Val Riches describes her life as a Parish priest during Covid 19 lockdown. photo: Jan Kaluza, Unsplash First week of lockdown I was faced with a funeral on the Friday – what could I do, what was expected of me? This was followed closely by Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter. This Easter I identified more with the disciples choosing to stay inside with the doors locked for fear of death and the beautiful moment when Jesus comes into their midst offering Peace. I hoped that had been something of a reality for us in our bubbles. All the Easter events usually required a lot from me re planning and leading services of very different kinds. This year I was at home … [Read more...]
Are we in post Covid-days?
The World Council of Churches says' We are conscious that flattening the Covid-19 curve has realized its own share of challenges, which emphasize the fissures in the way society is ordered. There has been an increase in internet usage in this season of Covid-19 isolative measures. How has that affected you? Has this been a blessing or an inconvenience? How are you communicating with your congregants and ministry partners? How has your region fared in dealing with the various add-on implications of flattening the curve – domestic violence, unemployment, food scarcity, mental health and suicide challenges, crime and violence, inability to gather together in one physical place as a … [Read more...]
Baking Bread: a spiritual act
Revd Anne Priestley Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.” (Matthew 13:33) Bread became one of the themes of life in lockdown. Even before Level 4 arrived, loaves were disappearing fast from supermarket shelves - flour and yeast likewise. But I’d managed to lay in basic supplies, because for medical reasons our little family went into lockdown early. I planned to bake most of our bread - and can report success! Beautiful loaves, golden brown, hot from the oven, scenting the kitchen. They’d be eaten up within a couple of days, and then the … [Read more...]
Hold us close in your arms
photo: Anne Nygard, Unsplash A Covid-19 liturgy for young people. Lesley Mouat, Chaplain at St Matthew's, Masterton, prepared DIY chapel services for students at home during the lockdown, and sent them out through their school app. Be sure to watch the video! Put yourself into a space where you can be still and quiet for 5 to 10 minutes. If your parents will allow – light a candle (please remember to put it out carefully before you leave your chapel service) and settle into silence for a moment. A Pilgrim Song 131 God, I’m not trying to rule the roost, I don’t want to be king of the mountain.I haven’t meddled where I have no … [Read more...]
Covid – 19: time of self-assessment and God’s evaluation.
Akanesi Folau writes from Tonga of her family experience during the Covid-19 lockdown. On one afternoon, during the lock-down we were sitting down as a family for our family prayer and my eldest son was leading us into a bible verse, then we shared how it touches our lives and what message it gives us. Then there was an argument between us parents. My son intervened and spoke softly to make both sides happy in a Godly way, saying we are both right. Covid-19 taught us parents that having to listen and give space to our children for they are the messengers for whom God always speaks through to guide and direct us at our most extreme moments. John 14:1 “Don’t let your heart be … [Read more...]
Kindness is a Mode of Blessing
‘Perhaps we bless each other all the time, without even realizing it. When we show compassion or kindness to one another, we are setting blessing in train. There is a way in which an act of kindness done becomes an independent luminous thing, a kind of jewel box of light that might conceal itself for days or years until one day, when you are in desperate straits, you notice something at the floor at your feet. You reach for it and discover exactly the courage and vision for which you desperately hunger’. John O’Donoghue has written a whole book of blessings, called Benedictus. Published in 2007, this collection is remarkably suited to the spirit of our time, as we progress through … [Read more...]
Social Drama and Christchurch Cathedral
Patricia Allan analyses the years of debate about the future of the earthquake damaged Christchurch Cathedral in terms of Social Drama Rebuild or pull it down- why was the future of Christchurch Cathedral such a controversial issue? Was it a contest of power between ‘the old boys’ network’ of Christchurch and the Anglican Church? Was it because the Bishop was a Canadian woman? Were misogyny and xenophobia the underlying themes? Was it about the identity of Christchurch being closely tied to the Cathedral as ‘icon of the city’? Was this a contest of power- economic, political, cultural and ecclesiastical power? Patricia Allen believes it was a contest of … [Read more...]
Lock down Bread 2020
photo: Unsplash Revd Anne Priestley: Every loaf has turned out well with this recipe! 5 cups flour (3 wholemeal/rye, 2 white: or use all white) extra flour for kneading 2 teaspoons brown sugar or honey 2 teaspoons salt 1 tablespoon dry yeast 2 cups lukewarm water 2 tbs vegetable oil * Reactivate the yeast with sugar and one cup of the water. * Meanwhile, in a large bowl sift and mix the flours and salt. * When yeast is frothy, add to the bowl, along with the other cup of water and the oil. Stir well, then tip out the dough onto a floured surface and knead it till the dough has become resilient (springs back if … [Read more...]
Jerusalem – a poem
Tortured woodnestled in the cornerof two ancient lanes,Via Dolorosa,the way of pain and sorrow,no gawkersin this dawn light,only hushed voicesand echoing footstepsstepping lightlyin this hallowed place. Words and photos by Helen Wilderspin … [Read more...]
Patricia Allan – Pathways to a Ph.D
Patricia Allan Retirement in 2005 from leading a busy city parish was approaching, just as grandchildren kept appearing. ‘I could write a book for grandparents’, I thought ‘something about the ritu-als that give children a sense of identity and belonging’. So that was the plan. Three months after my church farewell, my husband was diagnosed with melanoma. He died a year later. The book idea persisted, even as I reinvented my life. On a U3A trip I met an older man just completing his BA Hons. degree and immediately thought ‘That’s what I want to do’. Next morning an 80yr old man on Radio NZ said ‘If you are thinking of going to university, don’t let age put you off. It’s got nothing to … [Read more...]
