Conversations 11/10

I had a conversation with a lady this week whose family is going on a spiritual pilgrimage. I don't think she would regard it as spiritual. She certainly would not regard herself as religious. But she is going back to where the family's roots are in Europe - travelling to the places that her forbears went en route to New Zealand.

One of the nicest things that my family is doing in putting together an on-line family tree. It grows every week, and I get email reminders of the new people added. It's like a web really. I feel very connected to people I've never met.

As a traveller from Africa I feel connected to people here whose parents or grandparents were also emigrants. When you set sail from your place of birth, a part of you is left stuck in your homeland. I described it once as a kind of divorce - there is pain from the separation, and its very hard to bond again.

Here we are on the other side of the world. We are slowly bonding in a funny way. Through conversations you discover a new angle on your common humanity. There are spiritual bonds - with people who understand your spirit. There are gender bonds - you connect with men who struggle with the guy things - that peculiar breed we are who have a real desire for adventure and conquest in one way or the other. There are heart things - where you hear the tragic conversations of those in crisis - the children, the parents, the lonely ones.

So here we are. There is the drama of rugby and the all greys. That seem to have quickly blown over. Then the exams - their stresses are short-lived. Local news here lurches from one local crisis to another - each day a fresh conversation.

Whether its our favourite volcano blowing its top, or our beloved fault lines shaking the foundations of our houses (at last I felt an earthquake here), the conversations go on in the midst of all kinds of challenging places where we all live.

We give thanks to God for our spiritual heritage - for our extended family and forbears - and for you our friends who form this greater web than the www.

Robin

In Memory of Ernie Palmer (11/10/11 to 11/10/71)