Happy New Year

Happy New Year. I saw you!! God Bless to everyone for 2015 xx

First Christmas Day in Fiji

I'd scoured Suva for a Nativity set thinking I'd find one handcrafted out of dried palm leaves or wood carved. Disappointment. Not a sniff of one. I could do you numerous turtles, masks, little ships and Buddhas, but no Mary, Joseph and Jesus. The wonderful specimen above, having whined about the lack of one in their hearing, was therefore a gift from Josiah, Mercy, Wes and Jerusha, the American Baptist/UMC family - see previous blog - serving at the Methodist Theological College in Nausori. They fashioned it with their own fair hands and a whole bunch of love and care. I was hugely touched. The four seashells in the front represent the stable animals. The coral on the right definitely has the essence of woolly sheep, don't you reckon?

Not only did the wonderful Neals produce a Nativity scene, they came with me to see the Paddington film which was released here before Xmas day. It's terrific: just great, and with many a powerful and poignant theme in there too about being far from home, finding welcome or rejection as the stranger, London as a warm, embracing, global city or a cold, harsh and impenetrable place. I came out with moist eyes going, 'Awwww...!' It's side-splittingly funny too, however. So it gets a 5 star review from one who's been devoted to Paddington since first being able to read and has a full set of the original Penguins enhanced by Peggy Fortnum's inspired line illustrations. I had this one stuck to my filing cabinet all last year, hurtling towards the PhD finishing line.

And so Christmas day dawned in Suva. The previous day, to be on the safe side, I had pre-booked Yogesh and his cab for 8.30am to run me to Dudley Memorial Church where I was preaching at 9.00. Yogesh works the patch outside our College and I'm a regular. There he was, on the dot. 

'Hi - Happy Christmas!' I said, and held out fruit cake and one of the Methodist Church in Britain's 'Gift of Christmas' booklets I'd ordered in bulk for sharing here. 'May I give you this small gift for Christmas?' I ventured politely, only to learn for the first time that Yogesh is Christian, actually - I'd assumed he was Hindu. You see? He was off to his own Church, World Harvest Centre, later at 1.00pm. 'But I cleaned the cab and came to drive you first, Talatala', he said. 'It's important'. The meter clocked up $5.00 but he wouldn't take it. 'My Christmas gift to you', he said.

These were our Bible readings at Dudley this morning.

Isaiah 52.7-10 

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!" 8 Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy. When the LORD returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes. 9 Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. 10 The LORD will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.

John 1:1-14

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. 6 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

I suggested in the sermon that Jesus was 'Good News' for three reasons that can be found in these passages. Firstly, in a mysterious way we'll never fully grasp, Christians believe that Jesus was in at the very heart and start of things. As God spoke creation into being, according to Genesis, the Word that we've come to know personally as life and light in Jesus was somehow in that very forming and shaping. Secondly, Jesus is 'Good News' because he knew what it was to be unrecognised and unwelcome - even in Bethlehem his birthplace. Therefore he stands in complete solidarity with many in this world who are faceless, voiceless, rejected: for whom there is no room at the inn, no welcome in the land. Cue sermon illustration from the Paddington movie! Thirdly, Jesus is 'Good News' because he glorifies God even through his childhood humanity and gives us hope that we can too. If we receive him and believe in his name, he gives us the right to become children of God. We don't just live with nervous expectation that we might be acceptable, flawed and failed as we are. We boldly claim our family status - warts and all - as beloved children. 

I hope that was sufficient Good News for one sermon!

And talking of children, the invitation to preach had kindly come from Dudley's minister the Revd Dr Immanuel Reuben who's pictured here with granddaughter Letitia - and a little girl from next door who'd wandered in sensing Christmas cake and a cuddle might be on offer. It's open house at the Reuben's. I was touched to be so warmly and generously included for Xmas lunch along with different branches of their family, some of whom live in Australia and New Zealand and had come home to Mum and Dad for Christmas. Goat curry, rice, roti, green veggies with fiery chillies and a great tomato chutney were on the menu, followed by fresh pineapple and ice cream. How was your turkey?

It's lovely, I must say, to have fast internet and be able to e-mail and Skype friends and family in the UK, Zambia and other sundry places. Also to have received lots of 'snail mail' including some chunky jiffy bags. Nothing like a chunky jiffy bag under the Xmas tree... I'll be saying personal thank you's of course, but why shouldn't my gratitude be blogged as well? There are some very, very lovely people in my 'world' who've remembered me and been in touch. Thank you.  And I think I'm grateful - to more than one person, actually - who's been a touch elf obsessed this year. 

I therefore include, for your delectation and delight, the uplifting (or mildly disconcerting) offering my dear God-daughter Lydia came up with. 

Click here if you dare....

I'm going to go out now (6pm) and continue my first Christmas Day in Fiji with a long walk down the beautiful seafront, just two minutes from the house. I expect I'll meet the neighbours walking off their goat curry (or whatever) too. And gazing at the vastness of the ocean I'll give thanks again for a tiny Christ-child, born to offer the world God's light and life. 

Mission partners in Fiji, or anywhere else for that matter, only go because he came.

Alana, Revd Reuben's latest grandchild, will be
baptised on 5th January.

Merry Christmas!

Advent defiance and Christmas confidence

A Christmas Card with love

Suva has Christmas saturation. In case you'd wondered if the commercial 'trappings' of the season are as evident here as anywhere else, they certainly are. Santa wears a bula shirt and advertises merry mobile phone deals. (Other networks are available).

There are jolly, holly offers everywhere, and of course the lure for all ages to keep up with festive fashion trends. 

But many from Suva, including families on the College campus, travel to villages and the smaller islands to see relatives over Christmas, where life may lack the Suva glitz but perhaps gets to the heart of Christmas more effectively. 

For me, as campus is quiet because it's the long 'Summer' holiday, I'll be pressing on, this week at least, with the production of BD courses, tackling an article I've been asked to write, finishing off a newsletter 'Conch Shell' which goes to all students studying by extension across the islands, and assignment marking. Always assignment marking... 


But it's good, and I can work a bit at home and a bit in the office and still enjoy walks by the sea and visiting neighbours on the campus. My next door neighbours Auntie Selai, younger Selai, Selah, Elena and Disele came over for a meal on Saturday evening, accompanied by their new ukelele! So we passed a pleasant time strumming and feasting. 



I shall have charge of a pastoral group next year made up of student and staff families, so the plan is to make visits to them over the Xmas period too. Cakes will be made and distributed because I've invested in a table top electric oven. Wondrous! A Christmas blessing if ever there was. No more buns with burnt bottoms...

Sally Lowe from St Martin's, Dorking shared this and I'm grateful to her.

CHRISTMAS  SOUNDS

by U.A. Fanthorpe

Boeings wing softly over Earth

Humming like enormous Messiahs

Bringing everyone home for Christmas;

Children wailing impossible wants,

Housewives worrying in case enough isn’t,

Parsons, with prevenient care, sucking Strepsils,

Telly jingling twinkling mistletoe-ing,

Cash tills recording glad tidings of profit,

Office parties munching through menus  -

Crackers!  Champagne corks!

At the heart of it all, in the hay,

No sound at all but the cattle

Endlessly chewing it over.

Not quite a stable, but still plenty of room for contemplation about simplicity, earthiness and the newly born.

(Photo with grateful thanks to Wes, Jerusha, Mercy and Josiah Neal serving with UMC Global Ministries at the Methodist Theological College, Davuilevu, just outside Suva. We took a walk on their campus, which included a visit to the piggery....)

And you'd like a carol, I guess? Well here's the choir of Nasinu Methodist Circuit doing their stint of carols in the park this Christmas.

Wishing you and your loved ones
God's hope, peace, justice and joy

this Christmas and New Year

Val x

Advent musings

You know, I'm really missing morning Chapel. Once the academic year closes at PTC - not that PTC Education by Extension closes - the community doesn't gather for daily worship any more. I'm not implying that we aren't worshipping and praying as families and individuals in our homes and congregations - indeed we are - but it seems strange to walk past a deserted Chapel every day, on an ecumenical, Christian campus, not least in the season of Advent, which I love. It would be great, to my mind, to have a gathering for worship at some point each day for anyone who'd like to pause and pray with colleagues, students and families who are still around. Not a compulsory, official summons by the Faculty, demanding hours of choir practice and sermon and liturgy preparation, but a more natural, simple gathering, perhaps. A daily office, by any other name, with the same form of words used as a guideline each day and people taking turns to lead? Or songs and readings and prayers led informally, with some silence too, around an Advent wreath? I muse on these things and then come up against the perennial mission partner dilemma: to suggest or not to suggest. Just over three months in, it still seems right and respectful to 'go with the flow' and accept the norm. I'm probably not understanding something. And anyway, if this is about my need and nobody else's, why should PTC change its ways to accommodate the new, British mission partner? But then, it is Advent... And I'm not sure prayer conforms to an academic year...

So, I've turned to the RC Cathedral of the Sacred Heart for the four Sundays of Advent, God Bless 'em, and the opportunity for a day's retreat too. On Advent Sunday last week, much was made at the Cathedral of Pope Francis's dedication of 2015 as a Year of Consecrated Life, with its brilliant strapline 'Wake up the World!' See the banner above the High Altar. Have to say, I just love that!

Some Protestant sceptics regard this declaration as no more than a massive Papal recruitment drive for vocations to the Priesthood and the religious orders. (There are worse things to be recruited for, mind you). But I think the intention's a lot broader than that, as Pope Francis has tried to make clear.

"Religious life ought to promote growth in the Church by way of attraction. The Church must be attractive. Wake up the world! Be witnesses of a different way of doing things, of acting, of living! It is possible to live differently in this world."

He's also big on joy, which is always a relief to hear. There's a lot more about the vision here. 

Then today, Second Sunday of Advent, Fr Pio Fong preached the Cathedral sermon/homily and presided at the Eucharist/Holy Communion. I found his Advent reflections challenging and astute as he talked about John the Baptist's different and vital invitation to people to repent, act and be baptised in anticipation of a Saviour who would soon challenge and change everything and demand action of his followers. He related this to the potentially deadening effect of habit in our lives: to how the seasons of the Church year and the 'routine' of Sunday worship can run the risk of becoming merely habitual, suppressing the senses. In the way that repetitive work in an uninspiring job or the ceaseless round of chores in daily life can also drain energy and claim us in negative ways, or simply numb us. God wants to wake us up. 'Did you know,' he said, 'that if you throw a frog into boiling water, it immediately knows that life-saving action is necessary and leaps out. But if you put a frog into a pan of cold water and slowly heat it up, it just sits there...' 

I didn't know that.

It was a great illustration. 

Still feeling for the frog.

Have no fear, I haven't deserted Methodism. The Deaconesses of the Methodist Church in Fiji and Rotuma held their Annual Retreat from 2-4 December and kindly invited me to lead three Bible Studies over three mornings. It was very good to be with them and to see again Deaconess Meresiana who's Administrator at Deaconess House and responsible for training and formation. Mere did her Masters degree in Birmingham in 2002 and lived at the United College of the Ascension in Selly Oak when I was tutoring there. Great to be reunited and we're going to have a good catch up at some point when she can draw breath. As well as a full ministry, she's married to Maciu and has bouncing boys to attend to. She's front row, cross-legged on the right, in the bright green blouse.

Methodist Church Fiji has adopted language about the 'New Exodus' to try and articulate its hopes and intentions 50 years on, and look beyond all the Jubilee celebrations that dominated so much of 2014. We tried to unpick and unpack some of that at the retreat and I was interested to discover which topics got people going the most. To be or not to be 'vocal' was certainly one. We looked, in keeping with Advent, at how Luke portrays Mary, as a questioning and pondering young woman, and then as one who raises her voice in songs and shouts of praise, communicating with the world her new found sense of vocation and blessedness. There was a lot of sharing from experience among the Deaconesses about how giving voice to what matters to them and being heard in the life of Church and society can be really tough going. There's a lot to be worked on, clearly, and I listened carefully. Having the courage to be vocal as part of a vocational life is holy work and definitely of God, we agreed. And Mary's not a bad teacher, for starters.

I needed a filing cabinet for home. You know, for the electricity bill, and the Xmas pressie list, and the personal papers, and those very, very useful leaflets that aren't really but somehow need to be kept and there's a limit to how many you can stuff under fridge magnets. 

There are indeed shiny, designer-office filing cabinets for purchase in the shops of Suva but I couldn't justify the expense quite frankly. So what do you think of this? Ta da! Three rubbishy, dog-eared archive boxes lying dormant in the Education by Extension office, now transformed by jolly plastic and the skill of my own fair hands, she said modestly. Not lockable, true, but I'm not keeping the crown jewels in there. And just for general reference, it's possible to transform one archive box and lid with a merry plastic covering in the same time it takes to listen to The Archer's pod cast. No, not the omnibus; a single episode. I know you're impressed; you're just trying to hide it.

I shall leave you with words in English and Fijian for Advent, some fiery blossom currently on display by the sea wall, and my Advent wreath in a tub of mini ferns. God Bless until next time.

Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths: all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

Ni caramaka na sala ni Turaga, ni cakava me dodonu na nona gaunisala. Era na raica tale ga na veivakabulai ni Kalou na tamata kece.

BItesize blogging

A few light-hearted sentences and snippets in a kind of random way for this post I think. 

Since we had all the graduation festivities, campus has been slower and calmer, with farewells to families on the move and the start of preparations for those who'll be arriving for the 2015 academic year. Everywhere you look, some household item is being moved, packed, loaded or unloaded. Dangerous to sit in one place for too long. It reminds me of that Bernard Cribbens number.... 

Nice to see a report in the Fiji Sun of PTC's graduation, mentioning the College's first ever PhD graduate. Massive congratulations go to Dr Edward Kolohai, Anglican Church of Melanesia for his tremendous achievement.

Unlike the household contents, Education by Extension most certainly isn't packing up and going anywhere. 28 unfinished BD courses wink at me from their electronic file and paper folders every day and gradually we're getting to grips with them. Teaching colleagues on the staff here the Revd Dr Gwayaweng Kiki from Papua New Guinea, the Revd Dr Upolu Vaai from Samoa and Dr Richard Davies from New Zealand have all agreed to work on Extension courses in their specialist fields. Big Christmas presents for them! 

New sign-ups for courses by Extension are always welcome and roll in steadily. Latest potential registration for the BD by distance currently resides in Honolulu. Was thinking I'd better take the application forms in person...

Now here's some happy news! 

Graduate Apela and the lovely Jessella from the Congregational Christian Church in Samoa tied the knot in Suva the weekend after graduation and kindly invited pretty much the whole College to celebrate with them; which indeed we did, and felt very blessed to do so. 

                                                       

The wedding cakes were many... 

the table decorations were stunning...

...and as for the dance done by the Bride's father; probably better that photographic evidence isn't available!

Suva welcomed the Prime Minister of India last week and Mailife Fiji reported the following:

'Mr Modi made several announcements.

“We will expand our defence and security cooperation, including assistance in defence training and capacity building. We agreed to identify opportunities to expand our trade and investments and work out a concrete roadmap. We are also prepared to increase cooperation in renewable energy, especially solar and wind energy, and in building capacity to adapt to climate change. In addition, we could share our experience and expertise in disaster management and response,” he said.

India has also agreed to extend Fiji’s credit line up to $70 million and provide visas on arrival for Fijians in India. There is an agreement as well to strengthen defence ties while New Delhi will double annual scholarships awarded to Fijian students.

After singing three MOUs, Mr Modi announced a $US5 million fund to promote small business and village enterprises in Fiji'.

Picky I know, but I'm fairly sure he signed those memoranda of understanding...

PTCEEs administrator Salome and I went on an away day to do some performance reviewing and plan for the future in the department. It was well worth it. Just a change of location helps to renew the mind somehow. 

We didn't go far: just to Pacific Regional Seminary, our Catholic neighbours down the road. They kindly gave us a Conference room to ourselves, use of their lovely small Chapel, and enough food to feed all Suva's Clergy for a week. Here's what 'lunch for two'... looked like.

---------------

Never a day goes by without a good chuckle at something delightful and usually unexpected: like the following encounter. 


Some of the campus children enjoy chatting and walking companionably with me on the three minute commute from home to office and back again. They're curious about the kind of differences my presence presents: woman staying alone in a house; speaking English with a strange (ie. English) accent - that sort of thing. When their parents aren't in earshot, they're very free. One younger neighbour padded silently alongside me in her flips-flops for quite a while the other day wearing a serious face and furrowed brow. All of a sudden, she stopped without warning, swivelled to the right, folded her arms and upped her chin to look directly into my face. I stopped too and waited. 

'Do you sweat?' she enquired. 

'Well, yes - yes I do', I admitted, 'and Fiji's much hotter than the country I come from - England - so I probably sweat a bit more here. What about you?' I asked,  not entirely sure whether I should reciprocate.

'Oh yeah, of course I sweat!' she said, a little dismissively. Perhaps she felt my question was typical of white, perspiring British Methodists who really should know better. 'Bye Reverend Val'. My interrogator closed the exchange. Then off she skipped, to continue investigative journalism elsewhere, I presume.

Though as we all know, lady mission partners never sweat. We only glow...

Let's hear it for our 'Granny Graduate!'

Thursday 13th November 2014 won't be forgotten in a hurry. It was Pacific Theological College's graduation day - an occasion teeming with preparations, celebrations and congratulations: not least for one of our Extension students who proudly gained her Certificate in Theological Studies. 





Best of all, Mrs Moka Jessop Togakilo managed to come over to Fiji from the island of Niue to receive her award in person.

Moka was accompanied by her daughter Helena who lives in Auckland, and we were absolutely thrilled to see them! For many friends who study at a distance, attending the graduation here just isn't a goer. Their Churches, hopefully, organise an occasion locally for them. But Moka, on this occasion, was able to be here for the full works and kindly agreed to be interviewed by me for the blog. I began by asking her, delicately, about being a somewhat mature student.

Moka: Oh yes! I just turned 71 on Sept 24^th this year. 34 years ago I and my husband were students at the University of the South Pacific which is nearby to your College, so visiting Suva again after so long is bringing back memories. My husband is also studying for his Certificate so maybe in the future when I get my Diploma at the next level we can graduate together. 

Val: Moka, tell me please about your Church and the work you do there?

Moka: Well...my Church is called Ekalesia Kelisiano Niue (EKN) and that's where I'm an ordained Elder: the word we use is ulumutua. I suppose you could say I'm the Pastor's 'right-hand woman', but actually we have no Pastor so I have pastoral charge of the Church in a village called Toi, and it's coming up to my 10th year of being ordained.

Val: So does studying theology at a distance really help you in that ministry? Does it equip you for the work on the ground?

Moka: It does. Yes! The courses have proved to me that what I'm doing is of God. It's very important for me to have theological education because otherwise people think the only real Pastors - the only ones who know anything - are those who've been to College full-time. It's hard in our Church for women leaders to be recognised and I often think of Paul and his times of misery and persecution. I have known those times too. But they have made me rely on God even more.

Val: Can you think of a particular topic or assignment in your studies which really gripped you and got you thinking?

Moka: Let me think now....oooh - so many.... it was in the Biblical Studies course when we looked at the story of Rehab. I was thinking about her being called a prostitute and how negative that is. But if we are Christians and look more deeply, we see how she performed to save Israel from the hands of her enemies by hiding the spies. It annoys me that she's labelled, and as I was studying, I was thinking, "In any new translation of the Bible, will there be a change in that word 'prostitute?'" I think there should be. You can’t look down on your sisters because that’s the past – the old life.

Val: That's really interesting, Moka: that your studies helped you to wrestle with that passage.

Moka: Mmm - studying, you know, helps you to develop your spiritual side. It's very educational and it applies to your own life and you become a different person. We have old habits and old ways of looking at things. The courses are organized in a way that helps you go forward – they inspire you. That’s it. That’s why I'm studying in the extension programme. I didn’t do it just to prove I’m a Pastor – though you can’t deny that was part of it. But the best part is to know God more and to be a better follower of Jesus day by day.

And so, after a three hour graduation ceremony and a splendid feast on Thursday evening and into the night, Moka and Helena left at 2.00am(!) Friday morning by taxi for a three hour journey to the airport and then a flight back to Auckland to attend her grandson's wedding the next day. Talk about packing it in. Phew! She didn't seem at all fazed however, and was well up for it. If Moka's anything to go by, Theological Education by Extension doesn't half keep you pulsating and perky.

You signed up yet?

Here's Moka with the wonderful Salome, PTCEE's administrator, who's been
such an encouragement to her via e-mail. Moka also paid tribute to Deidre Madden the former PTCEE Director who started her off with the studies and Michael Kafonika who urged her on during his time as Acting Director.

...and here's a hat from Niue with the current Director underneath.
Got the gear - just need the flight!

Missions old and new

Allow me to introduce you to Hannah Dudley, if you've not met before. Second from the left. An Australian missionary: feisty, eccentric and someone whose legacy receives mixed reviews these days from some contemporary Indian writers. Nevertheless, here's what she wrote on 4th November 1912 to the Modern Review.

(Source: T. Sanadhya, 'My twenty-one years in the Fiji Islands', Fiji Museum, 1991)

Sir,

Living in a country where the system called “Indentured labour” is in vogue, one is continually oppressed in spirit by the fraud, injustice, and inhumanity of which fellow creatures are the victims.

Fifteen years ago, I came to Fiji to do the mission work among the Indian people here. I had previously lived in India for five years. Knowing the natural timidity of Indian village people and knowing also that they had no knowledge of any country beyond their own immediate district, it is a matter of great wonder to me as to how these people could have been induced to come thousands of miles from their own country to Fiji. The women were pleased to see me as I had lived in India and could talk to them of their own country. They would tell me of their troubles and how they had been entrapped by the recruiter or his agents. I will cite a few cases.

One woman told me she had quarrelled with her husband and in anger ran away from her mother-in-law’s home to go to her mother’s. A man on the road questioned her, and said he would show her the way. He took her to a depot for Indentured labour. Another woman said her husband went to work at another place. He sent word to his wife to follow him. On her way a man said he knew her husband and that he would take her to him. This woman was taken to a depot. She said that one day she saw her husband passing and cried out to him but was silenced. An Indian girl was asked by a neighbour to go and see the Muharram festival. While there she was prevailed upon to go to a depot. Another woman told me that she was going to a bathing ghat and was misled by a woman to a depot.

When in the depot these women were told that they can not go till they pay for the food they have had and for other expenses. They were unable to do so. They arrive in this country, timid, fearful women not knowing where they are to be sent to. They are allotted to plantations like so many dumb animals. If they do not perform satisfactorily the work given to them, they are punished by being struck or fined, or they are even sent to goal. The life on the plantations alters their demeanour and even their faces. Some look crushed and broken-hearted, others sullen, others hard and evil. I shall never forget the first time I saw “indentured” women. They were returning from their day’s work. The look on these women’s faces haunts me.

The reason Hannah gets a mention in this week's blog is that I went to Dudley Memorial Church, named after her, last Sunday. It's one of the thriving congregations of Fijian Methodism's Indian Division, boasting a congregation which attracts members from across the social spectrum including a fair sprinkling of Suva's successful and high powered professionals. Hannah would be delighted, don't you think?

There was the warmest of welcomes from Senior Circuit Steward Anand Reuben, and his brother Revd Dr Reuben who was taking the Communion service. Dr Reuben kindly asked me to assist with serving the elements - an honour - and somehow had me signed up for the January plan before I left. He's a fast worker. 

It seemed to be a weekend of listening for the whispers of Fiji's past mission enterprises translated for the present day. Methodist missionaries William Cross and David Cargill who arrived in 1835 are named on a memorial stone at 'The Triangle', slap bang in the centre of Suva. It's very low-key; an understated, unpretentious monument, ever surrounded by swirling traffic, beeping taxi cabs and in earshot of the infectious reggae beat that booms out of the buses. 

And on that very spot, last Saturday after dark, another town centre congregation - Wesley City Mission - showed themselves to be thoroughly committed to contemporary evangelism, with a real desire to invite others to turn to Christ. I admired the initiative and was so glad I chose to attend and support. I'd met Wesley's energetic, inspirational youth group the weekend before when taking the service at their place. Just to be in their presence gives you hope and confidence that God hasn't given up. So, about an hour's worth of this contemporary city centre evangelism included powerful testimonies, great dance from the youth group guys (yes the guys danced, not the girls!) and a small, live band. There were conversations with those heading to the nightclubs and a call for commitment to Christ which attracted a handful of respondents. The Methodist Divisional Superintendent Rev Jeremaia Waqainabete spoke of his adolescence sleeping rough on the streets and the dramatic turn around in his life that finding faith enabled. Wesley's Associate Minister Rev Viliame Fatiaki was also there, supporting wholeheartedly. I was moved. It was well done. Dudley, Cargill and Cross must surely have approved?

Postscript. 

I made the point earlier of stressing that I chose to support the young people and the city evangelism event on Saturday evening. The alternative event that clashed, and the one - some might argue - I should have prioritised, was a glamorous dinner organised by Pacific Theological College's Women's Fellowship, at one of Suva's vast Chinese restaurants. There was considerable pressure not to desert the home crowd. On this occasion I did, having been present at numerous in-house celebrations and feasts since arrival, including Women's Fellowship-led events.

I've had a few quizzical looks.

Oops.

Sorry ladies. I promise to glam up and join the party next time!

Fun and not such fun

Interesting, isn't it, how the unusual becomes usual in a remarkably short space of time? Two months ago, if anyone had told me to come to a meeting in the fale (pronounced faleh) I'd have looked utterly blank. Now I potter off there for all manner of things: from morning tea, to community discussions, to a children's Christmas party in October. Basically it's a meeting place with a distinctively South Pacific ethos and aura. I'll let the Revd Dr Jovili Meo, Principal of the Pacific Theological College from 1996-2001 explain. 

The Samoan fale. The fale or fale tele ("great house") is a symbol of Samoan village life and community. Its construction is geared towards community unity, relationship, participation and partnership. Its round or oval shape represents the unbroken chain (no beginning, no ending) for those who congregate in it, thus symbolizing unity. Its openness, a house with no wall, symbolizes inclusiveness: the extension of what goes on inside the fale to those outside in the community. What goes on in the fale reflects the life of the whole community and its concern for the well-being of all.

The fale tele is used for gatherings of the whole village or for district officials. It serves three functions: as the fono, a meeting place for different groups in the village for the welfare of the people; as the tapuaiga, a place for worship or supportive actions for any undertaking by the village community; and as the malaga, a place for entertaining villagers and guests, for the common meal which is brought in and shared among the members of the community. In all three of these functions unity, fellowship and relationship are central themes. Only here can family members come to meet and discuss their differences, worship together or entertain and be happy together without feeling isolated or outcast. Perhaps one of its most important functions is as a place for reconciliation. The fale tele brings together or acts as the place of refuge for different parties. 

Meo, Jovili. "Sharing and Service in Pacific Communities." Ecumenical Review 46, no. 3 (July 1, 1994): 292-300. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed October 19, 2014).

So here's our fale decorated for the children's party held last Saturday. This did indeed have a tree and a modicum of tinsel because it was the opportunity to bid farewell to the children of families who'll leave by the end of next month, way before real Christmas! Each leaver was presented formally with a beautifully wrapped basket of gifts donated by the PTC Women's Fellowship who also produced abundant plates of food for all reflecting the generosity which is such a mark of South Pacific hospitality. So, party games, fabulous feasting, and a friendly invasion of superheroes all added to the atmosphere. Tinged with sadness too though. Many of the campus children have put down roots and made firm friends during their parents' study period here. Three years or so is a big chunk of life when you're little. There'll be tears...

Now here's a less cheerful picture. The remnants of human partying do you think? It's the rubbish regularly dumped on and in due course washed up on the Suva shoreline. What goes around comes around. Spot the inevitable plastic bottles and polystyrene take-away food cartons. It's a bit of a moral dilemma deciding whether to post such a picture really. Am I trying to present Fiji in a bad light, indulging in a spot of snooty, missionary moralising. 'Isn't it dreadful! I thought people in the South Pacific were keen to protect their environment?!' No I'm not. Far from it, and holier than thou doesn't help. We all know that such scenes are replicated on our shorelines and pavements worldwide. Before coming here I regularly used to drive through Brixton, South London of an early morn on the way to Radio 2. The streets - particularly after a weekend's clubbing - were a total shocker. 

We don't need PhDs in environmental studies to know some of what contributes to this: what we choose to eat and drink and how it's packaged, global demand for goods that bump up markets but don't necessarily meet real needs. The issues are massive but, as ever, each human being's individual actions count too, don't you think? Maybe what I do as a personal response can only ever be a drop in the ocean. But better it's a healthy drop than a sea of plastic.

Meanwhile, back in the vicinity of House 12, things are blooming. The flower....  I meant to ask my neighbour to tell me the local name for this but forgot, sorry. I shall report back...

Down below, here are sunflower seeds popping up with gusto. Surrounded by sea shells salvaged from the rubbish previously pictured. Call it a small stab at a theology of redemption. Those sunflower seeds - my word: God knew what God was doing eh? Bit of local soil - tropical sun and rain. In the space of five days (seriously) - whoosh! 

Perhaps that's why my hair and my finger and toenails grow at such an alarming rate in Fiji. I've never known the like...

And in the light of all that, how about a smidgen of Isaiah 27 to meditate on and finish up with this time? 

Offered from me to you, with warmth and blessings from House Twelve between the Palm Trees. 

A pleasant vineyard, sing about it! 
   I, the Lord, am its keeper;
   every moment I water it.
I guard it night and day
   so that no one can harm it; 
   I have no wrath.
If it gives me thorns and briers,
   I will march to battle against it.
   I will burn it up. 
Or else let it cling to me for protection,
   let it make peace with me,
   let it make peace with me.