Message from the Bishop — 12 February 2025
Dear Friends,
Last Thursday, Waitangi Day, the Ngaī Tahu commemoration of the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi was held at Ōnuku marae with the Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon present. I commend to you the Ngāi Tahu Kaiwhakahaere Commemoration Speech given by Justin Tipa on that occasion.
I commend to all in the Diocese the Open Heaven Combined Churches Prayer Event, 6.30pm for a 7pm start, to 9.00pm on Wednesday 26 February at the Wolfbrook Area, 55 Jack Hinton Drive, Christchurch. I will be there along with many other church leaders, leading prayers for our nation. Join me!
The following Wednesday is Ash Wednesday 5 March. I commend on this day our participation in ecumenical services, signifying our commitment to Christian unity as we follow our suffering Saviour, Jesus Christ. For those for whom a local, ecumenical service is not readily accessible, I commend participation in the Anglican-Catholic Ecumenical Service in the Transitional Cathedral at 5.30pm. All welcome (from all denominations). Bishop Michael Gielen will be our preacher.
Studying the Bible at any time of the year is a very good thing but I commend study groups being formed in our ministry units for the six weeks of Lent (beginning 5 March 2025). Theology House’s Lenten study for 2025 is available to order now. In the Spirit of Lent follows the lectionary’s Gospel readings for the six weeks of Lent. (Ash Wednesday is 5 March 2025.) Questions for discussion and prayers are provided in the expectation that groups who use the study will encounter the Word of God afresh. Discussion questions tend towards appropriate Lenten self-reflection, especially corporate self-reflection for our churches. Read more.
Bishop Ngarahu Katene, Bishop within Te Pihopatanga o Aotearoa for Te Hui Amorangi o Te Manawa o Te Wheke [King Country, Waikato, northern Taranaki, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua], has announced his retirement, effective from Easter Sunday 20 April 2025. +Ngaragu has been bishop there since 2006. I give thanks to God for his ministry and pray that he will have a fruitful retirement.
This weekend past Teresa and I have been in Melbourne for events connected to the conclusion of Archbishop Philip Freier’s ministry as Bishop of Melbourne and Metropolitan for the Province of Victoria for the past eighteen years – a period which included six years as Primate of Australia. Joy Freier has been fully involved in this ministry of leadership and together they have been warm and generous friends to many Anglicans around Australia and the whole Anglican Communion, including episcopal leaders in the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. It was a pleasure and a privilege to join with most of the Australian bishops, with Bishop Anthony Poggo, the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion and with Archbishop Emeritus Philip Richardson from our church in the Farewell Evensong on Sunday afternoon in St Paul’s Cathedral.
Yesterday principals, chaplains and religious education leaders from our Anglican schools were able to meet with Simon Heath and Dr Averil Worner from the Anglican Schools Office. This “regional hub” meeting is part of a series being conducted by Simon and Averil as they move around our church in follow up to a significant report published last year which opens up the question of how we best resource our diverse set of schools from Dunedin through to Apia. I appreciate the commitment of our principals, chaplains and RE teachers to sharing our faith in Christ and developing the “Anglican character” of our schools. For one of our schools this year is particularly important: it is the 175th anniversary of the founding of Christ’s College. Special events take place this coming weekend, including a celebration service in the Chapel on Sunday morning. I am delighted to be a participant in this service, led by Chaplain Cameron Pickering and featuring Bishop David Coles, a former warden of the school and the Reverend Bosco Peters, a former chaplain of the school.
A revamped Association of Anglican Women website is now “live”. I look forward on Saturday morning 22 February to being part of the annual general meeting and commissioning service for our Diocesan AAW.
Many times in e-Life I have asked for prayer for the situation in the Middle East. Despite a ceasefire being agreed to, we need to keep praying, not least for the ceasefire to hold and to be honoured by all sides. Further, whatever we make of President Trump’s recent pronouncements about the future of Gaza, his comments highlight the extraordinary reconstruction project which lies ahead for Gaza and its inhabitants.
This coming Sunday, 16 February is Ordinary 6. The Gospel reading is Luke 6:17-26. We shift from the lakeside (last Sunday) to “the plain”, the setting for Luke’s representation of Jesus’ foundational teaching (in contradistinction to Matthew’s representation through “the Sermon on the Mount”, Matthew 5-7). At the beginning of this sermon Jesus presents four blessings and four woes (6:20-26). These are challenging, especially for those of us who are materially and emotionally blessed. Inherent in Jesus pronouncing blessing on the poor and the hungry is a challenge to us as readers: how might we be part of blessing those in need? At such a point of reflection we might, of course, jump straight ahead in our knowledge of Luke’s Gospel to the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) or to the Story of the Rich Ruler (Luke 18:18-30).
Arohanui,
+Peter.