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To be one together

Many of us are struggling with the impact of Covid on our communities and country. This virus has forced us to distance ourselves from each other, so that we can keep each other safe, which is a good thing and something to celebrate but it is not easy - on any of us. Over the last few months the Government has encouraged us to get vaccinated as a way of controlling the spread of Covid in our communities and as a way of keeping each other safe. But not everyone is pro-vaccine – some people have...

A bit Different

The early church was noted for being a bit different. Not in a negative way but in a way that drew people’s attention. Here was a community of people who welcomed all people, regardless of their status in society – free or slave, regardless of their race – Jew or Gentile and regardless of their gender – male or female. But there was more, this was a religious community that cared for the sick, the widow, the orphan, for those in need. And it was a community that offered grace and forgive...

Creations Beauty

One of the advantages of living on the Kāpiti Coast is our proximity to the beauty of creation.  The sandy beach and sea looking out towards Kāpiti Island and the walkways along the rivers and hills that surround us. We are also fortunate to have such iconic places as Nga Manu the local bird sanctuary in Waikanae where you can see all sorts of birds, including kiwi, and other creatures native to this area. And all of this beauty can help us to wonder about our world, our place in it and t...

Life goes on

The appearance of Covid last year changed life for many of us, work, socialising, and even attending church. And then we had that long period of normality when it seems most things were pretty much back to normal. But now the Delta variant has changed things again and it seems that we may never go back to life as it used to be. We are going to need to learn to live with Covid and some of the restrictions to life that will bring. Long term we still don’t know what that will look like for us or ...

Come join us!

We are meeting this week and yes there will be music and singing.  Please note the following requirements put in place by our leadership team. All attendees are required to record their presence – either by app or sign-in (This is a legal requirement) We have now received advice to say we can now sing. Recommendations that all people wear masks. (We have been advised that those speaking at the front can remove their mask to speak) No morning tea to be served Spacing of 1m between bubbles ...

We're back!

So after five long weeks we are meeting again this coming Sunday. Please note level two restrictions are in place.  Please note the following requirements put in place by our leadership team. All attendees are required to record their presence – either by app or sign-in (This is a legal requirement) We won’t sing so music will be video based. We will be able to listen and enjoy. (Singing is a big spreader of the virus so we have decided to proceed with caution. Perhaps next week!) Recom...

Sometimes it's hard to be grateful

The news has been full of stories of those who have broken lockdown rules and the calls for us to be given back our freedoms. Voices calling for the rule-breakers to be publicly shamed and voices clamouring for more freedom.  And sometimes those voices dominate the airwaves so much so, that it is all we can think about. And yet in the middle of this noise there are also great stories that remind us of what it means to care for each other, to serve each other. Foodbanks whose volunteers go ...

Sunday 12 September

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We don't know how lucky we are mate...

Those of you who have been around a while will remember Fred Dagg’s classic song in which he reminded listeners about how lucky they were. Here’s a link to the original video release https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYvMeT2GC14 I was reminded of this when I received an article about the impact of Covid 19 on our Baptist brothers and sisters in India and Bangladesh. According to the article over 200 pastors (India 88, Bangladesh 122) have lost their lives to Covid since the outbreak bega...

Sunday 5 September

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Trust God and common-sense

Last Sunday Graeme shared a quote by Martin Luther, the great reformer of the church. Luther lived through the bubonic plague that swept Europe in the 1500’s. Luther could easily have used his position to flee to safer places but instead chose to remain where he was and serve his people. In a letter to a friend he wrote the following words Very well, by God’s decree the enemy has sent us poison and deadly offal. Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help ...

Sunday 29 August

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Here we go again

Like many of you I was disappointed to realise that we are back in Level Four. There were lots of things I wanted to do and yet, for the sake of others, we now put those things aside in order to keep each other safe. This idea of self-sacrifice is not always popular but it is an integral aspect of what it means to follow Jesus.  Jesus himself was the one who called those who want to be his followers to lay down their lives for the sake of others. I trust that as you are restricted to home...

This coming Sunday

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Who's in charge?

A recent cartoon I saw showed two demons in hell looking at a basket with the world in it and one says to the other ‘Took longer than I expected’. It was a clever play on the old saying ‘That the world is heading to hell in a basket’.  At times it can feel a bit like that – we look at world events and wonder what is this world coming to? Are we really going to sort ourselves out or are we destined to keep on making the same old mistakes over and over again? And it can raise the qu...

An awkward relationship

The church and the state have always had an awkward relationship, after all, we don’t want the state telling us what to do or not do and yet, at the same time, there is the temptation to lobby the state to enact the laws we want to see enforced.  It’s not a new issue, and at times when the church has held the reins of power it has failed to exercise it responsibly. It seems the old adage ‘Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely’ is true, even when we are talking about ...

Here's our why.

The by-line on our website says ‘Where faith defines life’. All of us are trying to make sense of life, to find that ‘thing’ that will help determine how we will live. For those of us here at PBC we have found that our faith in Jesus helps us make sense of life and how we will live. It doesn’t mean we always get it right or that life is any simpler. In fact sometimes Jesus asks us to make choices we might otherwise avoid – like loving our neighbours and caring for others. What we ha...

When worldviews collide

We all have a story that tells us our place in the world. Sometimes those stories are well articulated but often we are unaware even, of the stories that help frame our lives. They exist as unwritten assumptions we hold about how the world works and how we relate to those around us.  It can impact our political views, how we view other nationalities, the way we use money and the manner in which we treat people who are not ‘like us’.  When something or someone challenges those assum...

What's your why?

A young child constantly asking why? can be pretty frustrating, why is the sky blue?, why is the grass green? but the right questions can inspire and motivate us to new things. Simon Sinek is the author of a book called ‘Start with Why?’  In it Sinek argues that it is the why we do things that drives people, that inspires and motivates people.  What grabs people is not what we do or how we do it but why we do it.  The apostle Paul gave his life to one cause, to one reason why...

A story that transforms

In the movie the Matrix, Neo discovers that the world is not what he thinks it is. His life has been a mirage, a dream. The story he has lived by is, he discovers, no longer true. We all have stories that we live by – things we have come to believe even if we can’t exactly say why we believe them.  The way we see and understand the world is defined by the stories we believe. And when someone or something challenges our story then often our first response is to say no it can’t be true....

You are what you love

James Smith is the author of a book called “You are what you love’. In it he argues that whatever it is, that we love most, is what directs and controls what we will become. So if we love money then our lives will be directed toward gaining as much money as we can, if it is fame then we will be always thinking about how to make ourselves look better.  Smith then goes on to say that what we ultimately love is also what we worship – regardless of whether we are religious or not we worsh...

Generosity

The Miriam-Webster dictionary defines generosity as the act of being generous and a generous person is described as one who gives with an open-hand as opposed to someone who is tight-fisted. I have met many generous people over the years, people who having very little themselves have given freely to others. It seems though that how much we have, has little to do with our willingness to give. Jesus once praised a poor woman who gave to God two small coins, all she had, while condemning a wealthy ...

All welcome!

It’s so easy to put out a sign saying ‘All welcome’ but it can be much harder to act like all are welcome. Many of us have been invited places or attended groups where one never feels welcome at all – in fact sometimes the vibe is very clear ‘Go away – strangers not welcome!’ Welcoming others is so much easier when the others are just like us but when they are different – not like us – then it is so much harder. The Gospel story is that all of us are welcome – that God has in...

Learning to live together

Living with another person is one of the hardest things to do. When I got married I naively thought that, as the Beatles sing, “All we need is love” and everything would be okay. Love would help us get through anything.  Wow what a wakeup call I got. Sure love helps but the reality is that eventually two people who live together will find things that drive each other nuts. How they stay together after that is the true test of their desire to make it work. The same is true of any relati...

Living what we say we believe

There is a great science experiment in which a professor asks his students if they believe in the principle that once released the amplitude of a free pendulum – how far it’ll swing away from the vertical position – can never increase. It can only decrease. So if you hold it on your nose and let it go, in theory it cannot come back and hit you in the face. Most students will give theoretical assent to this but very few are willing to stand in front of a large pendulum and let it go in orde...