Psalm 117 And A Week In The New Auckland Environment

1 Praise the LORD, all you nations;


extol him, all you peoples.

2 For great is his love toward us,

and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.

Praise the LORD.

Psalm 117 is short and to the point and is slowing becoming like an anthem for me. Let me tell you about my week and you may see why.

On Sunday I preached at a Chinese Church here in town and had the great privilege of meeting a Nepalese Christian freshly moved to the city from Nepal.

On Monday I had to listen carefully as a Japanese friend of mine wanted to discuss theology and Ministry here in New Zealand. Here at the University I work with a Samoan Methodist minister. On Tuesday I lunched with two colleges at St Andrew's one Irish and the other Indonesian. This morning I heard stories of a week of thanksgiving that the Cook Island congregation at the local Pacific island Church has at this time of year (it's the end of the tropical cyclone session, that's a good reason to give thanks). The creative use of drama etc. to tell bible stories reminded me of the Tokelauan dances I used to enjoy while working at a church in Rotorua and I have to say I have appreciated the Tokelauan air-conditioner (read beautifully weaved fan) that I was given recently at a launch of research on ending sexual violence, done by seven different Pacific island groups (all praying together at the launch for the research to bring healing and wholeness to their various communities).

Today through my office came a Greek Orthodox priest who had recently moved here from the mid western USA. While I am writing this a Philippine Canter from the local Catholic Cathedral is doing vocal exercises in the university chapel in Latin sounding very much like Italian Opera. A good foil to the hard rock Prasie music I listened to on the way into work.

I've shared some thoughts with a Malaysian women who goes to a Baptist Church having lunch here... What a wonderful sign of the breadth of God's Love and the diversity of his people.

Then of course as I signed in to my blog this morning Inoticed over 250 people had read my last posting over night mainly from USAmerica. I am always suprised in the way our Wide Wired World (WWW.) brings us so close together.

in the end this is just the kind of mix needed to share God's Love with a new Auckland Environment with its many different cultures, ideologies, understandings. languages and lifestyles.