My Mum always said we shouldn’t wash our dirty linen in public. Secrets, lies, and doubts about anything, particularly the godstuff, were for the privacy of our own kitchen and closed down before they got too heretical. What mattered was…
Category: Religion
Joy to the world, the angels at Statistics New Zealand are singing a new song . Anglicans and Protestants are on the eve of destruction. We’ve got about 20 years left. By 2054, (my 100th birthday!) Christianity, except for Roman Catholicism, will probably not…
no matter how much we protest about rape (haven’t women been experiencing this forever, remember Dinah in Genesis and when we thought our marching might take back the night) no matter how many rape laws are drafted, enacted people imprisoned,…
Sometimes truth is so hard to stomach that even though it stares you in the face and shouts itself hoarse trying to be heard we remain oblivious to its presence. This may be because the emerging truth demands much of…
There’s more to art and spirituality than meets the eye, ear or intellect. More is what lingers, soothing the troubled soul, leaving a bad taste, irritating beyond belief or what we thought we knew. More is about our interaction with…
Just because your life’s fallen down doesn’t mean there’s nothing left I thought as I gazed at the skeleton of Knox Presbyterian Church in Christchurch. Instead of being desolate, this space had a stark kind of beauty. On the whole,…
The man in the window seat smiled and nodded in that nonchalant, introverted way we Kiwis cultivate as I sat down and buckled my seat belt. Minutes later he turned extrovert as he launched into the saga of his house…
Professor Sir Mason Durie is a seasoned presenter. One slide with three points and he had the standing room only crowd in his hand at Vaughan Park Anglican Retreat Centre. We were a willing audience having gathered to hear his…
Cathedral high holy days are like magnificent theatrical productions but you need to be able to see the action to appreciate them. Squashed in just beyond the choir and slightly short of the sanctuary, my view of the ordination of…
Nearly 50% of Wellington teenagers purposefully harm themselves before they turn 18. They cut burn and scratch themselves with nails, glass, sandpaper or other implements and sometimes break their own bones. This mutilation is frightening for teachers and parents. It…