It's Shrove Tuesday but we haven't been whisking, frying and flipping as yet.
The lali [drum] was beaten at 3pm and we all dutifully convened in the PTC community space for a briefing about Tropical Cyclone Gita who's visiting the vicinity. Tonga's had a horrible hit - you may have seen it in the world press.
and Fiji feels for her neighbours...
Fiji National Disaster Management Office Retweeted Frank Bainimarama
Our hearts are with our island neighbor #Tonga who are some of the most resilient people we know. Tonga, we will never forget your kindness rendered to us during #TCWinston and you are in our prayers as we equally persevere through #TCGita. #Pacific #SIDS 
TC Gita's predicted to be skirting south of Fiji tonight according to local weather reports...
Please note that the timing of its closest approach to Suva and Kadavu is likely to change depending on the speed of TC Gita.
NaDraki Weather
The closest approach to Suva is anticipated to be around 5am tomorrow morning Fiji time with the centre forecast to be about 350 km south of Suva and about 240 km south of Vunisea (Kadavu). All of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, Lomaiviti, Taveuni, the Mamanuca and Yasawa islands and northern Lau a strong wind warning is current with rough seas for mariners however no significant damage is expected over land areas.
Coastal communities along the southward facing coasts of Viti Levu and also in Lomaiviti and the Mamanuca island groups may experience some coastal sea flooding at high tide with heavy southerly swells developing today over coastal waters. Mariners in all parts of the country will see rough seas and swells.
Na Draki Weather
...and the signs are that it won't be a massive deal, but with memories of TC Winston in 2016, Fiji gets prepared.
Neverthless there's a healthy disrespect among many here for scientific weather prediction, however ardent the efforts of the Fiji Met office might be. In the end, only God knows, friends remark sagely. The Ultimate Ruler of the winds and waves is given frequent respectful reference.
I was touched by the keeping-it-in-perspective Facebook post of my fellow Programme Director Casi, who leads our Institute of Mission and Research, and share it below, with thanks to him.
Lent begins tomorrow for churches and congregations that observe this Christian tradition. And as we do, please remember those who lost their loved ones in the recent tragic deaths at sea in Kiribati, and the people of Tonga and Samoa who suffered considerably from cyclone Gita. Also remember those in Fiji, especially the people of Ono-i-Lau, Vatoa and Kadavu. Pope Francis' perspective on Lent may help us to think more of them and less about ourselves during this Lenten season. May God be with us in our Lenten journey.
The College's orientation week for 2018 is now past history. First week of residential lectures now sweated out. But PTCEE enjoyed introducing and launching the new online provision that we're putting together - baby steps, but we'll get there - to the community new and old. We had a lively session in the Chapel followed by a celebratory morning tea. Here's a glimpse of it all...
No-one sells the PTCEE programme better than the ever effervescent Nisha
our tireless and hugely committed Administrator....
...aided and abetted by our new volunteer admin assistant the wonderful Maiarii [more from her later] and yours truly, probably just confusing matters...
Nitesh does miracles with the tech and wowed the potential sign-ups...
I did my bit....
...and then fortunately Kafi, our 2017 Diploma graduate, redeemed it by sharing his PTCEE testimony. No better advertisement than that.
And then there was cake....
None of this could have happened of course without the best team in the world,
and here they are. We may be small, we may be wondering who's going to pay for next month's internet and where on earth the salaries are coming from, but hey -
we're beautiful, and we're online! www.ptceeonline.com Praise God.
I asked Maiarii who's spending a year with us in the office doing Certificate studies and helping with admin to introduce herself, which she kindly did.
Hello! My name is Maiarii POHUE, I am a young woman from French Polynesia, Tahiti, born in Papeete. I have a little sister who’s in Form 6, a mother who stays home and looks after everyone, and a dad who is a Phd student here at PTC. I am the eldest of the family and I have only one sibling. My hobbies are: dancing (especially our traditional dance), singing and play volleyball. I am a person who loves helping people, who works hard, a person who is open minded, likes to share and care as well. I enjoy discussing about my family history, and the tales of French Polynesia with my family at home. I like to watch movies with my family and friends, or even take a walk at the sea wall whenever I feel like taking a bit of fresh air. Lastly, I am a person who also likes to have fun and joke around with my family and friends.
It's a blessing for PTCEE to have you around, Maiarii Thanks for the great presentation you did with the team, and for being so helpful around the place.
First Friday tutorial of the year was great. This is the one for Extension students living locally to Suva. A grand gathering.
We even did some theology as well as drink tea. The exercise for theological muscles this week was to read a piece on the use of John 14.6 by the Sri Lankan Professor of Ecumenical Theology, S. Wesley Ariarajah. That [in]famous verse is Jesus speaking to Thomas the disciple as follows...
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
So the group debated some of that in the light of Fiji's increasingly multi-faith make up. Particularly on point, I've always felt in this article, is the author's challenge about selective use of Scripture. He says this...
The spiritual dimensions of John 14.
At the end of a presentation I gave calling for a new
relationship with people of other religious traditions, one of the participants
stood and challenged me with John 14.6, insisting that the text clearly stated
how one might be saved. ‘No one comes to the Father,’ says Jesus, ‘except
through me.’
‘Let us hold that text for a moment,’ I pleaded, ‘and go to
Mark 10 where we have the story of the man who came to Jesus with the
questions, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Certainly this is a question related to salvation, and Jesus’
answer was that he should sell everything he has and give to the poor, and then
come and follow him. Here we have a direct question, “What must I do to inherit
eternal life” and a direct answer, “you must sell everything you have and give
to the poor.”’
Predictably the person objected to making the Markan text
the primary salvation verse, claiming that this was a one-to-one conversation
between Jesus and a rich man.
‘But so was John 14.6,’ I insisted, ‘It is presented as an
intimate conversation between Jesus and one of his disciples, Thomas, who was
troubled by things Jesus was saying to his disciples as he prepared them for
his impending death. In many ways, the John text has a much more intimate, confidential
and private context than the open and public question that the rich man raised
with Jesus on how one might inherit eternal life.
On what basis do we choose
one and not the other as having greater importance to our understanding of
salvation?’
S. Wesley Ariarajah, ‘Interpreting John 14. In a religiously
plural society’, in Rethinking Mission, vol
1, no. 2, Summer 2003. Methodist Church/USPG
I closed the tutorial by posing my own challenge to the group.
So let's suppose that today is the day Jesus returns to earth. He's chosen, of all places on earth, to appear first at the PTCEE Friday tutorial. Look! See the Lord standing in our midst.
And now, imagine asking him this question. 'Lord - for years and years we've studied your marvellous teachings in the Bible. We've tried to be faithful to them and pass them on to others. Please, tell us now, once and for all: which one, out of all your teachings, did you want us to preach more passionately and frequently than any other?'
And the answer comes; 'Of all my teachings? Oh, John 14.6 of course. No one comes to the Father except through me'.
Really?
And we left it there.
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