Kia ora whānau

And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14, NIV)

We are writing Bishops’ News together this week which is very encouraging, especially given that the theme of our reflection centres around the idea of our incarnated Saviour and our presence and proximity to one another in Christ.

Last weekend I (+Justin) attended a meeting on Zoom of General Synod (our Province’s biennial Three Tikanga decision-making hui) – postponed from our physical meeting which had been scheduled for May this year. Although the hui was so good, I can’t believe how much I missed being in the room with people from across our Province.

Then on Tuesday I had my first post-lockdown plane journey, up to Auckland to see students from our Diocese currently studying at St John’s College. Being face to face again with each other was so, so good.

It has made me reflect that we should not take being in person with each other for granted when most of the rest of the world currently cannot do so. As God’s people we remember that we are so loved that God sought to be face to face with us in Jesus.

Over this period of being largely bedridden, I (+Ellie) have felt that same call from God put on my heart – a longing to be physically present around the Diocese again. When I preached during Eastertide about suffering healing and touch I had many messages from around our movement about people’s own longing for healing, and intimacy with Jesus.

With that in mind, God and I have been exploring the possibility in the latter part of the year of a tour around the Diocese consisting of evening gatherings focussing around Psalm 23, including the ministry of prayer and laying of hands in the Holy Spirit. We ask that you hold these possibilities in your prayers.

I’d love to take this opportunity to say such a huge thank you to you all for your prayers for recovery, and thanks to the Anglican Centre team and to Bishop Justin for their support over this time. I am continuing to recover from the surgery and am now working hard with those professionals supporting the necessary rehabilitation journey.

Our encouragement to you all this week is to enjoy one another’s company, and to enjoy the invitation to walk with Jesus. One way of doing this is to make the most of the opportunities to gather coming up. As well as those who will gather for Ministry Leaders’ Family Camp (4-6 September) and Synod (19 September), we also have our “Top-Up” Training Event for everyone in our movement, to be held on Saturday 5 September at El Rancho. We will have Bishop Steve Maina from Nelson Diocese encouraging us as keynote speaker, and a range of workshop streams in the afternoon.

May you experience the fullness of God’s grace and truth, and the knowledge that you are always, and in all ways, invited into the intimate companionship of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  

Bishop Justin and Bishop Ellie