Today, with about a dozen other people, I watched a young mum with a babe in her arms, having a struggle with one of those “terrible twos”. The child was lying on the ground screaming her head off. People in most of the big shopping carpark and the adjacent café all turned to watch.

Her mother was very patient but helpless. An older woman stepped over and had a sympathetic chat but the child yelled on. With everyone watching but doing nothing, Mum eventually dragged the child off by one arm to even more determined shrieking and an embarrassing show of resistance and agonising pain.

After a few steps mum let the youngster down on the ground where a full-blown tantrum developed. I walked over and said to the now somewhat distressed mother, “Would you like me to pick her up?” and, without waiting for a reply, I did so. Of course, the noise subsided on the instant.

I carried her with her Mum and baby brother over to the supermarket. We fitted the two of them them into a two-seater shopping trolley. They disappeared inside and peace returned to the forecourt.

I left the scene quickly. The last time I kissed a child that wasn’t a close relation I was reported to the Methodist Harassment Police and I had to write an abject apology.

How many chiefs does it take?

Our small parish is now just one congregation with a membership of a couple of dozen. For twenty years we have been using Local Shared Ministry. There's no minister, indeed, no paid person at all. But our strategy seems to be a bit of a mystery to the powers that be. We don't fit the mould.

We have just been informed that we are now to have a "Parish Superintendent" Minister. He will visit us from three hours away, apparently a couple of times a year. Not such a big chore for him, and we know him and would love to have a visit. But we wonder who will pay for all that travelling.

And we want to protest that our little corner of the Vineyard is already supervised, in some degree or other, by the President and Council of Churches Together In Northland, which is our regional affiliation and is supposed to provide pastoral and administrative support. Through CTN, we are also responsible to the Uniting Churches of Aotearoa-New Zealand which draws together ecumenical parishes such as ours.

But, being under Methodist jurisdiction at the present, we are also responsible to the Methodist District Superintendent of Auckland, as well as a new Regional Superintendent for Northland (but who also lives outside Northland and will have to travel for a couple of hours to see us).

And most importantly in our view, we have a Ministry Enabler who meets with our Parish Council Team for training, supervision, support and, to provide the necessary links to the wider church. We think she is quite adequate to replace all these ecclesiastical dignitaries. 

Now I hear on the grapevine that we may shortly be moved to Presbyterian jurisdiction. Right now, that sounds like a good move.

Where to go on Sunday

      Bev and I had a busy time while down south last month and it wasn’t always possible to attend worship on Sundays. But when we did, we became very aware of the difficulty of finding a place to worship.
     Information was quite hard to find: times and places were sometimes incorrectly advertised on notice boards, websites and newspapers. All the apologies in the world don’t make up for wrong information.
     But more important for us was what kind of service did we want to attend? Time was when you looked for the nearest church of your denomination. But these days that doesn’t work for us any more. There are Methodist churches which are as “progressive” as we could hope for and others that offer a couple of hours of something more like we might find at the local pentecostals. And there are not many in between those extremes.
     You might say, “Never mind what it’s like, it just matters that you attend”. We don’t feel like that any more. Doing worship well matters. It is vitally important for both the participants and their communities.
     I would like to think that our little congregation's worship leaders will continue to have a sense of that importance. Meanwhile, we have a new noticeboard... and I should take a photo and add it to this....

DIY on the Geraldine River Walk

A few days ago I took the “river garden walk” at Geraldine.

A narrow strip of rough woodland runs between the buildings and the river at the back of the main street is. Locals have been cleaning up the scrub and carving a one kilometre path along the riverbank. Everywhere they are planting new shrubs on the tidied up grounds. It's looking stunning.

This achivement, apparently, is not the work of the District Council and certainly not the Government. It’s being done by local volunteers who are taking a little pride in their community.

Another example of that DIY spirit by which people pitch in and get something done for their own place, their own environment.

Rather like Local Shared Ministry, in a way...

Pioneers

 Last night we visited the memorial to Richard Pearse, New Zealand’s pioneer aviator. It’s a simple replica of the machine in which he made the first powered flight of the British Empire, if not the world. It’s sited almost exactly where that first flight ended in a hedge,

Only his own modesty and conflicting eyewitnesses accounts about the actual year denies him the certainty of beating the Wright Brothers into controlled flight by several months.

Considering that Pearse had no training or qualifications of any kind, his flight was an absolutely extraordinary achievement. He solved problems without the benefit of knowledge already available in other parts of the world. He wrestled with the equipment and supplies he had and improvised to create his own solutions produced an amazing result. And at the end of the day he put his own body on the line and flew the thing.

It’s that kind of spirit that impels people in some small congregations to tackle Local Shared Ministry. They choose to realise on their own assets in ministry instead of waiting for someone else in some other setting to provide ministry for them.

Will you take...?

   Our month in the South Island was planned around the wedding of Grandson Tim and Casey at her parents’ high country homestead.

   It was a great occasion for around 100 family and friends. The weather forecast hadn’t looked too good but it turned out fine. All the complex and little details put into this imaginative event went smoothly. And everyone pitched in and enjoyed themselves. For my part, it was a pleasure to have no responsibility for any part of it!

   So another couple was launched on their joint life’s path. Another set of families is linked together “by marriage”. And all of us had the opportunity of thinking again about our own relationships and expectations.
   Some say, Why bother with a wedding? Well, I’m glad these two have. Just the event itself was a positive experience for dozens of us. I wish them well.

So what happened?

       Yeah, well, that last post wasn’t a very good one to shut down on was it? Thank you to those who took the trouble to be in touch.... A most know, the Ca Pros is a long way from slowing me down – it’s only the side effects of the drugs that are the problem! And some travelling and quite a lot of new work...
       In the last few weeks the parish has been putting a new Team in place. It’s been a complex process, and there were a lot of learnings but at last we are under way. There are six of us, about half “called” and the rest formally elected by the Annual parish meeting. It’s an interesting mix of new and experienced people and we are already catching up on long-term matters that haven’t had top priority in recent years. The Paihia congregation is continuing in great heart and good numbers and there is much to be thankful for.
       It’s a different story at Russell, where the parish has at last had to recognise that the days of a viable congregation has come to an end. There are now no services, not even over summer, when there are usually some visitors. But we will celebrate the building’s centenary in April with a significant closing event.
       So that’s the life of the parish: ongoing life in one congregation and closure of another. And I suppose that’s a little like my own life in recent weeks. A couple of extended trips away with the caravan, interspersed with some frenetically busy weeks back home. And a rising PSA that resolutely marks out the days and months and years. Sitting in the sun in Timaru right now, I am making the most of them, one day at a time.

End of Life Choice

   My PSA has begun to creep up for the third time since prostate cancer was diagnosed over a decade ago. The medications are becoming less effective and I have been “doing the math”…So, though I can hope for some time yet, I have thinking again about the ultimate outcome.

   In pastoral ministry I saw many people and their loved ones going through terrible “end of life” experiences. These days there are really helpful opportunities to prepare for a “good end” (e.g. "Thinking Ahead") and more medical techniques in palliative care and sedation. I am conscientiously doing some of the former and when my time comes I hope to receive the best of the latter.
   Last week, for the first time in this country, someone who pleaded “Guilty” to assisting another to die, was actually discharged without conviction. In the context of Maryan Street’s “End of Life Choice” bill recently submitted for the Parliamentary ballot, this judgment has raised the stakes on the issue.
   Some of my Christian friends who would retain the “sanctity of life” doctrine at all costs presumably also subscribe to St Paul’s “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain”. The inconsistency puzzles me; how can you be so committed to life that you aren't in a hurry to pick up the bonus points?
   I don’t share their theology, nor their rejection of the possibility of choosing a dignified end. I’d like to think I’ll be ready when the grim reaper rolls up. But I hope also, that by then, our country will be a little more relaxed in permitting me and others around me to have some part in the timing and nature of that sacred moment.
   I'm not into gambling, but I will watch the Parliamentary ballot with interest!

The Parish Council Team takes off in LSM

     Some time ago, I noted that when the local church membership is very small, it is simply not practicable to have two or three separate bodies making decisions around the same mission and ministry. In June, I reported that we combined Team and Council.
    It’s taken some time to get all our ducks in a row. But this week we have the first reasonably complete meeting of the new joint Team and Council.
     We have called five people into particular roles in ministry and have coopted the Treasurer so we have a solid team of six who will be known as the Parish Council Team. They have all the powers of a Parish Council but function as an LSM team with the usual education and support from Ministry Enabler Rosalie who happens to be also our District Superintendent.
     It will save some duplication of thinking, planning and reporting. It will reduce demands on our membership for routine business. And it will eliminate the “them and us” sense that sometimes develops between two bodies.
     We’re still finding our way but we’re on the way…

Thanks to Tim Norwood for the logo suggesting an LSM model of Team and Teams in Mission.

Not so happy with politicians these days…

     Sure, the recent debate on same-sex marriage was conducted with dignity and produced some excellent speeches on both sides. And the result was beyond expectation with 2/3 of the house voting in favour of considering a change.
     But the reluctance to lower the alcohol purchase age in the face of the strong case made by the Law Commission is still something of a surprise. Advocates for change have put a brave face on their loss and will promote other ways to try to reduce our serious problems of binge drinking. But the government is still obviously reluctant to tackle the issues of pricing, advertising and packaging, some of which have proven benefits.
    The legislation is a long way from being finished, but the outlook suggests that a rare opportunity to make a difference is slipping away.