Dear Friends,
The Service of Thanksgiving for the life of the Reverend Joanne Latham Gribbon will be at 1.30pm Friday, 6 December 2024 in the Transitional Cathedral. All are welcome to this service. Clergy (at the wish of Jo) are asked not to robe but to wear our clerical shirts. Please pray for Brent Gribbon, Jo’s husband, and the Latham family as they mourn Jo’s death and prepare for this service. The service will be livestreamed and the link is here.
We had a wonderful ordination service on Saturday during which Robert Jamieson (for St Michael’s and All Angels), Andy Dickson (for All Souls, Merivale-St. Albans), Anne Shave (for the Transitional Cathedral) and Sage Burke (to be based in Methven, serving within Rakaia, Methven, and Mayfield-Mt Somers parishes) were ordained deacons. A big thank you to our preacher, Archdeacon Indrea Alexander, to the Reverend Jenny Wilkens for planning for the service, to Dean Ben Truman and the Cathedral staff for their hospitality, and to our musicians and morning tea organisers.
At the end of November, several clergy are concluding roles in our Diocese.
The Reverend Les Memory had his last Sunday in the Parish of Hornby, Templeton and West Melton on 24 November 2024. After eight years in charge of this parish, Les is moving into a different mode of life and ministry. I am very glad that after a long holiday through the summer, Les will be available for interim ministry. Thank you, Les and Margi, for your ministry together through these past eight years in this parish and wish them well for the future.
The Reverend Sue Dickson has also had her last Sunday, in the Waimate and Pareora district. Sue has been Priest-in-Charge since 1 December 2022 of firstly the Waimate District Cooperating Venture, then, since it was been dissolved, of the Mission Unit of Waimate District and Pareora. Thank you, Sue and Neil, for your ministry together through these past two years in this southern-most region of our Diocese’s east coast. I am glad you will continue to be available for ministry in South Canterbury.
The Reverend John de Senna at the end of this month completes his contract with the Diocese for the preparation and delivery of safe ministry training across our Diocese for licensed ministers. Nearly all our clergy, for instance, have participated in one of the many training days that John has organised and taught. A huge amount of work has both gone into this training and into development of our administration system in respect of knowing who among our licensed ministers has been trained and when that has occurred – safe ministry training is always recurrent and never “one off”. Thank you, John for your work among us.
In respect of safe ministry training and the future, I observe here that in 2025 we expect to see further progress on a national Anglican training response in the light of the Royal Commission on Abuse’s recommendations. During 2025, in the Diocese of Christchurch we will offer safe ministry training to licensed ministers provided by a contracted trainer external to the Diocese. We will continue, through the work of Nathan Muirhead, to continue training for our ministry unit safeguarding officers.
On Sunday evening, during Evensong at the Transitional Cathedral, Marcus Read was installed as a new Lay Canon. Across the Diocese services celebrated Christ the King and/or this “Sunday Before Advent” as “Stir Up Sunday”. One such celebration was at St Augustine’s, Te One, Chatham Islands, where our Missioner Priest to this parish, the Reverend Mike Hawke and Patsy Hawke have been on a pastoral visit.
On Monday evening I was able to hear and see Cole Yeoman‘s presentation on the suffering of Palestinians in the West Bank. Cole was able to visit the West Bank earlier this year and has brought back superb photos and short videos. Whatever views we may hold generally on conflict in the Middle East, or particularly about the genesis and continuity of the current conflicts in Gaza and southern Lebanon, it is manifestly unjust and frankly “terrifying” (i.e. a form of terrorism) that the Israeli government and Israeli Defence Force continually presides over the destruction of Palestinian homes and livelihoods on the West Bank, and permits two forms of law to apply there so that recent Israeli settlers are always privileged over Palestinian families who have lived for generations on their traditional land. I thank Cole for his vivid and challenging presentation of the raw deal Palestinians receive on the West Bank.
Archdeacon (also Canon) Mark Chamberlain has announced his retirement from his role as Archdeacon for Regeneration and Mission, effective 31 December 2024. Mark has also resigned as a Clerical Canon of Christ Church Cathedral from the same date. An opportunity to honour Mark’s contributions to our Diocese will take place at 4pm, Thursday 19 December 2024 in the Anglican Centre, 95 Tuam Street, Christchurch. All welcome.
We are blessed across our Diocese with superb musicians, excellent singers and a variety of worship styles to potentially choose from as we worship our God. Two special services of worship during the Advent season, to which all are welcome, take place in the Transitional Cathedral: the Advent Carol Service, 7pm this Sunday evening, and the Christmas Carol Service, at 7pm on Sunday, 22 December.
Congratulations to the Reverend Chris Ponniah has a new 0.5 FTE role. He will be the Director of Mission Interlink NZ – an organisation which supports a host of NZ mission agencies in their work in global and local mission.
The Chapel of the Upper Room at College House was re-opened a couple of years ago, after substantial fundraising to pay for its strengthening and post-quake repair. I am delighted that it is used through the year for College House services on significant occasions. It was also very pleasing to learn last week that it would be used for worship during a national conference of Spiritual Directors and then, this week, by Bishop Michael Gielen and the priests of the Catholic Diocese of Christchurch during their annual retreat.
The Gospel Reading for Sunday 1 December 2024, Advent 1 is Luke 21:25-36. It is all but impossible at this time of the year not to focus on the celebration at Christmas of Christ’s first coming, to say nothing of a busy round of End of Year events. Yet the first focus of the Advent season is on Christ’s Second Coming, on the day yet to come when Christ returns to judge the world and end human history. Our gospel reading, drawn from the Gospel of Luke, the gospel for the Year C of our lectionary cycle which begins this Sunday, looks ahead to that Coming and not back to Christ’s birth. Christ foresees a future time of trial and tribulation for his followers before the End takes place. Are we ready and waiting for Christ’s return? Are we active in doing what Christ wants us to do as his faithful servants?
Arohanui,
+Peter.