Dear Friends,
The Service of Thanksgiving for the life of the Reverend Joanne Latham Gribbon will be at 1.30pm this 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 also be live streamed and can be accessed here)
It is good to hear that Dr Nick and Dr Tessa Laing are home on leave from their mission work in Uganda. All are welcome to hear from them at an NZCMS sponsored meeting at St Barnabas Fendalton, 7.30pm Wednesday 11 December 2024. They will be speaking on the intriguing topic of Colonial Hangover or The Best Job Ever: the Overseas Mission Question.
The latest Anglican Life e-magazine is out, in time for Christmas, with the theme of Hope and a lot of really great reading as we head through Advent towards Christmas and the NZ holiday season; read it here.
I congratulate Archbishop Don Tamihere on achieving his Doctor of Philosophy from Charles Sturt University on the topic “Ka kohia atu awau ki tōku iwi: A Kauwhau Whakapapa Reading of Genesis 49:1-50:14.”
Recently a new theological studies diploma was launched at Hoani Tapu—St John’s Theological College, Auckland, with Gareth Bezett, Director of Theology House, representing our diocese at the event. This diploma is an NZQA-Christian Studies diploma with Te Takawai, an education network of Te Manawa o Te Wheke, Te Waipounamu, Te Tairāwhiti, and Te Upoko o te Ika Hui Amorangi, in which traditional Anglican theological studies is blended with mātauranga Mihinare to deliver world-class theological education. Beginning in 2025, this NZQA-accredited Level 5 diploma offers part-time study over two years in partnership with Te Takawai. The course will be delivered across Aotearoa New Zealand, combining block courses, online lectures, and local formation, ensuring graduates are equipped with a ministry foundation that authentically resonates with their communities. For Expressions of Interest, please click here. For prospective students from the Diocese of Christchurch, note that the main teaching site in our island will be at Te Waipounamu, Ferry Road, Christchurch.
On Saturday, Standing Committee and the Diocese’s Senior Leadership Team met in a joint workshop to begin work aligned with the Diocesan Mission Action Plan as we continue work on how our diocese is structured. The plan is to have a paper and any proposals in it for Synod to consider ready by early June 2025. One basic question for us as a diocese is whether we are “fit for purpose” in ever changing contexts of society as a whole and in respect of local communities.
On Sunday it was good to be with God’s people at St Mary’s Addington in the morning and at the Transitional Cathedral on Sunday evening. In both services we celebrated the first Sunday in Advent—our season of anticipation of the coming of Christ into the world.
On Monday morning, Dean Ben Truman and I led an early morning service inside the Cathedral in the Square. Since Monday was the last day on site for construction staff (that is from Naylor Love and from associated contractors), we gave thanks for their work to date and for the progress made on reinstatement of the Cathedral, and prayed that we may yet complete the work begun. Between now and Christmas there are opportunities to join tours of the cathedral, and as part of those tours to make donations for the City Mission, including presents to be placed at the foot of the City Mission’s special Christmas tree which has been reassembled inside the cathedral.
The Gospel Reading for Sunday 8 December 2024, Advent 2 is Luke 3:1-6. If last week we looked ahead through the words of Jesus himself to his Second Coming, then this Sunday we look through the eyes of John the Baptist, who envisages the mission of Jesus as God’s anointed servant who calls all humanity to repentance—to a change of mindset so that we are aligned with the rule of God in the world.
Arohanui,
+Peter.