There are stories behind each of the names and inscriptions on the headstones in our graveyard. Someare known to us; others are not. I have long wondered about those early parishioners who knelt and prayed in that little wooden building that was the first St Paul’s. I have thought, too, of those who sat in…
Public and community-run cemeteries around the country are struggling to recruit staff and volunteers. One volunteer at a Christchurch cemetery is holding the fort alone, and he, like many others, are crying out for help. Plans are in the works by the national organisation to prop up a recruitment campaign for burial places managed by…
CHURCH BELLS We lived in Switzerland for 2½ years, where I studied for my doctorate at the University of Bern. We lived in Thun, a city by a lake. We decided to come back to New Zealand, where I would complete my studies at St John’s College in Auckland. New Zealand is a beautiful country, but so is Switzerland and it was…
You may have noticed that I use the pulpit when I preach. That is not so that I can shout at the congregation, but rather because of the symbolism of the pulpit and the heritage it represents. Some preachers prefer not to use the pulpit because they seem to talk down to people. And yet, the pulpit is actually a symbol that…