporated Society. craufurd@xtra.co.nz

A good childhood The Science and the Spirit of Good Parenting in the 21st Century DVDs available of the series – $30. Contact: Chris Church, Theology House, 30 Church Lane, Merivale, Christchurch 8014 Email: admin@theologyhouse.ac.nz

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Anglican Taonga

ADVENT 2010

BOOKS

Prompted by a newly reprinted travel diary, Rob Ritchie retraces the wanderings of two Maori prophets, Te Whiti and Tohu.

Jailing Parihaka

n 5 November 1881, the undefended village of Parihaka in Taranaki was invaded and later ransacked by government troops and militia. Its celebrated spiritual and political leaders Tohu Kakahi and Te Whiti o Rongomai were forcibly removed to New Plymouth and then to Wellington. Meanwhile, a date on which they would be tried was repeatedly postponed. Having removed the two chiefs from their peaceful stronghold, the Government found it had insufficient evidence to support the sedition charges it had brought against them. Six months after their arrests and still expecting to be tried, Te Whiti and Tohu were brought to Christchurch, where they were held for several weeks in the modern jail at Addington. With a newly completed Anglican cathedral, large museum and an industrial exhibition under way in Hagley Park, Christchurch was seen as an ideal place for the Government to drive home to its two prisoner celebrities the folly of resisting the advance of British civilization. Despite tours of the district by rail and tram Tohu remained indifferent; and though Te Whiti clearly enjoyed much of what he saw, his greatest affection was reserved for the Avon River. Parihaka, after all, was already one of the country’s most advanced municipalities, installing electric lighting before Wellington. Importantly, Parihaka’s leaders rejected the spiritual vacuum within which Pakeha technology operated. It was already

the largest and most prosperous of any Maori community in the country. With its industriousness and famed generosity to visitors, it stood out as a rebuke to the Government’s advance. Settlers on the North Island’s West Coast resented this peaceable Maori community in their midst, as did their seriously indebted Government which, finding no other means to acquire the chiefs’ land, was swayed towards invasion. Aggressive feelings towards Parihaka were magnified throughout the young colony by newspaper editors and politicians accusing its leaders of being warmongering hypocrites and madmen. Acute political and spiritual discord about land is evident in a travel-diary written by John P. Ward called Wanderings with the Maori Prophets. Employed as Te Whiti and Tohu’s interpreter and travelling jailer, Ward begins his account as they arrive in Christchurch. It covers an extensive tour of the South Island by rail and ship, finishing in Nelson from where Tohu and Te Whiti were shipped home in March 1883. The diary ends as the two chiefs greet Maunga Taranaki from the sea, and step ashore at Opunake to begin a glorious return to Parihaka. Now reprinted for use in Treaty of Waitangi education, Ward’s diary is a testimony to 19th Century Pakeha beliefs about their entitlement to individualize and exploit Maori land. As a unique account of 12 months spent with two creative and resolute peace-

With its industriousness and famed generosity to visitors, Parihaka stood out as a rebuke to the Government’s advance. Page 34

Looking over Parihaka towards Mount Taranaki, ca 1890.

activists it is certainly a precious record; but it is Ward as unintended apologist for the colonial economy which may be the diary’s most important and revealing aspect. Ward declares he has set out to write an honest record, yet reveals himself to be deeply biased. For example, he applauds visiting government officials bringing inducements of privately owned land and government incomes to his captives. These benefits will be granted, the chiefs are told, on condition they “…agree to give up assembling the people.” Though these offers are renewed at intervals on the journey, the chiefs are unmoved. Eventually Te Whiti tells Ward: “I want none of their love,” at which Ward’s commentary swings furiously between admiration for their resolve and horror at such foolish indifference. Ward often confesses to being fond of his captives, and while discussions with them range widely there’s much disagreement [declared only to the diary] about

Anglican Taonga

ADVENT 2010

BOOKS

Peter Carrell

Quick reviews Here are some books that have caught my eye and may help you while away the Christmas holiday break: The Ratzinger Reader (T & T Clark, 2010) is a one-volume introduction to the writings of Joseph Ratzinger, leading Roman Catholic theologian, known to us these days as Pope Benedict XVI. Editors Lieven Boeve and Gerard Mannion offer a general introduction to Benedict’s writings, as well as brief introductions to the excerpts they have chosen. A wide variety of topics are covered, and different fonts are used so it is very clear when one is reading Ratzinger and when one is not. Lift High the Cross: Anglo-Catholics and the Congress Movement (Canterbury Press, 2010) by John Gunstone takes up a crucial stage of the burgeoning influence of the Anglo-Catholic movement in the Church of England, the five congresses between 1920 and 1933 which have been judged ‘the high noon of Anglo-Catholicism.’ This book is particularly germane with the news in November, 2010 of a significant low point in English Anglo-Catholicism through the imminent departure of five bishops to the Anglican Ordinariate.

economics and also evolution. Yet when Ward enthuses about the profits which are to be wrung from the land, little comment is heard in reply from his captives. Where their practice is peace and generosity, Ward the Settler sees gains only for those quick enough to outpace their rivals. No matter how much honesty he aspires to, it seems beyond Ward to recognize the political and spiritual genius of the two men he is accompanying. Though they are now securely held far from their home, Te Whiti and Tohu represent such a threat that legislation is drafted with their names written into a new Bill designed to enable their indefinite detention. By a coincidence rich with irony, the West Coast Preservation Act is passed on a day when its two subjects are deep in the South Island’s remote West Coast, at Preservation Inlet. In both contemporary and historical terms, Wanderings with the Maori Prophets is an important book. Ward’s views

reflect propaganda arising from a land confiscation-and-sale agenda, visible in our land legislation to this day. But though his diary speaks for an overwhelming majority of settlers, it does not speak for all. On the morning of arrest and invasion, Parihaka’s famed welcome-space for peaceful visitors had been reduced to a small hut on the edge of the marae where, peering through its lattice walls, a few trusted Pakeha journalists crouched unseen. It was their report which broadcast to the world how this village, in the face of relentless propaganda and provocation, held fast to peace. Wanderings with the Maori Prophets costs $20 and can be ordered from Don Rowlands, rowlands.don@ paradise.net.nz Rob Ritchie is a researcher at the University of Canterbury. ritchie@disarmsecure.org

Bonhoeffer: A Guide for the Perplexed by Joel Lawrence and Augustine: A Guide for the Perplexed by James Wetzel (both Continuum, 2010) each offer 125 pages or so of readable introduction to two famous theologians. The reading level is Year 13/ first-year university. The value in the first is that Bonhoeffer's less popular writing is not always obtainable, and the value in the second is that Augustine wrote too much for most of us to have time to read it all. The Archer and the Arrow: Preaching the Very Words of God by Phillip D. Jensen and Paul Grimmond (Mathias Media, 2010) is both an argument for the importance of preaching and a practical book on preaching which is shaped by the sentence, ‘My aim is to preach the gospel by prayerfully expounding the Bible to the people God has given me to love.’ The Rev Dr Peter Carrell is Director of Theology House in Christchurch. All the listed books may be borrowed from the Theology House Library, http://www.theologyhouse. ac.nz/resources/ Page 35

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ADVENT 2010

BOOKS

When we were bolder Responsibly Christian in Church and Society Today. Challenges from a Christian Leader: An anthology of readings by Allen H. Johnston (Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. $14.99 plus $2.50 p&p from the General Synod Office, Box 87-188, Meadowbank, Auckland 1072). Glynn Cardy

“What we are now finding is that amongst many, poverty is viewed as a more or less wilful act of exclusion of the poor by the rich.” This was not said by a bannerwaving trade unionist, a Third World theologian or left-wing politician. Rather, a polite, gracious and dignified Anglican archbishop of New Zealand said it. Archbishop Allen Johnston. And he addressed it to future leaders of commerce. Responsibly Christian is a

collection of 52 brief passages from the Archbishop’s addresses and reports in the 1960s and 1970s. With each is a verse of scripture and a brief reflection on the context by his daughter and son-in-law, Jocelyn and George Armstrong. I have used it recently as part of my morning devotions. His writings are reminiscent of a time when the church and its leaders understood their vocation to be service to the whole of society, not just those who were or would become Anglican. They are reminiscent of a time when the church spoke out on social, fiscal and foreign policy, and those who didn’t like what they said berated them for it. They are reminiscent of a time when church leaders believed the future of their institution was assured, and used the power they knew they had for the good of all in society. I was trained and ordained

Never lose heart Anyone can Pray: A Guide to Christian Ways of Praying by Graeme Davidson (London: SPCK, 2008 - £9.99). Maggie Smith

“Anyone can pray.” In a sense the title says it all. Graeme Davidson writes like a scholar and a teacher, but also as a man with his own deep experience of prayer. And he shares his experiments with the reader in an attractive and humble way. Davidson writes of the cry of the heart, the one-liner, the growing conversation, the letters and the poetry along with the traditional prayers of the saints past. He validates prayer as a Page 36

way – vital for the Christian – to come to important decisions. He is sensitive in handling the issue of prayer for forgiveness and for healing, and suggests that sometimes our prayers for the healing of another may

in the transition years, the early 1980s. I can still remember when a table at Synod was reserved for journalists. At some point we forgot to give them anything they considered newsworthy. I can still remember when priests and bishops appeared on television to offer critical comment, rather than to just lead funeral processions. I can still remember when the heated debates we had within the church reflected the heated debates outside of it, and we were led by bishops who understood the importance of it. Archbishop Allen was a measured, thoughtful, via media cleric. He was fair and just, offering wise and sympathetic counsel to other leaders as he guided the Diocese of Dunedin for 16 years and the Diocese of Waikato for 12. He was Archbishop of New Zealand for eight of those years.

also prompt us to respond in practical ways. Enjoy God without words and let God’s love “challenge and inspire you” (p144) – a simple definition of contemplative prayer. He offers an easy-to-follow method for centring prayer and use of the “Jesus Prayer”. Brief biographies of a few Christian mystics entice the reader to explore the contemplative way to union with God. In a chapter on “Praying with others” Davidson also offers ideas to help children experience the intimacy of prayer. “Like any relationship, there will be ups and downs, times when we wonder whether

Responsibly Christian offers snippets on love, justice, human rights, evangelism, hope, the cross, a bicultural church, and much more. In doing so it reminds us of a former age, confidence, and courage to share with our whole nation what we know and listen to what we don’t. This present age is not so different. If only we had the faith and fortitude to take their eyes off the needs of the church and focus instead on the needs of the world. Glynn Cardy is Vicar of St Matthew-inthe-City, Auckland.

it’s worthwhile….don’t lose heart.” (p187) So begins his last chapter on “Obstacles to prayer.” Its title belies the positive tone of these last few pages of a book that is reassuring, readable and helpful. It seems to me that prayer, for Davidson, is a delight, a necessity, and as easy and vital as breathing. He trusts implicitly in the love of God for us and God’s longing that we should know that love. He is warmly affirming that anyone can pray! Maggie Smith is an Anglican priest and spiritual director, living in rural Canterbury. thesmiths@farmside.co.nz

Anglican Taonga

ADVENT 2010

BOOKS

Face to face with a mystery Jesus: A Portrait by Gerald O’Collins SJ (London: DLT, 2008 - £12.95). Kath Rushton

he subtitle sums up what O’Collins sees as the scope of this book – a portrait that remembers and experiences Jesus. He reminds us that so many approach Jesus as “a problem to be solved by honesty and scholarship rather than a mystery (or rather the mystery) with which to engage ourselves for a lifetime.” For O’Collins, many who write about or present Jesus dodge a face-to-face encounter with the Jesus who is witnessed to and disclosed by the four evangelists. O’Collins begins with a stunning first chapter, “The Beauty of Jesus,” which took me ages to move on from to read the rest of the book. He quotes Godfried Daneels, Archbishop of Malines-Brussels, who holds that the way into the culture of our time is through an appeal to beauty. This insight is applied to Jesus under headings from Augustine’s homily on Psalm 45 which declares that beauty characterises Jesus at every stage of his life: ‘Beautiful in Heaven, Beautiful in Earth,’ ‘Beautiful in the Womb, Beautiful in His Parents’ Arms,’ ‘Beautiful in His Miracles, Beautiful When Inviting to Life,’ ‘Beautiful under the Scourge’… The rest of the book is in essence a series

of mediations which expand the first chapter as Collins gleans the gospels for his portrait of Jesus. He mediates on Jesus who is God’s Kingdom in Person and who is healer, teller of stories, and on his suffering, death and resurrection. O’Collins refers to the works of artists, writers and saints and their response to Jesus. There are no descriptions of Jesus’ appearance in the gospels so O’Collins encourages the reader to reflect on his ‘face in action’ – the One who looked at people with love, grief, compassion and even anger. I detect an influence in his book, which O’Collin’s does not mention explicitly – that of the imaginative prayer of Ignatius. This is found in a moving section inspired by Michelangelo’s Pieta where gazing on the lifeless body of Jesus the reader is invited to look back on his life by focusing in turn on his eyes, his mouth, his ears and face, his hands, and his feet. I found particularly helpful O’Collins’ exploration of Jesus’ death in Mark where he prays the first verse of Psalm 22 in his native Aramaic. Usually this is regarded as a cry of abandonment. O’Collins sees this differently as he suggests that Jesus aligns himself with the further features of the whole Psalm 22. In his memorable chapter on the parables (Jesus the Storyteller), O’Collins has the knack of presenting what the parables tell us about Jesus. There he sees so much of what

Jesus taught was implicitly autobiographical and permits us to fill out a portrait of Jesus. We are invited to imagine the mind that could have envisaged and told the parables. Likewise, the chapter on the beatitudes (Jesus the Storyteller) serves as a selfdescription of Jesus. For O’Collins, “a personal portrait of Jesus … is also a vital mirror of ourselves” – the personal portrait of Jesus which emerges in this book mirrors the author’s lifetime faith-filled reflection on the One he invites his readers to discover and rediscover. Dr Kathleen Rushton RSM is a New Testament specialist involved in education and spiritual development. krushton@paradise.net.nz

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Anglican Taonga

ADVENT 2010

STUDY

Simon Stanley says Lenten courses are the way to personal and spiritual growth

Thinking of doing a Lent course? Why do a course at all? Because it’s good to discuss issues of faith, doubt, morality, conflict and so on with other people – especially if they take a different view from you. Discussion of important issues helps you grow, both as a person and in faith. Anyway, it’s always useful to keep up with new ways of thinking. One way to keep things fresh is to have members of other congregations and denominations in any group you may form. And if you’re doing it right, it’s FUN!

Why do it in Lent? Lent, traditionally a period of fasting and prayer in preparation for Easter, is the ideal opportunity to put aside time for regular meetings for joint study. You can get five or six sessions in between Ash Wednesday and

Easter. It’s easy to remember if it becomes a regular annual event. But, needless to say, you don’t have to wait until Lent. You can do a study course any time you like, as many times as you like in the year.

How do we go about running a course? Good preparation is essential. So you have to decide a few ‘whos and hows’. Who will organise it? Probably you, but try to recruit at least one ‘buddy’ who will share the load. Who will lead it? It doesn’t need to be the vicar. But whoever the leader is, they would always be well advised to consult as widely as possible, especially with the leadership. Who do you need to check with to make sure everyone’s on board? If it’s going to be

ECUMENICAL COURSES FOR ENQUIRING MINDS

NEW for LENT 2011

5-session discussion course for Christian groups worldwide with BOOKLET, CD + TRANSCRIPT featuring

Dr David Hope (Intro)

Archbishop Vincent Nichols

Dr Paula Gooder

Jim Wallis

plus INDERJIT BHOGAL (Closing Reflections) Our Course CD brings these leading Christian thinkers into your discussion group. The Course booklet includes a choice of wide-ranging questions to help group leaders involve all members in lively discussion. Jesus didn’t write a will. He didn’t seem to have a plan. At the end, almost all of his followers had abandoned him. Nevertheless, Jesus’ message of reconciliation with God lived on. With this good news his disciples changed the world. How did they do it? What else did Jesus leave behind? This course addresses these questions. 5 Sessions: (1) An empty tomb; (2) A group of people; (3) A story; (4) A power; (5) A meal Prices start from UK £3.10 (ca. NZ$ 6). Flat rate subsidised postage regardless of order value. Order at www.yorkcourses.co.uk. Fuller details online, including sample pages and soundclips. York Courses, St Chad’s Vicarage, 36 Campleshon Road, York YO23 1EY Tel: 00 44 1904 466516 Email: richinheritance@yorkcourses.co.uk

Page 38

ecumenical all the participating churches need to be in at the planning stage – or, at the very least, kept informed. Who do you want to come? Non-church members should never be turned away, but you may want to concentrate on a course designed for those actively involved in church life. But the wider the mix of group members in terms of age, gender and experience, the better the course is likely to be. How big should the group be? Between 5 and 12 is best. Fewer means a limited set of opinions; more makes the group unwieldy and not everyone gets the chance to speak. How will you let people know it’s on? Publicity is important: posters, leaflets, invitations, church notices and pew sheets, church noticeboards, lists at the back of church for people to sign up. And there is always the number one best way – approach people in the congregation and invite them!

Finally, where, when and how? Where will it take place? Anywhere! But wherever it is church, hall, home - make sure it’s comfy and accessible, including for parking. Hospitality is important – coffee for example, or even a party to start the series off. Whatever the format, try to stick to it – it makes people feel more secure, especially if they are new to this sort of thing. And keep it simple. When? Give plenty of notice of when the group(s) is going to start, and what the subject is. Find out what day of the week and time of day is likely to suit best. Retired people may prefer to attend a daytime group and avoid the dark evenings, for instance. How long should each session last? Less than an hour is probably too short to do justice to the subject and anything over 90 minutes means people start to fidget. All the information you need on what course to choose to suit your needs and how to run it from start to finish can be found on this website – www.yorkcourses.co.uk Why not give it a go this in Lent 2011 – there’s nothing to lose, but plenty to gain. Canon Simon Stanley is a principal of York Courses.

Anglican Taonga

SPRING 2010

F R O M T H E FA R S I D E

Imogen de la Bere crosses a Great Divide

Into the den of martyrdom

misadventures of getting the wrong buses, getting spectacularly ripped off, and getting lost. And every afternoon, after our 5pm Mass, the pilgrims gathered for gin, cigarettes and gossip on the roof garden of the convent. The nuns of Villa Rosa (I recommend it to any traveller) treated us with perfect hospitality. There was no impediment to our using the chapel for Mass. Irish Sister Christina, efficient and pleasant, called the vicar “Father” and appeared not to notice that we were technically Protestants. It was the same when we went on our special guided tour of the English College in Rome, where the vicar had been a student. The nun in charge, American this time, called him “Father” and showed off the serried ranks of English cardinals with great satisfaction, which she expected us to share. We felt accepted into the great church family. And so it was when we went to the Villa Palazzola across the lake from the Pope’s summer palace. Owned by the English College and run as a cross between a retreat house and a hotel, there’s Mass every day and the Salve Regina sung after dinner, but also a bar serving lethal cocktails, a swimming pool, and deep comfortable armchairs. Here we were also treated as honorary Catholics, a position,

his year, in a folie a deux, Jeremy and I decided to organise a parish pilgrimage to Rome. We did this because our parish priest, who combines historical precision with delightful wit, had recently lost his closest friend. And as he had spent the defining period of his student years in Rome, we thought planning the trip might be a salutary distraction. And so it proved. He had a wonderful time plotting bus routes and itineraries and weighing up the merits of one church against another. As there are a thousand churches in Rome, this exercise took some time. But we soon found quite how much of a folie it had been. By the time we had managed to get them all on and off the airport bus, on and off the plane (clinking with duty-free gin), had steered them through the vast crazy complex of Rome’s Termini Station, fought off the touts and pickpockets to buy them all Metro tickets, shoved them and their cases through the barriers and on to the train, then dragooned them all, panting and sweating, up the Aventine Hill to the convent I had selected, we did not feel we had missed our vocation. But we were wonderfully bonded by the shared adventures of exploring the byways of a great city, and by the shared

Pearl of great price... But there’s no need to sell everything you own to buy it. Sign up as a Friend of Taonga and we’ll mail four issues of Anglican Taonga (Treasure) direct to your home – for just $19.95. We’ll even throw in a copy for a friend. Taonga covers the big issues of Anglicanism, fairly and honestly. And our writers include some of the sharpest, best-informed minds in the church. NAME

being Anglo-Catholic, we were quite comfortable to adopt. However, all is not as it seems. During our guided tour of the English College, lavishly restored in the 19th century, we were sent, unaccompanied, to the upper gallery of the chapel, called the Tribune. This area, Father explained, had been offlimits to him as a student, in case it upset his Anglican sensibilities. For all round the walls were grisly scenes of martyrdom – most notably the many priests sent out by the English College to convert and subvert the Protestant nation. Scene after scene of butchery and privation, as these martyrs went to their death at the hands of the cruel English Protestants. Blood and body parts were scattered profusely as the good students of the English College were hung by their feet, hacked up and disembowelled. The names and deeds of these men were prominently displayed, both in the College and its villa. And their memory was alive and honoured as if only decades had passed, rather than centuries. In the Tribune, we no longer felt like members of the family. Imogen de La Bere is a Kiwi writer living in London. delberi@googlemail.com

Taonga ANGLICAN

Angels of E-Town Planting hope on Taranaki’s wild side Hui on sexuality Fleshing out the texts that divide Tour of duty What was Katharine Schori’s real agenda? Holy pursuits Forming priests who dare to be… It’s criminal! Our jails feed ﬁres of vengeance Steam driven Clergy with a passion for railways WINSTON SAYS THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT IN PASEFIKA

SPRING

2010

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