Oct 11 2014
Newsletter October 2014
Sea of Faith – Dunedin
Next Meeting
Spiritual but not religious
Led by
Gretchen Kivell
Thursday, 23rd OCTOBER
Highgate Church buildings,
Maori Hill
*****
We Start With…
*****
From the Chair
19 people from Dunedin attended the national Sea of Faith conference held in Dunedin last weekend. I hope you came away with some good memories of people and conversations, and plenty of food for thought.
The Dunedin Sea of Faith October meeting will be based on the comment heard a lot these days – including at the conference – ‘I’m spiritual but not religious’. I thought we might unpack that a bit. What do you think people who say that might mean? What are they aiming to deny? Why? What ARE the differences between the two?
It is interesting to consider what people of different ages – 20, 40, 60 – might be meaning when they say ‘I’m spiritual but not religious’. What about teenagers? What are their understandings these days? If you have the time and the opportunity you could do some research within your own family and friends 
* The Sea of Faith library will put in a rare appearance. Stock up on some interesting reading; you could also use the opportunity to return books borrowed from the library.
* We’ll take some time to think of further topics for Sea of Faith meetings – things you’d like to have the opportunity to discuss with others who may have a range of views. Sea of Faith meetings lead by members are very well received, so we’ll be looking for offers to facilitate a particular range of topics, too.
In a separate e-mail to Dunedin Sea of Faith friends, I’ve encouraged you to sign up to the Gigatown project and support Dunedin.
The organisers say that the prize is broadband 100 times faster than at present.
The direct air flight between Dunedin and Auckland takes 1hr 45mins (105mins). If that trip were done 100 times faster, we’d be there in just over a minute. So, for that sort of Internet speed, do support Dunedin. It will make a big difference to lots of Hi-Tech firms such as Ian Taylor’s TaylorMade and in so doing we’ll help offset the job losses we have seen in our traditional industrial sector. I get very sad when I read in the ODT about job losses – they are not just statistics, but stress on families and on children who can’t afford to go on school outings or sports trips. Supporting this venture is an attempt to bring some of those jobs (and smiles) back to our beautiful city that we all love.
Evelyn Entwhistle
Archibald Baxter
Archie was no hero and would hate to be thought of in that way. He believed that the most patriotic thing a man could do was to keep his country out of war. You’ll all know the story as well as I do. He was arrested from his Brighton farm, taken to Wellington, jailed, beaten, starved, loaded onto a ship and taken to Belgium where he was further beaten, starved and finally tied up to a post with hands tied behind his back in such a way that he had to stand on his toes. His hands went black as the knots were so tight but he would not deny his faith in pacifism. He did have a breakdown in his health but when he returned to the farm in Otago, he bore no ill-will to those who tortured him, simply believing that they were caught up in the military machine.
His monument will take three forms; an annual Archibald Baxter Memorial Peace Lecture (given close to International Peace Day), an annual essay competition for Otago Secondary schools and a peace garden, somewhere in Dunedin. You’ll know that the Trust is formally launched and working with the DCC to find the best place for the garden.
Archie challenged the establishment – that’s why they tried to make him submit. He is not the first, nor probably the last, to suffer for his beliefs.
Conference
It’s pretty tricky to write about how good the Local Arrangements Committee was for the event, without trumpets being blown. I’ll simply say that it was one of the best committees I’ve ever worked on. Everyone knew what they were supposed to do, got on with it, and did a very good job. There were loads of e-mails, especially towards the weekend itself and I wrote to Marjorie that if she wasn’t heartily sick of messages from me I’d nominate her for beatification. She continued with such equanimity that I broached the topic again at Conference and was told there was a need for two miracles – well the sunny weather on the Friday (in spite of the forecast) must have been one and the snowfall to greet guests on Saturday morning, giving the hills a lovely touch, was the other. So… St Marjorie, Team Leader par excellence – well done.
By the way, Auckland is to host next year and their Local Arrangements Committee said they couldn’t match what we had – score for us. Tolcarne deserve every credit and their Manager, Krystal, is one of those ‘Not a problem’ people who don’t put obstacles in the way of everything and works with a smile. She is part of the Naval Reserve and is another person who is a pleasure to work with.
One of the Australians who came over is looking at the possibility of a University course here. “I feel that I could live here”, she said. The campus is very friendly for her wheelchair and I noticed huge courtesy from the students. Go Otago…