Wednesday, October 13
Day 10 - Wednesday 13th October
Today Paul drove himself to the Christchurch campus of the New Zealand Bible College to meet Steve Taylor www.emergentkiwi.org.nz Steve is a practical theologian and church leader. We talked about models of church and Paul listened as Steve put forward his vision for establishing a postmodern monastary. In an ever increasing consummerist and individualistic society the desire amongst Christians to recapture something of the inclusive, welcoming, supportive community of the first generational church comes as no surprise.
But how do we move with people who have little or no experience or understanding of the Christian way? How do we move with those for whom the church community has become a safe and comfortable place with few demands? Is it possible in emerging church for these very different groups to nourish one another with their own insights? The church in New Zealand faces near identical issues as we do in Ossett.
Later that day we visited the art gallery and enjoyed an interactive exhibit which involved us creating a noise which caused projected leaves on a hedge to fall to the ground. The louder the noise the more leaves fell! We had fun!!
The whole area now covered by the city of Christchurch was once forest and we visited a protected area of the original forest.
As soon as we returned home we put our swimming things on, drove to the local pier and jumped into the sea. Within 3 minutes we were back on dry land and drying off - 'twas freeeezin.
Tuesday, October 12
Day 9 - Tuesday 12th October
It had been very strange for us that we had travelled to the other side of the world (22 hours on the plane) only to find "English" civilisation, English language and even cars which were driven on the English side of the road - how weard was all this? Today we set off in the car to explore the beautiful coastline and countryside just South of Christchurch. We had a picnic by the sea and visited a Maori museum in the countryside. We travelled for hours, sometimes on unmade roads, and saw only a handful of cars in that time. I leave the pictures below to give an impression.
We came across a number of church buildings and leant something of the story of the Christian Community who worship there. The Anglican Church in New Zealand has pursued Lay Ministry teams to an even greater extent than experienced in England. It seemed to us that where the theology linking baptism - discipleship - ministry - life had been fully received then renewal of inherited church practice, based upon ministry exercised by the priest on behalf of the whole, could take place. However, more often than not, it appeared that such a move to teams of Lay people taking responsibility for the bulk of church life that the cutting edge of mission and service had been sacrificed and a fairly hollow sustaining of church practice had alone remained.
Monday, October 11
Day 8 – Monday 11th October
We were up early and off to the airport for our flight to Christchurch, New Zealand. Anne and Mark had been wonderfully generous hosts to us. We’d shared their home for a few days; shared each others journeys and knew that we were part of the same company of saints travelling through life, following Jesus.
The next few days would be more holiday as we stayed with Sarah’s sister Anna, and her husband, Andrew, in the small community of Lyttleton just South of Christchurch.
Sunday, October 10
Day 7 – Sunday 10th October
We awoke thinking of our home community celebrating harvest and took ourselves, by train and tram, to Victoria Market – a huge indoor market selling almost anything you could think of! Here we saw camels and Paul had a caricature of himself drawn in 5 minutes for not much money! Melbourne is a cosmopolitan city where we readily felt at ease.
In the early evening we travelled across the city to South Yarra Baptist Church where we shared their Eucharistic worship. The leader of the church is also a lecturer in early Christian history at Whitley Baptist College. The Order of Service booklet gives a thorough explanation of the liturgy www.laughingbird.net Different members of the church community read different parts of the liturgy. We sat on three sides around a circular table with icons and candles behind us. We’d not been to a Baptist church before that used incense, icons and liturgy.
Saturday, October 9
Day 6 – Saturday 9th October
Today we move back to Melbourne. As often in the Community many people were gathered together in the kitchen preparing food. We held hands outside in a big circle and prayed. We were given a gift of a hand-made, deliberately broken, stone cross. About 12 people stood in the street and waved us off. We were driven to the train whilst hundreds of local people came to the meeting room which had been turned into a polling station. In Australia it is a legal requirement to vote and you will be fined if you don’t, so every one turns out!
We headed back to what felt like familiar Melbourne with our massive suitcases and many conversations and thoughts to process.
We spent the afternoon in the National Gallery of Aboriginal art. It was an amazing place and helped us begin to understand something more of indigenous Australian culture. We took the half hour boat back to Mark and Anne’s where we joined them for a special birthday meal for a friend.
Friday, October 8
Day 5 – Friday 8th October
The city of Geelong is only an hour’s drive from Melbourne. It’s a coastal resort which is developing a tourist industry. We were given a lift into town and enjoyed a couple of hours walking by the beach and visiting the botanical gardens where we took pictures of tree ferns (specially for Duncan and Aldene – not realising that we’d encounter whole forests of them in New Zealand!)
We spent many hours with various members of the community talking about community life; about their history and development; about how it feels to plan to “grow old together” and what it’s like being in their neighbourhood as a sign of God’s kingdom. The community is a resource to the Baptist Union in the region and inspires and supports other groups of believers setting out on the path of intentional Christian community. The community is used as a safe house for trial witnesses and a place of retreat and renewal for Christians of many traditions. A full study of their formation, development and life is being carried out by Paul Dekar www.ats.edu/faculty/grants/lilly/proposals/dekar.html and will be published next year.
Today we sent the first postcards to our own Christian Community at Trinity Church Ossett who’d made this pilgrimage possible. We lit the candle we’d been given for our travels and prayed for each person as we wrote cards. We felt very connected and were still pinching ourselves to make sure that what we were experiencing was real and not just a dream. How amazing was all this!
In the evening we shared good food, good wine and good conversation with two couples (both similar age to ourselves). Our experience was of wonderfully generous hospitality and openness to us and our searching questions. We were very aware of how privileged we were to be on this pilgrimage. Already our time in Australia had been very rich and we’d shared the wonder of Christian fellowship which unites us around the world and makes us family where we’d otherwise be strangers!
Thursday, October 7
Day 4 – Thursday 7th October
After an early morning swim in the local pool we travelled by train into the centre of Melbourne where we were met by Marcus from Urban Seed www.urbanseed.org – a community of people ministering to the homeless and drug addicts of the city. Some live together in a house above the church (traditional Baptist) in the centre of the city whilst others live in extended households in an inner suburb. We shared prayers and then lunch with the community who invite the homeless of the city to join them each day. [There we met someone from England, in Melbourne for a year with Urban Seed supported by Oasis Trust.] This was the focal point of their daily ministry. After lunch we met others, including Brent, who we were with the rest of the day. We shared a guided tour of the inner-city with a group of Malasian medical students who were challenged about the social exclusion experienced by those who were homeless and on drugs. Together we walked the streets of the Central Business District and were challenged to engage in the larger issues of gambling and designer clothes. Urban Seed have ministered in the city for some time and have build a reputation for not only serving the needs of the poor but also of pricking the conscience of the corporate businesses who also inhabit the centre of this multicultural city. Urban Seed is led by Mark Pierson (speaker at Greenbelt 04, author of “The Prodigal Project”, founding leader of Cityside Baptist Church, Auckland, NZ) and in Auckland, NZ when we visited.
Brent then took us by car to Geelong, the second largest city in Victoria State, and to the Community of the Holy Transfiguration in Breakwater suburb. Standing on the pavement, waiting for our arrival was Graeme, Steven and Meryl.
This is the only Baptist Monastery in the world. It was founded 30 years ago and is a mix of single people (men and women) and married people (some with children). Each person works part-time and so pays their own way. All live in houses on the compound or very close by. All share daily prayer (morning, midday and evening) Monday - Friday and others join the community for the weekly Eucharist on Thursday followed by a meal. Many have taken life long vows of commitment to the community and all expect to "grow old together".
The worship style is Eastern Orthodox with well rehearsed unaccompanied part singing and very confident saying of responses in the liturgy. All members of the community wear plain copes for worship and as guests we were invited to do the same - see below!
Their ministry of hospitality is lavish. Sarah and I were given our own guest house complete with piano, computer, gigantic bed (super-king size!) and kitchen cupboards full of food and drink, including wine, port and chocolate in the bedroom and toothbrushes in the bathroom.
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