As a strong advocate of and encourager to clergy and other Christians to bring mission and ministry into the 21st century and cyberspace, I am delighted to see that Rev. Howard Pilgrim is another Kiwi Anglican priest who has just started a new blog. The blog is called Hermeneutics Workshop. Howard describes himself as “a New Zealand, Anglican, liberal evangelical biblical scholar”. I try to eschew boxes and categories – but if we must have them: this orthodox charismatic evangelical catholic wishes Howard all the best in this new venture.
Tag Archive for 'new zealand'
New Plymouth cathedral
The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentanu, on Saturday March 6, was part of consecrating St Mary’s in New Plymouth as a cathedral. Much has been made of the fact that this is the newest cathedral in the Anglican world for about 80 years. That, read by itself, can give an impression of growth and vibrancy. But there’s a catch: the diocese in which St Mary’s is a cathedral (Waikato, also called the Anglican Diocese of Waikato and Taranaki) already has a cathedral, the Cathedral Church of St Peter in Hamilton (approximately 3 ½ hours drive away). Having two cathedrals in one diocese is unique in Anglicanism, and I would be interested: I suspect it is unique in episcopally-led Christian history? Waikato diocese is unique in having two equal diocesan bishops – not a diocesan bishop and assistant or suffragan. Again: I suspect it is unique in episcopally-led Christian history? Peter Carrell on his blog goes so far as to say, “In due course we look forward to the fulfilment of all requirements of Niceaean righteousness through Taranaki being promulgated a separate diocese.”
These are not the only structural innovations that NZ Anglicans have brought to ecclesiology. The first ever motion of the Anglican Primates’ Meeting (pro-Anglican Covenant, pro-Tikanga Kiwis take note) was their attempt to prevent NZ Anglicanism from implementing its three-tikanga structure in which three cultural streams (Maori, Pakeha, Polynesia) have oversight over the same geographic area, with each Tikanga’s episcopal units with its own bishop and governance. That led to having three primates (Maori, Pakeha, Polynesia) of what is still understood to be one province.
It is true that Selwyn’s hope had been for a cathedral in New Plymouth. It is true that atrocities centre around the New Plymouth site that are worth remembering and addressing. It is also worth wondering IMO why “upgrading” St Mary’s to the “status” of a cathedral is regarded as a contribution towards reconciliation in this story. Is that part of continuing a model in which a bishop is seen to be “above” a priest who is “above” a lay person (and a cathedral is “above” a parish church …). Personally I want to work towards a model in which a bishop is seen as equal-and-different to a priest who is equal-and-different to a lay person…
Hokitika cathedral?
I have not previously put a link from this site to this year’s online lectionary from the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia.
Click here to download a PDF of this year’s lectionary (4 MB)
The New Zealand Anglican news website, Taonga, has, without much fanfare, rolled out a significant upgrade. In a country clearly on the cutting edge of technology, Anglicans have tended to look like technophobes totally out-of-step with the surrounding culture. Taonga now provides a more user-friendly experience, and, more significantly, has entered the world of web 2.0 in allowing reader comments. Registration takes only a moment. Join in. Alongside the recent ordination of our first blogging bishop, Taonga brings some movement into mission and ministry in cyberspace. Well done and congratulations Taonga! Let us pray for all involved.
Start your own website – within an hour or two you, or your community, have a website to be proud of.
Mary MacKillop
Pope Benedict XVI announced on Friday that Mother Mary MacKillop would be one of six canonised at a Vatican ceremony on October 17.
Together with Father Julian Tenison Woods, Mary MacKillop founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart. She was for a while excommunicated, but now there are more than a thousand Sisters in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and Peru.
This Australian has strong associations with New Zealand. She visited here on several occasions. The first school run by her sisters in New Zealand was opened in Temuka in 1883. Other schools and institutions followed and the work continues into the present. While in Rotorua on a visit to New Zealand in 1901 Mother Mary was partially paralysed by a stroke.
In 2006 I put a motion to our diocesan synod which led to Mary MacKillop being voted to be added to the NZ Anglican calendar for August 8. This has passed a majority of diocesan synods and will this year be presented to a second meeting of General Synod. After this there is a year “lying on the table” for anyone to object. The church is so confident of her inclusion that she has already been included in the 2009 and 2010 lectionaries. It does mean, however, that her official inclusion in our NZ Anglican calendar will now be after that of the Roman Catholic Church. I would be interested if there is any movement to add her to the calendar by the Australian Anglican church.
Gracious God,
you gave to your servant Mary MacKillop
a heart to teach and care for children.
We thank you for the good she and her order have done.
By your grace give us a like compassion for the poor
and a concern for the education of the young
that we all may learn to praise you with joyful hearts;
through Jesus Christ our Lord
who is alive with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
Archbishop Jabez Bryce, the longest-serving bishop in the Anglican Communion, has died aged 75 in Suva, Fiji. Archbishop Jabez was the first Pacific Islander to become an Anglican bishop.
Jabez was born in Vavaʻu, in Tonga, he grew up in Samoa and trained for the priesthood at St John’s College in Auckland, New Zealand. His mother was Tongan, his father had Samoan and Scottish heritage. He became the Bishop of the Diocese of Polynesia in 1975, and Archbishop in 2006. In 2005 three assistant bishops expanded the oversight of his diocese.
In August 2008 Archbishop Jabez was chosen to crown the new Tongan King, His Majesty King George Tupou V. Archbishop Jabez had strong ecumenical drive and passion for interfaith dialogue, working for unity between the various denominations in the Pacific, serving on the Pacific Conference of Churches for many years and was a president of the Pacific region of the World Council of Churches.
A memorial Eucharist was held last night at St. Mary’s in Holy Trinity Cathedral, Auckland, with the Rt. Rev. Winston Halapua, bishop for the Diocese of Polynesia in Aotearoa New Zealand, presiding.
Archbishop David Moxon, who has known Archbishop Jabez for 40 years, said he will always recall the “grace, strength and energy of the man. Bryce leaves so much to value and treasure behind him; and he will be honoured and remembered for a long time as the greatest of the bishops of Polynesia.” Archbishop Brown Turei described Archbishop Jabez as “a prince of the church. A man who was dignified, kindly, who liked things done decently and in order — because that reflected what the church meant to him.”
Archbishop Jabez Bryce is survived by his wife, Tilisi, and two children, Jonathan and Fitaloa. The funeral service will be held at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Suva on Thursday, Feb. 18 at 10.30 a.m.
I understand that the General Synod of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia meets this year from 10 to 14 May in Gisborne. I understand this – because I asked a General Synod member. Good luck to anyone trying to find this information online. It certainly isn’t mentioned on the General Synod website, “the official Web Site” of our province. (This has “General Synod / te Hinota Whanui ?? (sic.)” for “16/7 – 3/8/08″. Next: good luck to anyone trying to find out what might possibly be discussed at General Synod this year! Does our provincial leadership think that Anglicans have no interest either in knowing that our central governing body is meeting – or what about? Or worse (do they have a reason to be so “discreet” 
?) Those who are unsure about the three Tikanga structure of our province regularly hear, “ah – but you haven’t experienced the great three-Tikanga events such as the meeting of General Synod [not verbalised: the meeting of which we only publicise to members of General Synod] you are always welcome as a visitor to these great meetings [which we will tell you about in the magazine Taonga after it has met]”
So, had you known that General Synod was meeting (and it’s probably too late to make suggestions to your diocesan representatives now) what might you have had on your wish list that General Synod might discuss? Here are some of mine (in no particular order):
An outward-looking serving church
Far too much of our time, energy (etc.) as a church is devoted to inward-looking, often proportionately minor issues. We need to become, and be seen to be, an outward-looking, serving community; missional in the sense of being alongside and of service beyond our worshipping community. More than half of our 5-fold mission statement is outward looking. Debate, financing, statistics, resourcing, etc needs to be about Haiti, government financial plans, climate change, ecology, …
Episcopal nominations
Recently we have had four dioceses convene Electoral Colleges to discern whom God is calling to be the new diocesan bishop. Each diocese proceeded in a way significantly different from each other. To an outside observer it would have been difficult to realise that these four dioceses actually belong to the same province. The canons were clearly found to be inadequate in each case. Terminology and methodology used did not even conform to the binding canons. It is beyond my comprehension why, a few years ago when it was obvious a significant number of diocesan bishops would be retiring, General Synod did not have the leadership to review these canons. I do not know when they were written – but canons excellent for a time when people and information moved by sailing ship does not appear to function appropriately in a digital age. I hope these canons are high on the agenda of this year’s General Synod.
Statistics
It must be possible to ascertain how many clergy we have in our province, what their qualifications and training are, and what their age and gender distribution is. It must be possible to work out how many people attend Anglican churches in our province, and what their age and gender distribution is. And what the trends have been in these statistics. I just have no idea where one goes for such basic planning and reflection information. IMO General Synod should collect and publish statistics.
Covenant
Although increasingly it is clear that energy for the covenant is decreasing, and if anyone does actually sign up to anything it will not make the slightest bit of difference to the real issues facing us, but, I guess the proposed Anglican Covenant will be discussed at General Synod. Currently the only “Instrument of Communion” that we recognise canonically in our constitution is the Archbishop of Canterbury. General Synod will have to set in motion the complex process of recognising the increasing number of instruments of communion (is it 5 now or 6 – I get so confused) if it decides to set us on the path of signing up to the Anglican Covenant. But I am sure it will remember its own report (PDF download):
Most respondents remained concerned about Provincial autonomy. They reiterated the previous response from this Province that had an earlier Covenant been in place, it is unlikely that the ordination of women, the Constitutional Changes which enabled this Church to act more justly to our indigenous partner, and the Shared Primacy, may not have been accomplished. [Since this report, of course, one might add having two cathedrals in the one diocese, and two co-equal diocesan bishops to that list]
The report anticipates that Tikanga Māori will not support the Covenant, and under our system that means the Covenant will not be signed. Further reflections on the Covenant are here and here.
Clergy formation
Only a small proportion of our clergy are trained at the College of St John the Evangelist (we do not know what proportion – see statistics above). This was once one of the best resourced Anglican seminaries in the Anglican Communion. Its deterioration appeared to have happened under the governance of General Synod, and there is now an attempt to make what it offers of a more appropriate standard. Older clergy will remember examinations prior to ordination. Other provinces require a certain standard of formation and training for their clergy. One example from The Episcopal Church:
The canons of the church (Title III, Canon 8, Section 5g) require that before ordination a candidate must be examined and show proficiency in:
* The Holy Scriptures
* Church History, including the Ecumenical Movement
* Christian Theology, including Missionary Theology and Missiology
* Christian Ethics and Moral Theology
* Studies in Contemporary Society, including Racial and Minority Groups
* Liturgics and Church Music
* Theory and practice of Ministry
Outside the church, in every area, leadership has demanded increased competency, training, and ongoing formation. The Anglican church in this province has been inappropriately (IMO) counter-cultural in what is expected from church leadership. A province-wide raising of standards to the highest levels will IMO redound to a far healthier church. Further neglect of this by General Synod is IMO scandalous.
Common Prayer
Whatever else the liturgical life of this province might be described as, it could not be termed “common prayer”. There is no pattern of what might be encountered in any randomly-chosen Sunday service within our province. One cannot predict the readings, collect, liturgical colour, or responses that one will find.
The following should be rescinded as soon as possible IMO:
The Worship Template – supporters of blessing of same-sex couples will lose the allowance of that rite (our province being the first within the Anglican Communion to allow it) but that rite should IMO be discussed on its own merit – not slipped in through a statute that allows everything.
The Alternative Form for Ordering the Eucharist – this allows for the use of any responses whatsoever, and any Eucharistic Prayer authorised within the Anglican Communion.
The Two Year Lectionary pp 550-641 in the Prayer Book. The Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) should become the standard, also replacing the Three Year Series pp. 691-723.
A Form for Ordering the Eucharist should have its rubric restored to it being “not for the regular Sunday Celebration of the Eucharist” – common prayer includes agreed responses
Options for choosing the collect (currently you can choose or construct any collect you like). The suggested linking of the collect to the readings should be rejected.
The Prayer Book and all other authorised liturgical resources should be online. This is urgent.
The Lectionary should only provide one liturgical colour per celebration (not up to four as currently). The RCL readings should be the ones used at a parish’s main service, only after that might other readings provided by the lectionary be used at second services.
The requirement for clergy to pray the daily office was removed. Strong encouragement to pray the daily office should be introduced, clearly noting which is the official office of our province. Currently more than one office is encouraged by General Synod and the Lectionary.
The calendar should be revised taking into account suggestions in Celebrating Eucharist, the CofE calendar in Common Worship,and Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (TEC)
The “listening process”
Diocesan motions passed relating to the 1998 Lambeth Conference Resolution I.10 on human sexuality appear to be one-sided and neglecting the listening process called for by that Conference. Again I can find little to nothing online about what is happening within the dioceses with this process in the 12 years since that call.
Websites
The province should have a website that actually functions. This is not a matter that needs lengthy consultation, committees and reports. Here is a website I created in half an hour. It is a scandal that we have such a poor web presence in the 21st century. It is both a symbol of, and no doubt causally related to, the aging presence in our pews (for which I have no statistical evidence). The Prayer Book and all other authorised liturgical resources should be online (see above). Every ministry unit should be required to have a web presence. Clergy should be encouraged to have a blog, facebook page, twitter profile, or other web-presence. All clergy in active service should have computer skills to achieve this with ease.
Reflections based on the collect
6th Sunday in Ordinary Time February 14 reflection from the collect/opening prayer
6th Sunday after the Epiphany February 14 reflection from the collect/opening prayer (TEC BCP USA)
Most using the Revised Common Lectionary will be celebrating Transfiguration Sunday this Sunday (the Sunday before Lent), with the Gospel reading as Luke 9:28-36, (37-43). The Roman Catholic Three Year Cycle, the source of the Revised Common Lectionary has the Transfiguration always as the Second Sunday in Lent. New Zealand Anglicans have always been offered the Transfiguration story or the RCL Gospel on the Second Sunday in Lent, and not the Transfiguration as even an option on this Sunday. There is no explanation in our lectionary. This year, unlike previous years (and again with no explanation of the change), no alternatives are offered on the Second Sunday in Lent. We are only offered the Transfiguration.
It is, of course, also Valentine’s Day
During the week:
Shrove Tuesday – the Tuesday prior to Lent (Tuesday Feb 16 2010)
Ash Wednesday – A Service for the Beginning of Lent
A few simple suggestion during Lent
What is Lent – especially translating it to the Southern Hemisphere
“Alleluia” is not used during Lent. If it needs to be referred to, it is called the “A word” (or maybe the “H word” 
)
The Gloria is not used in the Eucharist during Lent.
For communities that follow a catechumenal process in which Lent is central:
Lenten preparation (catechumenate)
receiving the Lord’s Prayer (catechumenate)
receiving the creed (catechumenate)
enrolment for baptism (catechumenate)
Please add any comments, suggestions, hymns, prayers, reflections in the comments section.
The pope has issued a proclamation challenging priests “to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites) which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis.”
Internationally there are some Anglican blogging bishops (I try to keep up with these in the links section). Of the 31 bishops in our province, not one blogs as far as I know (the bishop-elect of Dunedin blogs – we shall see if that continues). Of the more than one and a half thousand Anglican priests in this province I’m aware of a couple that blog, and a few more on twitter. The official website of the province has not been updated in more than a year. Maybe there are Roman Catholic blogging bishops and priests in New Zealand. I am not aware of them. There are still parishes and ministry units without even a website – in spite of web-hosting and production being free and easy now, with advice and help provided on this site. Every parish can have a facebook page (and a twitter). Blogging has never been easier using wordpress or blogger. Such things are not, as those in the church often make them appear to be, things that require great planning and debate. These things take less than 10 minutes to set up. Nothing manifests the yawning gap between average young people and average churchgoers more than the unwillingness of most churchgoers to embrace late 20th century communication technology. The church can be so last millennium!
The pope is on youtube (his videos do not appear to be able to be embedded), and has an iPhone and facebook app, pope2you. Let’s urge him to take his own advice and start blogging. If he is reading this: “I’m very happy to swap links with you”. Some suggestions for the name of the papal blog? “Mass communication”? Maybe not “Papal Bull”. (Definitely not “Red Shoe Diaries”!)
New Zealand is following other countries in having an “atheist bus campaign”. Atheists are raising $NZ10,000 to mimic the UK campaign and place “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life” on several buses in major New Zealand cities. Approximately 12 buses in Auckland, 8 in Wellington and 4 in Christchurch will feature the ads for 4 weeks. Television presenter Mike Hosking caught organiser Simon Fisher on the hop with his first question “why bother?” Hosking, who thinks there probably is no God, cannot see the motivation or purpose for the campaign – and Fisher reacted as if he had never thought of this most obvious of questions. That was soon followed by Jo Kelly-Moore, the Vicar of St Aidans, in Remuera, clearly running circles around Fisher’s weak points.
Rather than fear, or tut-tut, this campaign, I welcome the opportunity for some serious dialogue. One of my followers on twitter interestingly pointed out that Fisher’s language echoed the Alpha course. Alpha may be OK for introducing people who have no idea about Christianity to it – but please can we not stay at the level of alpha – please can we move on towards kappa or further. The website of the NZ Atheist Bus Campaign, over which (rather than the soundbite TV debate) they have full control – does not appear to give an adequate definition for “God” which the site is dedicated to stating “probably does not exist”. The discussions, which I am welcoming, may help Christians to move beyond rather simplistic definitions of God (alpha) towards the classical definitions in which God is not merely “a supernatural being” alongside other beings (”supernatural” or “natural”) – as if adding God to this coffee cup results in now having two “objects”. And with the rather regularly trite comment that atheists believe in merely one less god than Christians do… Hence, Christians and other theists, may be enriched by this discussion into deepening the expression of their faith, revisiting the apophatic tradition (alongside the more common kataphatic approach) of Christianity, emphasising the transcendent nature of God (alongside God’s at-Christmas-time-particularly-appropriate immanent nature).
Let’s have some nuanced discussion, rather than the popular Richard Dawkins approach of pitting the best of science against the most simplistic, childish, flat-earth theism, where every few sentences Dawkins drops a clanger demonstrating his lack of reading of any theist up to beta, let alone kappa! Let’s acknowledge the great damage that bad religion and bad theology and bad spirituality have done. But I don’t see Dawkins giving up sex or money just because of the great damage that sex and money have done in human history! And let’s not pretend that Stalin, Pol Pot, and Mao Zedong are particularly good exemplars of the USA version of this campaign which had the slogan: “Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’ sake.” Are those atheists an explanation of what “good” means in a world without a god? Can you be good for goodness sake? Or do we need help to be good? And might being good (for goodness sake) be a sign of God – rather than a denial? Fisher’s slight of hand without any explanation, that “atheism” means “humanism” certainly needs justification. It seems to me that it is belief in God and the sacredness of God’s creation that leads to valuing human life – it will take a lot more than a tweet-length bus slogan to convince me that atheism naturally leads to people caring for others as a consequence.
There’s also a need to tidy other definitions:
Theist – believes in God
Atheist – believes there is no God
Agnostic (type A) – believes it is not possible to know
Agnostic (type B) – “I don’t know…”
Also the word “belief” can do with some clarification. Belief in God as a solely cerebral affirmation is a relatively new usage. “I believe in God” is originally more about trust, about commitment – in the sense of I believe in democracy, I believe in the All Blacks. Certainly “I believe in Jesus” has nothing to do with the historicity of Jesus of Nazareth which is accepted by all but the most extreme of scholars – yet popularly, and amongst some young people, they equate belief in Jesus alongside belief in the tooth-fairy, or at this time, Santa.
Alongside the atrocities of religion, let’s also list off some of the positives: art, music, science, technology, literature, genetics (Dawkins take note), the concept of the Big Bang (a real shock originally mocked by atheists), Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Dante, Shakespeare, Mozart, Bach, Beethoven,…
Alongside the need to clarify the definition of “God”, we are invited to clarify the nature of “God”. “Now stop worrying and enjoy your life” is based on an impression of an almighty punishing ogre in the sky. As Kelly-Moore made crystal clear in the TV interview, nothing could (should!) be further from a Christian perspective of God, a God who is love.
So, in summary, let’s not react against these ads – they are a wonderful opportunity not only to deepen our own reflection, but to clarify the misunderstandings between us. Atheists can be prophets, challenging the idols that Christians present. And just as God does not agree with all done in God’s name – however frequently and fervently God’s name is repeated – so God is not absent from atheists’ lives – however frequently and fervently denied.
If you like the image above, you can drag and drop it into your own blog post
or use the following HTML
You can also produce your own (you can give your version in the comments below)
In passing, spend four minutes listening to Johann Sebastian Bach’s Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring
Jesu, joy of man’s desiring
Holy wisdom, love most bright
Drawn by Thee, our souls aspiring
Soar to uncreated light
Word of God, our flesh that fashioned
With the fire of life impassioned
Striving still to truth unknown
Soaring, dying round Thy throne
Through the way where hope is guiding
Hark, what peaceful music rings
Where the flock, in Thee confiding
Drink of joy from deathless springs
Theirs is beauty’s fairest pleasure
Theirs is wisdom’s holiest treasure
Thou dost ever lead Thine own
In the love of joys unknown
Thomas Merton died 41 years ago today. Some years back I moved a motion at our diocesan synod, the cogs of which have been slowly working – (ACANZP’s) General Synod is anticipated to have its second vote on this in 2010 and then, after a year “lying on the table” (for anyone to make a submission that this should not proceed) he will be added to the formal calendar of this church. Appropriately; he has strong connections to New Zealand. The Episcopal Church this year added Merton to their calendar at their General Convention. In their Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints they describe him:
Thomas Merton [1915-Dec. 10, 1968] Trappist author and poet. Merton’s Catholic conversion is the subject of his best-selling The Seven Storey Mountain. He became a contemplative monk at Gethsemane Abbey in Kentucky, yet remained engaged with social justice and world affairs through reading and vast correspondence.
Gracious God,
you called your monk Thomas Merton to proclaim your justice out of silence,
and moved him in his contemplative writings to perceive and value Christ at work in the faiths of others:
Keep us, like him, steadfast in the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ;
who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
I have just purchased the Lectionary for the 2010 Church Year of The Anglican Church in Aotearoa (comma) New Zealand (no “Oxford/Harvard comma“) and Polynesia, better known as “The Anglican Church of Or”. (With a carefully thought-through official title one would think similar great care would be taken in the common prayer that holds it together as an Anglican province, but…)
This Lectionary states, “The colours suggested for each day… are not mandatory but reflect common practice in most parishes.” (page 4). So let’s take the example in the image above for Sunday November 14. The colour for the day is Green, or… ummm… Red, or…. White, or… ummm… Violet. The day before can be Green or Red. And the day before that can be Green or white or Red. Unless of course you wanted to use Violet on that day – remember colours are not mandatory. (You are starting to see why it is called the Anglican Church of Or). Page 104 expands the options (in case you don’t think there are enough) so that on our example of November 14 you might also use “Best” or Gold or Yellow or Blue or “Lenten colour” or unbleached linen, or a deep blood red.
Some senior clergy I’ve spoken to have suggested that Gw in their day meant a Green altar frontal but a white stole! That’s fine for Green and white, even Green and violet might go together, but what happens when the colours clash 
Yuck! And what does it mean a few days earlier November 8 where it is Gr[R]? … that must mean: Green or red or… ummmm… ummmm… Red! Of course – it’s obvious.
One suggestion: Why didn’t they save ink and just write the colour you shouldn’t use? Of course: far too prescriptive (you should never use the word should)!
What do we call that Sunday? (Let’s just stay with the English-language options currently) 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, or Proper 28, or 25th Sunday after Pentecost, or 2nd Sunday before Advent, or Remembrance Sunday, or the Feast of Christ in All Creation (unless, of course, you want to call it something else).
Now to the readings: Let’s stay with November 14 as our example. I count 18 readings you can choose from suggested for a morning service. Woops – I forgot to count the ones for the Feast of Christ in All Creation which is an option. The readings are not provided in the Lectionary (why not?!) For those you have to go to the church’s General Synod Website. The readings are provided under “C” as Wisdom 13:1-9 Or Isaiah 45:9-12 Romans 8:18-25 Or Colossians 1:15-20 John 1:1-5,10-14,18 Or Mark 16:14-20. OK – that brings the total number of suggested readings to choose from for the morning service to 24. This is a competition: if you can find more than 24 readings for any part of the day in the lectionary – please point that out in the comments. Don’t forget – in NZ if you don’t like the suggestion – you can choose your own.
This, remember is a relatively tiny province. There will probably be around 30,000 people in church on the Sunday using those readings. The second competition question is: is there any other province which has so much choice??!! My guess is that any province of any reasonable size is kept unified with a sense of common prayer by having quite a limited number of options. Most fix the readings, the colour, the collect, and give a choice of a few Eucharistic Prayers. In New Zealand you can choose the collect from a wide variety of sources (someone in the comments might like to give the number of collects provided on NZ’s digital Living Liturgy). And if you don’t like the collects provided, you can find another or produce your own.
As to Eucharistic Prayers – I have lost count how many Eucharistic Prayers NZ’s General Synod has authorised. It must be around a dozen. And if you don’t like any of those – General Synod has authorised that you can use any Eucharistic Prayer authorised anywhere in the Anglican Communion – anyone got a guess of the number (please add it in the comments)? Maybe a couple of hundred? And if you don’t like any of those you can write your own using any of the frameworks authorised anywhere in the Anglican Communion (I can think of three). And if you don’t like that, just use a reading from 1 Cor 11:23ff – we all know communities that do this and are they ever called to account?
(I have not taken into account that for the 2009 Church Year the lectionary provided online was significantly different to the hard-copy version, with different readings and different titles for Sundays – we await this year’s online version to see if even more options are provided).
30,000 in church that Sunday; at least 30,000 different combinations possible. Common Prayer?
Sunday November 29 is the 20th anniversary of the launch of A New Zealand Prayer Book/He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa (NZPB/HKMA).
I would be interested in knowing how many copies have been sold in New Zealand?
How many copies have been sold overseas?
How many copies were bought and are now sitting at the back of churches on shelves and seldom brought out, or in pews and seldom used? How many are using this book as the standard for worship?
There is a lot of enthusiasm amongst some people about this Prayer Book – but is it the prayer book as a whole – or certain sections of it that people find exhilarating? My own suspicion is that there is a small collection of nuggets within the book that people treasure and enthuse about. This post is going to quickly hover over the contents and make brief comments and ask some questions.
The Calendar
The Church Year p 4-6 has changed significant shape since 1989 (the date of publication)
a lot of the regulations p 7-13 have been altered since 1989
The Calendar p 14-25 the feasts have been added to, altered, and moved
Liturgies of the Word
Morning and Evening Worship p 29-53 my guess would be that this service is little used as it stands
Daily Services p 54-103 The Common Life Liturgical Commission provided an alternative to this with Celebrating Common Prayer (NZ). Clergy here have in these last 2 decades no longer been required to pray the office. In a denomination with previously a strong dynamic that all pray the office daily, I would be fascinated to know how many of our 100,000 faithful Anglicans use this office provided here. It should not be that difficult for that to be surveyed. I suspect it would be a very small proportion.
Daily Devotions p 104-137 I suspect these are popular before a meeting, etc. They are part of what people find and appreciate as “different” in this book.
Midday Prayer p 147 – 166 I suspect as with the Daily Devotions
Night Prayer p 167 – 186 I suspect one of the most popular services in the book
Family Prayer p 187 – 191 Had you noticed it?
Psalms for Worship p 195 – 373 Controversial because of the changes to “Israel” and “Zion”, and the removal of the imprecatory material. Inclusive, yet still translates YHWH as Lord. My guess would be – widely used.
Liturgy of Baptism and the Laying on of Hands for Confirmation and Renewal p 383 – 399
My guess would be that local variants on the baptism rite exist in a majority of places. The confirmation service is probably mostly used untouched.
Liturgies of the Eucharist p 404 – 510
General Synod has allowed so many variations to these texts in the last twenty years there will be a lot of local variation. Certainly the NZ Anglican Church is not held together by a well-known, well-loved set of eucharistic texts. In any gathering of committed Anglicans beyond a regular parish community, it would not be possible to celebrate the Eucharist without giving people the texts in their hands (or on a screen). Only a very, very small number of our 100,000 would be able to give the response to “The peace of God be with you all.”
A Form for Ordering the Eucharist p 511-514 has been supplemented by General Synod with another formulary An Alternative Form For Ordering the Eucharist
A Service of the Word with Holy Communion p518-520. My guess: rarely used.
Themes for the Church’s Year p 522-524 Not used
Seasonal Sentences Prayers and Blessings for use after Communion p 525-545 Used by half?
Sentences Prayers and Readings for the Church’s Year p550-690 Mostly not used. Recently replaced by a digital resource.
Three Year Series p 691-723 Not used
Holy Communion p 729-737 Used by half?
Ministry of Healing p 738-748 drawn from as a resource?
Reconciliation of a Penitent p 750 – 753 used rarely?
Thanksgiving for the Gift of a Child p 754-761 used by half?
Blessing of a Home p 762-775 used by some, including those with a sense of humour
Marriage Liturgies p 780 – 808 probably used as a primary resource. Second Form rarely used.
Funeral Liturgies p 811- 884 used as a resource
Ordination Liturgies p 887-924 often used as is; adapted as a resource for Total Ministry/Locally Shared Ministry
Catechism p 926-938 I would be interested to know
Table p 939 – 941 No longer valid
This is a completely unscientific summary. Have you been doing the Maths as we’ve gone along – is that about 8% of the text is being regularly used and is unchanged by General Synod or its commissions etc. in the last twenty years?
What are some of the best parts of NZPB/HKMA? We are a very small church (probably about the size of a large CofE diocese) if you really had a passion about something you could probably have gotten it into the Prayer Book.
The language is inclusive (horizontally and vertically) – though the Commission’s “Out of love for the world God gave the only Son…” was even beyond General Synod’s pale, and rather than leave it to “A sentence from scripture may be read” they insisted on having “God so love the world that he gave…” Lord is still Lord – and there’s lots of Lords.
There is quite a bit of complementary imagery. Probably most famously is Jim Cotter’s paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer “Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,…” although even the Commission couldn’t cope with Cotter’s original “Love-maker”.
There’s an increased sense of creation and a focus on the environment. Some of that was patched on later, of course. The “St Anne Liturgy”, otherwise known as the “Northland Rite” or “Pink 3″ until 1983 had language like, “Therefore, Lord of glory,…” when it became Thanksgiving for Creation and Redemption there was a find-and-replace to language such as “Therefore, God of all creation…”
Maori has an appropriately significant place. Other Pacific Island languages are included. There is indigenous artwork included.
There is a very healthy theology of ordination, of the vocation of the laity.
What are some of the worst parts of NZPB/HKMA? We are a very small church (probably about the size of a large CofE diocese) if you really had a passion about something you could probably have gotten it into the Prayer Book.
Basic liturgical principles such as consistent responses to similar cues so that they can be learnt by heart were lost.
No calls were made to abandon material someone had worked so hard on (eg. the Two Year Lectionary).
Basic liturgical principles such as being able to watch during action – rather than needing one’s head in the book – were neglected.
Little attention was given to appropriate gestures that might fit with the newly created texts.
The baptism (confirmation) rite must take the international Anglican fail prize.
There is an extremely weak theology of the Trinity.
Essentially this was a text dropped into the life of the church – there is no commentary, little formation or training accompanied its introduction.
The digital text and the print films were lost, hence the Harper Collins edition of 1997 must count as one of the Anglican Communion’s ugliest prayer books, as it is essentially a bound black-and-white photocopy.
This was part of the New Zealand church losing possession of the full copyright of the text and why unlike other Anglican provinces, it cannot place the text online – much to the chagrin of many readers here.
This site already has much on this Prayer Book. I wrote a series using the model of language to illustrate liturgy – this has
Kiwi Anglican liturgy history part 1 (= liturgy as language 2)
Kiwi Anglican liturgy history part 2 (= liturgy as language 3)
as well as liturgy as language 1; liturgy as language 4; liturgy as language 5
Celebrating Eucharist my free online book accompanying the NZ Eucharistic text – hopefully of use in other contexts also.
It is nearly twenty years since the publication of A New Zealand Prayer Book, He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa. The three archbishops have issued the following statement.
Dear friends,
Grace and peace to you from God.
Sunday the 29th November this year sees the 20th anniversary of A New Zealand Prayer Book, He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa.
The prayer book has become a Taonga of this church but has also enriched the lives of Anglicans around the world. It is appropriate to give thanks for this treasure on the last Sunday in November this year. Valuing how many people have been supported, resourced and strengthened by over 900 pages of text, prose, poetry and theology. It is truly said that what we orate in prayer we believe, in what we believe we do (lex orandi, lex credendi, lex labore). This is the Anglican experience of common prayer shaped by widely shared liturgical texts and all the faith based words we use in prayer, contemplation, and Eucharist. On this anniversary, we can be reminded of the words at the beginning of the book
The Lord’s song has been sung in this twice-discovered land since before Samuel Marsden first preached the Gospel on that Christmas Day in 1814 in Oihi Bay.
With the publication of A New Zealand Prayer Book, He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa the song is continued, the task of the Provincial Commission on Prayer Book Revision is completed, and new voices begin to be heard.
It is our hope that the use of these services will enable us to worship God in our authentic voice, and to affirm our identity as the people of God in Aotearoa – New Zealand.
Please encourage the celebration of this treasure on the last Sunday in November in what ever way you feel moved to do so. The prayer book itself will be your inspiration.
++ David
++ Jabez
++Brown
This site already has much on this Prayer Book. I will put up another post soon. Meanwhile there was a series I wrote using the model of language to illustrate liturgy – this has
Kiwi Anglican liturgy history part 1 (= liturgy as language 2)
Kiwi Anglican liturgy history part 2 (= liturgy as language 3)
as well as liturgy as language 1; liturgy as language 4; liturgy as language 5
It is worth adding some further reflections to the Vatican’s recent announcement of Anglican Personal Ordinariates. You may wish to read my post the end of the Anglican Communion first.
Firstly I want to highlight that, in my opinion, denominational boundaries are far far less significant than previously. Increasingly, it appears to me, denominational boundaries are no longer the primary “partitioning”. If one visualises denominational boundaries, for example, as vertical lines, then it seems to me that the horizontal lines are far more significant – where people receive support and encouragement from “evangelical”, or justice-focused, or environmentally-conscious, or contemplative, or liturgical – etc. And one finds those perspectives, with which one resonates, across denominations. The internet, of course, fits in with this “cafeteria style” spirituality.
Let us also not forget that, to most people on this planet, discussions about different denominations are as esoteric as debates about different perforation gauges on postage stamps. And we need to remember that these are people to whom we are called to bring the good news, and the way we live and model our unity and disunity will affect our ability to bring that good news.
Many have highlighted that some people genuinely will benefit from moving denominations. They will flourish, they will grow in holiness and be better suited in their new context to further God’s reign of love. We need to wish them Godspeed and encourage them. But there will be others who will essentially be as little suited in their new denomination as they were in their old – because of temperament or an inability to live within any constraints, be they Anglican on the one hand, or Roman Catholic on the other. [To be fair, those who encourage people to move denominations, with the understanding that some people suit one rather than another, tend to be of an Anglican perspective. To Roman Catholics, Anglicanism formally cannot even be categorised as a "church" but rather is referred to as an Ecclesial community]
Also let us not forget that the Anglican tradition has always been open to receiving members of the Roman Catholic denomination. In our own New Zealand Anglican binding liturgical formularies there is the allowance for communities to celebrate the whole Roman Catholic English (ICEL) Novus Ordo Mass as it is without alteration. The only concrete personal experience I have had since the Vatican announcement last week has been of a Roman Catholic priest seeking information on how to become a priest serving within Anglicanism (Note: Anglicans accept the validity of Roman Catholic orders and all other sacraments).
Ecclesiology
Anglican ecclesiology is essentially identical to Eastern Orthodox and Old Catholic ecclesiology in seeing the local Church centered on the bishop as “the catholic Church”, the full manifestation of the Body of Christ. This Episcopal or “Eucharistic Ecclesiology” (as it is often now termed) stands in contrast to Roman Catholic ecclesiology in which the local Church is a “particular Church” manifesting the universal, worldwide Church. In this Roman Catholic ecclesiology, such a local Church can only be considered “catholic” if it is a member, part, or portion of the universal Church, ie. in communion with Rome. Whereas the former approach sees each bishop as successor of Peter (where the bishop is there the catholic church is – Ignatius of Antioch et. al.), the latter has a universal bishop for the universal Church. It will be very interesting to see the document “The Role of the Bishop of Rome in the Communion of the Church in the First Millennium” when it is finally produced. (Please let me know when it does come out where one can find it online). One co-president of the commission, Metropolitan Ioannis Zizioulas of Pergamum, is well known for his exposition of “Eucharistic Ecclesiology.” The other, Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, was notable by his absence in the multiple press-conferences last week.
Many Roman Catholics are totally unaware that the Catholic Church has a great number of different rites (see here and here). In many of these rites priests are married. Since the 1980s there has been an “Anglican Use” within the Roman Rite. The pope granted some former Anglican and Episcopal clergy and their parishes the faculty of celebrating the sacramental rites according to slightly-altered Anglican forms. The new Apostolic Constitution, as I said, extends Anglican Use in an analogous way similar to what the Motu Proprio “Summorum Pontificum” did for the Latin Mass.
Within the Catholic Church anyone may attend any Catholic Church of any rite and receive the sacraments. It is no different than attending a different parish church in the same town. If you commit to a rite you can be married and ordained in that rite as a Catholic priest (if they have married priests). You would be “incardinated” in that rite. Eg. a Latin Catholic can join an Eastern rite, marry and be ordained. (Thanks for confirmation of this paragraph from Dr. William Ditewig).
The Vatican announcement came at the time the Church of England General Synod was working through issues about women bishops. It also came during the month-long meeting of Roman Catholic African bishops in Rome. Some Africans are seeking a relaxation of the Vatican’s celibacy rules. This is a no-go area for the current pope. While Anglican Use, with its non-celibate priests, is well-known in some countries, the African bishops were unaware of it. Its extension by the Apostolic Constitution caught them by surprise. Some suggest there was much muttering in the Vatican’s grand corridors. Others say that muttering is not only happening there.
It is my intention to continue this reflection in the future.
More on marriage and ordination
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