Category: A Sabbath Journey – Peter’s sabbatical, 2014
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To Ngatiawa on the Northern Explorer
A wedding and a honeymoon behind me (both wonderful, inspiring, full of joy and fun), I am heading south again to Ngatiawa for two final weeks of retreat – this time on my own, and perhaps fulfilling something of my original intention for this sabbatical. Lois has set off for three weeks in India –…
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Our wedding day
The sun is shining in a clear blue sky over Auckland. We are both feeling incredibly blessed, and excited about the journey ahead. I remembered this morning a piece by Caroline Adams which I came across last year: “Your life is a sacred journey. And it is about change, growth, discovery, movement, transformation, continuously expanding…
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Not all who wander are lost
How do I express the glorious beauty of these few days? A selection of instant photographs, and a few scribbled lines in my journal cannot possibly capture the rich experience of the tramp. To walk these paradise paths, my beloved companion by my side, drinking in the rich, untainted glory of the Marlborough Sounds –…
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How to organise a wedding
Plan a 3 month sabbatical in a warm, sunny part of the world Book yourself into a monastery for a time of deep contemplation Find a totally gorgeous Kiwi and fall in love Pretend that you are still being deeply spiritual at the monastery Go for a sunset walk on the beach and ask the…
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Throwing individualism and conformity to the wind
In his book Silence and Honey Cakes former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, speaks of the twin curses in our society of excessive individualism and pressured conformity. In contrast, he calls us each to recognise our own unique personhood: ‘when you have a person who is wholly self-consistent, whose identity is completely bound up with…
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Two years
Tonight is the anniversary of Helen’s death. As I enter a new season of joy and peace in my life, it is with mixed emotions. Grief changes, it doesn’t go away. I feel blessed to be where I am, and able to walk with my grief, secure in the knowledge that I am loved. I…
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Come, walk on the water with me
Come, walk on the water with me! I’m in the mood for impossible things! Take out your heart of courage, A lamp amid your fears And walk on the water with me. Let’s touch everything we see And change it to hope Our hearts let’s change to flesh No more stones of apathy for us.…
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Counting the stars
Last night I woke and stood on the deck outside the chapel. The night was still. No sounds save the gentle Ngatiawa tumbling its way down to the Sea, and a lonely owl haunting the quiet valley. The night was clear. Dark forests towered above me, silhouetted against the star-lit sky. The half-moon,…
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An unexpected journey
Here, surrounded by vistas of Middle Earth, I am feeling a certain affinity to Bilbo Baggins. “This hobbit was a very well-to-do hobbit, and his name was Baggins. The Bagginses had lived in the neighbourhood of The Hill for time out of mind, and people considered them very respectable, not only because most of them…