Belinda died on Tuesday 14 January and a funeral service was held to honour Belinda the following week at Peak Vision Church, Havelock North, the church where Belinda and Brian had been worshippers for many years.
I’d like to acknowledge the many Diocesan staff, clergy and lay people who travelled to be present at the funeral service. Together we represented the love and affection with which Belinda was supported by the whole Diocese during not only all her time working with us, but also particularly in the difficult times over the past 10 years that Belinda has journeyed with cancer. I’m pleased that so many of us were able to join from near and far to bear witness to our love and care for Belinda.
Belinda Barnhill has worked for the Anglican Church in a variety of roles over a span of more than 25 years. We are deeply grateful for the many ways in which Belinda has shared her gifts of creativity, administration, hospitality through the roles that she has held. Belinda’s work with the Anglican Church began by working alongside Robin Nairn as his Personal Assistant when he was in the role of General Secretary of the Province of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. In that role Belinda was an excellent assistant to Robin and gained an enormous knowledge of the breadth of the whole province. At the funeral service Robin was able to share his personal admiration and thanksgiving for Belinda’s work and service to his office. Belinda was in that role for several years before taking a short break to work elsewhere and then returned to the Anglican Church this time working in the office of the Bishop of Waiapu as Personal Assistant to +David Rice. Belinda settled quickly into life in Waiapu and made an effort to get to know many people across the Diocese. This wasn’t difficult for Belinda as she had a natural ability to get to know people and was genuinely interested in their lives. This was a wonderful attribute for Belinda to bring to the role of the Bishop’s office and was appreciated by +David as he and his wife Tracey expressed it in a video message played at the funeral. Belinda and Brian were also near neighbours to +David and Tracey and develop a friendship and fondness for one another through arts and crafts.
Belinda was in that same role when I became Bishop of Waiapu in late 2014. I valued Belinda’s knowledge of the Diocese as I settled into this role and started to become familiar with the clergy, laity and members of boards and committees. It seemed to me at the time that there
were very few people in the Diocese who Belinda did not know. It was at the end of 2014 that Belinda began aggressive treatment for cancer which signalled the beginning of periods of time away from work and alternative work arrangements to support Belinda. Belinda’s brothers noted at the funeral how Belinda had been influenced over the choice of her approach to cancer after supporting her mother through various cancer diagnoses. Belinda chose to apply herself to what might be known as alternative treatment pathways and focused on healthy forms of living to combat the cancer and maintain her integrity in terms of her preferences for treatments. Belinda did all that and more for the following decade never giving up, always looking for the positive in life and drawing on the depths of her profound faith in God for strength in all things. Throughout the past decade Belinda’s role has changed from Bishop’s PA to Administration Assistant, changes which reflected the demands of Belinda’s treatment regime and enabled us all the flexibility to support Belinda throughout that time. I know that throughout this time Belinda drew lots of strength and encouragement from working in our off
Within the office team Belinda was loved and admired for the consistency with which she approached life; with joy, with faith, with determination, with peace, with creativity, with hope, with love, and with humour. We saw these attributes every day, and even when the physical struggles became more apparent for Belinda, these characteristics which were foundational to her as a person did not fade. I’m truly grateful for the way in which our office team rallied to support Belinda as mobility became more challenging, and for the ways they have all contributed to supporting Belinda and extending love and care to her during her final weeks since retiring late last year. I’m sure that there are many of you throughout the Diocese who have fond memories of Belinda and value the time spent with her. I hope that your memories and stories of time spent with Belinda find some echoes in what I have shared about Belinda today, but I know that there will be many other stories and memories which you will treasure. Let us collectively give thanks to God for the witness we have seen in Belinda of a life lived with devotion to Jesus, with the love of God expressed in hospitality and creativity. As we give thanks to God for Belinda’s life we also join with all those who pray that Belinda will lay peacefully in the eternal arms of our loving God. May Belinda rest in peace, and rise in glory. Amen.
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