Keep praying for Christchurch

Thank you for your prayers to date. And keep praying for Japan.

Here in Christchurch in the past few days we have been learning that:

- the city's sewerage system is on the verge of collapse

- the Roman Catholic cathedral is two months away from having any kind of report on its future (because its dome needs removing by a special crane or two in order for the building to be safe enough for engineers to enter the building)

- the Roman Catholic bishop, Barry Jones has had a slight stroke

Otherwise we remain in a period of constant change mixed with (seemingly) nothing happening. Changes include new traffic lay outs at newly congested intersections. 'Nothing happening' is the appearance for a number of our churches which await what is - I am sure! - slowly happening: conversations between engineers, insurance assessors, and diocesan property authorities.

'New normal' is an emerging description among Christchurch inhabitants about life at the moment. But in this 'new normal' quite a few things change so much from day to day that confusion is part of the new normal. To make matters worse, some information we receive is confusing too, like a building I noticed on a recently issued list of damaged buildings: it appears twice, once requiring 'demolition' and once requiring 'partial demolition.'