Vicars Letter 2nd May 2025

Rev Guy Benton

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,