Auckland and living the story

So we made it! Having clocked up about 3600 kms or so, we arrived in Auckland. We drove through what is now a very busy city, found the place to drop off the campervan, were driven to the place to collect our (very scabby) hire car and drove to Epsom to meet up with family (parents, 2 aunts and an uncle plus us lot.) What ensued included lots of chat, some wine, a play at the playground, unloading the car and settling in. A great area, a great house, a great welcome, a great meal, a great time.

Suddenly he was gone... (cue a Rush song in my head) my Dad returns to the UK and left that morning. Sad to see him go as I have not really seen him at all over the course of this trip, and as we are now both really relaxed,it would have been good to spend some stress free time with him, but it was not to be...

The day he left, we all upped sticks and drove the 2hrs to Pauanui in the Corramandel. We left before most of the traffic. We were heading for the holiday home owned by family, for a few days of sun, sand, and great times. So far so good.

Yesterday was Good Friday and often for me, one of the busiest and emotionally charged days of the Christian year. We drove from the house to the centre of town. On the way in we passed some members of the local church preparing for a Walk of Witness. They stood in silence, a handful of them, praying before they set out with a large cross to a church for worship. I felt ashamed, cut off and voyeristic as we drove to go and play crazy golf.

In may ways though this is how Lent has been for me this year. I have been a bystander, and I have missed not being an active participant in remembering the Passion. And yet I also understand something. We are called to enter deeply into the mystery of the Passion of Christ, and yet, if we do not (as I have not this year) fully participate – hearing each twist and turn of this part of the Gospel – it is is strangely difficult to enter into the spirit of this Holy season; it is hard to make sense of the Cross without a grasp of the Via De La Rosa and harder still to experience the shock and wonder of the new world order bursting from the empty tomb.

It all becomes a confounded mystery, one that is immensely hard to engage with. In a culture where we are constantly presented with choices, Christian faith being one of them, the Church needs to think hard about how we present what's on offer through faith to a world which chooses to opt in and out of the story we tell year in, year out, and how we help them to make sense of it, and we must pray that the Gospel is not just about how we make sense of a story, but how through encountering the Risen Christ for ourselves, we can become part of the story of God in the world, His story, and to allow that story to be written in us and by us.