This world is strange, beautiful and broken

Your indulgence for a rambling kind of post is appreciated. I have no striking thesis to develop this week. I am typing this in the airport at Chatham Island (where our most remote parish is), waiting for our plane to land, it having been delayed because of storms in New Zealand disrupting its flights yesterday. We have been here for five days and had the best weather ever of four trips here over the past eight years.

The Chathams, as always, inspire with the beauty of isolated land sitting in the midst of surrounding seas.

During those five days there has been a good result for the All Blacks under their new coach, some amazing results in the World Cup, a good outcome (in my view) of ACC deliberations re the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals, all kinds of machinations in the Catholic world over the SSPX episcopal ordinations, a Chinese ballistic missile launched into the Pacific Ocean, and, incredibly, President Trump intervening to change the outcome of a red card against an American player and the FIFA President meekly obliging. What a broken world!

I am pleased that the ACC is (at the least) pausing to reflect further on the nature of a Communion which should involve communion with Canterbury rather than not. (See, e.g., this Living Church report).

On a completely different note, I had seen good reports of "Prime Minister", a documentary about Jacinda Ardern's time as our Prime Minister (2017-2023), and last night had a chance to watch it courtesy of Netflix (upon which site it remains for about another 30 hours). I found it very moving (and very well produced, though no surprises there because Jacinda's husband, Clarke Gayford, is a top TV cinematographer). Sure, I know we can have a discussion about the financial legacy of the latter years of her premiership (none of which is mentioned in the film), but the moving part of the film was the humanity of our then PM as she met some huge challenges, with little or no rest between them - raw emotion is involved. Only view if you are comfortable being moved to tears.

Hopefully back to a longer and better focused post next week ... our plane has landed here in the Chathams, but it takes a while to unload its cargo and upload is fish and crayfish return cargo.