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Defined by faith

The by-line on our website says ‘Where faith defines life’. It is the acknowledgement that our faith in Jesus should define how we live and the things that are important to us. It also means that every area of our lives is impacted in some way by our faith – how and who we love, the values we hold, the things that are important to us. Sometimes that faith asks to respond to situations in ways that challenge our expectations. The early church was faced with some huge questions – how do w...

Community Fair

Come and Join us for some fun this Saturday 29 May from 10am till 2pm....

Not all the same

On the wall in my office there is a cartoon from Calvin and Hobbes,  the cartoon strip about a small boy and his toy tiger. The scene is a class room and the teacher asks Calvin a question, ‘Calvin can you tell us what Lewis and Clarke did? Calvin replies, ‘No but I can recite the secret superhero origin of each member of Captain Napalm’s thermo nuclear league of liberty’. Teacher, ‘ See me after class Calvin’. And then Calvin says to himself, ‘I’m not dumb. I just have a co...

Letting go of old ideas

One of the hardest things to do, I think, is letting go of beliefs and behaviours we have held to for so long. Sometimes it is just little thing, like having  a particular mug that we like to drink from. Sometimes it is a long held belief about another person or even people group that isn’t even true. Having our views challenged or discovering that we have been wrong can be a pretty tough thing to work through. How we respond is a demonstration of our openness to new ideas, to exploring n...

Something new

Have you ever been asked to try something new? Or to do something, that is just so far out of your comfort zone? Maybe to try a new food or a new experience – like bungee jumping and every part of you is screaming – No don’t do it!  It’s not safe! A while ago (pre-Covid) I travelled to India to visit some friends working in a poor community there. They took me to visit a family who lived in a slum on the edge of a river. The host, a solo mum, offered us cha or tea as a way of honou...

The Story Continues

A few weeks ago I started reading a book and when I got to the end of it I discovered, annoyingly, that the story didn’t finish, it was part of a series of books and if I wanted to know how the story ended I would need to read all the books. I wonder how often we get to the end of a story and think, well that’s that all done and dusted, and then move on forgetting that no story really finishes when we close the book.  What happens to the characters after the events of the story we just ...

Too much debt

Several years ago I was involved with a group helping people who were struggling with debt. The clients were often people who through circumstances beyond their control and uninformed choices now found themselves unable to meet their financial commitments. These weren’t irresponsible people, they hadn’t spent extravagantly but they were now in over their heads and unable to get back on their feet. The loss of work, unexpected health costs, or a broken down car had been enough to force them t...

If I perish, I perish

This coming Sunday will be ANZAC day, the day when we reflect on those in our armed forces who have given their lives in sacrifice for others. We honour those men and women who have served our country in ways that we hope the majority of us never have to. It’s not very often that we are asked to risk our lives in order to help save the lives of others. Mordecai and Esther were two people from the Bible who were willing to risk their lives in order to try and save their own people. It is from t...

The Green Eyed Monster

Haman was a bloke who got offered a pretty good job – actually it was the second to top job – the second in command to the king of Persia. This new found  power and prestige made Haman think he was pretty important and as far as he was concerned everyone should treat him with awe and respect. So when someone below him refused to bow down to him, Haman decide that he would make the guy pay  - he and all his fellow countrymen. I wonder who often we allow ourselves to be influenced b...

Easter Service Times

We will gather at the following times to celebrate the Easter story. We would love you to join us for any of these times. 28 March 10am Palm Sunday 2 April 9.30am Good Friday reflection 4 April 10.00am. Easter Sunday Celebration...

Popularity

'Influencers' is a word that has come to define those people whose huge popularity allows them to influence how the rest of us think and live. These people can create runs on products and places as people try to emulate their suggestions.  A tweet here, a photo on Facebook and their new favourite product or place is suddenly the thing to have or place to be.  It is their popularity that gives them great power to tell others how they should live.  But as we have seen that popularit...

New Life

My grandson is almost two and he’s at that age when he wants to hold as much as he can in his hands at the same time. And he struggles with the fact that to get something new you have to put down what is in your hands. It’s hard to let things go in order to get something better. Jesus said something very similar – that we need to die in order to live.  How on earth does that work – how can dying bring new life? Here’s what Jesus said Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If any of yo...

Love your enemies

These words by Jesus are some of the hardest to live by. Love your enemies. Is such a thing possible? And isn’t it just plain stupid? After all everyone knows that might is right, that power always defeats the powerless. Why on earth would I love my enemies? Almost 50 years ago Martin Luther King Jnr the civil rights campaigner wrote this in a sermon called Loving your enemies. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot ...

Aren't we great!?

All of us would like to think that there is something that we are good at or maybe even great at. Something we have worked hard to excel at – a sport, a hobby, a subject, a musical instrument. And it is great that we can celebrate those abilities and skills because we should take great joy in people’s ability to push the boundaries and excel in life. But what happens when that greatness lures us to believe that we are now better than others.  That our giftedness means we should be treat...

Expectations

Sometimes our expectations about life are spot-on but way to often our expectations are unrealistic both for ourselves and for others. We often place unrealistic expectations on our partners or spouses or on our children or workmates. You know the expectation that they will keep their rooms spotless or cook our dinner everything night or whatever else it is we expect of them. And I wonder how many of us have unrealistic expectations of God – things we think God should or shouldn’t do. For ma...

Giving Up

For those who don’t know the Church often follows what is called the church calendar or year. This church year is designed to highlight the key tenets of the Christian faith – Advent, Christmas, and Easter are the most well-known ones. The lead up to Easter is preceded by a period of 40 days called Lent. Lent is a time for those of us who seek to follow Jesus to think and reflect on the events and life of Jesus leading up to Easter. Traditionally it was also a time for fasting, for giving th...

Mainly Music 2021

STARTS BACK UP  - 10th February 2021 Fun, interactive music sessions for young children and their parent/caregiversYoung children and their parents/caregivers join together for a fun, thirty minute music session then afterwards enjoy morning tea and a playtime for the children.Throughout the morning your child will  be learning and developing gross and fine motor skills  language, imagination, maths and pre-reading skills as well as socialisation skills. We would love for you and ...

My cross

The phrase ‘It’s just my cross to bear’ is often used to refer to a difficulty someone has in their life, something they can’t change and just have to put up with.  However when Jesus first talked about ‘taking up a cross’ he was referring to  the distinct possibility that choosing to follow him and living by his dictates, in a world ruled by the Romans, might quite literally end with a person having to carry a cross on the way to their execution. Over the years we have for...

What's your excuse?

We all have them – those little ‘excuses’ we use to justify our actions. Our ‘excuses’ as to why we eat too much, or don’t do enough exercise.  And in many cases our ‘excuses’ don’t really matter – the only people we fool are ourselves. But what happens when our ‘excuses’ impact on other people? When we ‘excuse’ behaviour that is abusive, or racist or harm’s others – what then?  Perhaps at that point we need to rethink our excuses and find a better way o...

Follow Me

Twitter offers us the chance to ‘follow’ others. Their ‘tweets’ have the ability to inspire, challenge and mould our thoughts and emotions. Like anything that influences us that can be both good and bad. We may be inspired to lose weight. We can be challenged to help others in need. And if we aren’t careful we can be moulded to believe things that may just not be true. I wonder who it is that you follow? That person who influences how you will live out your life. Jesus calls us to foll...

A New Year

2020 is now behind us and many of us will be hoping that this new year, 2021, will be a lot different to last year. Perhaps the new year will be different but what about us?  Crowded House wrote a song called ‘“Weather with you’ which picks up on the idea that wherever we go we take ourselves and all the baggage we have accumulated over the years. So this year how different will we be?  What did we learn about ourselves last year that we need to leave there? What things did we le...

Christmas

Over the last few weeks we have been bombarded with the coming of Christmas. The shops are busy trying to sell us everything they can and the radio constantly plays Christmas carols.  And in a year where Covid has put a real dampener on things, people are looking forward to a time of celebration. Here in NZ we are fortunate to be able to gather together and to make the most of the festivities. But this week in England the Government there has now banned all Christmas gatherings saying the r...

Advent 4

Over the last three weeks my wife has been busy decorating the house for Christmas. As part of that we have  Christmas characters – shepherds, wisemen, Mary and Joseph and their donkey, spread around the house. Each day they move, all making their way to the manger where on Christmas day the Christ child will appear (much to the delight of our grandchildren).  This tradition is a reminder that Jesus didn’t just appear out of the blue one day, instead there was a time of waiting and...

Advent 3

Advent is a reminder that we are looking forward to the birth of Jesus, the Messiah - the one who came to show us what God is like. It’s a reminder that God reaches out to us, in our place and time, to show us how much we are loved. Unexpectedly it tells us that God reaches out to all people regardless of who they are or what they have done – which is why this is a such a story of great joy to all people everywhere. As we count down the days will we focus on this news of great joy or will ou...

Advent 2

Advent is a reminder that we are looking forward to the birth of Jesus, the Messiah - the one who came to show us what God is like. In Jesus we are reminded that we are called to show God's love to others and to the community in which we live.Over the last couple of months we as a church have been exploring how we can connect with and serve our community. One way we already do this is through Mainly Music (see details below) as we connect with mum’s and their young children for a fun time with...