Bubble blessings from Rev

Kia Ora Kooutou

Warm greetings to you and your respective bubbles.

Life in a “bubble“ is certainly a very interesting experience and will be one that varies enormously from bubble to bubble and context to context. Some of the conversations I’ve had with people recently seem to suggest it’s different to last year, the novelty‘s worn off, the weather is not so pleasant and the anticipated expected benefits of such are not as prevalent at this time.

Life in a bubble can be challenging, living alongside those we used to only see for a few hours a day for 24 hours a day presents new opportunities and struggles too. In our current digital age it is too easy to hide behind doors and behind screens, isolating ourselves from human contact and community. With three teenagers at home myself, it’s easy to take the line of least resistance and to let the smartphone and the Xbox keep the peace!

There is certainly an opportunity for some "reframing" during a lockdown: to look at things differently, to consider a new perspective upon our lives and the people we share them with. Lockdown blesses us with the gift of time in new ways and for us who spend so much time in a place in “time poverty,” we suddenly live at a much slower pace with more time to contemplate, reflect and perhaps think more deeply than before. Alas, it will be over soon enough and life will accelerate again, we should seize again this opportunity before it escapes our grasp.

In the three-year public ministry of Jesus, in the midst of that frantic chaotic, exciting rollercoaster of His mission, He regularly would send the crowds away and spend time in solitude, stillness and in prayer. It’s been the benchmark ever since for all of the spiritual greats in our Christian tradition and history; A benchmark that paradoxically connects a huge “to-do list” and seasons of frantic activity to achieve productivity alongside an equivalent experience of stillness, solitude and prayer to achieve such. I can’t remember the source, I think it was Martin Luther King Jr. but he said" I have so much that I need to do today that I need to spend the next four hours in prayer!”.

So I encourage us all to enjoy the bubble, to reframe the bubble and to use it for stillness, solitude, reflection, contemplation, meditation, prayer.... or whatever term we use for it. It is an opportunity for us to connect with ourselves, with each other and to the deeper mystery of God.

May God bless us all, those we love and those we care for and pray for during this difficult time for our nation.

Kia Kaha, Kia Hari, Kia Tapu

Mā te Atua e manaaki
Ngā mihi nui

Revd Peter Rickman - Chaplain