On Labour Day we went to the archaeological exhibition at the Arts Centre, which is part of the Christchurch Heritage Festival. Back in 2013 I briefly worked for the archaeological company that examined the Arts Centre precinct, so I knew something about the project, even though I worked at other sites around Christchurch, never the arts centre. The archaeological finds displayed at…

For months my daughter was excited about the new school building she would go to once it was completed. The construction finally came to completion after the school holidays and the children moved into the new classrooms after Labour Weekend. But after all these months of anticipation, she was somewhat overwhelmed by the changes. First of all, we didn’t know where exactly…

There’s a saying that in an Anglican Church something becomes a tradition if it has been done four times—and then it is nearly impossible to change. All churches have traditions, even those who maintain that they have free-flowing worship. Indeed, the structure in some “contemporary” churches is even more rigid, and the words even more repetitive, than those in many “traditional” churches.…

In my sermon last Sunday I mentioned the 2nd century letter to Diognetus. Only one copy of this letter survived among writings from Justin Martyr. The text was then more widely published in 1592. Unfortunately, the manuscript was destroyed during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, so that experts can only refer to the published texts. The letter is a defence of the…

In recent weeks we have been looking at the Prophets in our Wednesday Bible Study. Generally these prophetic books contain warnings and messages of doom and gloom, but they also contain visions of hope. As we looked at their message, we could feel the frustration at human sin, stubbornness, and apathy. The prophets knew that there was a close link between human…

During the recent synod of the Diocese of Christchurch, Edwin Boyce, the Diocesan Manager, gave a presentation on ethical investment and the way the Church invests its funds. The General Synod Office has also recently published a report (Motion 11 Report – He waka eke noa) on the investment of funds by the Anglican Church. Currently the Anglican Church in New Zealand…

When we left Cambridge, Waikato, we were given some warm socks so that we could survive the cold South Island winters. Yudy and I had lived in Christchurch in the winter of 2013 in a fairly cold house with little money to run the heating. My Caribbean wife therefore remembered Christchurch winters with some trepidation. Because our current house is fairly big…