I'm doing the prayer for ourselves and others tomorrow. I was going to use the prayer supplied in the series that we use, but the minister sent an email suggesting that something on forgiveness was needed. I was working on adding that when she rang and said she'd had to scrap her planned sermon and start again from scratch. So I said the prayer supplied would be totally irrelevant and set out to rewrite the whole prayer.
Love and forgiveness. I think I've got it right.
I wonder how many clergy have spent Saturday rewriting their sermon.
{{Huia}}
{{Huia}}
We are currently visiting Adelaide and last night went to a concert in St Peter's Cathedral. [St Peter's Tears by Orlando Lassi and Allegre's Miserere]. Before the concert started the Dean of the Cathedral [Frank Nelson] who is a New Zealander, welcomed the audience, and then asked for a minute's silence for the Christchurch victims. Place was absolutely completely still.
Yes I wonder who has rewritten their sermon. Gospel in three-year lectionary is the Transfiguration!
Yup. Preaching at evensong in our cathedral tonight. A complete, well no, sort of partial complete, as i was already addressing evil, rewrite.* Blogged on my sermon blog if anyone wants to read it.
*A reminder why I don't normally write sermons until Saturday. Minor medical and some IT issues meant I wrote it on Thursday this week. That'll teach me.
"There will a fair amount of scribbling in margins and crossings out in New Zealand churches this Sunday ..." was actually my second thought on hearing about the terror attack Christchurch Mosque
Yup. Preaching at evensong in our cathedral tonight. A complete, well no, sort of partial complete, as i was already addressing evil, rewrite.* Blogged on my sermon blog if anyone wants to read it.
Please direct those not already there to your sermon blog.
I had your website on my old computer but I've lost it.
Virtual hugs from afar. The people of Christchurch were mentioned in our prayers at church this morning, as I'm sure you were in churches all over the planet, so be assured that the Almighty is being petitioned on your behalf.
And if you feel you need to take a break from church services, do it. The church will still be there when you're ready to go back.
This has been a really hideous week, following on what happened in Christchurch.
Out here in South Africa we have drastic rotational power cuts several times a day, supposedly because the lines from the Cahora Bassa hydroelectric power scheme are down after Cyclone Idai. (Though there are many other energy problems.) I have been receiving updates and images from friends and family in eastern Zimbabwe on the devastation caused by flooding and landslides. Help is arriving, but slowly, and the death toll is rising. In Mozambique, the port of Beira is without power, communications and water. Reports from humanitarian workers claim that 90% of the city has been destroyed. The city is cut off -- a single road connects it to the national road network and that crosses a low plain now under water after a dam burst yesterday.
The last cyclone to hit this area was Cyclone Eline in 2000 and the damage from that is still evident in many rural areas. I don't know how long it will take to rebuild after this.
Our PM refuses to say the name of the perpetrator. The. latter has undertaken to represent himself in court — obviously he intends to preach his views but he won't be allowed to. Horrible to know that his wearing a body camera and streaming his massacre on the internet went viral so quickly.
An imam led with prayer (which was then translated) when parliament opened this week; Leaders from other faiths stood with him.
Meanwhile mosques are closed (for safety?) but churches up and down the country have offered their buildings for Muslim prayers.
TV3's breakfast programme had a Muslim member answer their questions on how to befriend Muslims ie when to shake hands and what to do and say otherwise.
There are huge outpourings of love, but reminders that there are still far-Right groups around.
Great to see you Marama...sorry to read the news. May his memory be eternal.
Indeed, GG. The outpouring of love is a joy to see. But we all, wherever we live, need to be aware that such people are still out there. Hopefully not planning similar actions.
I was sorry to read of your city library having to close for safety reasons, Huia.
Our whole library system was in lockdown for a few hours on Friday, as were shops and Council Offices in the CBD. I have the Youth Climate Change Strike to thank for my not venturing into town. I knew the buses would be full of excited young people and, while I fully support their demonstration and the reasons for it, I didn't fancy half an hour on a packed bus with them.
I've just been into the website to borrow some ebooks and found the staff have listed books about Moslem culture and about coping with grief at the top of the recommended list. My choices since Friday have been Madeleine L'Engle Young Adult fantasies, and a relaxation book.
GG I saw that that he was intending to represent himself. I know in a recent Civil case a woman was hounded by a man representing himself, and I vaguely remember a criminal case where a rapist hounded the woman he had raped. There has to be a way of preventing this kind of thing from happening.
There's been talk in the NZ media re the shooter representing himself in court, presumably to give himself a platform to air his views, but in the paraphrased words of one commentator, even if he talks for three hours there's no need to report any of it.
He is kept in isolation, no TV or other news — I find myself wondering if he should be shown how he's achieved the opposite of what he aimed for: the unimaginable uprising of the whole country in love and support for our Muslim members.
Apparently his overarching aim was to increase the tension between left and right in the US (in regards to gun ownership etc) so he might still be on track for that.
Not to mention Jacinda, PM's speech - and well-rehearsed Arabic. Not to mention the perfect opening quote - if one part of the body is hurt the whole body hurts
Yup. Preaching at evensong in our cathedral tonight. A complete, well no, sort of partial complete, as i was already addressing evil, rewrite.* Blogged on my sermon blog if anyone wants to read it.
Please direct those not already there to your sermon blog.
I had your website on my old computer but I've lost it.
Thanks.
Hope you're getting plenty of Southern Hospitality.
I watch the repeats of Praise Be on Sunday morning while I have my breakfast, having joined in putting the pressure on TVNZ not to scrap it because of the old dears who really count on it. I love the way that in shots from First Church Invercargill, Mayor Tim can be spotted at the back by the door. I suspect this is part of his abiding popularity, to take an interest in whatever any group of his city's inhabitants are involved in.
I must admit I have a soft spot for Invercargill's Mayor. He was a friend of a friend when all of us were leading far less respectable lives and offered support at a time when it was sorely needed. Over 40 years ago, but that kind of stuff stays with you.
If you have a chance to go to Rakiura or Ulva (sp) Island seize it. I went while my house was being fixed after the quakes and a tiny black robin followed us around - probably because of the insects we stirred up - in the same way that fantails do.
I hardly see any birds around the house these days, though I hear plenty of tui and sometimes fantails. But today as I parked, a family of goldfinches flew down on to the fence and off on to my neighbour's lawn. A colourful little group. I hop they come back.
We have lots of tiny wrens which flit all over our big front yard.
Also many native birds. Cockatoos of all sizes and colours, gang gangs, sulphur crested cockies, wattlebirds, rain birds, honey eaters not much bigger than the wrens and many more
I was walking in some, I'm not sure what it is called here, bush? forest?, around Levin with a colleague on Sunday afternoon. All of the sudden the most odd and intriguing bird call came from a tree above us. I cannot even describe it. It was very odd.
A tui. My colleague told me they are very good mimics. I'm not exactly sure what this one was mimicking, but all power to it. It was quite a sound.
Someone I'm following on 365 Project this year has a koala wildlife area with Australia wildflowers. She usually has a daily shot of koalas, named, and her March rainbow album is mainly flowers they have on their property, although a few colourful birds have been included. Those flowers are so different to anything I see here.
Usually either bush or rainforest Climacus, although K, my youngest brother tell me the virgin bush near him is technically a jungle as it has a wide range of plants. I thought jungles only grew in hot places.
Yes, tui are great mimics. K also told me that a census of bellbirds was complicated by tui mimicking them.
When I was a child it was rare to see them in the valley where I was brought up near Wellington, but since the possum eradication programme has become widespread I often see or hear them when I visit K who still lives there.
I had forgotten Kaka are also great mimics. Wellington Zoo and Zealandia Eco Sanctuary have a Kaka breeding programme and apparently some can be seen and heard in different suburbs of Wellington, where the dawn chorus is noisier than it has been.
Zealandia is a great place to visit. They have guided tours or self exploration. Last time I was there they were hosting Sirocco the Kakapo.
Someone I'm following on 365 Project this year has a koala wildlife area with Australia wildflowers. She usually has a daily shot of koalas, named, and her March rainbow album is mainly flowers they have on their property, although a few colourful birds have been included. Those flowers are so different to anything I see here.
Ourwildflowers are beautiful and Western Australian spring wildflowers are a spectacular carpet of colour,
This site is from tourist site but has photos and a bit of info.
GG, given the closeness of the bush I would have expected more- maybe a ruru* with its haunting cry.
* ruru - also know as morepork due to the sound it makes is a small owl, native to NZ and possibly endemic.
Yes, if I go outside at night I often hear ruru.
Living above Otari I've heard raucous calls overhead from kaka sometimes. There are streets where the kaka have ousted the tui, and I hear they do a lot of damage stripping bark from trees, but in the bush that covers the slopes above our house there are plenty of tui. Among other songs I occasionally hear what I called their call-sign, a little musical phrase which isn't as common as it was a few years ago and which has changed a little year by year. It's almost as if a younger generation can't be bothered with that classical stuff.
Oddly, at our Coromandel place I've noted a number of tui calls but only the bellbirds (korimako, the most musical name) have a local signature tune. If we go there between holiday times there's much more bird song than when the crowds arrive — I imagine them going off into the bush until it's quiet again. The original developers of the earlier part, where we are, planted lots of banksias, and although the emphasis nowadays is on using natives only, we're glad of the banksias because the tui and korimako love their nectar. (Yes, I know Zappa favours the riroriro's name, but I can't pronounce four Maori 'r' in a row)
Yes, Loth, I'd love to see Australia's wild flowers again. New Zealand's flowers are mostly shy little blossoms hiding on trees. I have a kohuhu (a pittosporum with no English name) that surprises me in early spring with a delicate spicy perfume in the morning moisture, and there are hundreds of tiny, very dark red, flowers. But the lacebark flowers in autumn, and mine is dressing itself up beautifully right now.
It is indeed amazing to see the flora, and fauna, other lands possess CK. I may be biased, but I think we have some beautiful flowers in Oz. Our bush may seem rather khaki and brown at times, but there are plenty of splashes of colour.
Thanks for the name for the wooded areas, Huia. I am in Wellington currently (3 days of lectures for one of my courses) and plan to visit Zealandia on Sunday.
I have a soft spot for Zealandia as it was one of the last places we visited as a family after Mum was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Also seeing Sirocco while he was visiting. He doesn't live there, but as he was hand-reared bonded with people, rather than other kakapo so is not part of the breeding programme, but is spokesbird for it, being flown around the country to raise money and awareness while the other birds breed.
Yes, I was down on Rakiura (Stewart Island). Saw some wonderful birdlife (saddleback, rifleman, and a host of others) both on Rakiura and Ulva, but the highlight was a predawn encounter with an inquisitive kiwi at Observation Rock above Oban. S/he decided I was too big or tasteless to eat, so shuffled off merrily.
Zealandia is a magic place - go to the hihi spot - it's a walk but I'm sure you'll manage it. Pass on my greetings to them and say I think of them often as it is my spot in Zealandia
Comments
Hope you have a restful and peaceful evening.
Love and forgiveness. I think I've got it right.
I wonder how many clergy have spent Saturday rewriting their sermon.
{{Huia}}
GG
We are currently visiting Adelaide and last night went to a concert in St Peter's Cathedral. [St Peter's Tears by Orlando Lassi and Allegre's Miserere]. Before the concert started the Dean of the Cathedral [Frank Nelson] who is a New Zealander, welcomed the audience, and then asked for a minute's silence for the Christchurch victims. Place was absolutely completely still.
Yes I wonder who has rewritten their sermon. Gospel in three-year lectionary is the Transfiguration!
*A reminder why I don't normally write sermons until Saturday. Minor medical and some IT issues meant I wrote it on Thursday this week. That'll teach me.
I do hope you manage, not sure how, sorry, to have a calm and peaceful afternoon. Please be kind and good to yourself.
Please direct those not already there to your sermon blog.
I had your website on my old computer but I've lost it.
I did that one year - and would recommend it to all.
Virtual hugs from afar. The people of Christchurch were mentioned in our prayers at church this morning, as I'm sure you were in churches all over the planet, so be assured that the Almighty is being petitioned on your behalf.
And if you feel you need to take a break from church services, do it. The church will still be there when you're ready to go back.
Out here in South Africa we have drastic rotational power cuts several times a day, supposedly because the lines from the Cahora Bassa hydroelectric power scheme are down after Cyclone Idai. (Though there are many other energy problems.) I have been receiving updates and images from friends and family in eastern Zimbabwe on the devastation caused by flooding and landslides. Help is arriving, but slowly, and the death toll is rising. In Mozambique, the port of Beira is without power, communications and water. Reports from humanitarian workers claim that 90% of the city has been destroyed. The city is cut off -- a single road connects it to the national road network and that crosses a low plain now under water after a dam burst yesterday.
The last cyclone to hit this area was Cyclone Eline in 2000 and the damage from that is still evident in many rural areas. I don't know how long it will take to rebuild after this.
Yesterday I learned that one of those murdered in Christchurch was the father of one of my ex-students. We are all connected.
An imam led with prayer (which was then translated) when parliament opened this week; Leaders from other faiths stood with him.
Meanwhile mosques are closed (for safety?) but churches up and down the country have offered their buildings for Muslim prayers.
TV3's breakfast programme had a Muslim member answer their questions on how to befriend Muslims ie when to shake hands and what to do and say otherwise.
There are huge outpourings of love, but reminders that there are still far-Right groups around.
Indeed, GG. The outpouring of love is a joy to see. But we all, wherever we live, need to be aware that such people are still out there. Hopefully not planning similar actions.
I was sorry to read of your city library having to close for safety reasons, Huia.
Sorry...I was out of it. It was Wellington. Back to sleep... 🙄
I've just been into the website to borrow some ebooks and found the staff have listed books about Moslem culture and about coping with grief at the top of the recommended list. My choices since Friday have been Madeleine L'Engle Young Adult fantasies, and a relaxation book.
GG I saw that that he was intending to represent himself. I know in a recent Civil case a woman was hounded by a man representing himself, and I vaguely remember a criminal case where a rapist hounded the woman he had raped. There has to be a way of preventing this kind of thing from happening.
Longer term I am hoping that this opens up discussions about both casual and structural racism in NZ and about hate speech.
Oh - can't do linky things on my phone but ...
https://broken-moments.blogspot.com/?m=1
... I think!
I'm preaching this evening at Aotearoa's southernmost town, so that has been posted now, too.
Hope you're getting plenty of Southern Hospitality.
I watch the repeats of Praise Be on Sunday morning while I have my breakfast, having joined in putting the pressure on TVNZ not to scrap it because of the old dears who really count on it. I love the way that in shots from First Church Invercargill, Mayor Tim can be spotted at the back by the door. I suspect this is part of his abiding popularity, to take an interest in whatever any group of his city's inhabitants are involved in.
Also many native birds. Cockatoos of all sizes and colours, gang gangs, sulphur crested cockies, wattlebirds, rain birds, honey eaters not much bigger than the wrens and many more
* ruru - also know as morepork due to the sound it makes is a small owl, native to NZ and possibly endemic.
A tui. My colleague told me they are very good mimics. I'm not exactly sure what this one was mimicking, but all power to it. It was quite a sound.
Never heard that about tui though
Yes, tui are great mimics. K also told me that a census of bellbirds was complicated by tui mimicking them.
When I was a child it was rare to see them in the valley where I was brought up near Wellington, but since the possum eradication programme has become widespread I often see or hear them when I visit K who still lives there.
I had forgotten Kaka are also great mimics. Wellington Zoo and Zealandia Eco Sanctuary have a Kaka breeding programme and apparently some can be seen and heard in different suburbs of Wellington, where the dawn chorus is noisier than it has been.
Zealandia is a great place to visit. They have guided tours or self exploration. Last time I was there they were hosting Sirocco the Kakapo.
Ourwildflowers are beautiful and Western Australian spring wildflowers are a spectacular carpet of colour,
This site is from tourist site but has photos and a bit of info.
https://www.westernaustralia.com/en/things_to_do/forest_and_flowers/pages/wawildflowers.aspx#/
Yes, if I go outside at night I often hear ruru.
Living above Otari I've heard raucous calls overhead from kaka sometimes. There are streets where the kaka have ousted the tui, and I hear they do a lot of damage stripping bark from trees, but in the bush that covers the slopes above our house there are plenty of tui. Among other songs I occasionally hear what I called their call-sign, a little musical phrase which isn't as common as it was a few years ago and which has changed a little year by year. It's almost as if a younger generation can't be bothered with that classical stuff.
Oddly, at our Coromandel place I've noted a number of tui calls but only the bellbirds (korimako, the most musical name) have a local signature tune. If we go there between holiday times there's much more bird song than when the crowds arrive — I imagine them going off into the bush until it's quiet again. The original developers of the earlier part, where we are, planted lots of banksias, and although the emphasis nowadays is on using natives only, we're glad of the banksias because the tui and korimako love their nectar. (Yes, I know Zappa favours the riroriro's name, but I can't pronounce four Maori 'r' in a row)
Yes, Loth, I'd love to see Australia's wild flowers again. New Zealand's flowers are mostly shy little blossoms hiding on trees. I have a kohuhu (a pittosporum with no English name) that surprises me in early spring with a delicate spicy perfume in the morning moisture, and there are hundreds of tiny, very dark red, flowers. But the lacebark flowers in autumn, and mine is dressing itself up beautifully right now.
Thanks for the name for the wooded areas, Huia. I am in Wellington currently (3 days of lectures for one of my courses) and plan to visit Zealandia on Sunday.
Sounds like a lovely spot you've got GG.
Also seeing Sirocco while he was visiting. He doesn't live there, but as he was hand-reared bonded with people, rather than other kakapo so is not part of the breeding programme, but is spokesbird for it, being flown around the country to raise money and awareness while the other birds breed.
A flightless parrot who flies Air New Zealand.
:-)
There's an ad here for Air New Zealand which has a goose flying in Premium Economy!