Sunday, October 16, 2016

All Blacks can't win off the field!

OK, having caught your attention with the post title (called in the trade "clickbait", I am told), let me share a couple of items of news before getting to another AB loss off the field ... or is it?

News item one: I did not realise we had any current Kiwi vicars who have served 35 years in the one parish, but this report tells us about Graham Colley who is retiring after that period of time as Vicar of Thames (Auckland Diocese). Congratulations Graham!

New item two: the other day, journeying up the Peel Forest area to visit the Ecolodge I thought about seeing how progress was going with post-quake repairs to the Church of the Holy Innocents. Time was too short but not to worry as this report tells us both of progress and a snag.

Recently rugby players in NZ have incurred and/or received bad press re bad boy behaviour, notably one of our current All Blacks. Cue justified questions about whether the culture of rugby is getting out of hand. But there has also been some tut-tutting and harrumphing which may have gotten out of hand itself. Anyway, I read this morning about Our Best Ever All Black Coach, His Holiness Steve Hansen being invited to speak at a business conference arranged by the Exclusive Brethren.

The article is an interesting read, not least because it raises the question whether the EBs are changing! But here is the thing, the political tone of the article is critical because the EBs once supported the National Party in a slightly dodgy way. The implication seems to be that Steve Hansen should not be consorting with such folk.

So, here's the thing, as one wag identified on the internet, but in my own words: The All Blacks cannot win off the field. If it is not bad behaviour with women they are being criticised for, it is good behaviour with godly folk!

8 comments:

Andrew Reid said...

At least the All Blacks are losing somewhere :) I fear their off-field losing ways will not translate on to the field against the Wallabies next Saturday!
I don't know what the Exclusive Brethren are like in New Zealand but in Australia there is a debate within Christian circles about whether they ought to be regarded as very conservative Christian brothers and sisters or a cult. I'm a bit surprised they're organising a conference where they invite an outside speaker. Perhaps they're not as exclusive in NZ?

Peter Carrell said...

Hi Andrew
I don't think the NZ EBs do anything without the approval of their Sydney-based Boss/Pope!
The article does make the point that the conference was not (so to speak) an exclusive Exclusive event; nevertheless it is interesting that the EBs are willing at a business level to run a conference for non-EBs to mingle with EBs.

Andrei said...

"But here is the thing, the political tone of the article is critical because the EBs once supported the National Party in a slightly dodgy way. The implication seems to be that Steve Hansen should not be consorting with such folk."

There are some acceptable prejudices in this world where we are expected to bow down before the altar of multicultural diversity

And political participation by groups that do not belong to an accepted grievance lobby will always attract opprobrium

Andrei said...

Off topic but this may interest you from a few hours ago in London

The Archbishop of Canterbury was among the dignitaries

https://youtu.be/9gApv2fsCzE

Peter Carrell said...

Thanks Andrei
Interesting comment to the video re the Patriarch's previous form with the ROC in the UK!

Also off-topic, but you might appreciate the presence of Putin near the beginning of this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M92QAzqYBc

Andrei said...

American humour doesn't work for me :) They make their points with a sledgehammer

I hadn't read that comment until you mentioned it but the issue it refers to happened in the time of Patriarch Alexy II not Kirill and involved a Bishop who was an American convert to Orthodoxy who tried to take the Russian Church in England from Moscow to Constantinople after a large increase in London's Russian population changed its character - we don't need to go there...

The Tower of Babel thing in action coupled with human ambition

Most native English speakers are monoglot and expect everything to be in modern English and do not have the patience to come to grips with modes of expression and syntax they are unfamiliar with.

That even extends to the beautiful English language of the King James Bible in a lot of cases - is it considered too hard for the peasantry? Do you inadvertently treat people as stupid when they are probably not?

In your post about attracting the young to the Church I suggested that the Church should not try to conform to modern ways of communication and adapt to them but to keep to the old ways even if it seems counter cultural.

There is a saying "Why should the Devil have all the best tunes?" - was that John Wesley?

I don't think the Devil does - when I was about fourteen I was in Church and the choir which was only one man and one women were singing "Only Begotten" or "Единородный Сыне" and it was transcendant I felt it was far far more beautiful than anything I could hear on the radio at that time and just about everything they were playing on the radio at that time is now long forgotten but that Hymn is still sung and it has been for nearly 1600 years now and will be until the second coming

The difference between what a Faithful Anglican, Catholic or Orthodox Christian believes and hopes for is nothing - for sure the cerebral get into arguments over arcane matters of theology but these things matter little to the Faithful and certainly will account for less than nothing on the Day of Judgment - true?

Andrei said...

Perhaps some Russian Humour is called for

Peter Carrell said...

Hi Andrei
Yes to your question
Russian humour: loved Putin playing the piano ... with both candidates dancing to his tune :)