Advent Greetings – 2023

 

Greetings to friends and whānau – family as Advent rolls in and Christmas beckons, another year nearly done and dusted.

Settling in and Moving Around

This year as the impact of the last few years “stay near home” dynamic has eased, we have been able to move around a bit more. We had a great start to the year with a “house swap” with my brother and sister in law (Scott and Liz) which saw us enjoy the delights of Wellington, including catching up with a few friends and ranging as far as the Wairarapa.

We had a bit of a cross over with Scott and Liz when we got back in January, and it was a great opportunity to lay my mother Alison’s ashes to rest, including a new plaque that remembered her and my sister Jenny (who died in 2012)

Not long after this we made the big shift to a new (slightly larger) property literally on the other side of the hill, where we have been gradually settling in as the year has progressed. It was a little hard for me to leave “The Carsonage” and to start again on some of the basics that make a place more liveable (wall insulation, double glazing etc), but we are starting to make some progress. It was great to be able to invite friends and family to a house blessing on March 4, and (in true Andrew style!) a brief video including this and other highlights from the first few months ensued.  

Marty began a job of 0.8 Chaplain at Dunedin Hospital in February and has been juggling this with some restorative justice work. It’s a job that has its various existential challenges, but he has also been doing a part time chaplaincy papers via Otago University, which has been helpful to reflect more deeply on this rather unique role.

Otherwise Bound

In March we enjoyed checking out the Awaken conference in Christchurch (a bi-annual gathering for LGBTQIA+ Christians) and went straight from there to Melbourne for just over a week. Truly a flying visit and a bit of a “speed dating” experience meeting with some of Marty’s friends from when he used to live there, but a great reconnection with life over the ditch.

We have also attempted to take our bikes on a few more excursions (thwarted one time by a puncture, and the next by Covid)… but I guess that’s still life right now. We got to visit Oamaru in full steam punk mode in June, a trip to Wellington and Auckland late October, where we were able to lay Marty’s parent’s ashes to rest and visit a newly completed gravestone for my father, as well as the resting place of my younger brother Carey. 

We’ve been trying to count how many visitors we have had to say at the new place… and its more than 20 people, so the extra space is well used.

Gainfully Employed

Work continues much the same as last year in many ways, with saying goodbye to two little country churches in Balfour and Middlemarch, but also enjoying some welcomes and new beginnings in various places. Our most recent visit was to the little church of St Alban the Martyr in St Bathans – a real joy to see it packed out with people enjoying the first Christmas service for 2023.

I continue to be so grateful for good health (never taken for granted), the love and friendship of Marty and of all those who we have the privilege of having in our lives in some way. In a time of political change (in NZ), of unrest and the brutality of war in other parts of the globe, I continue to be reminded that Love really is the only solution to all that seeks to tear things apart. We are planning to head back towards Scotland, England and Wales in June 2024.

 

I wish all of you the peace, joy and love of Christmas that can follow you into 2024.

Arohanui, Andrew

Hakui Meri Tapu o Owheo, sculpture by Rongomai Tawhiti Parata Taiapa (located in All Saints Church, Dunedin), transposed onto Allans Beach.