My response was “ Thank goodness commonsense prevailed.”  There is no moral obligation to continue supernormal ways of prolonging life.  It would be a totally different situation if he was denied natural food and medicine in the normal mode of intake.  But this was a case of halting  surgery to insert a piece of medical technology enabling him to get nourishment which caused him further pain.  As the Judge noted, “ it would prolong the dying period when death is closing in.”

My prayer is for his mother who has been torn apart in her love and care and concern.    She commented how you always want the best for your children. And during this terrible illness  her every breath has been dedicated to them

“Out of love,  you want them with you.  Out of love you want their pain gone.”  I pray she will receive the love and support  she so greatly needs.

To my surprise I found it was a contentious topic. We all agreed that times are tougher, food is more expensive and many people are unemployed. But there the consensus ended. There was a genuine questioning of why such an increased number of people are now attending food banks. Are they poor organizers? Do they need help with budgeting? Can’t they join a community garden group? The answer may be ‘yes’ to all of these questions but there is so much more to it.

In the past 25 years high earners have increased their incomes by more than 25%. At the same time people on lower incomes have seen their incomes actually decrease [ NZ Council of Christian Social Services.] New Zealand is “world leader”in growth in income inequality. We have gone from being one of the most equal countries to one of the most unequal in the OECD within two decades. This has been accompanied by worsening health and social outcomes: higher imprisonment rates, more teen pregnancies, rising obesity levels and poorer mental health.

I may have a statistical knowledge of all the above but actually how I view the world depends on where I stand. If I stand with the wealthy or even the mildly comfortable I contemplate the world from the heights of privilege. If however I stand with those who are poor, marginalised or oppressed then I shall contemplate the world from the experience of suffering and injustice. Then I have a better chance of glimpsing the world as God does—-a loving God who liberates us all and calls us to live as equal sisters and brothers, all God’s children.

I pray for a more understanding mind and heart.

He drew applause  from the crowd with  his echoing the phrase “Kia Kaha”  but then he quoted his grandmother.   He said he  remembered her once saying “Grief is the price of love”  and this left me pondering.   Who do I grieve over?   Who are the ones whose loss or misfortune give me an abiding  ache in the heart?

It is the people I know and love, the ones close to me whose lives have become intertwined with mine.  These are the ones who have the greatest influence on my loving.  Their loving me transforms my life.  And what often happens is that we draw out and reveal the beauty already there within one another.

“ I love humanity “  Charley Brown once declared in the comic strip.  Of course we know that’s impossible.  It’s like Mrs. Jellyby in  Dicken’s “Bleak House” who loved with a passion an obscure tribe in far away Africa but had little time for those around her at home.

Every now and again I  hear someone say, after a relationship has broken up or they’ve lost a dear friend or  been deeply hurt in some way,  “I’m not going to love again!  It’s too dangerous!  I’ll only get hurt again!”   Understandable for the moment but not for life.  No matter who we are the deepest part of our journey is this opening to love.   But to live life and love fully is to  open myself  up to being hurt.  To be alive is to be vulnerable.

Grief is the price of love.  The people there at the Memorial Ceremony knew that. They were present at the service because they were grieving —-people they knew who had died,  homes and businesses where they lived and worked and  now destroyed and the damage to their beloved city.  They were deep in grief because of their love.

Agree or not with that statement I think we probably will agree that when our backs are up against the wall and life is seemingly at its bleakest is the time when we yearn at a deep gut level for something so profound we are often unable to put it into words. What is this but prayer? Do we turn to prayer only when there’s no hope? I think it’s the opposite.

It’s because we cling to hope that we turn to prayer , to the presence of someone bigger and wiser than we are. We may look for a miracle? For understanding? For support? for courage? For what we know not? Prayer has become essential in my life. It is part of my everyday living. But there are times when it takes on a rawness, a different edge. It is like that now… and there is a growing intensity in our prayer. I thank God for the girls of Greymouth with their prayer of yellow ribbons ——symbols of hope and prayer and with the rest of New Zealand

I pray for the 29 and their families.

‘I love you ‘ are the words we all yearn to hear.  Love is the stuff of myth and legend, of the most profound literature, the theme of nearly every opera, classical song  cycle and pop song  It is the core of authentic spirituality, the writings of the mystics and the centre of deep prayer. When is the right time to say “I love you?” Everything is so regulated nowadays.  There are rules and procedures, policies and strategic plans.  Surely we don’t need to organize when to say ‘I love you.’   I need to say it when my heart knows.

I can say I love you in words but also with my body and in what I do. I feel an inward glow when I see a couple in an embrace, parents wrapt with their children and close friends walking with hands linked. Here it’s all intertwined. Remember the wonderful scene in “Fiddler on the Roof” when Tenya sings to his wife “Do you love me?”   while the pragmatic Golder replies;  “Do I what?   For 25 years I’ve cooked your food,  I’ve washed your clothes   etc.  If you don’t call that love, what is?” And still Tenya persists “Do you love me?”

Two faces of love.  As the poet Auden writes”  We must love one another or die” but we need to hear the words too.

“Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved.”   St. Augustine.

My second reflection was on the many elements of violence in our society.  Just listen to the language advertising a rugby game;  “the battle of the giants, —-keeping tabs on the enemy” etc. And this is sport for heavens’ sake!!    I find myself praising Australian cricketers  having the competitive killer edge which the Black Caps lack.  This is dreadful.  So any programme which promotes more gentle living  in a mode which the general population will emulate, needs the encouragement which assured long term funding will give. Look at the time and onslaught media advertising  has  taken for us to realise the dangers of smoking .  Family violence is far more dangerous as it not only attacks the victims physically  but also at the heart of their very being as worthwhile people.   My work is with many needy people  who often express hatred for their fathers because of the violent treatment they received as children.  Yet it’s often been found that much as they’ve resented this treatment they  may go onto repeating it as that’s the only modelling they know.  We must reinforce ways which will help break the cycle of violence.  We must protect the most vulnerable.

In the past decade there have been several assessments of the state of children’s health on an international scale and in all of them New Zealand children are now among those who are at the greatest risk among children from developed countries.   Do we need more assessments or is it more organised, consistent, well-funded action that is required?  The needs are exploding!!

The Director of the Child Epidemiology Service contends a number of health conditions among children will deteriorate after the recession and tracking them will be critical so that, the relevant authorities will be alerted quickly. The Report presented at the Paediatric Society conference drew the link between rising unemployment, poverty and short and longer-term health outcomes which include higher hospital admissions and mortality in the short term.  In the longer term there is poorer cardiovascular and oral health, and an increased chance of becoming dependent  on alcohol.  We also have excessively high rates of youth depression and suicide and deaths of children from accidents, maltreatment and violence.

To raise investment in our children makes good economic sense let alone being a moral obligation.  If we are to advance anywhere as a people we need to attend to the needs of the most vulnerable ones in our population.  How often are children mentioned in the Budget and their needs discussed in Parliament? The money we spend on our children now will be saved long term on fewer beds in jails, hospitals and psychiatric units.

But my concern goes deeper than mere economic terms and lies in our social and spiritual priorities.  Do we value children as our most valued resource and as a precious gift entrusted to us?    Their care and nurture is the responsibility of the whole community. Every child is made in the image and likeness of God and therefore has an innate dignity which demands our commitment to support everything that will promote the best interests of children,especially the most vulnerable.