The Shepherd’s Call: Te Karanga O Te HēPara: Prayers and Liturgies for Rural Aotearoa New Zealand

By Bill Bennett

Discover a prayer to cover every aspect of rural life.

A musician and composer of many hymns, Anglican priest Bill Bennett understands the complexity of rural life with its overlapping communities and its deep dependence on seasonal life. This understanding shines through this book.
117 prayers are arranged into broad themes: the seasons, environment, community, mission and ministry, work, crisis and loss. Discover a prayer for every aspect of rural life.

There are also six sets of Eucharist liturgies and another five liturgies focused on the bush, harvest community life and adverse events.

This book will be a valued resource for both clergy and lay worship leaders.

“These liturgical resources will touch everyone who is interested in seasonal joy and struggle, planting and harvest, whitebaiting and hospitality.
A theology of land and missional ministry that is shaped by both local life and God’s call, with a deep understanding of tikanga Maori, mean that these prayers and reflections are uniquely and wonderfully New Zealand. I commend them to you and hope they are widely used across the country. They are for us all.”
- From the Foreword by Rev Dr Jenny Dawson.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Philip Garside
• Release date: Sep 11, 2018
• ISBN: 9781927260975

Bill Bennett

Bill Bennett comes from a Southern Hawke’s Bay farming background.He has served much of his ministry as an Anglican priest in rural parishes in the Diocese of Waiapu as well as in the Norwich and Lichfield Dioceses in England. He worked as Ministry Enabler and twice as Regional Dean in Hawke’s Bay between 1994 and 2015.His interest in rural communities is reflected in his publications: God of the Whenua (an overview of rural ministry in New Zealand), Seasons of the Land and The Shepherd’s Call (both being prayers and liturgies for rural communities). He continues to write hymns and songs (words and music).He is on the Editorial Board of the international periodical, Rural Theology. Till its demise recently he was tutor in Rural Ministry Studies for the Ecumenical Institute for Distance Theological Studies (EIDTS).He and his wife Wendy live in retirement in Napier, New Zealand.

Book preview

The Shepherd’s Call

Te Karanga o te Hēpara

Prayers and liturgies for rural

Aotearoa New Zealand

Bill Bennett

Copyright © 2013 & 2018 Bill Bennett

First published in print by the author in 2013

ISBN 978-0-473254-58-2

All rights reserved.

Bible passages taken from the New Revised Standard Version. Collins 1989. Other liturgical material from A New Zealand Prayer Book/He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa – used with kind permission of General Secretary, General Synod, Anglican Church of New Zealand.

Churches, preachers, worship and small group leaders may freely copy and use the content in this book.

When doing so please credit:

Bill Bennett — The Shepherd’s Call (2018)

Contact Bill at

[e-mail]

59 McGrath Street, Napier 4110, New Zealand

If you want to include any of the material in this book

in a commercial or ‘for profit’ publication,

then please contact the publisher to arrange terms,

by emailing: [e-mail]

ePub edition (2018)

ISBN 978-1-927260-97-5

Philip Garside Publishing Ltd

PO Box 17160

Wellington 6147

New Zealand

[e-mail] — www.pgpl.co.nz

Print-on-Demand, PDF and Kindle editions also available

Table of Contents

Title and Copyright

Introduction

Foreword

Spring – Kōanga: Season of the Koru

1. Beauty of Spring

2. Promise of Spring

3. The energy of Spring

4. Optimism of Spring

5. Lambing and Calving

6. Lambing Time

7. Calving Time

8. Care of our Livestock

9. Animal Welfare

10. Blossom time

11. Tending the Soil and Planting Time

12. Spring Warmth

13. Spring Weather

14. Agricultural Machinery

15. Rogationtide — (Caring for Creation through Work and Conservation – usually 3rd and 5th October)

16. Plough Sunday (August–October)

17. The Whitebait Season

Summer – Raumati: Season of growth

18. Growth and Enrichment

19. Shearing Time

20. Dairy Farming – the daily round

21. A Shepherd’s Prayer

22. Advent – the Coming of God in Christ

23. Rural Christmas

24. Summer Christ

25. The Woolshed Christ

26. Children’s Christmas Thanksgiving

27. Summer Holidays

Autumn – Ngahuru: Season of harvest

28. Abundant Harvest

29. Seasonal Labour

30. Wool Harvest

31. Milk Harvest

32. Meat Harvest

33. A Farmer’s Prayer for Daily Work

34. Harvest Anxiety

35. Lent

36. Forgiveness

37. Easter – the Cosmic Harvest

38. Easter Light

39. Easter Way of Life

40. The Colours of Easter

Winter – Hōtoke: Season of the Spirit

41. Thanksgiving for Winter

42. Living Thankfully

43. The Citrus Harvest

44. The Kiwifruit Harvest

45. Christ Ascended

46. Pentecost Wind

47. Restless Spirit

48. The Spirit’s Presence

49. Gypsy Day

50. Matariki (Celebrating the Māori New Year, te whakanui tau hou Māori ā Matariki)

Environment – Taiao

51. Stewardship of Creation

52. Guardianship of the Land

53. Care of Creation

54. God of Aotearoa New Zealand

55. Diversity of Gifts

56. Preserving our Natural Heritage

57. Gift of Water

Community – Nohoanga Tāngata: People in society

58. Local School

59. Rural Schools Education

60. Start of the School Year

61. Family Life

62. Families in our District

63. Rural Families Under Pressure

64. Community Life

65. New Neighbours

66. Our Nation

67. At Election Time

68. Women of the Land

69. Team Sports

70. Outdoor pursuits

71. Farewelling a Country Neighbour

72. Retirement

73. Family Crisis

74. Local Controversy

75. The Unseen and Deprived

76. Community Icons

77. Communications

78. Isolation

79. Country Roads

80. The Treaty of Waitangi

Ministry and Mission – Te Mahi Mihinare

81. Our Parish’s Mission

82. Parish Leaders

83. Local Shared Ministry Parish

84. The Wider Church

85. Parish Stewardship (Luke 12:13f.)

86. Learning as a Congregation

87. For a Church or Community Meeting

88. The Local Church or Worship Centre

89. Gates

90. Ministry Support Team

91. Enablers and Trainers

92. Change and Challenge

Work – Mahi

93. Rogationtide – Rural Work

94. Industrial Relations in Rural-Based Industries

95. The Divine Economy

96. Rural Tourism

97. Harvests of the Seasons

98. Farm Tractor

99. Seasonal Workers

100. Agricultural Learning and Research Institutions

101. The Farm Implement Shed

102. Farming Skills

103. Rural Labour

104. Research and Administration

105. Recreation and Relaxation

Crisis and Loss – Ngā Wā O Te Matemate: In tough times

106. Rural Hardship

107. Stock Loss

108. Orchard Damage and Crop Loss

109. Bush/Scrub Fire

110. Bush and Forest Fire-Fighters

111. Drought

112. Flood

113. Farm Injury

114. Farm Fatality

115. Growth, Death and Renewal

116. Rural Security

117. Death of a Neighbour/Friend/Relative

Liturgies of the Land

1 — Celebrating Spring

2 — Celebrating Community

3 — Celebrating The Local Farming District

4 — Celebrating Winter

5 — Celebrating Pentecost

6 — Celebrating Rural Ministry

7 — Liturgy of the Bush and Forest

8 — Liturgy of Offering of Harvest Gifts

9 — Celebrating the Grape Harvest

10 — A Celebration of Community Life

11 — Thanksgiving after an Adverse Climatic or Biological Event

Glossary of Māori Words

Index

About the author and this book

About the author

About this book

Also by Bill Bennett from Philip Garside Publishing Ltd

Introduction

A previous book, Listen to the Shepherd (1997) is now out of print. I have been frequently asked to consider doing a reprint. First published in 2013, (and now released in three eBook formats), The Shepherd’s Call is an attempt to meet that demand.

Many of those original prayers have been included and updated. I have also added some new prayers and liturgies. While it is written for the Aotearoa New Zealand context it can also be a starting point for others wishing to make their prayers, corporate or private, relevant to their own context. It has a rural bias yet is adaptable to suburban and city contexts.

Kiwis will usually admit to being a fairly non-religious, non-churchgoing