Brett's new blog

Check out Brett's new blog that Amy helped him to set up - now we can all view the life and times of trains and cranes with Brettie:) https://trainsandcranes.wordpress.com

Farewell John, you will be Missed

Pete and I were among the approximately 500,000 New Zealanders who watched the final episode of Campbell Live on Friday night. It was a wonderful programme highlighting a multitude of topics the current affairs show has brought to the public’s attention over the past ten years. And that made the fact it was the final show all the more poignant. The public watching were well aware that the end of Campbell Live is really the end of prime time current affairs in New Zealand, other than certain Sunday evening programmes. It is also the end of a certain kind of current affairs programme; one which focuses on the underdog and exposing injustice in society.

When I started out my working life as a reporter many years ago, I did so with a good measure of idealism. As journalists, we were the ‘public watchdogs’ of society, a laudable role and one to be taken very seriously. And while I didn’t work as a journalist for all that long, it was long enough to have some of that idealism replaced with a certain among of realism and even cynicism – not always a good thing! That aside, I do remember learning the remarkable impact that can be made by bringing an injustice to the public’s attention.

There were numerous occasions where someone would be treated unfairly, perhaps by their employer, local government or another agency, and had not be able to get a remedy through their own efforts. Once I became aware and got involved through contacting the organization ‘as the local newspaper’ the situation almost always changed. The party at fault would work very hard to keep the situation out of the newspaper for a start. I would never go along with that, but would report on whatever had been done to address the situation. While I didn’t feel particularly powerful in relation to my personal status, I realized the power that comes through the media, and the benefits that arise from that being used to good ends.

I feel like John Campbell and his team were doing just that, but on a much greater scale. And they were doing it for ten years in a world where prime time television is driven by advertising ratings, and current affairs has always struggled for audiences. Some would say that the end of Campbell Live was inevitable. But that doesn’t stop it from being a sad day for good quality journalism and the exposure of injustice in New Zealand.

Amazing faith in the face of execution

I read a newspaper article this week that was very countercultural. It was about the final hours of the lives of Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, two of the ‘Bail Nine’ who were executed this week by the Indonesian government after being found guilty of heroin smuggling. They were executed along with six others also sentenced to death for their crimes. Shortly before they were taken to the site of their execution, one member of the group led them all in singing ‘Amazing Grace’. As they faced their executioners, which they had chosen to do without blindfolds, they said The Lord’s Prayer.

Media reports suggest that Chan was an “utterly changed man” who had become a committed Christian and pastor inside prison and spent his time in prayer and Bible study or counselling other prisoners. Sukumaran on the other hand had become an accomplished painter.

The DomPost article quotes Pastor Karina de Vega as saying that she believed the one non-Christian in the group “also sang from his heart”. “It was breathtaking. This was the first time I witnessed someone so excited to meet their God,” she said.

And so, at the end of a sad and desperate story and legal battles that have lasted over 10 years, came a story of incredible hope. And the resulting media stories about the incredible faith of the executed men have circulated around the world.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/68114615/indonesia-executions-prisoners-refused-blindfolds-singing-as-they-were-shot

Jean Vanier quote

“We are not called by God to do extraordinary things, but to do ordinary things with extraordinary love. ” 

Thinking of Vanuatu

This week the temperature dropped around 10 degrees - most likely linked to Cyclone Pam which has been battering the Pacific and devastated Vanuatu. The biggest impact on my household has been learning the best settings to use on the heat pump - as we only moved into our house around eight weeks ago and haven't needed to use it until now. I've also had to cycle through wind and rain on my way to and from work rather than the wonderful sunny conditions I've been experiencing recently. However a colleague sent an email around my work this week that caused me to pause from my usual work mindset at least for a moment. He wrote in the email that ever since he'd undertaken a VSA placement in Vanuatu many years ago he had stayed in contact with two friends on different islands, Nelly and Ruth. Since Cyclone Pam struck he had been unable to reach Nelly on the phone. He wasn't surprised, Nelly was on the island of Erromango which was devastated. Nelly has five school-aged children. The other friend, Ruth, had phoned him. Her house has been completely flattened and she is living in a school, now that they have cleared it of debris. Ruth didn't ask for anything but my colleague intends to send her some money. When he asked for her bank account details Ruth said she was downtown and didn't have them on her. My colleague suggested she phone him back with the details when she got home. Ruth reminded him that she didn't have a home anymore - as he put it, a somewhat telling point. I am also going to give some money to Ruth. If anyone would like to join me let me know.

Lent reflection

This year Maria has been taking us through her father Wayne’s book of Lentern Reflections Sharing the Good News with the Least, Last and Lost on Wednesday evenings. The reflections have been a helpful way of bringing us together to think about those more vulnerable than ourselves – ‘the last, least and lost’ – in the lead up to Easter. At the end of last week's reflection we found ourselves discussing ‘who was giving up what for Lent’. Among the group various things were mentioned: hot drinks, alcohol, chocolate, coffee and even media. But I have found myself challenged this week by comments from Pope Francis who (in a similar vein to Wayne’s reflections) was talking about What You Should Give Up This Year, http://time.com/3714056/pope-francis-lent-2015-fasting/

In summary, the Pope puts out a challenge to examine our hearts in the practice of giving things up for Lent, saying that fasting should never become superficial, and that if it is not accompanied by doing good to others there is really no point. When our interior lives become full of our own concerns, God’s voice is not heard and there is no compassion for the needs of others. The Pope suggests that if we are going to fast from anything this Lent, rather than sweets and alcohol we are better to fast from indifference towards others. Heck.

I know in my own life my head can very quickly become crowded with my own concerns. And even if I were to take a step back and quickly come to the view that my concerns are not even close to the scale of someone who is facing great suffering or difficulty, that still doesn’t prevent me from spending much of my energy focusing on those things. And, combined with allowing myself to fill my life with busyness, that doesn’t allow much time for the needs of others to enter in. So this year for Lent, every time I think about the chocolate or glass of wine I am not enjoying, I am going to challenge myself to think about the amount of energy I am giving to the concerns of others. And how I might increase that energy and turn it into something that may be of help. Thanks Pope Francis.

Spring Soiree 2014

Come and join us for our spring soiree - tomorrow night, 7pm. Check out the awesome invite Amy made:)

2014 Reflection #3 - 12 Wendell Berry Quotes

I recently came across this page, which lists 12 Wendell Berry quotes from his writings, reflections that are meant to get you thinking. I found them particularly encouraging as well as challenging. I really liked Berry's poem on peace which is below.

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/12-wendell-berry-quotes-will-make-you-rethink-your-life#iJYpGLrvhkIhUBbv.99  

On Peace...
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound...
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

I loved the way he expresses the freedom with which to rest in God's presence, amongst the chaos of our inner and outer lives. This has been particularly relevant to me as I've recently started working 4 days a week. It has been a real answer to prayer to find ways of being intentional about having stillness and sabbath in amongst my week. I'm grateful for this change which makes so much of the rest of life easier to live more freely in.  

Greenhaus weekend away July 2014

We had our Greenhaus weekend away at the Drew's bach a few months ago up in Raumati. Here are some photos from it.

15th Anniversary

We recently celebrated 15 years as a community in the big house. Yah!
We pulled together a few people from over the years to celebrate with us, including some of the original Greenhausers who date back to Te Piringa days (our "ancestors" from Berhampore).

Check out the pics.

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