Sonya is a chaplain at Victoria University Wellington and is an ordained priest in the Anglican Church. Her background is in political theory and theology, which she enjoys integrating into her various pastoral roles. She loves thinking alongside others about the role of faith in university life and academic research.
Her focus in chaplaincy is on pastoral care and theological formation for students and staff. This involves helping to facilitate rhythms of contemplative prayer and worship for the community. Sonya is married to Jon and they have a daughter, Elspeth, and a son, Eòin. They live in Naenae, Wellington and worship at St David’s.
I began Advent early this year by listening through the album of that title by The Porter’s Gate, especially its third track, “He Comes”.
There is a posture we can take toward writings from the past that opens us to being changed by what we encounter and, simultaneously, keeps us radically realistic about the ways in which what we read will fall short of the mark.
One of the quirks of celebrating the church calendar in the Southern Hemisphere is that the season of Lent (observed in the Northern Hemisphere during the bleak end of the winter months) takes place against the backdrop of our most abundant time of the year.
One of the quirks of celebrating the church calendar in the Southern Hemisphere is that the recent season of Lent (observed in the Northern Hemisphere during the bleak end of the winter months) takes place against the backdrop of our most abundant time of the year.
Reflecting on her first experience of reading theology, a friend of mine recently recalled her surprise at the attention theologians gave writers of the past.