sustain:if:able kiwi

Celebrating new life?

A child? Grandchild? Special little person?
then…our upcoming seminar
New Life: Rituals and prayers for new babies
Saturday 3 June, 2.00-3.30pm
may be for you!

Creating memories
Blessing baby rooms
Prayers for sleepless night
Planning a blessing/naming/adoption ceremony
Rituals for the unexpected

Consider yourself invited
(Creche available, please pre-book)
Opawa Baptist Church
cnr Hastings and Wilsons
Phone 379 7680

Information flier here. Part of Spirit of Life Pentecost festival.

this is me

And for those of you who wonder what I look like, this is me, this morning, through the eyes of one of our young people …. 🙂 view image

(Update: and for those who really are bored, and want a form of comparison; this is a photo from a year ago … 🙂

lost and found

True story: Returning home from work last week, getting off the bus, I realised I was without my discman, complete with favourite CD’s and computer backups. Location unknown.

In despondency, I chased the bus. Great idea in theory, but I soon realised it’s easier to stop a bus in the movies than in real life. In greater despondency I returned to the original bus stop and posted a sign. “Lost discman.”

Two days later the phone rang. A passer by had seen the discman and picked it up. Unsure what to do, they had then seen my “Lost discman” sign. My faith in human nature is renewed. What was lost is now found. I’m sure there’s some sermon material in this somewhere.

airborne

Today I am in Auckland at the Bible College of New Zealand academic staff retreat. I am talking about how I teach, including the use of blogs to enhance learning in my leadership class. Thursday I drive to Tauranga to give input into a Mission Health discussion for the Baptist denomination (repeat of this). I am meant to sound intelligent about missional church and multi-congregations. Back Friday.

is there no escape?

I have a little bach/cabin/holiday house that the Taylor family use to escape, revive, reflect and build family memories. It’s about 40 minutes drive from the city, isolated and peaceful and a life-saver.

We’ve owned it for just over a year. We go to hide and crash. We know none of our neighbours. But it seems they know us. At 6 pm last night there was a knock on the door. A stranger. “I am looking for the pastor. Can he come and pray for my sick wife.”

Part of me is wonders how on earth this isolated community has worked me out; part of me is honoured to be asked; part of me fears that I have just lost my precious hideaway.

church time and pastor time

So when do you prepare for Easter Sunday?

I have found it increasingly helpful for my personal spirituality to enter into the church year. The rhythms of Lent, Easter, Pentecost have nourished my soul and provided contours for my experience of God.

So in an ideal world, you walk with your church community through the events of Easter Week. You have to sit with the enormity of loss on Easter Friday if you want to catch the surprise of Easter Sunday. If you even let a peek of Easter Sunday light under your door, you are destroying the enormity of loss and pain that is the gospel of Friday.

The church community must walk through Friday to get to Sunday. So when then does the pastor and worship leader prepare? Do I trust for a fruitful Saturday and the rapid birth of all I need? Or do I start preparing for Sunday before Friday, and thus mess with personal walk through Easter?

easter friday does not need grotesque

Planning Easter Friday is a service I find really hard work. Here is some of the thoughts that rush through my head;
– too many words kill the feelings, yet Friday can raise a whole lot of questions that can require explanation.
– you need to let the story speak, yet the Biblical story is sparse on detail. If you push to hard to try and re-create the original, you can end up with Jesus-as-grotesque that is just your embellishment, your interpretation.
– most of the Good Friday lectionary readings buy heavily into only one atonement image – suffering Christ. Do you push this one atonement image, or offer others?
– the text needs to be handled aware of the dangers of anti-Semitism.

Here’s what I’ve come to for 2006, with some brief explanation in italics. If you’re planning to attend, then be warned, that if you click the link and read on, it might be a spoiler ….

(more…)

the Verti-CAN’T-go tour

A night for all depressed fans

Playing the U2 DVD Collection
on the large screen
with amplified sound

Saturday 25 March, 7:30 pm
Opawa Baptist Church
Cnr Hastings and Wilson

This is 40

I waited patiently for the band
In time they heard my cry.
I set my fingers to the net,
and made my bookings firm.

I will sing, sing a new song,
Not long to sing this song.

Vertigo to rock our land,
we’ll cheer our favourite band
Many Kiwis to see and hear
Thousands to sing and cheer

I will sing, sing a new song,
Not long to sing this song.

Now we light a flame for the Edge
And pray for all that’s dear

And we’ll sing, sing an old song.
How long to sing this song?

Link: U2 concert postponement

a day to be organised: UPDATE

Today is a day to be organised.

9-10 am; Pastoral leadeship and management lecture.

11-12:20 am: Working with a local community trust on leadership.

1:20 pm: Flying to Dunedin, where I spend the evening working with local churches in the area of mission (and doing 2 potential Letters from a dying church).

So today involves speaking among 3 different groups in 2 different cities. I learnt a word over last weekend “alignment”; the looking to make different parts of my life work together. Today feels a bit like “alignment;”
: what God is doing at Opawa; working into my speaking; working into a writing project
: the same content from my leadership lectures being spoken in two contexts.

UPDATE: I managed to meet all the deadlines and there seemed to be some good connection in various contexts. Peace to all the people I met!

half time steve

Thank you for all your prayers and messages of support. I am feeling better. I am planning to work half-days this week, gradually easing back in and seeing how the body responds.

I have found the lectionary readings of great comfort, particularly the phrase in Genesis 31:6 Jacob saying to God; You know that I have worked with all of my strength. God knows my heart, my boundaries, my personal disciplines, even when this involves me walking with a limp (Genesis 32).

I have been suffering from stomach pains, nausea and vomiting since Monday. Blood tests show I have a viral liver infection. The cause is a mystery, as there is no sign of hepatitis, no symptoms of glandular fever, and no track record of drug or alcohol abuse. The doctors advice is to rest and see what happens. So I am will be away from this blog under doctor’s orders!

spirituality resources

Here are some resources that I’m currently using and recommending.

Visions in York were a key spark in my creative journey. Back in 1995 I heard about, and then saw, pictures of their worship which featured 16 slide projectors making these most amazing visual wallpapers. And I suddenly realised what it could mean to worship God not only through my voice and my ears, but through my eyes. Here were ways to love God wholistically; body, mind and soul. Loops 2 is a collection of 50 of their digital video loops, supplied on CD-ROM in QuickTime (.mov) format, for Macs and PCs. (Antipodean’s can buy it from the future church nz website, rather than pay for shipping from the UK).

With Lent around the corner, I’m preparing to use Si Smith’s “40“. It’s a CD-Rom with a visual reflection on each of Christ’s 40 days in the wilderness. It can be used for contemplating an image a day for individual preparation; it could be used as one of a number of worship stations; it could be used as a visual meditation in a more established church setting. (There’s an e-interview with the creator here, and again, antipodean’s can buy it from the future church nz website.

And two books that have resourced my recent Lent journey’s;
Peter Graystone’s Detox your spiritual life in 40 days is a great travelling companion. Aimed at 20’s-30’s, it’s a helpful mix of readings and action steps for each day of Lent.

Last year I used Richard Burridge’s Faith Odyssey; 40 readings that use science fiction to engage the Lenten themes. I’m not a sci-fi groupie, so I found Faith Odyssey an accessible entry to the world of Trekkies and Wokkies. It helped my preaching, my reflection on pop culture and my Lenten spiritual journey.

my dad can walk again

My dad came home from hospital on Wednesday. His legs started moving again. No one is quite sure why. The most likely scenario is that this was a multiple sclerosis “flare up.” At other times he’s developed double vision or been unable to pick things up, and then within a few days the problem has cleared.

Thanks to all who prayed and sent messages of support. It’s nice to be a kid with a dad who can walk, even if the gait is wobbly.