we number in the millions…

“Sometimes reality isn’t reality, it’s just volume.

The loudest people get to write the story that everyone hears, the one they come to believe is the only story. In this way, they get to define what is true for those looking on, who may not hear anything else…

Right now there is a story being written about Christians… that is becoming the singular story…

But that is not our story.
There is another story.
There is a different kind of Christian here.
We are such people.

We are Christians who have no tolerance for prejudice that denies the inherent worth of a human being based on their identity or gender or pigmentation or orientation or land of origin or faith tradition…

You may not realize such Christians still exist anymore, in fact on many days we begin to feel as though we are a terribly endangered species too… Make no mistake though, we number in the millions and we are as grieved as you are by those using God to do damage to the poor and the vulnerable—and we are committed to pushing back against it.”

Read extracts from John Pavlovitz’s blog on our page:  Sometimes reality isn’t reality, it’s just volume.

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We are the Christian Left – John Pavlovitz

How are you celebrating Matariki?

Here’s an example from St Andrew’s on The Terrace’s 2013 Matariki service:

Matariki: a time to tell our stories

What’s your story?

Do you know your own story, your birth story, your life story? Did someone tell it to you, or have you made it up from memory and experience? It’s worth keeping in mind that there are different Matariki stories, different meanings depending on the location of the tribe who tells them: in some, Matariki is a time for planting; in others, that’s not the case at all. There are many variations of the calendar and many ways the different tribes used stellar guides for their own specific environment.

So, Matariki isn’t just a time to learn the legends of the stars, fascinating as they are. Learning about family and whakapapa is also important. Around Matariki the harvests such as kumara were in, and this cold part of the year was a time for hui, for korero, to exchange stories, learn about ancestors who have passed from this world to the next, and hand down knowledge and practices to ensure the culture is preserved. Memories, good and bad, are powerful…