What goes around....

Last August, I arrived at the Pacific Theological College on the tail end of the Face to Face programme - young theologians from around the world learning from the grass roots by being immersed into different global contexts c/o the Council for World Mission. In fact last year's farewell feast for Face to Face participants doubled up as the welcome feast for the new PTCEE Director - the very one who addresses you ...  So even though Face to Face ran slightly earlier this year, nevertheless it was amazing to me that it heralds a first anniversary of being here soon to be upon us. And can it be?

The department at PTC which is called God's Pacific People runs the full and demanding programme here on behalf of CWM. This year it had a very clear focus as outlined below - an extract directly from the CWM website.

Rising tides in Vanuatu. Photo at
http://www.sprep.org/images/Press_Releases/Tegua2007023.jpg

Face to Face Programme

This programme is to enable young theologians from different parts of the world to stand in solidarity with the climate warriors in the Pacific Islands and to understand climate change as a justice issue which affects disproportionately communities at the margins. This is part of CWM’s campaign to re-vision mission in the midst of empire by accompanying the victims in their attempts to create life-affirming communities. The Face to Face Programme includes orientation, solidarity visits to different island communities and plunge into their realities and struggles, an online Diploma Programme in Eco-justice Ministries, and participating in a conference on Climate Change at Fiji.

Who is this for? A student of Theology, either currently enrolled or has already graduated, but not an ordained minister.

Dates? The Programme will be from 21st April to 3rd June 2015.

Where is it?  Based in Pacific Theological College, Suva, Fiji, the participants will be travelling to Tuvalu and different communities displaced by Climate Change in Fiji. A group of theologians along with the participants will live with the communities drawing stories, insights, perspectives, and new visions from the climate warriors.

Tamara Kaira, a young theologian from the United Church of Zambia was on Face to Face, swopping her huge land mass for the liquid continent for a while. Yours truly, having been a minister of the United Church of Zambia 1993-1998 and still very much in touch, was thrilled that Tamara found time in her schedule to come over to House 12 for a meal. We ate nshima (maize meal) with chicken (nkoko), green vegetables (umusalu) and pumpkin (cipushi) with the Zambian flag flying proudly on the table - of course!

(Actually, it's hard to get exactly the right sort of maize (mealie) meal here, but it's amazing what you can do with semolina...)

Tamara is a trainee minister in the United Church of Zambia and flew from this pretty intensive and demanding time in the Pacific - via Hong Kong and Johannesburg - straight back to the UCZ Theological College to sit exams she'd missed while away. Oh joy! We'd never met before: not least because Tamara would have been aged just 7 at the time I left Zambia, though already a Girls' Brigader, she told me proudly. How terrific, I thought, as I stabbed at old photographs and bored her senseless with mission partner tales of yore (she was stunningly gracious) that she now represents the inspiring face and voice of younger women ministers and theologians in Zambia. And, that through something like Face to Face, she has perspectives and first-hand experience to share which are way outside of Africa too. She and the team were well fare-welled at the final feast and it'll be great if we can stay in touch. If you've stumbled across the blog Tamara, many blessings and prayers for you and all at College. 

In other news, Faculty meeting last Friday included predictable items of business: student grades as Semester 1 closes for the residential programme, updates from our various departments and looking ahead to PTC's full Council meeting towards the end of the year at which a fair bit of input may be required from those of us who are Faculty members wanting to think and pray into the future with both realism and vision. 

But then the unpredictable item of business was a fascinating discussion about noise levels in and around campus. That was thrown into the mix by a somewhat sleep-deprived colleague with whom we sympathised, and it set a very interesting ball rolling indeed. 

In Pacific village life and culture, traditionally, quiet voices and movements are much valued. But here on urban Suva's seafront, and just opposite Suva Grammar school, we have everything from boy racers and screeching tyres of an evening, to highly amplified rallies and events in the school grounds with rock and Gospel bands on stage. The other week when there was a huge gathering of many Fiji schools at the local sports stadium for their annual meet, the marching band practice began bright and early at 5.00am. Hurrah for 'O When the Saints' on the merry brass! But the debate was an internal one for PTC too, reflecting the speck in our brother's eye and the log in our own, as it were. Amplification in Chapel and at the community celebrations is also ample! How much of it do we need? Some community members really love the 'kit'  - the big speakers and the mics and the mixing desk. But what's right for small spaces? The louder it gets the less we really learn to listen, right? And what results is cacophony, not communication. I still haven't got over our PTC community visit recently to a funeral gathering. Imagine - a family home, a traditional gathering of people sitting cross-legged on rush mats in an out-of-town (if not quite village) setting. As a community we had gone to mourn the death of someone's father, sit awhile, and offer a short act of worship: a hymn or two, some prayers, a reflection from the Principal. We arrived and decanted ourselves from the buses, as did - to my complete astonishment - the College keyboard, keyboard stand, microphones and amplifiers. A lot of fiddling around, setting up and looking for sockets then ensued. We could have sung and spoken perfectly audibly and beautifully without the 'kit'. But there it was in its splendour. Is it just that power thing? And I'm not talking about electricity...

Finally got around to getting the full-length white dress made. No, not for that. They're much favoured for Church, though congregations and traditions do differ. Done the white top and dark skirt ensemble until now but there probably should be one of these in the wardrobe. I can't keep up with the 'what to wear and what not to wear' conventions here. I just know that having beautifully tailored and matching outfits - kalavata - for a whole variety of occasions is a really big deal. Probably don't score highly on that mission partner requirement... 

Some blog readers may have attended or have caught up with news from the Methodists for World Mission Conference in the UK recently. It was good to tweet with Tim Baker from time to time and to hear that some video material produced here at PTC was useful. You can find out more about the event by clicking here .

I was Conference organiser for this annual MWM event in 2006 and 2008 while in the Selly Oak Centre for Mission Studies role. Memorable. 

Took the Holy Communion service at Wesley City Mission this morning and then strolled back along the seafront. There's an open bus stand opposite the College gates. As I approached, in the full white regalia and the clericals, I was greeted with cheery waves of recognition and shouts from a handful of little boys off our campus swinging on assorted poles and railings. Entertaining conversation ensued.

Little boys (Character A and Character B):  Hullo, hullo, hullo!
Me: Hello!
Character A: We're waiting for the bus!!!
Me: Great! For the green bus going that way or a bus going the other way?
Character A: For the bus coming here!
Me: Jolly good. It's fun going on the bus, eh?

A pause. 
A certain tension in the air. 
Character B thwacks Character A (not over violently) and a torrent of words flows from his lips in a language incomprehensible to my ears, but ending in English with..

You aren't waiting for the bus! There's no bus! You lied to the Talatala (= Reverend) AND IT'S SUNDAY!!!

Ooops.



Peace be with you.



Enjoy these beautiful blooms from the Suva seashore