Kia ora All Saints whānau
Guy here this week. I have been thinking this week how mildly humorous it is that we are a long way through February, and we just feel like we are getting started for the year. What seems to be par for the course is that the start of the year comes pretty fast and no more than this year, with Lent starting this week. This week was filled with, a wonderful Pancake party with loads of community families attending alongside loads of the Parish, it is here that we celebrate Shrove Tuesday. We also had our Ash Wednesday service on Wednesday morning, which was well attended and had a great sense of reflection and penitence, followed by a time of fellowship. With this week marking the start of Lent we will use this time to prepare ourselves for Easter. It is also during this time that we will walk with the rest of the Diocese through our annual Lent study. There are two parts to this, there is a lent study guide which has videos attached with it from people from around our Diocese. There is also a Sunday morning series which we will be using on Sunday mornings. So for the next few weeks we will, by the power of technology, be hearing from a number of people from around the Diocese. Just a reminder that this week we are launching our House Churches back up again. So if you are in a House Church, make sure you connect in with your group. If you are not in a House Church please Email me me (Guy) here and let me know so that we can pop you in one. Something exciting that has been happening this week is that I found myself with different people in our Parish talking about starting and building teams around Missional Communities; this really leans into our mission action plan with regard to creating spaces for people who don't know God to find out more through relationship and conversation. Please continue to pray for them as they build teams and develop ways forward. If someone approaches you about possible involvement, I would encourage you to pray and discern if God is calling you to step out of your comfort zone and join a team with them. Last week marked the first week of our new newsletter format, Thank you to those of you who provided very helpful feedback; with anything new, we would love for each of us to give it a really good whirl and keep an open mind. we are still working things out at our end, so please continue to keep us up to date with things that work well or not. One thing about being a growing parish is that there are many ways to get involved and work alongside others to see the kingdom breakthrough, so feel free to look around the newsletter and all the different ways to get involved. Click Here to jump through to the weekly notices, and if you find you get through it and you still feel like God is calling you to build a team and try something different, please reach out! We are up for anything. It is one of life's greatest joys to journey with you all on this road! With Love, Guy Kia Ora All Saints,
2024 has well and truly begun and we're launching into the year with a focus on our final value - Authentic Community. This Sunday we're back into our split Central Gatherings at 9am and 10:30am but what a marvellous summer we've had! It has been such a joy to worship together as a parish. Just a little plug about the morning tea between the services - this is a great opportunity to keep developing a connection between those of us who like different service styles and connect with God in different ways. Grab a coffee and have a chat with someone - even better if they are from a different generation. I've heard some impressive stories from our church whānau who have a wealth of wisdom or some hilarious ones from those with perhaps less wisdom! Let me know if you want a wing-woman to set you up with a great chat. Also, next Tuesday is one of my favourite days in the Christian Calendar - Pancake Day! Otherwise more maturely called Shrove Tuesday. No sooner does it feel like Christmas has ended that Lent is beginning. Have a celebration on Tuesday evening with us at church, or come for a more solemn Ash Wednesday service at 10am to lean into this next season well. If you read this before Sunday, please pray for us clergy and Synod reps who are off electing a new Assistant Bishop on Saturday 10th Feb. May God's will be clear and encouraging. God bless you all, and may you draw closer to your mighty and compassionate Creator in this next season of Lent. Ngā mihi nui, Rev Emily Welcome to 2024! I am excited about another year of working towards the Kingdom of God reaching our neighbourhood, world and our friends. This year at All Saints we are focussing on our third value: Authentic Community. But what does it mean? Authentic is about being real. We don't want to pretend that we are something we are not. We don't want to hide from the fact we are all broken and put on some show to seem like we are all together. We also want to honest, trustworthy and show Christ in a good light. Community means being together, realising we are all in this together and looking out for every one of us. It also means sorting out our problems and issues that we have together, because we are in this together. I am reminded of the end of Phillippians 2 , after we hear how Christ gave up everything to humbly submit to the cross, Pauls says: 12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. So as we begin 2024 and lead into this year, doing ministry and working with each other. May we also lean into Authentic Community and be like the Apostles - that although they were very different they banded together and changed the world.
See you Sunday for our last combined Summer service at 10am Ngā mihi, Andrew Spence Kia ora All Saints, 10 days to go till Christmas! This means that this week we have our last e-news for the year! What a year it has been - what have been your highlights? What has God done amongst us as a people? This week Rebekah is going to take us through the Virgin Birth story. It is a story of wonder, an amazing miracle, faith and willingness to say yes. In fact, in this story, we probably see the most amazing step of faith. Imagine being told at 14 or 15 that you were going to have a baby. Not something the 14 and 15 year olds I know want to hear. But she doesn't hesitate but is more inquisitive. "How can this be?" and then when it is explained she just says: "“I am the Lord’s servant... May your word to me be fulfilled.” If only I was that willing to say God, when you call me to do something like share a word with someone, make a fool of myself for you or to lead a parish. That I would just respond with "Sure, may it be so!" Not only that but that news would have counted against her. To be pregnant, when she is meant to be a Virgin is a shameful experience for a first century Jewish woman. She still didn't hesitate to say yes to God, even when it hurt. As we move towards Christmas and the rush starts and the work deadlines pile up because it must be done before Christmas! May we take a moment to remember and point to this wonderful step of faith. When it counted most she stood up and said I am willing to serve God. May we too be willing to put our first foot forward, be first to say yes God, use me - maye we do it even more when its is going to count against us! Maybe to remember this week you may want to attend one of the two carols services we have on this week: - Carols at 3pm on Lyall Bay Beach - Nine Lessons and Carols at 7pm at All Saints May you be blessed this Christmas - by the joy, love, peace and hope of Jesus. May we remember him and look forward to his next coming. Let the just rejoice, for their justifier is born. Let the sick and infirm rejoice, for their savior is born. Let the captives rejoice, for their Redeemer is born. Let slaves rejoice, for their Master is born. Let free men rejoice, for their Liberator is born. Let All Christians rejoice, for Jesus Christ is born. —St. Augustine of Hippo May we hold to this story until next year! Merry Christmas - enjoy celebrating Christ! Andrew Spence Kia ora All Saints whānau
This week, I (Guy) attended two Christmas events, which were joyful as we celebrated and shared food. We chatted about our most memorable present opening experience, both positive and negative, but the real beauty in it all was the fact that I got to rip out my Short-sleeved Christmas suit again for another season. Now, I will leave this to your imagination unless you are planning to attend our final Mainly Music event this Friday or come along to our Family Christmas Eve service on the 24th at 10 am, but suffice it to say it's a short sleeve jacket and shorts that look like Christmas wrapping paper! The kids at school and kindy were amazed as were the woops and cheers I got as Summer and I walked to the village for dinner Tuesday evening. As we approach what is a phenomenal moment in history, there is something in the air. I keep leaning on the psalmist's words, "Come and see what God has done!" I imagine these are the words of Mary and Joseph as they welcome people to meet the baby Jesus, and here I stand in 2023, saying the same thing to those around me, "Come and see what God has done!" What is it that God has done? When Israel and the world had turned their back on God, They sent Jesus to earth for us so that we might find a way back into a relationship with God the Creator. I find myself in a bunch of community-facing conversations down in the village or around the parish; currently, people are asking, "How are you Guy?" "Good, I say, just one foot in front of the other towards Christmas." Then I have a little joking comment I make about how clergy before me have smashed themselves (and their families too at times) preparing for Christmas, I then say to them as I get towards Christmas that I can't understand why because the story tells itself, doesn't it? We all have a chuckle, and they think for a minute about how, actually, yeah, you're not wrong it does doesn't. So as we continue to make our way through Advent as a season of preparation, pushing back against the hurry of the world, let us walk with one another and those around us, declaring, "Come and see what God has done!" because at the end of the day, the story tells itself we just have to be bold enough to tell it. Have a look through the newsletter, particularly at the Christmas events that are coming up. There is also a time this Wednesday when we will be streaming Ginny's parents' funeral for anyone wanting to gather to watch that; we will have the coffee machine on and tea available. If you are around for Christmas Day and are keen to help serve, we have a few roles available to fill: intercessions and helping me serve communion. Feel free to email me here to let me know if you are keen to help serve. Ngā mihi, Guy |
Past News
April 2024
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