E NEWS 15TH SEPTEMBER 2023
Tena koutou e hoa ma, ko te wiki tenei o te reo Maori. This is Maori language week. I attended my first face to face te reo class at Pipitea Marae on Saturday, it was good to see a wide range of people in attendance. There was a table of whaea/kuia and I thought they were tutors but no they were students learning te reo just like me. So, it is never too late to learn.
On Wednesday evening I opened the Victoria University of Wellington Pacific Recruitment Road show at the Law School on Bunny Street with devotions. I was asked to share my education journey and talked about how I left school with two school certificate subjects, just shorthand/typing and English. I hated being put in the Commercial stream at High school and I was not given a choice. I really wanted to be in the academic stream because I wanted to learn French and study Art, but they took that choice away from me. That’s how it was done back in the 70’s. Anyway, after I left school my first job was as the Secretary to the Technical Director of Thorn EMI and later to the Managing Director. I got to drive my boss’ brand new Ford Fairlane Ghia car every day. There were so many Samoan factory workers there a few of them relatives. I worked there for 6 years, and I could tell the Samoan folk were proud that they had a young Samoan woman working in the Head office. As I walked from one end of the large factory to the other each day, I was greeted by everyone, and it was a very friendly and comradery organisation.
Anyhow later, when I felt the call to enter the ministry, I wanted to sit the Licentiate of Theology LTh because I didn’t think I could manage a degree and academic studies as well as examinations and the LTh was just assignment work. The Dean of Pacific Studies told me I “had” to give the Bachelor of Theology a go as he believed I was more than capable. I had to matriculate because I did not have University Entrance. Long story short, that was the beginning of my passion for study and the Dean was right, I was more than capable. The rest is history.
I left the VUW roadshow early as I had an acute toothache throughout the entire day and it was getting worse even with pain relief. My Emergency dental appointment that afternoon could only give me pain relief. I was due to either get an extraction or begin a root canal on Friday morning. Driving home I stopped the car before the Wainuiomata Hills in agony thinking I should turn around and drive straight to A & E, but I googled and read that the hospital does not perform extractions or dentistry they just give you pain relief, which I already had. So, when I got home in my desperation I googled “pain relief for acute toothache” and one suggestion was to put an icepack against the check where the pain was for 15 minutes which I did. Miraculously it worked, the pain went away, I even had a good night’s sleep and all day today it was as if I had never had a toothache. I’m not going back to the dentist on Friday I think I’ll just let sleeping dogs lie for now and see how long I can survive before my tooth flares up again.
I’ve just arrived home from Palmerston North. Yesterday (Thursday) I attended for the first time the Uniting Parishes Oversight Group UPOG which is a Central Presbytery Committee created to provide oversight to parishes that are in Co-operating Ventures, Uniting Parishes, or Union Parishes. I’m Co-chair of UCANZ but I attend on behalf of UCANZ but also appointed by Central Presbytery. We met at St. Albans in Palmerston North. This morning I attended the funeral of Karen Harris dear wife of Ian Harris who was a member of UCANZ Standing Committee, went as a friend but also wearing my UCANZ hat. It was an incredibly sad funeral but beautiful, Jim Cunningham led a wonderful service celebrating her life. Please keep Ian and his family in your prayers.
This Sunday is Creation 3, Mountains is the theme for this week. We will be having a special singing performance from three Cook Island students from Porirua College’s Music Voice Class. Thanks to Lynne Dovey for organising this. They will be singing a repertoire of Cook Island songs of worship. For the theme I’m doing both the theme of “Mountains” in the liturgy and family time but preaching from the lectionary readings for this week on “Forgiveness.” Joseph forgiving his brothers and the Parable of the unforgiving servant.
I’m sure all of us can relate to a time in our lives when we were in a situation where we were challenged to forgive and instead chose to walk away altogether, leaving us with unresolved, unfinished business. Even today we might still be carrying that unresolved issue years after the event. I remember being asked by a relative “have you forgiven him for what he did to you?” I looked at her and I said, why does this matter to you? How does it help you to know whether I have or have not forgiven this person? Will my response help you sleep better at night? Why do Christians feel the need to seek forgiveness on behalf of another person? At the end of the day its actually no one’s business whether I forgive or not. As far as I’m concerned its between me and my maker and no one else especially not some self-righteous do good Christian who is worried that I need to be doing the “good and right Christian thing” according to them. The New Testament says in Matthew 18:21-22 Jesus says we are to forgive 70 x 7. Can you do this? Is this always realistic? How we respond to the concept of forgiveness is not just a Christian thing but it is also a human issue. Be good to chew the fat together on Sunday. Kia pai te mutunga wiki. Ka kite ano. Fei
You can read the full E-news here: https://mailchi.mp/20cc74255043/this-weeks-newsletter-from-st-andrews-on-the-terrace-9396439
