10 June 1886
Tarawera (eruption)
25 April 1915
Gallipoli (war)
2 February 1931
Napier (earthquake)
24 December 1953
Tangiwai (lahar)
10 April 1968
Wahine (cyclone)
28 November 1979
Erebus (plane crash)
19 November 2010
Pike River (mine explosion)
Every decade or two New Zealand is hit with a deep sadness that adds to our self-understanding as a people. Our story can be retold in a minor key – and another sad stanza has just been added. There are more – but this is more than enough just for now…
Paul
About Me
the art of unpacking
After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.
Recent Posts
It was my very first training seminar with Langham Preaching. April 2009. We were based at the OMF Guest House in Chiangmai, Thailand. As I wandered the property, I came across this striking quotation on one of the walls: So striking, in fact, that I stopped to take its photo! But is it really true?…
Ten years ago, Ode to Georgetown was my response to being surprised by grief when the only church I had ever pastored closed its doors. Last week brought the news that the theological college which I attended, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS), was to close most of its Chicagoland campus. I have been feeling a…
I am neither painter nor poet, musician nor actor. With Art and Music and Drama classes at school, I was present in body—but absent in spirit and skill. However, as a teacher, there has been the occasional flare of creativity in the crafting of assignments. One of my favourites is one of my first ones.…
John Stott was the first one to help me see the tension in Jesus’ teaching on salt and light. They are pictures for how his disciples are to live in society. Salt pulls them in, keeping them involved. Light holds them back, keeping them distinctive. Being light responds to ‘the danger of worldliness’, while being…
Wahine! oh Tangiwai!
the skies that fall
the seas assault
the children cry
did you hear there’s been a fire down the mine?
Wahine e! oh Tangiwai!
we’ll land with our battalions at gallipoli
we’ll fly above the mountains in the storm
as the fire erupts on every side
we hold onto each other tight
for we will be the first to see the dawn
so here's to tragedies!
long live the casualties!
as we dry our eyes
and write our lives
in minor keys
tighten the tourniquets
oh god is it over yet
here’s to the ones we lost before
before our watching eyes
and here's to the beautiful
bruised and broken
left behind
over the mountains, seas
and weary trees they came
but Mahuika still had one more flame
can you hear the sound of old Mawhera cryin’?
oh rock of ages cleft for twenty-nine
may they ride with our battalions from gallipoli
may they fly above the mountains and the storm
high above this land that quakes
and trembles with each heart that breaks
for we will be the first to carry on
so here's to tragedies!
long live the casualties!
as we dry our eyes
and write our lives
in minor keys
tighten the tourniquets
oh god is it over yet?
here’s to the ones we lost before
before our watching eyes
and here’s to the beautiful
bruised and broken
left behind
did you here there’s been a fire down the mine?
oh rock of ages cleft for twenty-nine