Sea of Faith – Dunedin

Conference happenings – Gretchen

What is MEANING?

David Kitchingman

Thursday, 22nd OCTOBER

Highgate Church buildings,

Maori Hill

From 3pm

NEW TIME

*****

We Start With…

Sea of Faith – Dunedin

Glenda Hall

Counsellor with the

Otago Community Hospice

Thursday, 24th SEPTEMBER

Highgate Church buildings,

Maori Hill

From 3pm

NEW TIME

*****

We Start With…

Sea of Faith – Dunedin

Alan Jackson

Archibald Baxter

A memorial for men of conscience & courage

Thursday, 27th AUGUST

Highgate Church buildings,

Maori Hill

NEW TIME

*****

We Start With…

Sea of Faith – Dunedin

An interview with

Amy Armstrong,

Catholic Pastoral Leader

Thursday, 23rd JULY

Highgate Church buildings,

Maori Hill

NEW TIME

*****

We Start With…

*****

From the ‘Chair’

Your committee took a momentous decision last month, to change our meeting from an early evening meeting with a light meal, to the earlier timing of 3 – 5 pm with tea and biscuits at 3pm and the meeting from 3.30 – 5 pm. Numbers at our meetings are tending smaller, particularly in the winter months, and we need to cut our cloth accordingly.
We have some wonderful speakers, and we are hoping the earlier timing will encourage more members to attend. David Tombs’ exposition of the place of religion in the history and current situation in Northern Ireland was masterly. It gave confirmation, to those who haven’t met him before, that he will be a worthy and important successor to Andrew Bradstock as the second Professor of Theology and Public Issues.
Amy Armstrong, our July speaker, is another Dunedin treasure. She has recently moved from campus ministry to a wider role in the Catholic diocese of Dunedin, one including adult formation as well as student pastoral care. She will talk about these roles and about Pope Francis, including his ‘environmental’ encyclical. Amy is a thoughtful and engaging person, and should expand our understanding of one of the world’s great faiths
Gretchen
[email protected] (03) 473 0031

Archibald Baxter

A few months ago I wrote “watch this space” for news about the memorial. We have a site, in front of the Otago Museum. The Dunedin City Council couldn’t have been more helpful, the Museum Team is fully supportive and the University is right behind the project. Supporters have been asked for donations and over the past few weeks around $13 000 has been donated. Of course it will take a lot more but now we have asked the local artists, sculptors, landscape designers to rack their brains on designs for the memorial and in less than three months we shall have three designs short-listed. Keep watching.

Last Meeting

David Tombs gave us a brilliant display of listening when he asked us at the start of the meeting what questions had we brought to the meeting and what things had we heard about Ireland, peace, violence etc. That gave us all a chance to give a point of view which he then wove into his excellent talk about the background to the violence in Ireland and the peace making that has taken place there.
He did say that reconciliation is a further step in the process and there is still a lot to be done on that front.
As I understand it, one of the Irish Chiefs, in about 1167, had been ousted for taking the wife of another chief. He asked the King of England for help in regaining his kingdom and Henry II sent an army of Normans (they had won the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and conquered England) to help. That was probably the starting point.
Can you think of any other historic conflicts caused by the love of a man for someone else’s wife?

Funerals

Earlier in the year we thought about plans for a funeral – do you make your own and plan for the funeral you would like or leave it to the folk left behind working on the assumption that since you are not there, the event is of no further interest to you?
This last week I was involved with the arrangements of a funeral of a friend and was mightily pleased to find that she had left a folder containing items of poetry, favourite music to play and memory sticks with photographs to be projected etc. She was very clear that there was to be no mention of God and I think we carried out her wishes. For friends and family left behind, if we had got that part wrong it would have made a mockery of the way she lived her life.

Terror in Tunisia

Again, violent thugs on a killing spree. They have been called ‘Islamic State’ but the killers don’t have a state and most Muslims reject absolutely the violence carried out in the name of their faith. Some argue that we don’t call the IRA ‘Christian Terrorists’ and so the word ‘Islamic’ should not be used. Boris Johnson (Mayor of London) devotes his column in the Telegraph to asking what to call the enemy which threatens our way of life. What do you think?
David Cameron says that ‘we should be intolerant of intolerance’. Is that the same as ‘fighting fire with fire’, or using violence against violence? Gwynne Dyer in the ODT has a contrary view and is always worth reading.
So far as I can gather, there is no ‘violence gene’. It is learned behaviour – but as Voltaire said “All that is required for the triumph of evil is that good men sit back and do nothing”. (In a PC world he would have said ‘people’ rather than ‘men’ as it is up to all of us).

Fortune Theatre Play

By the time most of you read this, the season at the theatre will be half over. This is not a plug to go to see the play (the ODT has already printed a letter of mine encouraging folk to do that) but rather to encourage you to talk to your grandchildren about the issues of bullying and violence in their schools and in the places they ‘hang out’. Are there trigger points where it is possible to see a person reaching breaking point? How do they intervene? What part does the cell phone play in all of this? Do they ever turn their cell phone off? What is the implication for them if they do? Who can they trust when they want to talk about life’s hard issues?

Sea of Faith – Dunedin

David Tombs

  Peace and Reconciliation

in Northern Ireland

Thursday, 25th JUNE

Highgate Church buildings,

Maori Hill

*****

We Start With…

*****

From the ‘Chair’

I have recently revisited China after 13 years, staying in five cities in the south-east. The largest of these, Hangzhou, has a population of 25 million. I travelled with two friends. Bill whom I have known since my university days, has in the last ten years taught himself to speak Chinese and taught English for several years in the smallest city we visited, Huai’an. His second wife, Xia, now lives with Bill in Hamilton and has conversational English. They are currently in China visiting relatives, and in the three weeks I spent with them we visited members of Xia’s family, friends, and several of Bill’s former students.

My first impression was green – Fujian province is mainly steep low hills of trees in their spring green. The cities are full of public gardens, lakes, rivers and canals full of/lined with bright green, and the major roads and many roads in the new high-rise housing estates have superb plantings of red, yellow and green shrubs together with the taller green trees. There are rest, socialising, and gathering places. Many times I saw these used by individuals or groups singing, or for various sorts of dancing including western and Ceroc.

I spent most days being a tourist in fabulous, interesting and beautiful places – for Chinese tourists, that is, I saw fewer than twenty ‘Lao wai’ in the whole of my stay. Old Chinese houses, a canal trip, a two-hour ride in a canyon through high hills on a bamboo raft, a Song dynasty theme park with a fabulous show that included an enormous (and real) waterfall the length and height of the back of the stage, and a beautiful jade museum with items back to 5000 BC.

I saw a number of Buddhist temples. They were going concerns, clearly respected, and open to all; most set in large or very large beautiful grounds. I saw two churches, both while travelling and from a distance. Each had a large cross high above the gable, and painted red. Clearly proclaiming themselves.

I received so much sensory input – people, noise, buildings, traffic, new sights and activities, new foods – that I am still processing my experience.

I was experiencing the rise of the middle-classes since my last visit. People come to a city, get jobs in the factories, at some stage afford an apartment in a high rise (they are very nice indeed to live in), afford an e-bike (ie with a battery) and then a car. I saw no vandalism and was never concerned for my safety – everyone was too busy doing, getting, going, being, to notice me. But the pace of existence really overwhelmed me.

Floods in Dunedin

There is no question but that the vulnerable in Dunedin have been hit again with the results of the recent 40 year flood. When I walk around town I see grids covered by leaves, plastic bottles, hedge clippings and similar debris. It will help the town’s drains if we returned to an earlier, more civic-minded time and kept the grids near our homes clear, so that debris didn’t enter the pipes and cause blockages. We can all play a part in helping reduce the harm of heavy rains.

Right to Die

The terminally ill Wellington lawyer Lecretia Seales was unsuccessful in seeking a landmark High Court ruling to allow her doctor to help her die without criminal prosecution. She was a senior legal and policy adviser at the Law Commission. She died a few days after the court ruling and her husband reported that she was quite broken by the decision.

It seems that our law makers do wish to protect life by making it illegal to harm oneself with drugs such as heroin or to drive whilst incapacitated with drugs or alcohol, but have less of a regard for the quality of life when they permit smoking and excessive drinking and allow people (especially children) to live in sub-standard housing and are happy enough to send troops in to the Middle East where many will emerge scarred either physically or mentally. Mentally unwell folk used to be cared for in Cherry Farm (maybe more people than necessary) but now some of those people are released into the community which is overwhelmed by their needs. Some get into trouble and end up in prison at $95 000 per year and emerge not only with a mental health problem but also with a prison record. I’ll not go into the abortion debate.
Somewhere we have lost the plot about caring for our vulnerable people in a dignified way. The right to die debate has been with us before and needs to be argued again. The private member’s bill that would have seen it debated in Parliament earlier was withdrawn due to the proximity of the election. We have time now to debate that issue without an election getting in the way.

We can conclude something about Parliamentarians’ priorities when they voted to backdate their wage rise but made beneficiaries wait for theirs.

Ireland’s Vote

The issue of same-sex marriage went to the vote in Ireland and was carried by 62% of those who voted. In New Zealand and other countries, the issue was settled by the Government (with a considerable amount of public lobbying) and Ireland is the only country to put the issue to a plebiscite. The Roman Catholic Church’s commentators said that the church had become separated from the people. There have been problems about the abuse of children by priests and nuns and the subsequent cover-ups by the clerical establishment so that it is perhaps not surprising that the vote in favour of the same-sex marriage was so overwhelming. It was a vote for equality as well as love.

The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, called the result of the referendum a “defeat for humanity”, although earlier the Pope has said “A gay person who is seeking God, who is of good will – well, who am I to judge him?” (Irish Times 8th June)

Dublin’s Catholic archbishop Diarmuid Martin went even further last year: “Anybody who doesn’t show love towards gay and lesbian people is insulting God. They are not just homophobic if they do that—they are actually Godophobic because God loves every one of those people.” (Time Magazine 24th May)

Sea of Faith – Dunedin

Fr Lachlan Paterson

 Māori Newspapers and

Religious Discourses

Thursday, 28th MAY

Highgate Church buildings,

Maori Hill

*****

We Start With…

*****

From the ‘Chair’

Gretchen is in Fuzhou, Fujian province, China for almost four weeks (10 million people in the city) and sends best wishes to us from there. Her friends have arranged an energetic itinerary to see some sights and I think she will be glad of a rest when she gets home. Meanwhile she is having a wonderful time and I’ve no doubt we shall see and hear more about it later.

 Dr Lachy Paterson 

Lachy is a senior lecturer at Te Tumu – the School of Māori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies at Otago.

His web presence reveals… 

Much of Lachy’s primary research has involved niupepa ( Māori-language newspapers) of the mid nineteenth and early twentieth century, from which he explores the social, political and religious discourses promulgated within these publications. He has published on this topic, and is currently engaged in collaborating with other Otago scholars in a history of the “book” and print culture in New Zealand.

………………………………..

I am sure that there will be several of you well versed in the material that Lachy is researching and so we can be sure of a fascinating address with the chance to ask lots of questions. It seems to me that as we reflect on the century that has passed since the Gallipoli campaign, we hear voices from an earlier time and my sense is that those voices need to be heard.

White Poppies 

So far as is known, white poppies were first produced by the Co-operative Women’s Guild in Britain in 1933, and later the Peace Pledge Union undertook their annual distribution. In subsequent years, white poppies spread to other countries around the globe, and the white poppy became an international symbol of remembrance and peace.

How and when white poppies first came to Aotearoa New Zealand is unknown, but certainly they have been worn around ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day in the past.

They are sold by Peace Movement Aotearoa with proceeds going to White Poppy Peace Scholarships.

The White Poppy Peace Scholarships were launched by Professor Cynthia Enloe at her public lecture in Wellington on 30 October 2009. (Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts).

Principled nonviolence 

Prof Clements has written an article on this for the March edition of Tui Motu. I am circulating (with permission) the digital version with this newsletter. Here is an extract… 

Principled nonviolence is based on a rejection of all physical violence. It rests on a willingness to suffer instead of inflicting suffering; a concern to end violence and a celebration of the transformative power of love and compassion. Nonviolence is seen as an outward manifestation of a loving spirit within each one of us. Principled nonviolence seeks to love potential enemies rather than destroy them and promotes nonviolent peaceful means to peaceful ends. Its preferred processes are persuasion, cooperation and nonviolent resistance to forceful coercion for political purposes.

This principled nonviolent tradition has over the years given rise to the Civil Rights Movement in the United States and fuelled many of the principled nonviolent political movements of the 21st century. It has been successful, for example, in places like Poland, the Philippines and many countries in the former Soviet Union.

Future Energy 

We have heard much about the need to move away from fossil fuels, and divesting investment by DCC has been a hot topic recently.

In New Zealand we produce most of our energy from hydro and geothermal – both ‘clean’ and renewable in the sense that we are using the water cycle and the energy in the hot core of the earth. Suppose we took a look at the energy in the sun and harnessed that. The sun shines during the day and peak power use is at breakfast and teatime – so what is needed is a good battery to store that sun energy for when we want to use it.

Enter a Tesla Powerwall battery. That is a flat panel, which will hang on the wall of the house (inside the garage or on an outside wall) to store the energy from the photo-voltaic generators on the roof.

These batteries are well within the reach of many home owners and with increased production will get cheaper. The photo-voltaic power units on the roof have come down in price by about $5000 since I talked to a Sea of Faith member at a conference about his home installation.

The future of energy must be for the use of the sun. It is clean and abundant. We all know about selling surplus power to the grid when we get a long sunny spell and our home units produce more than we can use, but if we also had an electric car, and that acted as an additional energy storage unit then the problem is reduced still further.

A pipe dream? No – the batteries are in full production in USA – the snag – sales to mid-2016 are sold out.

Take 18 minutes to have a look at this and you will be much encouraged about Future Earth.

Sea of Faith – Dunedin

Fr Peter Collett

 How to celebrate a life well lived

Thursday, 26th FEBRUARY

Highgate Church buildings,

Maori Hill

*****

We Start With…

*****

A two minute period of silence. This silence gives us the chance to clear our thoughts, set aside the busyness of the day and allow us to focus on our friends who are here and our topic for the evening.

Sea of Faith – Dunedin

Next Meeting

Compassion and Wairua

Thursday, 27th NOVEMBER

Highgate Church buildings,

Maori Hill

*****

We Start With…

*****

From the Chair

 At our October meeting we discussed possible meanings behind the phrase ‘Spiritual but not religious’. Commonly heard these days, to some this means wishing to be fully human without the constraints and dogma that goes with a religion; to others it can mean being spiritually independent, and not noticing the value of commitment to community, and compassion for others, which membership of a religion can provide.

Our last meeting of the year, on November 27th, will follow our tradition of choosing a single word, on which each person is invited to talk about their own thoughts for approximately three minutes. We canvassed a number of possible topics at the October meeting, and the two highest-polling were compassion and wairua. At the meeting I announced the topic would be compassion, largely because I didn’t think that all of our members would be able to talk about wairua for three minutes. But on reflection, I think those voting for wairua might enjoy introducing us to a topic new to many of us, so we will invite everyone to talk for three minutes on either compassion or wairua. This is a wonderful opportunity to share personal reflection and personal anecdote. Feel welcome to share your thoughts with folk who will respect and value them.

Three additional topics were written in to the voting sheets: ISIS/terrorism, equality, and pacifism. We can take notice of these when selecting topics and speakers for next year.

Sea of Faith is a discussion group, and many of our best meetings come about from discussion lead by one of our members. We’d like to continue this. There will be an opportunity at our November meeting to propose topics for our 2015 meetings and also to volunteer to present a chosen topic. Not all members would wish to be a presenter, but it would be good if we had a good range of input from people who enjoy Sea of Faith meetings and have a topic/idea/book they would enjoy presenting for discussion. Please do consider offering to do a presentation, remember you are among friends.

Internet Help

This snippet from a site called ‘Headspace’…

Maori Mental Health

The Maori philosophy towards health is based on a wellness or holistic health model. Maori see health as a four-sided concept representing four basic beliefs of life: Te Taha Hinengaro (psychological health), Te Taha Wairua (spiritual health), Te Taha Tinana (physical health) and Te Taha Whanau (family health).

This is known as Te Whare Tapa Wha.

The Whare Tapa Wha can be applied to any health issue affecting Maori from physical to psychological wellbeing.

Wairua/Spirituality – is acknowledged to be the most essential requirement for health. It is believed that without a spiritual awareness an individual can be considered to be lacking in wellbeing and more prone to ill health. Wairua may also explore relationships with the environment, between people, or with heritage. The breakdown of this relationship could be seen in terms of ill health or lack of personal identity. When confronted with a problem Maori do not seek to analyse its separate components or parts but ask in what larger context it resides, incorporating ancestors or future generations to discussions. This may mean the discussion goes off on a tangent but the flow will return to the question.

Compassion

The story of The Good Samaritan is widely held to be the one that best emphasises Christian belief and practice. Karen Armstrong has promoted a Charter for Compassion.

The text of the Charter for Compassion

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

We therefore call upon all men and women to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensable to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.

You can sign up to the Charter on the Internet 

Sea of Faith – Dunedin

Next Meeting

Spiritual but not religious

Led  by

Gretchen Kivell

Thursday, 23rd OCTOBER

*****

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

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…

Sea of Faith – Dunedin

Next Meeting

Biting the Ballot

Marjorie Spittle &

David Kitchingman

Thursday, 28th AUGUST

*****

We Start With…

*****

From the Chair

Prof Richard Jackson (Peace & Conflict Studies) spoke to our July meeting about his brand new novel ‘Confessions of a Terrorist’, though he didn’t really get onto the book very much. Richard explained how his early life experiences had brought him face to face with terrorist activity, and that this experience had informed his career since then. After asking us ‘If you could ask a terrorist a question, what would it be?’ the meeting developed into a conversation as we explored what it is that might ‘radicalise’ a person, how we could define terrorism, what its root causes might be, and what the world could do to reduce terrorism. Concerning one of the most frightening and difficult issues in the world today, the meeting was fascinating, enlightening, and gripping. We could have listened for much longer to Richard’s message and wisdom.

For those who missed the meeting, there is a very good feature article in the ODT

For those at the meeting who wanted to send Richard’s book to those movers and shakers who would get value from it – Barak Obama and John Key were mentioned – here’s a suggestion to meet your goal while not involving Sea of Faith (which prefers not to support particular causes): if you would care to give a sum, say $10, to the Sea of Faith meeting chair, she will pass the money on to Richard. This way our collective action can have some impact, and we combine our efforts with others to get Richard’s book out ‘to useful people’. I will start the ball rolling with $10 (but I won’t be the chair for the August meeting – watch this space )

Gretchen 03 473 0031

Our Next Meeting

According to Linus in the comic strip Peanuts, politics is one of the three great taboo topics, along with religion and the Great Pumpkin.

But next month is the election, so we’re going to bite the bullet.

Marjorie will make some observations on the political scene that we face as September 20th approaches and attempt to introduce some of the questions Sea of Faithers may be asking as we make our way to the ballot box.

David will skirt around the subject (and even touch on one of the other two tricky ones) by reviewing a recent book by Jonathon Haidt on The Righteous mind: why good people are divided by politics and religion.

There will be plenty of time for discussion.

Holidays

These are good opportunities to look at places with different values and to look at the way one’s own values might have changed.

I was in Norway and visited a Lutheran church built in 1745 and most uncompromising on the outside but very ornate inside. The builder who wanted a simple design died after the outside was finished and before it was fitted out internally. In the event, some parts of the interior are baroque – it seems incongruous, but what struck me most was that everyone in the community had their place to sit. The king had his royal box, the local notables had padded seats on the ground floor, lesser notables had unpadded seats on the first floor and the silver mine workers had planks on the top floor. I was told that if any of the workers fell asleep during service, there was a person with a long stick who would give them a poke to wake them up. I sat in the miners’ seats and couldn’t see the Minister or Organist or Reader. Does that layout determine the way the community works or reflect it? Fortunately, social progress has taken place and no-one now has to sit in that rigid pattern.

In Guilford about 2000 (two thousand) worshippers celebrated the creation of 14 new Deacons who were going to new parishes. Their old parishioners and new churches were all there in force to wish them well. What a great spectacle of colour as the Bishop and entourage processed in to the tune of so many voices and a very good choir. At the cathedral, one person in the congregation told me that the attendance at cathedrals in England was increasing.

In the Herefordshire village of Yarpole, the 14th century St Leonard’s church was down to about 12 weekly attendees and was facing closure but has re-invigorated itself by getting rid of the pews and making the space flexible for activities on just about every day of the week (Tai-Chi seems most popular), it has a shop staffed by village volunteers, a post office and café. The place was a hive of activity every time I visited with people coming and going to collect the papers, bread, milk and having a gossip.

I also attended a Quaker meeting in London and then had lunch in their library. They gave me a reference to a BBC radio programme dealing with conflict over the proposal to erect a statue to Ghandi in central London. The argument seems to be whether Gandhi was always the kind peaceful, inclusive man we know from Ben Kingsley’s portrayal of him in the film or whether his earlier attitudes whilst in South Africa brand him as racist. Statues, like canonisation of popes, surely don’t mean that the entire life was blameless but that on the whole, more good than harm was done. We have a statue to Gandhi in Wellington already. I left some white ‘peace poppies’ with the Quaker family who hosted me there.

Involvement with things spiritual is on the increase then – Dover Beach and all that.

One sign of the times that might come here… you remember the milkman used to deliver to our homes when milk was in recyclable glass bottles? No home deliveries now for most of us. In some parts of England, the daily newspaper delivery has stopped as the youngsters are no longer prepared to work for the low wages associated with the job. I hope that doesn’t catch on here. I really love the ODT at 6am with breakfast.

Sea of Faith – Dunedin

July Meeting

Prof. Richard Jackson

will talk about his new novel

‘Confessions of a Terrorist’

Thursday, 24 July

*****

We Start With…

*****

July meeting

We are fortunate indeed to have Professor Richard Jackson to talk to us about his novel ‘Confessions of a Terrorist’, published in May this year.

Richard, Deputy Director at Peace & Conflict Studies, will talk about how his early life, and subsequent studies, brought him to write a novel rather than yet another academic treatise to get his message across.

The book was previewed by the ODT and this review is definitely worth looking up.

The Dunedin Sea of Faith’s brochure explains we ‘promote the quest for meaning and fulfilment as a human activity’, and at least one of Richard’s protagonists would say the same.

‘Confessions of a Terrorist’ is a remarkable book, and we are very fortunate to have the opportunity to talk about it with its author.

Richard Jackson and SoF are both publicizing this meeting, and we anticipate significant interest. Please feel welcome to invite your friends and colleagues, too – but only to the meeting (6 – 7.30 pm); our catering wouldn’t cope with a major influx .

Our newsletter editor, Alan Jackson, is away right now. He does such a good job – please pardon the layout of this newsletter.

Sea of Faith – Dunedin

Next Meeting

Keilli Te Maiharoa

will talk about

Matariki and the history of her iwi, Waitaha

Thursday, 26 June

*****

We Start With…

*****

May meeting

At our May meeting we had three members, Graham Batts, Andrew Meek, and myself each talking about our own ‘spiritual odyssey’ for ten minutes, with time for questions and discussion after each address. I spent some time thinking about what I might say, and clearly Graham and Andrew did too. It was during the discussion time, ably chaired by Margaret Feist, that I found myself ‘saying things I had never said before’ – for me, great reward for participating in the evening.

Two thoughts arise from this session: first, I’m hoping we can have an evening of members’ spiritual odysseys every year. Second, at least two other NZ SoF groups are having spiritual odyssey presentations from members, too – I think there may even be a record of one in the next national newsletter. Over time SoF will build up a number of stories which, by their honesty and by their differences from one another, will build a picture of just what a diverse, interesting, and interested group we are. Watch this space.

Our Next Meeting

We are delighted that Kelli Te Maiharoa, PhD student in the Department of Peace and Conflict studies and Lecturer at College of Education, will share some korero about Matariki and the history of her iwi, Waitaha. Please join us in acknowledging Matariki, this important time in New Zealand’s calendar.

Our newsletter editor, Alan Jackson, is away right now. He does such a good job – please pardon the layout of this newsletter.

Sea of Faith – Dunedin

Next Meeting

Spiritual Odysseys

Chaired by

Margaret Feist

Thursday, 22nd MAY

*****

We Start With…

*****

From the Chair

Our Next Meeting

Our Last Meeting

Nature vs Nurture

During Summer School at University, there was a series of discussions around the topic of Perceptions of Reality. One discussion which I found particularly stimulating dealt with the question ‘Are humans inherently aggressive?’

Prof Charles Higham (Archaeology) made the point that our closest cousins, the chimpanzees, are quite vicious, especially in territorial disputes, but also when dealing with transgressions within their group. In early times man certainly was aggressive, the analysis of many skeletons at numerous sites worldwide show wounds delivered by clubs or swords, the evidence of ritual sacrifice and the graves often contain weapons, presumably to assist the dead person in the journey in the life thereafter. There is plenty of evidence in the early record to show that whole groups were wiped out at different times.

Prof Robert Patman (Politics) wondered if there was something that leads man to war, as there have been many wars and they result in huge numbers of deaths. He remarked that man is the only animal to enjoy cruelty, and we all know there are many examples of that, historically and currently. If society is strongly patriarchal and authoritarian there is a much greater chance of war, maybe the gender imbalance has a lot to do with it. Over time, there have been moves to peace treaties and now with a move away from unfettered sovereignty, issues facing the whole world can be tackled by co-operation between states – agreements on use of water, fishing rights, climate change, nuclear weapons proliferation etc being examples of the need for international co-operation.

Prof Kevin Clements (Peace and Conflict Studies) noted that there are now 7 billion of us and that alone reflects the relative decrease in deaths by violence. The last 500 years have been far less violent than the centuries before. There is no ‘violence gene’ in the brain so far as we know and the rise of international organisations such as the United Nations, Amnesty International etc shows that there is a general move towards working together to solve problems and for some formerly violent states to become peace loving (Sweden for example). Governments are not free to mistreat their peoples without a reaction from the international community.

This led me to reflect that whilst man’s innate NATURE may have a tendency towards violence, there is plenty of evidence that NURTURE can overcome that tendency.

Gratitude

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice.

– Meister Eckhart

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.

–  Cicero

Sea of Faith – Dunedin

Next Meeting

AGM & “Black Elk”

with Gretchen Kivell & Wilson Daniel

Thursday, 27 March

*****

We Start With…

*****

From the Chair

Thoughts from a Member

A Key Diary Date

Conference 2014

New Faces

National Newsletter

Sea of Faith – Dunedin

Next Meeting

Rod Mitchell

Thursday, 27 February

*****

We Start With…

*****

From the Chair

The New Zealand Sea of Faith National Steering Committee meets monthly, mostly by teleconference but once each year face to face each January in Wellington. This year’s meeting opened with the opportunity for each of us to introduce ourselves. Taking 5 – 10 minutes each, we traversed our early and middle years – including religious instruction and subsequent changes (if any) – and latterly about how we each ended up at the Sea of Faith. I found this time of sharing provided a very constructive space for the subsequent meeting, and very much enjoyed the experience.
Later, while discussing ‘Where will SoF be in 5 years’ time?’ we highlighted the reducing membership of some groups, and an aging membership in some, too. Concern to increase our membership led on to the difficulty of explaining ourselves simply – the name ‘Sea of Faith’ can be attractive to some but we think many are put off – and realised as an organisation we are ‘different things to different people’, witness what we had learned as we shared our backgrounds earlier that day.
This led to experiences of sharing ‘religious odysseys’, ‘faith journeys’, or spiritual autobiographies’ in SoF-like groups (taking anywhere from four minutes to an hour, depending on the purpose and organisation). It was mooted that a gathering of some 12 – 20 short autobiographies might be a good way of describing to enquirers, or those who might be attracted to SoF, what a diverse group of people discussing a diverse range of thought we are, and that we provide ‘a safe place to discuss unsafe things’.

Our Next Meeting

Dr Rod Mitchell will give some impressions from the 3rd Common Dreams Conference in Melbourne (under auspices of the Progressive Christianity movement) he attended late last year. Rod has addressed us twice in recent years, on Ken Wilbur and, in 2010, on the Parliament of World Religions held for the first time in Australia. Both addresses were very well received. Rod has a .25 EFT position with the Methodist parish, mainly at Mornington, and promises his address will focus on ‘a bigger story for our faith’.

Our March Meeting

The March meeting will include a short AGM of about 20 minutes. We are looking for several new people to join the Dunedin SoF committee. The work is not onerous – one or perhaps two meetings per year to discuss the programme, a willingness to help with a small amount of organisation, and willing hands during our meetings. Please talk to someone at the February meeting if you could be interested.

Conference 2014

This will be held at Tolcarne House, the Boarding Hostel of St Hilda’s Collegiate, from October 3rd to 5th. Please mark your diaries. We have a passionate and dynamic group of folk who are determined to make the event a success and to promote the city we are all so much in love with. Dunedin is a Scottish City (and the vote for Devolution comes up in Scotland on 18th September, so the issue will be decided then – at least for the time being) and so prepare to celebrate all that with a splash of tartan and a sprig of heather to welcome the visitors.

Dirk de Ridder, Richard Egan, Sandra Winton, Bernard Beckett will be Keynotes, as well as our good friend Lloyd Geering.

Dirk de Ridder, Richard Egan and Lloyd Geering will need no introduction to readers, but I had to look up Sandra and Bernard. This is a little of what I found…

Sandra Winton has a Distinguished Service Award from the New Zealand Association of Psychotherapists. Many of you will know her through either the University Chaplaincy or Ashburn Clinic links.

Bernard Beckett is a children’s writer and secondary school teacher, whose knowledge of teenage culture is reflected in his believable adolescent characters.

In the News

The ODT on 5th February 2014 reported the last census data concerning church attendance in Dunedin. Unsurprisingly, the majority of the figures show a huge drop, with the biggest drop being the Presbyterians from 40,000 (using approximate numbers) in the last census to 32,000 in 2013. The number of people claiming no religion has increased from 45 000 to 55 000. Religion and spirituality are not the same thing of course and it always seems to me that when I attend a funeral or a marriage, the “audience” has a strong role in the proceedings with special poems being composed and read, unusual music being played and a form of service unlike services I attended as a boy. We do seem to be a very spiritual people, we respond to “A Fair Go” with an innate sense of social justice and whenever there is an appeal, we give very generously. Whilst the data show that Dunedin is a decreasingly religious place, it always strikes me as a very spiritual place.

Ian Harris has written frequently about frustrations within the institutional church and in 12 Oct 2013, wrote about the challenge to German Catholics to pay their taxes to the church or risk no being allowed to access the facilities of the church – including the sacraments. Ian has also written about congregations being “in one place” and the established church being some way behind; the difference being another cause of frustration. In our group, many believe you can be a Christian without a belief in God, many churches are not comfortable with that but it has been an exciting journey for those of us who have arrived at that point.