Cultural Affairs

We’re only 10 weeks into 2012 yet already there have been several opportunities for cultural activity – opportunities we have happily signed up for.

Auckland has a population of roughly 1.4 million, which means nearly a third of all New Zealand inhabitants live here.  And around 40% of that population were born overseas.  Roughly 20% of all Aucklanders come from China, and around another 25% of them are either Maori or Pasifika.  It is a very diverse city, and since it amalgamated all seven councils into one supercity in 2011, it now covers a huge area:

All of which means that this multicultural city gets to celebrate in lots of different ways!

Saturday 21 January:  Chinese New Year comes first.  The fast-growing Chinese population is still relatively new to Auckland and is still finding its feet, culturally.  There is a celebration at Roy’s museum.  As it is the Year of the Dragon we have two dragons, several drummers and a corps of young Chinese dancers doing their thing.  They gather outside the south entrance to practise, and find themselves in competition with some Scottish bagpipes practising on the Domain nearby (didn’t mention the Scots, did I?).  A quiet word and the Scots kindly move off to wail elsewhere…..

[The dragons prepare to mount the steps and enter the museum]

[A whirl of colour and concentration]

I am asked to catch the flower tossed out by one of the dragons; to drop it is to bring bad luck onto our heads (and who knows whose else).  The dragons weave up and down, then one snatches the ‘flower’ from its stand. I wait, watching nervously. The dragon is struggling to manage the flower.  Suddenly it is hurled at me from the dragon’s mouth.  Luckily I manage to catch it left-handed before it touches the ground, and I thank my old netballing skills.  No-one warned me that it was a life-like large plastic red rose – complete with thorns!  Ouch….     Roy gets to make another speech and is awarded a print of a favourable Chinese symbol for his pains. The rose comes home with us; the print stays in the office.

Saturday 28 January:  Opera in the Park comes to our own Dingle Dell Reserve, a 5-minute stroll from our house.  Only by a chance meeting do I discover this gem, part of Auckland Council’s Summer programme of free concerts all over the city.  We take a picnic rug, some food and wine and at 6 pm along with 500 other discerning locals we enjoy 2 hours of New Zealand Opera’s Young Artists, offering us Europe’s finest operatic arias from Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Wagner et al.

[Dingle Dell Reserve prepares for a musical feast]

Monday 30 January:  Next, Auckland celebrates its 172^nd birthday - a public holiday for Aucklanders and the harbour spectacle of the annual Regatta (which is also 172 years old).  Well, it is called the City of Sails.  Curiously, although this day celebrates the founding of Auckland in September 1840, the actual date chosen commemorates the landing of William Hobson in the Bay of Islands earlier that same year.  Not many Aucklanders know that…

[HMNZS Otago awaits embarkation of guests, 0830]

We are invited as guests on board the HMNZS Otago, one of New Zealand’s two new Offshore Patrol Vessels, accepted into the fleet in 2010.  We are joined by the Governor-General, Sir Jerry Mataparae, Lt General, a delightful man who gets to stand on the bridge wing and fire the rifle for the official start of the Regatta.  We spend the day anchored off Orakei, talking and enjoying naval hospitality. 

[Lt Gen The Rt Hon Sir Jerry Mataparae, Governor General of NZ, 

fires the starting rifle]

[Up on the bridge I am thrilled to note several Servowatch displays - Go Tollesbury!]

[The RNZN equivalent of the Royal Marines band serenades us during lunch]

[Roy is flanked by William and Janice Randall - 

William is Chairman of the Museum Trustee Board]

The sun shines, the sea shimmers, the boats sail past, large and small, though fewer of them than we had imagined.  This time last year we were also in Auckland (for Roy’s interview) and there were 50 knots of wind causing yacht mayhem.  Not today, thankfully.  It is a strange meeting of two lives, the once familiar naval setting jostling against our new roles in museum and church.

[Sky Tower prominent in this classic Auckland skyline]

[With Devonport as a backdrop, five very different yachts race for the finish]

[Reminiscent of the Onedin Line... the majestic Spirit of New Zealand in full fig]

Monday 6 February:  A week later, it is Waitangi Day, and a national public holiday this time.  This is a ‘celebration’ that continues to remind New Zealanders about the tensions underlying the nation since the Waitangi Treaty was signed in 1840.  British representatives and Maori chiefs signed together, placing Maori Aotearoa under British protection, or so thought the Maori.  As far as Britain was concerned New Zealand was now under British sovereignty. The resentment continues, on both sides, as financial compensation is still being paid to various iwi (tribes) to make up for the wholesale land-grab that took place over decades.  Maori do not believe in personal ownership of land, so how can white people think that having paid for it they now own it?  The land belongs to all and is to be respected and cherished so that it will yield food.  So think the Maori.   Many Pakeha (white New Zealanders) do not ‘celebrate’ Waitangi Day at all, but still take it as a public holiday.  Others are determined to find ways of marking the day, bringing people together in a festive mood, with music, food and entertainment.

The main Auckland event takes place for the first time in south Auckland, near Manukau.  Around 35000 people gather, mainly but not exclusively Maori and Pasifika.  Roy and I are there for the formal mihi (greetings), along with Mayor Len Brown and some politicians.  The Mayor makes an excellent speech; he was formerly mayor of south Auckland and knows his audience.  I get to hongi  lots of people again, though no rugby players this time.   Roy talks to people afterwards about the forthcoming Waitangi 175 celebrations in 2015, which need careful planning.  The museum should play a key role. Good connections take place.  Meanwhile I watch the young Maori dancers do a kapahaka.  No beer and no drugs allowed in the grounds.  It’s a good family day out for those who’ve made the effort:

[Mayor Len Brown, far left, introducing the Maori dance troupe]

[Revellers enjoying their substance-free day out]

Saturday 10 March:   Yesterday, the annual Pasifika Festival.  This is in its 20^th year, and it’s huge. It is held at Western Springs Park, near Auckland Zoo.  There are 10 Pacific nations represented -  Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Cook Islands, Tokelau, Niue, Tahiti, Kiribati, Tuvalu and Aotearoa – each with their own ‘village’.  It’s their chance to showcase their culture, with music, dancing, cooking, crafts and heritage.  Roy’s museum has a stand in the main arena, where museum staff encourage children (and adults) to colour and make badges of images from the collections, try their hand at basket-weaving (with flax pulled fresh from the park) and garland-making with fresh flowers - and record their interesting T-shirts at the museum’s latest show ‘Identi-tee’.

[The museum tent attracting steady numbers of badge-makers]

[Bethany, from the museum, making flax baskets]

Upwards of 50000 turn out to enjoy the day.  We wander slowly through the grounds, stopping to watch, enjoy, occasionally buy.  The atmosphere is friendly, involved, relaxed, and it’s not raining (Jess says it always rains at the Pasifika Festival). 

[Tahitian dancers - look how small the youngest is!]

[Tongan carving, from a single tree trunk]

[Also Tongan, sadly not for sale]

[We watched the artist Marcus Winter create this in 6 minutes,

using rags and two different sized paint brushes.  Retail $25 - about £13.

And yes, we bought one, of Rangitoto naturally]

All this organisation and effort for a 24-hour extravanganza.  Sally was at the opening the previous night.  ‘What was it like?’ I ask.  ‘Lots of music, and singing, and people bringing picnics and rugs,’ she replies.  ‘Oh, like Glyndebourne,’ I say.  Perhaps not quite…..

Every one of these events is free to the public (though not the day on the Otago). There is a rich tapestry to explore and enjoy here in Auckland. Thank you Auckland Council : )

Ministry moments

It occurred to me that most of my posts to date refer to cultural/leisure activities and experiences.  And I thought perhaps it’s time I told you a little bit more about what I have actually been doing in my job!  Fewer photos this time, sorry.

January-February turns out to be a busy time for me in ministry terms.  Michael takes 5 weeks off (mostly paternity leave) straight after Christmas.  So Nyasha and I lead worship together until our  trip down to Totara Springs, just south of  Matamata (where The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit were filmed ), for New Wine New Zealand.  Nearly 500 of us encamped (or in my case in a motel-style room, sharing with a total stranger) for 4 nights, to share fellowship, teaching and worship at this Christian  event.  Last summer I attended the one in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, along with 12500 other Christians.  This camp is just a tad smaller, but follows a similar pattern.  And it has a thermal pool and lots of play areas for children:

[My motel room is the one in the middle]

[The scenery surrounding our campsite]

[Inside our main venue, preparing for our next worship and teaching session]

[The thermal pool above; young people playing giant chess below]

We explore the role of Moses and his obedience to God, and discuss how he can be a good role model for us all, as we try and live out our Christian faith in the world.  The teaching is excellent, as are the worship bands.  I learn lots more worship songs, make a new friend (from Hamilton), and find myself refreshed and re-invigorated by a real sense of God’s presence.  It is another powerful experience for me, and I feel God has answered my prayer that I would discern the direction my ministry should take this coming year.  Twice the palms of my hands burn for long periods (between 30-90 minutes) during worship.  I’m told it is a sort of ‘anointing’.  As a result I have already offered healing prayer separately to four people back in St Heliers, and am now exploring the introduction of a healing ministry to St Philip’s…

On my return to the parish I find myself at the helm of the parish for a fortnight as Nyasha also goes on holiday.  Traditionally January is a quiet month, so it’s ideal that I make my solo debut when not much is going on.  But it gives me a chance to sit at Michael’s large and roomy desk (mine is narrow, and has no drawers) on his bouncing, swivelling chair (mine is an ordinary chair from the church hall) and see how the vicar lives and works.  I find myself writing pieces for the pew notices and newssheet, as well as preaching, writing weekly prayers and doing pastoral visits, and taking home communion to some too unwell to attend church (tasks I would normally do anyway).  Luckily nothing major happens. It all feels good, and finally I begin to feel more part of the fabric of this community.

I meet with and ‘appoint’ a Supervisor, thus fulfilling another part of my ‘contract’.  She is called Marilyn.  We are to meet every two months.  Her role is as a sounding board, a voice of wisdom and experience, a confidante, an advisor.  Just what I need.

There is some more training: first a residential at the lovely Vaughan Park half an hour up the coast, where us curates gather to learn and to share (and already I feel very much part of this group), with the bishop taking the first session; and then, on my birthday, a day learning how to run a special Marriage course, for those preparing to marry and those wishing to enrich a marriage.  [Pity I can’t marry anyone til after November this year, when I’m finally ordained a priest.] 

And I get to take my first funeral.  For four weeks I visit a dying man in one of our residential homes; I pray with him and take him communion; I watch him seek God’s forgiveness and find it; I see him reconciled to his family.  I visit him for the last time two days before he dies.  ‘How are you feeling?’, I ask.  ‘Peaceful’, he replies.  The family joins us for worship on the Sunday, four hours after he passes away.  They are not churchgoers and it’s a jolly Harvest service where I am delivering the family homily on ‘waste, water and wubbish!’.  Yet they are moved and decide the funeral should be at St Philip’s rather than anywhere else.  And I am invited to preside at his funeral.   It is an amazing experience and a huge privilege.

And finally I follow another prompting that came a while back, to be engaged in some activity with young children within a school environment.  I am now to be a relief teacher for Bible in Schools (also known as Christian Religious Education), filling in where necessary at Glendowie Primary School, doing a 30-minute period on a Friday morning with 7-8 year olds, helping them to learn bible stories and to apply Christian teaching to their lives.  I start next week, shadowing a colleague, learning the ropes.  Gulp! 

It is exactly six months ago today that I arrived in Auckland, and as I look back on these first few months I reflect on God's providence and give thanks for so many blessings in my life.  I feel very much part of this ministry team and of this parish - and indeed of this community.  I know shopkeepers, restaurateurs and waitresses by name, and where the best takeaway coffee and fish and chips are and who makes the best chocolate/caramel slices; I have my favourite bench on which to sit and look at the sea and marvel at the changing light and colours; I pop in and out of the library, chatting to librarians, devouring books once again; I cycle when I can, collared up or otherwise, including to the rest homes with communion kit and NZPB (New Zealand Prayer Book) in my rear basket.  And I marvel that I am here, in New Zealand, somehow, by God's grace.

And I'm also very conscious that I'm so thankful for Roy's full support in all that I do, the interest he shows, his encouragement, his acceptance of the impact my new role has on our lives, his words of wisdom just when I most need them, and his confidence in me when I'm feeling unsure.  Somehow he makes it all 'all right'.

This is still an adventure.  And whilst I do miss family, friends and all things British, I am here for now and who knows what else lies ahead?  So yes, I continue to step out in faith and see where it takes me J