We had a great time together as we prayed, studied the sermon (always awkward watching yourself on video) and then shared some kai together. The bagels, avocados, bacon and coke were just what I needed after church!
This week however, puts our first steps into the community and a chance to meet others around Hataitai-Kilbirnie. We are doing this by inviting young people on to our premises and serving them some candy as a fun non-scary alternative to Halloween. All this happening on a great day – All Saints Day! For me this is a chance to share what we care about as All Saints. We are standing for being a light on a hill, a church known in our community and a space where others around us can enter. When we serve our community in this way we are being beacons of hope for our community. I am sure you will agree that our community need some positive events and engagements! If you have not caught up already – we are running an alternative Trick or Treating event for young people. There are no services this week. In other words this is our 'GO' week. 11.30am - a short gathering for a time of Worship, Prayer and Briefing 12.30pm - Lunch BBQ and Setup 2.00pm - Trick and Treat event starts 4.00pm - Finish up If you can make it for some of this day then that would be fantastic - the highest priority is coming to the Trick or Treat event and meeting our community who turn up! Lastly, mark the 20th November 2021 in your diaries. You will see in the newssheet a notice about the Ordinations. A very exciting time for our church whānau For now - stay safe and see you Sunday! This year our AGM is going to be more celebration than dreary!
We want to celebrate all the fantastic stuff that has happened here at All Saints in 2021. Despite many challenges we have still thrived because God is a good God! So come and share - have some food and celebrate. There are a couple of things that need serious attention before the AGM however. Elections are up this year and if you would like to be considered for a Parish Council, Synod Rep or People's Warden then please find the nomination for and role description on our Thanksgiving Page. Likewise if you would like to submit a motion to be considered at the AGM then please do this on our Thanksgiving Page also! Plus you cand find out a heap of information all by clicking the link below! Andy preaching the last message in our Mark series from Mark 16:1-8 Have a look as we finish up and ask the big question that the whole sermon series was based on. Will you runaway or will you recognise? Kia ora Whānau,
Summer here this week. Guy tells me that I have a tendency to repeat myself. It’s likely often a bit annoying, especially in a marriage. At the risk of confirming that he may be right, or sounding like a broken record, I have something to share today that is closely in line with my sermon last week. God just keeps unpacking it deeper and deeper with me. Sorry if it seems you’ve heard this before ;) You know how sometimes you start to consider a concept or hear about something for the first time and then suddenly it’s everywhere? That often happens to me with words. I hear a new word and then suddenly I hear it everywhere and I wonder how many times I’ve heard it before I ever recognised it or knew what it meant. Our brains are such funny and complex things. Most of you will have heard my sermon last week on the crucifixion, but some of you have not. I said in that sermon that God has had me on a big emotional and spiritual journey recently that kind of culminated in writing that sermon. I have been pondering death and noticing the way we often avoid thinking about death because it’s too scary and hard to fathom, but then realising that if we don’t consider death then we can’t ever truly understand the power of the cross. A day and a half each week I work in private practice as a mental health therapist, so I spend a fair amount of my time and work speaking and thinking about human emotion – how complex it is, how little most people understand about their own emotions or the emotions of others, how emotions interact with one another… and so on. I also listen to a LOT of podcasts about emotion. I’m a bit of a nerd when it comes to this topic. Well, in the last few weeks, and wrapped up in my process around last week’s sermon, a very clear and obvious theme has emerged – in my clients, my podcasts, my own heart and mind. It’s the theme of our incredible tendency as humans toward numbing our emotions. This is not a new concept, it’s something we are all aware is extremely common. But God has been drawing my attention to this in a new way. There’s only one reason we numb our emotions – pain. And that pain exists because of the brokenness in the world around us. Pain tells us there’s a problem. It tells us things aren’t as they are meant to be. Pain was not a part of God’s perfect design; it came with the fall. Of course nobody wants to feel it. But when we numb ourselves from the pain, we also cut ourselves off from the good things; we can’t pick and choose which feelings to feel. So with numbing or avoiding feelings of pain, we avoid thinking about the brokenness of the world. And without consideration of the brokenness of the world, we can’t fully appreciate the fullness of life that comes with knowing and understanding the remedy to that brokenness – Jesus. So this week, as we wrap up our Mark series and ask ourselves once again – will we run away or will we recognise Jesus as Lord and Saviour? – I want to encourage us all to remember that part of recognising Jesus and His sacrifice to us is to sit in consideration of the stark contrast between life and death. Let’s all collectively push back against our human tendencies to self-protect and avoid so that we can help the world see that which is so so good. Kia ora All Saints Whānau,
We are so excited to gather back together again this weekend for our central gatherings in the cenre. This week we are looking at the penultimate week in our Mark series. Summer is going to be bringing us the word this week, teasing out the story of the Roman soldier and the key role he played in the recognition of who Jesus was. We have been steering this discussion all the way through our series towards the overarching question that Mark asking his readers; will you runaway or recognise Jesus as Lord. Our challenge to you this week is to come to one of our central gatherings with a posture of reflection as we think about the last several months of this journey and with an expectation of seeking God as he reveals himself to us during the next couple of weeks. If you haven’t yet, have a flick all the way through the parish e-news. There are loads of stuff to dig into. We would love to point you to several key things that are happening.
See you all Sunday! Guy, Summer, Andy and Emily. |
Past News
October 2024
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contact90 Hamilton Road, Hataitai, Wellington, New Zealand
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