E News 24th March 2023
Last Friday I arrived at St. Albans in Palmerston North for our Central Presbytery gathering. I put my bag down and went straight to the servery to grab a cup of coffee. There were two people standing there. On the left was a Pacific woman, I stared long at her because she reminded me of someone and I said to her “hi, what’s your name?” and she said Taara, I said can you spell it for me because I actually didn’t quite hear it clearly and she spelt it out “T A A R A”. The penny dropped and I paused and said to her pointing to myself “FEI!” and we stared at each other and you could literally see our brains searching through our memory banks. “OMG she said and screamed and came running out of the kitchen to give me the biggest hug ever. I taught Taara (from Kiribati) and her husband Martin Vickerman in Birmingham UK in 1996 and 1997 at the Selly Oak School of Mission and World Christianity. At that time they were on furlough and were preparing to go and teach at Tuasivi High School in Samoa. They were not from N.Z. Martin was English and got a scholarship to do a Masters degree at Massey University in Palmerston North 23 years ago. They came and they never left, they fell in love with N.Z. They have had two adult children since Birmingham days. What a small world indeed. We have agreed to make some time to meet up properly maybe meet halfway and have a catch up meal together very soon. It was such an amazing surprise for both of us, never would have thought we would meet up somewhere like Palmerston North of all places after all these years. Martin came in later in the afternoon to say hi.
So far I have six volunteers to do a station of the cross reflection on Good Friday. I have added a short prayer to be written and said after each reflection also. There are fourteen stations in total so am hoping to have a few more volunteers. Be great if you could help out. Even if you are unable to attend you still might like to write a reflection and a prayer and I or someone else could read it out on your behalf. Please let Christine in the office know by next Friday 31st March at the latest thanks.
For your diaries for those of you who are interested and I know there may be a few of you. There is a Trauma and Theology Conference with Dr. Karen O’Donnell from Cambridge, U.K. on the 22-23 June 2023 being hosted and held at St. John’s Theological College/Trinity Methodist College Meadowbank Auckland supported by University of Otago Centre for Theology and Public Issues. It starts at 10 – 4.00pm over two days. There is a fuller advertisement in the notice section of this newsletter.
This Sunday we are taken to the home of Mary and Martha at Bethany on the death of their brother Lazarus. Jesus was a dear friend of the family and he was given notice that Lazarus was ill. Jesus didn’t drop everything and rush over to their home to heal him, or just to be by their side at this critical time. Jesus waited until he had died and was buried. You can imagine the grief of the sisters that he seemed to not care about their grief and tragedy. How quick are we to respond to similar sorts of times in our own families when things happen to our loved ones and we are somewhere else. I remember when I was living in Wellington with my brother back in 1991 and my mum collapsed and was rushed to hospital. Ben and I were on the first flight to Auckland. We dropped everything and went immediately. Jesus obviously had a reason for his delay according to some commentaries he wanted this to be an opportunity to show God’s glory and power over death. Bishop John Spong says that Lazarus is not a person but a sign and a symbol. How do we get our head around the signs and wonders of Jesus miracle stories in the bible? There was a time when as children we were told that these happened and we just accepted them, but in the light of progressive theologians and thinkers we are challenged to debunk some of these stories in the light of more plausible explanations. Anyhow, I leave that thought with you to ponder over this weekend. Fei
You can read the full E-news here: http://mailchi.mp/5fe50abf11f7/this-weeks-newsletter-from-st-andrews-on-the-terrace-9330003
