In my last post I wrote of St Peter’s in Queenstown, their beautiful church and their grand commercial development. Now back in Christchurch I couldn’t face its transitional cathedral again, despite coverting their altar cloth (below). I think it was the plastic roof and curtain walls which I found particularly claustrophobic.
I needed a proper church and found it in St Michael’s and All Angels. How fortunate that it’s wooden structure survived the earthquake intact.
Spectacular stained glass windows in every wall, and a High Mass for the feast of the Baptism of Jesus which was celebrated by Fr Rom Smith whose blog KiwiAnglo is one of my favourites. It regularly features in the twitter feed for our own The Trinity Forum. Bonus.
Everyone asked was I from St Peter’s Eastern Hill, which I have been and it was especially good that my friend, Helen Drummond from The Hill, is the granddaughter of Fr Burton who took the parish to the top of the candlestick in 1910 (or as they say here – made it ‘the spike shop’). Bonus for them.
I was prevailed upon to join the congregation for coffee afterwards and met a lady who taught for three years in Coober Pedy and now teaches at St Michael’s school which adjoins the church. Everyone had picked me as a priest even though I was in civvies.
Father M 
I’m not surprised you were recognized and welcomed as a priest. I had been thinking about the Loneliness of the Long Distance Flyer but we need not have worried, you have that presence. Jenny would have been all that you expected this morning, but we will be glad to have you in our midst again.