by Liz Young
(Based on Luke 1:39-55; Hebrews 10:5-10)
The Hebrews reading reminded the Jews that God did not welcome animal sacrifices, but had allowed Jesus, his son, to make the ultimate sacrifice for us. The Gospel gave us Mary’s Song of Praise to God, accepting that she has been chosen to nurture the Son of God, who will stand and feed his flock in the majesty of the Name of the Lord his God, and the poor and humble may live secure now, because of Jesus.
The word peace echoes in our hearts today, as we think of the people of Ukraine, standing up to the might of Russia, the people of Taiwan and Hong Kong threatened by mainland China, and the ordinary people in Sudan and other countries in Africa threatened by renegades; and the never ending battle for power in Syria.
This month our book group read a book on ‘Humankindness’, the theme being that ordinary groups of thirty to a hundred people tend to be kind to each other: we look after each other, both everyday, and in times of natural disaster: even if the media prefers to broadcast stories of how unkind we can be to each other. So one New Year’s resolution I recommend is – give up listening to the news! Just take a local newspaper, like our Local Advertiser.
The other New Year’s resolution is to keep an eye out for lonely neighbours, or those burdened with the care of looking after a partner with dementia.
Does Tairua need a second ‘Garden Estate’, where people live in safe surroundings, with an easy walk to the shops, and neighbours who keep an eye out for each other? Does Nina at Matapaia (our local rest home) need help in achieving her dream of having a dementia unit? And, do we need to point out to the Regional Health Authority that it is inappropriate for them to fill the beds at Matapaia with out-of-towners when we’ve unmet need here?
No room in our inn for our mentally frail elderly …
I’ve been inundated this week with phone call requests from charities. At least they’ve got the message that I will not respond if they phone at dinner time. I’m fortunate that because I have a good pension from the national health system, I can often respond; but I prefer to support those charities that have clients with high expenses and a small donor base, such as Muscular Dystrophy. All charities in New Zealand have had a lower income this year, as most of us put charities in our disposable income bracket, rather than a necessary expense. Do we need to turn that around, somehow?
This Advent at St Francis we’ve been lighting candles for Hope, Peace, Joy and Love, and Christian World Service are requesting our help in providing water for those who need it. So I thought I’d lighten the mood of this sermon by relating two of our family’s water experiences: In the eighties, we had two tanks storing water collected from the roof. A total of two thousand gallons of water. I’d worked out that our local annual rainfall is 53 inches per year, and with careful household use this would last us at least three weeks of drought, so we should be okay But one January we were almost out of water. John was at sea, so he couldn’t stop me, and I ordered a fill-up from the local fire brigade … and it rained the next day.
I find it amusing that our local Council now make it obligatory to put in water tanks with new builds, having told us when we built that we didn’t need to have tanks (when they first connected up the mains water supply).
As some of you know, John and I, in 2007, returned to New Zealand from Europe, via the Panama Canal and the Galapagos Islands. The longest ocean crossing was from Galapagos to the Marquesas, three thousand nautical miles. We had two hundred litres of drinking water in our tanks. We kept clean by swimming daily, and we allowed ourselves three litres of drinking water per day, each – cooking veges in one third sea water and two thirds fresh.
We were so pleased to be able to wash our hair when we got to the Marquesas.
Another book club book we read this year was on how Israel manages its water. Did you know that our drip feed hoses were invented in Israel, and that Israel gives Jordan water, generated at their desalination plant? I am glad that our Pat Lee has encouraged us to fund-raise for water tanks in Fiji.
On our first trip back from Panama to NZ we stopped at Penrhyn, the northernmost island of the Cooks, near the equator; and they allowed us to restock our water tanks from their huge store of rain water, collected from the roof of their very large A-frame church. We had to wait for our first ice cream in a month, though, to get to the next island south.
Anyway … have a happy Festive Season conserving water!
Thanks be to God.
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