Last Saturday Kelvin Wright was ordained and installed (i.e. consecrated and enthroned) as the ninth Bishop of Dunedin of the Anglican Persuasion. It was a wonderful occasion if only because it achieved the right result, and because the new bishop's splendid new gear (made by his sister who should do this kind of thing for a living) didn't make him look like the Imperial Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
But I wish I could say the same for his fellow bishops. They were all clad in something called a chole. Yes, a chole. And what do you suppose that is? Why, it's a combination chasuble cum stole of course. Except that it isn't. It's actually a sandwich-board designed to encourage racial harmony and cultural diversity (and to help us rather insecure New Zealanders feel a bit more confident about our identity). You can tell that by the fact that it has flax crosses prominently displayed front and back.
You don't have to be a member of the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia for long to realise that the significance of the flax cross is cultural rather than Christian. Thus we seem to have made the good the enemy of the best, and I'm not sure that that would appeal to the One whose kingdom is not of this world.
As if the Cassalb wasn't enough!
ReplyDeleteAh, you're right, somehow a flax cross wouldn't have been much of a burden. But go gentle on them - 'a bruised reed he will not break' - and be glad there wasn't a tiki on the cross. Or maybe there was?
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