Kia ora All Saints

Every time I prepare for and preach the word of God to the parish, that and this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, my heart is profoundly impacted and transformed. This series we have started and are journeying through on the Lords Prayer has been incredibly powerful. The pace of going slow and unpacking what it means to pray and how to pray and why we should pray is so rich. On Sunday, when Martha and I were leading our children at house church, there was a spirit of distraction when we were reading the bible together. We had a moment where we stopped and talked about the power of the bible and it being the word of God, and how we should pay attention to how it will impact our lives. We noticed a genuine shift in the attention and depth of these 5-10 year olds listening to the word of God.

In this same vein, I have been convicted recently about my own reverence or treasure for the word of the Lord, what am I going to do first thing in the day, is it scripture or the internet? The word is a lamp to my feet (Ps 119:105). Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Col 3:16)

I found myself each day, instead of reaching for my phone, reaching for the word of God for 5 minutes, sometimes a bit more, I get interrupted by the kids. Just the practice of making the first thing in the day the word of God has made a massive shift. There is power in the word of God. I recently stumbled across 22 questions John Wesley would ask alongside his morning devotion (Linked here), which are confronting and challenging but incredibly transforming. I encourage you to ask some of them.

This week, we have a special announcement at both services, so we encourage you all to be there for that if you can. (Find out more on Sunday)

This is a reminder to start signing up for the prayer vigil before Pentecost. (Link here)


Praying for you always, excited to see you Sunday.

Love in Christ

Kia ora All Saints

This week, I was fortunate enough to have a Zoom lunch with a friend who lives in another town; we asked each other what was inspiring one another at the present moment. As part of his answer, my friend went on to reveal this beautiful image of being abandoned to Christ; we are a blank canvas for God to paint on, as he is painting, not observing the painting but feeling the brushstrokes. I found myself sitting there wondering what that might be like. I started to imagine a blank canvas; was it a thick brush or a thin brush? What was God painting? The essence of our conversation was about not trying to control things but letting God control them.

As we work our way through our Lord's Prayer series over this season of Easter, we come with this posture. God is in control, not us; we are the canvas, and he is the artist; let us feel his brushstrokes.

It was such a gift to preach the word of God on Sunday, and I look forward to week 2 of our series this coming Sunday as we gather both at 9 am and in our House churches. We will be reading from Matthew 6:5-15 looking at specifically Matthew 6:9 "This, then, is how you should pray:
"'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,

If you are interested in listening to week one, please click here; we are now recording our sermons in audio-only and uploading them to Spotify as a way for people to listen more easily and access them more readily.

Our Prayer Vigil team is well underway with preparations for our 48-hour prayer vigil leading into Pentecost.

You can start to sign up here for a slot, a reminder that they are one-hour slots minimum; you can either do them alone or with a group of people (unless pre-arranged, there is no joining random slots last minute. )
More information will come regarding the prayer vigil in the coming weeks.

Sign up here

Do you have a heart to serve? On May 25th, we are gathering all Ministry teams for training and team building. After the 10:30 am Central Gathering (lunch provided), gather your teams, invite others to join, and let's have some fun.

Love in Christ,