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On Saturday 30th of July, from 10 am until 3 pm  at St Mary's Mornington I am running a dream workshop. I used to do this quite often but I haven't done it in years. That's what episcopacy does for you. We all dream, every night. The Hindus say you stop when you are enlightened but that's not anybody I've ever come across. Most of us are occasionally astonished by our dreams and mystified by them, but remembered, recorded and worked with they are a window into the actions of our psyche unparalleled for clarity and accessibility. I'll be talking a little about what dreams are and why we dream, but for the most part this will be a workshop where participants will talk and share and work. I'll share what I know about ways to remember, ways to record and ways to work with the picture show that unfolds inside the heads of all of us every night, and how all this relates to our spiritual journey. I'd be happy for you to join us. If you want to, drop m...

I am grateful to the Rev'd Andrea McDougall, Vicar of Oamaru, for preparing this: Māori Language Week 6 July – 12 July 2016 Kia ora tātou  July 6-12  is Māori language week in 2016. As part of our ongoing responsibility to be good partners to our Tikanga partners, as a reminder that the Anglican church in Aotearoa began as a missionary church to the Māori, and as a commitment to living in this country with more than one official language, you might like to include some te reo Māori in your service on the Sunday concluding Māori language Week, 12 July. To help the faith communities who want to give this a try, we have attached some resources you might use.  Please feel free to use whatever is appropriate in your context. Resources that are attached : Māori words for the tune of Kumbayah (easily taught for Sunday school or a simple song for the whole congregation). A greeting in Māori that can be both printed in your pewsheet      a...

About 6 weeks ago I announced my impending retirement. I am obliged to give three months notice but gave the diocese about ten months because there needs to be some very major changes made, and we need the ten months to make them. The simple truth is, we, in the Diocese of Dunedin can no longer afford a full time bishop. This year we are balancing the budget because the St. John's College Trust Board has recognised my role as a ministry educator and has allowed us to use some of the funding we use for educational work to be applied to the episcopate. I have spoken of the reasons for the changes in our circumstances before. At our peak, back in the early 1970's there were about 10,000 people worshipping in Anglican Churches in Otago and Southland every week. Last year there were around 2,000. In other words, there has been an 80% decline over the last 40 years. The infrastructure of our church was developed to serve a spiritual environment which has changed bey...