Appreciating Inconvenience
Elise Fletcher
Two weeks of hotel quarantine with this view and meals delivered three times a day turned out to be a great way to transition between countries! We had dreaded the confinement but were given a suite double the size of our house where we lived like kings! It was a great space for reflecting and processing (and skateboarding incidentally!)
We arrived back in the neighbourhood with a bump; the electricity was out that day and we had no water or gas. As we sweated through cleaning up three months of dirt and reclaiming our space, we were acutely aware of some of the contrasts in our world. That night we ate the shortbread biscuits that were meant to be put away for Christmas! Readjusting was going to be hard.
Early the following day, Jon took Sam to Immigration to argue for an extension of his visa since his passport was renewed whilst in the UK. The old visa expired whilst in quarantine so he was technically an ‘overstay’ and we’d been given very little assurance over the phone. It was a reminder that there is nothing automatic about our being here. *Spoiler – Sam was not deported!
In the meantime, I had two tasks – stock up on groceries for the week and collect online learning materials from school. With two children I didn’t think we’d fit a lot on the motorbike so I decided to attempt an online shop for the first time. However, it required three separate deliveries just to get in the basics and my phone was ringing every few minutes with confusion about the delivery address! I had given a pin out on the main road but it was still apparently hard to find.
As Elliot and I rushed in and out of the neighbourhood to bring in shopping, I was accosted each time by different people wanting to tell their covid stories. All the good intentions about not hugging went out of the window as the time came to weep with those who weep. Elliot did most of the carrying.
We were a bit frazzled but there was just an hour left to get to the drive-through collection point at school. I tried to look presentable but knew I’d be the only parent queuing on a motorbike, and a battered one at that. The sky looked ominous but we didn’t have much choice. We were only halfway there when the rain started and we were drenched within moments!
In the afternoon we attended the funeral of a friend’s nephew with just an hour’s notice.
This kind of inconvenience is nothing new but it was crazy how quickly we had become desensitised. We had to choose to accept it again; to remember that being inconvenienced is all part of the package of being the Body of Christ where God has placed us.
Appreciating Inconvenience is a Spiritual Discipline (though possibly one that we made up!). We’re not very good at it but life is better when we practice it. The myth of convenience puts ‘self’ at the centre and has an inward focus. Living in community requires a willingness to be inconvenienced and even a willingness to inconvenience others as we work together for the mutual good.
Lament and Gratitude
Colleen Coath
I (Colleen) write this update with a sense of uncertainty and (I have to admit) frustration as Victoria waits out it’s 4th lockdown due to another COVID-19 outbreak. It seems a familiar situation. We have grown to adapt and deal with this situation although I can’t help sitting in the feelings of disappointment and fear. It’s also a relief when I sit in the warmth of peace and gratitude. This combination of lament and gratitude has been a process for me and a helpful way to deal with the life we were thrown into in March 2020. In her book This One Wild and Precious Life, Sarah Wilson talks about the sudden change that happened in our lives with the pandemic and the isolation the world was about to experience. She says, “It’s like nature has sent us all to our rooms to have a good hard look at ourselves.” As I’ve reflected on my life during this time, I’ve been reminded that it is healthy to lament and recognise what we have lost. It is also healthy for our mental wellbeing to be grateful and recognise what we have gained throughout this time.
What do I lament? The loss of our flow in the neighbourhood; bumping into neighbours care-free and not wondering if we should shake hands or not; the programs we had planned on running; being with people and connecting over meaningful conversations; sharing delicious food; growing the EAL groups and continuing the deep conversations that I treasure in my heart. Our ministry is based on the praxis of incarnational presence. To sit closely, share freely, speak kindly, nurture reciprocally, empower humbly. Jesus lived the perfect example of incarnational presence throughout his life. I lament the loss of freely and truly living and experiencing this example.
What am I grateful for? I give you my gratitude list with a sense of tension as I feel it comes from my place of privilege. A warm and comfortable home to endure lockdown, a coffee machine, friends and family who I can easily contact, a decent healthcare system, financial income and stability. It’s difficult to celebrate when I know there are so many who suffer on a daily basis due to inequality, injustice and judgement. This is a tension I have felt most of my life and will no doubt continue to feel.
I am grateful though. I’m grateful for times to sit in a posture of learning and curiosity; time to stop, heal and grow; when I receive generous hospitality; a smile and a wave; the beautiful sunrises we have been getting lately; the music my boys create; the laughter and play I hear from the school children over the road. Amongst the lament, there is also gratitude and I continue to sit in that space mentally and physically here in my beloved neighbourhood while we wait out this lockdown and move into the next season. What do you lament? What are you grateful for? It’s good to sit in both.
Social Media has Found it’s Legs
Dave Tims
Kia ora friends,
We hope you are well during this time of uncertainty, as we learn to adapt and reshape the way we live under the shadow of COVID .
If there is anything we learnt from Auckland’s last lockdown, it’s the importance of connectedness. Over the last 14 months we have invested a huge amount of resources, time and money, into building a network through the social media of facebook. We now have 16 street facebook pages and neighbours are connecting with each other. The network has been built through employing three local woman part-time – they have knocked on over 800 homes, run street BBQ’s and have organised lots of social events and meetings. Social media has found its legs, and it has been expressed through the practical art of loving our neighbour.
Funding for these positions finished just before our recent lockdown. However, throughout the process of building social networks, we worked to create a culture of participation instead of dependency (on the workers). Over the last 3 months we have formed a new group of ‘Street Champs’, who are local likeminded people from each street. They are responsible for encouraging resilience and connectedness with their street neighbours. In times like this, they have sparked into life.
Mike Rhodes, in his book Practicing The King’s Economy, compares the difference between a soup kitchen and a pot-luck dinner. It is a helpful illustration of how community can work:
“But what if in God’s economy our goal isn’t a soup kitchen? What if it’s a potluck? A soup kitchen divides us up into haves and have-nots. At a potluck every single person both gives and receives. Food comes from everyone and goes to everyone. Everyone gets fed and everyone brings a plate…If we begin with the idea that the community God wants is a potluck, where the poor are not only fed but also bring a plate, then that will shape the entirety of our economic lives.” (1)
The idea of a ‘pot-luck’ community is now showing its fruit. Over the last 4 days of lockdown, 20 volunteers have stepped up. They are all contributing their skills, resources and gifts. This has resulted in weekly kai packs being organised and distributed, Whānau activity packs given away for kids, policies regarding group decision making are crafted, donations received, researching and lots of online discussion occurring, and this is all creating a pot-luck response to our COVID lockdown (P.S. we all follow government safety guidelines during this time).
Matt Di Lorenzo – Blessing and Thanks
Matt joined UNOH Broadmeadows in August 2018 and completed the 3 year Formation process. He has been a wonderful teammate who will be hugely missed. Matt is one in a million. Amongst many great character traits, he can be described as brave, committed and wise. He moved into the neighbourhood and opened his home to others. He showed love and care for those in his life. He took on challenging roles, tried new things and managed to serve the best coffee with amazing and inspiring conversation. He shows a wise curiosity which is a beautiful expression of Jesus in his life. We will miss having him on our team and in our hood yet we know the next season will bring many more opportunities to show his bravery, commitment and wisdom to those in his life. Thank you Matt, for all you have done and shared with us.