Cabbage And Koru

In Christchurch, New Zealand, after a packed meeting at Theology House, the Celtic group presented me with a bunch of large cabbage leaves. They see these as a sign of God?s grace dancing in the leaves. The cabbage tree is unbreakable fibre, an enduring sign of the land and of God?s creation, of musicality, resilience, and of comfort. Maori use it for clothes and baskets, and on hill tops as way-marks.

That morning I had purchased a booklet by Mike Cole entitled ?Koru Christianity? which begins ?The centre of the Koru (a fern) is the Heart of God. From this place, life flows in all its forms. All creation came from this Heart that is Love?. God spoke to me. Mike, an Anglican Vicar, his RC brother Paul, and his Baptist colleague Alistair Mackenzie and wife Alison, who are all charismatic friends, took me out to a pub to talk through how new, young groups with kids can sustain a daily rhythm of prayer. Thank God for Koru people.