About
In the extreme isolation of lockdown, Jane Simpson started to write poems about the shocking breast cancer diagnosis she had just received.
She has now brought them together in her fourth poetry collection, Imagined Scar. They were written over a two-year period and among the 47 poems are four prize winners in international poetry competitions.
She joins the few breast cancer survivor poets who have produced a full-length collection spanning the period of investigation, diagnosis, surgery, treatment and family history of this disease. More than a medical journey, the book reaches beyond, to history, science and art.
Cover image: Gretchen Albrecht, Golden Vapour Cloud, 1973, Acrylic on canvas, Private Collection, Auckland.
Review Comments
Imagined Scar is much more than one woman’s breast cancer story. Cancer reaches back through whakapapa and maternal lines. This poetry collection takes the reader deep inside the experience of living with cancer and brings new understanding of what cancer asks of a person, and of everyone who walks alongside them.
– Peata Melbourne, Breast cancer survivor
These poems are a reminder to family, friends and all who work in the assessment and treatment of breast cancer that words are potent. Words can be frightening yet also affirming. Health professionals who read this moving collection may be surprised at what they find as the story unfolds.
– Philippa Mercer, Breast surgeon
The Farewelling of a Home: a liturgy
This is a liturgy written to meet an expressed need for all who have suffered the loss of a home or who are leaving it for the last time.
In it the householders give thanks for their home, hallowed through their everyday lives down the years. In each room prayers and memories are gathered up in times of silence, thanksgiving and taking leave.
Responding to God’s call to journey in faith, the householders are sent out by the group. They say their final goodbyes and proclaim hope for the future. All leave in silence.
The Farewelling of a Home can also mark other life-changing transitions such as moving into a retirement village or into care.
Cover image: Gretchen Albrecht, Golden Vapour Cloud, 1973.
Review Comments
‘In Farewelling of a Home, Jane has given us fresh texts and deep theological understanding which can move us from tragedy to wholeness and offers a model for liturgical provisions to meet new such occasions.’
– Emeritus Professor Robert Gribben. AM. (Melbourne, Australia)
‘A notable feature from Jane Simpson’s context in Aotearoa New Zealand is the inclusion of te reo Māori. The practice of acknowledging the heritage-bearers of a home’s location would well be adopted elsewhere.’
– Revd Dr Charles Sherlock. AM. (Melbourne Australia)
‘I was delighted to encounter in her prayers the Vulnerable God and God of the Journey. Whether or not a home has been destroyed in a natural disaster, this is a liturgy we all need, grounded in considerable scholarship and showing deep pastoral concern.’
– Rev. Jenny Dawson, Anglican priest and spiritual director/supervisor
‘…beautifully crafted and full of thoughtful and compassionate, inclusive prayer … very user-friendly, with plenty of options. The additional notes and suggestions will be helpful for many, ensuring that it fits and honours individual circumstances.’
– Ven. Helen Roud, Archdeacon of Christchurch
The Author
Jane Simpson is an historian and award-winning poet based in Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand. She has Anglican roots and ecumenical sympathies.
In writing liturgy, she draws on the rich bicultural heritage of the Anglican Church in her country, as expressed in its ground-breaking A New Zealand Prayer Book He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa (1989), used throughout the world.
Her work has been published in books and international journals and she has two full-length poetry collections, A world without maps (2016) and Tuning Wordsworth’s Piano (2019).
A CD of her hymns and songs, Tussocks Dancing, was released in 2002.
She has a PhD (Otago) in religion and gender in New Zealand (1939–59) and has taught social history and religious studies in universities in Australia and New Zealand.
The research that lead to this liturgy
This liturgy, The Farewelling of a Home, was originally written to farewell homes damaged or completely destroyed in a natural disaster. It came out of requests from householders and clergy following the immensely destructive earthquake on 22 February 2011 in Christchurch, New Zealand, where the author grew up and lives. That led to her writing an academic article about rites of endings that people could draw on when leaving their home and pointers for others to write a new liturgy.
Author talks and articles
Farewelling a home with karakia and love
by Jane Simpson
(First published May 2021 by the Anglican Women’s Studies Centre, New Zealand).
Discusses:
The first use of the liturgy
Reasons for writing it
The search for relevant liturgies
Writing from scratch
Writing as a poet
Getting the liturgy published
Becoming an offical liturgy
The dream for it to be used throughout the world
Virtual Theology Chat
Every month the Anglican Women’s Studies Centre, New Zealand, hosts a Virtual Theology Chat via Zoom. The chats provide an opportunity to share research projects, publications, reflections and interests, with a wide audience of Women.
‘The Farewelling of a Home: writing and publishing a new liturgy’, 20 May 2021
By Jane Simpson