We’re past mid-September already! Unbelievable! Ski season is fast coming to an end – I’m sure there will be many Ilamites scuttling backwards and forwards to the mountains just now, as time (and lingering snow) permit! For the non-skiers among us, we still get to appreciate the glimpses of snow-covered mountains across the plains (or for those of you who live in the more elevated suburbs, the expansive vistas of snow-capped mountains which backdrop your living room views).
This Sunday will be our first run through an Ilam in Groups service offering. We have 9 locations across the city – and, hopefully, everyone will have received an email from Andrea with a venue and time. We have realised that this time around, with the slightly more stringent requirements for level 2, we have had to take a bit more time in sorting out the groups. We are really grateful to those who are hosting a group this week – and to those who have indicated they would be happy to host in the future. (If you would like to host a group and haven’t been asked to, please feel free to let me or Andrea or Helen know! We’d love to slot you in.)
(Please note that there is no Zoom service option this week – we discovered that there is a limit to the number of ways we can put on a service with limited resources.)
In the meantime, with slight hints from the government today that the current limit of 50 people for larger gatherings might be eased next week, there is even more incentive to be exploring other ways to meet up each week. Watch this space!
It was great to hear that Mainly Music started up again this week – thanks, team, for making that happen! The Thursday prayer meeting also re-commenced, so please remember to let Helen know if you have any prayer requests. Amy and Anne-Marie are heading off to Hanmer with their Mentoring Group for an overnighter on Saturday. All this makes it feel like life is beginning to happen again after that short, but sharp, lockdown.
On the COVID front, it seems that, once again, the annual Baptist Hui has had to be cancelled. This would have been taking place near the beginning of November and in Auckland. One of the options proposed is to postpone into 2023 – my hope is that that is what will happen. The annual Hui is an important opportunity to gather as a movement of churches and develop the cohesion that makes us a “movement” rather than a scattering of independent churches each doing their own thing. Relationality is important – which means we need to meet! More on that as news unfolds.
One of the things I have enjoyed these last few weeks is thinking of some of the poetry which seems to match the season of spring. The one I have included this week probably belongs in every season there is always something that we can marvel at, if we look at it the right way! Maybe take a few moments to luxuriate in the amazing vocabulary in this one.
Pied Beauty
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Glory be to God for dappled things –
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.