Peter was the Dean of the Christchurch Cathedral at the time of the earthquakes in 2011. I chose to air this interview now because we talk about love and acceptance in this and it feels like the most appropriate interview given the Christchurch attacks which have just happened. In this wide ranging conversation we discuss his background in the UK, his studies at Oxford University and what led him to become a priest, how he ended up in New Zealand and his memories of the quakes. We also take time to reflect on spiritual ‘thin places’ where the distance between physical things and spiritual things is less thick. It has been explained as “a place where the boundary between heaven and earth is especially thin. It’s a place where we can sense the divine more readily.”
This is the 89th interview and if you enjoyed this you might enjoy some of the earlier ones as well at www.theseeds.nz
On reflecting about this interview I wrote this:
Thin Places
The thinnest of barriers
separates us from wonder.
From an understanding of love, waiting.
As paper cannot be seen through
yet we know it is so thin.
Shine a light on it and see for yourself.
Like the sun hitting a silver platter
And reflecting into open eyes.
Open to the possibility
that your presence will be with us
no matter which path is chosen.
Or like holding a midnight candle
held in the dark at a service
more than 50 years ago.
A moment in time.
These encounters, unfolding elegantly,
revealing within the very idea,
that God is with us always.
Inspiring hushed whispers.
Look – right there!
That sense of wonder rises
filling us up to the brim
from the inside.
Seek out the thin places,
point them out to others
that love may grow.
