Iti Noa Ana, He Pito Mata
Only an ordinary little morsel, but it has not been cooked
When an uncooked piece of kumara is planted it will sprout, and there will be a harvest.
Assembly
Sometimes when the larger body of the Church gathers, remarkable things happen.. like at the Jerusalem Council recorded in Acts 15. It was a good weekend in Hamilton for Baptist Assembly. Steve writes here about some of the results..
Mostly I enjoyed watching what I felt was a very genuine effort towards good process and discussion. Rather than previous Assemblies I’ve attended where there has been much advocating going on.. there was so much open-ended discussion. Of course, not all parties were pleased but I think that it was a remarkable step forward in terms of the way we, as a denomination, are sensing and responding to the need to grapple.
Grappling may be the most important theological task we can set ourselves to in this climate. Hand to hand wrestling in the texts, the contexts, the traditions, the intuitive sense of momentum about our culture, climate and predicaments.
I came away feeling invigorated and energised, by all the goodness around me.
It’s sometimes difficult to straddle between what it means to be here at Windsor Park, and the stereotype of what an emerging new leader (ick – awful phrase) should look like, talk like or sound like. I was disappointed with so much of the conversation that I overheard, whilst I could understand the root perspectives, that seemed so dogmatic and attacking to people whom I observe to be genuinely seeking to lead diligently. It’s hard to be in the middle land sometimes. I respect both sides, but struggle to maintain a healthy distance from a potentially unhealthy debate.