In Cambridge I was part of the Cambridge Tree Trust, a group that planted and cared for trees around Cambridge. I still remember the day when I helped to weed in an area that was once a rubbish dump and now was a park planted with quite a few trees. We were pulling out all…

Last year one day when I sat in my office preparing the sermon I heard a knock on my door. I opened and there was a couple who handed me a photo. It was the photo of a model of St Paul’s. Their friend Dave Brown had made it. He had asked them to give…

I have been asked why this past Holy Week we had Communion on Good Friday and not Maundy Thursday. I don’t think either one is right or wrong, but I thought I should lay out my reasoning here. Communion, as it is celebrated today in many churches, is highly stylised and ritualised. That has its…

After the discussions at the AGM about working together with Te Papanui Trust on redeveloping the hall complex, I thought it might be good to set out a timeline of where we’ve come from so far. Diligent readers of vestry minutes might have gleaned the information, but it is better to see it all in…

Ever since my father’s accident last year, he relies more on his children helping him keep their land and animals. So when I visited my parents last year, I was swiftly pressed into service to cut up a tree that an arborist had felled. I was given a chain saw and the required safety equipment…

Every year I try to give something up for Lent or pick something up. One year, for example, I decided to regularly practice a musical instrument. Another year I gave up alcohol (except for Communion). This year I gave up chocolate for the duration of Lent. I didn’t totally succeed: at one time somebody offered…

Last week I was on my retreat, the first I’ve been on since my ordination. Clergy are encouraged to go on one retreat a year, so I took opportunity of going away during a week when I did not have any rest home service or other urgent commitments. The time proved to be right: I…