Going to Hell...for Pizza

Another downpour of a day, though I am slowly adjusting to the damp and the lack of Central heating by layering up and wearing my fleece much of the day. I am also learning other interesting things while here such as:

-dehumidfiers come with a "laundry" setting, and are often used instead of dryer to help dry clothes

-if one wants a milky coffee you ask for a "flat white", or in my case a-- half caf thin flat white

- my life has been greatly enhanced by the aquisition of a hot water bottle to help warm one's bed at night

My friday was spend networking with a few folks. First I met with Stu McGregor for a coffee and a great chat about the Emerging Church and technology here in NZ. Stu is getting ready to move from being a youth pastor with a EC emphasis in worship to a Senior pastor of a small traditional congregation who are in large part Maori so has been doing a lot of reflection on the interaction between emerging and mainline churches. We picked each other's brain's and he gave me much food for thought on the thinking behind using tech in worship, which I suspect will show up in my current book project on religion and new media.

Over lunch I was then finally able to catch up with John Capper and we also had a good chat on theological education, teaching peadagogy and online learning. It is always fun to connect with people and say so what has been going on with you in the last 8 years!

For dinner I got to go to hell, or I should say Hell came to us. Hell Pizza is a NZ chain which has done an interesting job in using a theme to market their product. There different Pizza's are name after different sins or other devilish dervasions...for instance not the picture of me eating a slice of Mordor (spicy chicken). I also tried a slice of Lust (meat lovers) but my personal fav was purgatory (vegtarian with feta). The pizza box can also be punched out and turned into a mini coffin to hold "your remains". Some Christian in NZ have been deliberate about boycotting the chain on principal, and I teased my theologian friend about here support of the chain which she says she does with conflicted emotions...but they do make great pizza. Their marketing is a slick interface of religion with pop culture, and a bit cheeky. For instance at their web site you can particpate in a "hellpoll" which allows you to nominate national leaders for "Who needs a good smack" (i.e. spanking)?! (BTW-- this is also my quote of the day)