News from New Zealand - 2

Sunday 28 October - I love cathedrals and organ music as well as choirs or orchestras, as most of you know by now. This morning’s opening service was held at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Auckland, and led in Maori, English and Tongan by the three Archbishop of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. The Archbishop of Canterbury preached. It all touched me deep in my love for cathedrals with all their aesthetics and well prepared worship. It was not a grand service as we might do in most of our cathedral services, but a meaningful service and just about the right tempo.

Archbishop Rowan broke the word for us, and with a beautiful choice of words explained the passage from John's gospel (Jn 15: 17-27) profoundly to us. He spoke about God’s undeserved love for us, that calls us as church not only to work to share this love, but to be it in the world. We should see the world as not a dichotomy of ‘us and them’ but as existing in us and within the church and deserving of the unconditional, causeless, love of God . This is the overwhelming, unreasonable, reckless love of God which pours into us in spite of ourselves and often we would rather wish it was not the case . The ACC was called and challenged in truth and love to wrestle with what was before us. (You can read Archbishop Rowan’s sermon at http://www.anglicantaonga.org.nz/Features/love-without-cause, or watch the podcast at http://www.aco.org/acns/news.cfm/2012/10/28/ACNS5217.)

This afternoon, we will get to experience first-hand the work of the networks, see the displays of information they are providing for us, and learn of the varied nature of the Communion’s engagement with mission. Communion networks include Health, Indigenous People, Colleges and Universities, the Environment, Peace and Justice, Inter-Faith, Families, Women, Youth, and the HIV and AIDS network of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa. I am proud that in a humble way, our Province contributes to these and the global life of the Communion, with Delene in the Peace and Justice network and Rachel in the Environment network. These networks are important, and I am sure you will see the parallels with ACSA’s 8 Provincial mission priorities that seek to give our Anglican identity "flesh" in context. Just as we seek to resource our Dioceses and Parishes through these priorities, so we too can be resourced from the Communion-wide work of the networks. Later in the programme there will be resolutions that will come from these networks, which will encourage the Communion to share the love of God, that Archbishop Rowan spoke about, in Gods world in practical terms.

The communications team has asked me to work with the local radio station to field some questions in an interview about what the Anglican Consultative Council is, and about our meeting’s programme. If there is a link, I will send it tomorrow after the interview.

This morning, I spent some time chatting with a judge from Kenya. He is positive about belonging to a bigger church and also found the sermon this morning affirming and challenging. As a judge objectivity and reasonableness are the tools of his trade. He felt able to sit back and engage with what the Archbishop of Canterbury said, rather than feeling disempowered because he was not a cleric, or sufficiently theologically trained. He also marvelled at how South Africa was able to avert a catastrophe through a negotiated settlement, instead of descending into war against the apartheid regime. This is a miracle that I continue to find that most people around the world still appreciate, while increasing numbers of us in South Africa either take it lightly or forget its enormity. I added that this was a living example of the underserved and reckless love of God of which Archbishop Rowan talked, which we experienced in reality in South Africa’s liberation.

Let me end on a personal note. I put through a call to home and spoke with Lungi and the kids, and shared with them that my room is on the third floor, overlooking Auckland harbour, where there are ships and actively working boats. I feel a bit like I am in Table Bay, in Cape Town, on a day when you can't see the mountain! There is a lot of bird life around the hotel, although I have not been able to identify what type of birds. Their singing and the sounds they make fill the heart with life. The flowers and hedged fence feel more familiar than foreign, and so does the weather with its high veld-type of spring clouds. These sufficiently shield the sun and calm the day, though hold a not so distant possibility of rain.

News from New Zealand - 1

Saturday 27 October - I arrived in Auckland, New Zealand, after midnight today (Friday night/Saturday morning) after almost twenty four hours of travelling, including a lot of waiting in airports – almost a day and a half after setting off, if you include the time difference. This is my first visit across the Pacific as up till now my travelling has all been trans-Atlantic. We landed in Sydney and from the sky I could see that this is a beautiful city. My son knows it better than just a view from the sky, having spent a term here on a school exchange last year. From Sydney it was a flight of 2hr 40min to Auckland, and by the time I arrived, I had technically lost a day.

It is always exciting to be at meetings of the Anglican Communion. Yes, there are concerns about money and the cost of travelling, but nothing can replace the importance of literally putting flesh on what communion is, in all its beauty, with its dignity of difference and yet unity of purpose in mission. This was the feeling this morning, as retired Bishop John Peterson welcomed us and gave us a dry run of the welcome we were to receive from the mayor and the host province. Our team of three ACC reps from the Anglican Church in Southern Africa (myself, Revd Canon Janet Trisk, and Louisa Mojela) has been joined by Canon Delene Mark, CEO of Hope Africa, who participates in the Communion’s Peace and Justice Network, and Revd Canon Dr Rachel Mash, our Provincial Environment Coordinator, who serves in the Communion’s Environmental Network. Together, we form what is possibly the most representative team of them all in terms of ecclesial and social labels.

We have had the most wonderful welcome, as you can see if you follow the news on the Anglican Communion News Service, or Episcopal News Service websites, Facebook or Twitter. I hugely enjoyed being part of a panel, together with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori of the Episcopal Church, at a youth forum, where the young people asked us a whole range of questions about God, theology, ethics and Scripture. ‘What shoes would God wear and why?’ was, for me, a searching and beautiful question. One question directed to me specifically was what does an Archbishop do and am I happy with my pay?!

Following this, we gathered at the cathedral to be oriented about the program. It was a good start, with warm weather in this lovely, clean, bright, city. I love the architecture of the cathedral, which combines old and modern, using natural light, and chairs that can easily be moved to create an Indaba context for groups. Afterwards, I took a long walk into town and along the harbour, just to orient myself physically too.

In sum, Communion is about God's people sharing the love of God through the power of the Holy Spirit at work in them and in their context. It is less about structural issues, important though these are, and far more about ‘incarnation’: it is about an encounter with God and one another, at God’s chosen place.

Please keep us in your prayers, and follow our news via websites or twitter, and I will send more updates when I get the chance.