Was in UBS the other day at Uni and while trawling through the poetry section came across Big Weather – Poems of Wellington edited by Gregory O’Brien & Louise White. Thoroughly enjoying it. I especially liked James Brown’s “Disempower Structures in the New World” (a poem about supermarkets (New World is an NZ chain) and the local dairy (corner store)).

Last rugby post for a while – I promise.

New Zealand Sports News – super12 – Coach vs Coach

Daniel Carter and Andrew Mehrtens rejected offers to be the Hurricanes’ first five-eighths in next year’s Super 12.

In NZ we’ve often complained about European union or league clubs not releasing players for national teams and now maybe we’re starting to go down that path ourselves.

See the announcement here: Consistency Of Selection In Hurricanes Squad.

The 2005 Hurricanes squad announced today contains only four changes to the 2004 squad. With the bulk of the 2004 squad performing well for the Vodafone Wellington Lions and Genesis Taranaki in the recent Air New Zealand NPC, coaches Colin Cooper and Murray Roulston have been able to select a settled squad.

Still looks a little short on a No. 10 – not convinced by Riki Flutey yet and Jimmy Gopperth is an unknown. I know Dan Carter and Andrew Mehrten’s were encouraged to move somewhere else – I wish one of them had come to Wellington.

Still looks like a balanced squad and its good to see Lome Fa’atau, Brent Ward and Scott Waldrom back.

Roll on 26 February.

Netcraft: Campaign cites “security reasons” for blocking access to Bush site follows up on the earlier posting.

A campaign spokesman acknowledged that the official site of the Bush-Cheney campaign has been rejecting requests from outside North America since Monday morning. “The measure was taken for security reasons,” campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel told news services, but did not elaborate on that statement.

A graph of accessibility to the site at the link about, along with the possible theory of raising the site’s profile by denying access to it.

Saw this on Netcraft: Bush Campaign Web Site Rejects Non-US Visitors. The author makes the excellent point that people outside the US who are eligible to vote via absentee ballot won’t be able to access the site, should they wish to do so.

Apparently you can in Canada but that seems to be an exception. Have a go yourself – does it work? www.GeorgeWBush.com

And here was me thinking that it wouldn’t be sold in NZ.

iPod U2 Special Edition NZ pricing.

Now, what can I sell?

Maybe the next step is a cucumber, tomato and lettuce GM-hybrid that allows you to grow a whole salad on the kitchen window ledge.

The house and garden movement was given a fillip yesterday by the first supermarket lettuce designed to be matured and harvested on a kitchen windowsill.

See: Pick-a-leaf lettuce hits the window sill

Article by Tom Beaudoin on faith, relationships and economics. Some good stuff. See: Consuming Faith.

This raised the question for me: how central are economic relationships to faith? Are my economic relationships secondary to who I am before God, or central? The popular picture of Christianity today, unfortunately, does not show the best face of my faith on this issue. As a Catholic Christian, I notice the way Christianity is portrayed in the media, and how it portrays itself in its own advertising, and what I see lately is a religion too often indifferent to war, overinterested in individual morality, and defensive about its own institutional abuses. One would almost think that this public image of religiosity was mandated by the Christian scriptures.

(Via Jonny Baker.)

Some connections with Steve’s post on Christian moralising where the issues of “sin” have no connection outside of the individual.

I produced a black marker and wrote what came back. And here is when I am stuck. All the responses were Christian moralizing; black = alcholol, dope, sex. And so Christianity is reduced to don’ts and to private individual morals.

And more connections with The Other Side — Towering Trees and Talented Slaves by Ched Myers and Eric DeBode who say

Most churches that do focus attention on Gospel parables spiritualize them relentlessly. Typically, the parables are preached as “earthly stories with heavenly meanings.” Thus stories about landless peasants and rich landowners, or lords and slaves, or lepers and lawyers are lifted out of their social and historical context and reshaped into theological or moralistic fables bereft of any political or economic edge or consequence.

I was listening to the radio the other day (as you do when stuck in Auckland traffic) and there was an interesting interview on with a guy who deals with problem gambling amongst Asian immigrants. He made the point that the casinos function as centres of social activity for immigrants because they can belong to and participate fully in a community without the need for comprehensive English language skills. You can meet others, play the tables, order food and drink with less stress than other social venues.

Made me think about the church. How much of a “language-barrier” is there to people coming into our communities and what sort of participatory (that was the key term the interviewee used) stuff do we have or do that bridges that gap? In a place like West Auckland where your church community (if it’s like mine) is a mix of Asian, European, Maori, Pasifika and other immigrants from places like South Africa just a basic awareness of how we use language is critical. What assumptions do we make about what level of competence people have with different languages (esp. English)? And how does that affect the inclusivity of our communities of faith?

Is the content of teaching only delivered in oral English? Do we embrace the diversity within the community in our expression of worship? Do we ask for and listen to the voices of those who have chosen to live here and join our community of faith?

Maybe we should take a gamble.

Ahh, the cool, refreshing green is back. Even though I’m a fan of gold-and-black verdant hues do something for the soul. (If you’re still seeing the red-and-black scheme try freshing your browser a few times.)

Labour Day here today (long weekend) which coincides with our spring cleaning at home. So far the office has been rearranged, Venetian blinds (surely a product of the Fall) cleaned and windows wiped. Next stop the rumpus room.