Morph 2021: Can we return to normal?
Rev. Dr Joe McGarry, who leads our Anglican Studies, together with Dr Andrew Shepherd from the University of Otago’s Centre for Theology and Public Issues, is co-organising this year’s Morph event. Many of you will remember previous Morph events as an evening of TED-style contributors presenting on topics of interest to our time. Joe tells us about the conviction that drives him to be a theologian in this season.
About five years ago, a latent feeling of mine became more and more pronounced: wherever I went, people treated me as part of “the problem.” I was a theologian and was – by definition – getting in the way of the Spirit’s work in the church. At the time, I had spent over a decade in graduate theological study in order to help serve and build the church and here I was, being treated as if I was the very thing to be cut out if the church was to be healthy. Although many aspects of those interactions were difficult, perhaps the most difficult was the painful truth underneath it. In some spaces, information had taken the place of faithful obedience; and knowledge was a substitute for Christlike character. In other spaces, theologians seemingly spoke a different language that removed them from everyday life. The view from the pew, so to speak, did not match what came from the pulpit, however accurate it may have been.
But that’s not the way it has to be. Theologians can serve the church and can be part of the church’s faithful transformation into the Body of Christ, and Anglican Movement’s Morph event brings us along that journey. Designed as a TED-style theological event, a fun and engaging evening where theological reflection meets everyday life as both impact and shape the other. Theological voices from within the church and the university will come together in a collaborative environment to provoke and guide her faithful witness in the world.
Morph is occurring on Friday the 28th of May from 7:30pm, at St Peter’s on Willis Street, Wellington. Find out more on Facbeook. This year, we have five presentations:
Being Sent People in a Closed-Down World?
Rev. Rosie Fyfe – National Director of NZCMS
Christianity is a missionary faith. But traditional conceptions and models of “mission” are being radically challenged in the early 21st century. Reflecting on the global-nature of Christianity, Rosie will consider the future of “mission”, mission agencies, and our understanding of global cross-cultural mission in a post-COVID world.
Living “off script”
Miranda Warner – Restorative Justice Facilitator and Applied Theatre practitioner.
Indwelt by the creative Spirit of God, Christians are invited to collaborate with God in embodying and welcoming God’s reign of justice and love. However, despite this invitation to improvise and co-create, we tend to uncritically follow the “normal” scripts that emphasise the centrality of financial security, risk management, scarcity, independence, career, the nuclear family, business and busy-ness. What would it look like to ditch these scripts? How might our individual lives be richer and more meaningful if we explored living off script?
Ministry by marketing, models, metrics & management: Commodifying the Church
Dr Andrew Shepherd – Lecturer in Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago
With the triumph of the economic ideology and practices of neoliberalism we now live in societies in which the rationality of the market dominates. Is this true too of the Church? To what extent does the prevailing logic of the market shape the Church’s self-understanding, its mode of social existence, and its manner of mission? What hope is there that the Church may escape this “normality” and discover new possibilities for living in a world of commodification?
Te mātauranga o te ao me te mātauranga o te atua: The wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God
Dr Wayne Te Kaawa - Lecturer in Maori Theology, University of Otago
Eru Tumutara, a Rangatira of Ngāti Tūwharetoa ki Kawerau and the first Māori to become a Bishop in any Church in this country said the above words to Presbyterian minister, the Rev John Laughton in 1928. Tumutara, requested that Laughton establish a school for the children of his Kawerau community. One outcome of Covid-19 is that Māori have shown great resilience by utilising the wisdom of the world to take the wisdom of God to new places in both the Church and within broader society. Lockdown may be the best thing to have happen to the Māori Church since boil-up and fry bread.
Love in the Ruins: Parish life in a brick church after COVID?
Rev. Dr Tim McKenzie – Vicar of St Michael’s Anglican Church, Kelburn.
Tim will offer a personal theological reflection in dialogue with R.S. Thomas, Walter Brueggemann, and Rebecca Solnit. Where's parish life to go after COVID, in a newly discovered earthquake-prone building, when going back to “normal” just isn't possible?
