Commission: have met, will meet, will listen, will achieve ... something, I hope

Yes, things can actually come to pass in our church. The appointing of a commission of eminent persons was announced. Then we heard that some eminent persons were not saying Yes to their invitations. Seemingly the commission was not coming into being. But it was. It has had its first meeting. We even know the names of the commission! Report here in Taonga.

The commission is:

"Sir Anand Satyanand, who was a lawyer, judge and ombudsman before he was chosen as New Zealand’s 19th Governor General;

Ms Mele Tuilotolava, a Tongan New Zealander lawyer who is also involved in a wide range of health, legal and Pacific Island advocacy work;

Professor Paul Trebilco, head of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Otago;

Judge Judith Potter, a High Court judge, and former president of both the Auckland District and New Zealand Law Societies; and

Sir Tamati Reedy, an educationalist who was the founding Professor of the University of Waikato’s School of Maori and Pacific Development, and who has also served as the head of the Maori Affairs Department."

They are eminent enough that I have heard of three of them. I personally only know one of them. Of course the announcement that it consists of "eminent" persons begs a few questions about the absence of the truly eminent among us, say,  Richie McCaw or Sir Brian Lochore :)

The description of Professor Paul Trebilco does not give an important and relevant detail, namely, that Paul's academic speciality is New Testament studies. He made a great contribution as a consultant biblical scholar to our last Hermeneutical Hui (Auckland, 2010).

The terms of reference for the commission are here.

Let us pray for their work.