About

 

You can read the story below about how I came to have this blog.  But it’s a story that is located in a city where I no longer live and with a job I no longer do!

Kia Ora!  I’m Jemma.  I live in Beijing with my partner in life and ministry.  We are the Co-Pastors of the Congregation of the Good Shepherd, an international, interdenominational congregation.  I’m still working out what this blog is for in our Beijing life.  Mostly it seems to be about documenting our Beijing life, with a theological twist and occasional musing about Life and what it means and how it’s to be lived.

As far as Myers-Briggs typology goes, I’m an introvert.  That means that while I have lots of thoughts about what I could write on my blog, I don’t actually blog in the world outside my head terribly often.  Besides, there are always other things to be doing: socks to be knitting, gluten-free treats to be concocting, streets to be cycling on and episodes of television series to be watched!  Not to mention my actual work!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

So I applied for a sabbatical scholarship.  And said I’d blog about my eight weeks away.  So I figure I ought to start practicing…  Especially as the funding has fallen into place and I’m really going to have eight weeks away later in 2009.

My name’s Jemma Allen.  I’m the ecumenical chaplain at the University of Waikato.  I’m an Anglican priest by training, ordained for ten years now.  The ex-ile community is the way I do church most often…

I’ve always had the sense that my vocation as a priest isn’t much to do with parish church.  For me the eucharistic bread and wine belong in a picnic basket, outside the walls.  I haven’t always known how to do or be that exactly and have had great experiences of being in parish church.  But here at the University and with ex-ile and being involved in Stations of the Cross in the Hamilton Gardens I’m making sense of my vocation: as a person baptised and as a priest.  Even though I hardly ever wear vestments and, except when I’m doing a locum at a nearby resthome, I don’t usually get to preside at the Eucharist in any traditional way…

In August – October 2009 I’ll be taking up that sabbatical scholarship to think more about sacraments and models of ministy and ordination especially in relation to what gets called “fresh expressions” or “emerging church”.

And in the meantime there’s plenty of reading and thinking and ex-iling and chaplaining to be getting on with.  And knitting.