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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...

Advent 1

This coming Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent – a reminder that we are now counting down to the celebration of Christmas. Advent is also a time of waiting.- waiting for our chance to celebrate of the birth of the Messiah. It’s a reminder that for hundreds of years the people of Israel had waited and looked forward to the arrival of a special child. And finally after such a long wait this Messiah appeared and most people missed it. Sure they were waiting and looking but they failed to reco...

Sorry seems to be the hardest word

Have you ever noticed how hard it is to say sorry or to admit that we were wrong. It seems that the word ‘sorry’ somehow gets stuck in our throat. We know we need to say it but it just won’t come. And we see it at all levels of society – politicians won’t admit they were in the wrong, spouses refuse to apologise to each other and even children struggle to say ‘sorry’.  We don’t like saying it but we all know how that little word can restore relationships, rebuild trust and ...

Worthy

A couple of weeks ago we watched the All Blacks crush the Wallabies at Eden Park in what was a very one-sided affair. The All Blacks were superb and a joy to watch. At the end of the game the crowd and commentators were effusive in their praise of them as a team. The crowd clapped and cheered and in that moment they worshiped the All Blacks – they declared their teams worth to all the world.  This was a team worth following, worth getting excited about, worth giving up an afternoon to wat...

New neighbours

Earlier this year we moved into a new house in a new neighbourhood. Doing so has allowed us to meet and engage with a whole new group of people. We are making some good friends. It reminds me that we can only really know each other when we chat over the fence, when we rub shoulders, when we share food. Our relocating has made us known to our neighbours and allowed us to know them. The Message version of the Bible uses these words to describe Jesus arrival here on earth ‘The Word became flesh a...

Songs of the people

Music has the power to let us travel in time and space. The opening beats of a piece of music can transport us back in time to a place of joy or sadness. It can reignite long lost memories and help to create new ones as well. The Book of Psalms in the Bible is a collection of songs used by the people of Israel to remember, to mourn and to celebrate. It became the public playlist that told the nations story. In the midst of all we have faced this year do our songs help us to see beyond the now an...

We need God

Over the last few weeks, we have been exploring the life of Jeremiah – a young man called by God to speak to his own people on behalf of God. For more than 60 years, he kept reminding them that God loved them but the people refused to listen. They had their own gods and didn’t need God, until they did, and by then it was almost too late. Yet when things looked the most desperate and it looked like God had given up on them – Jeremiah reminded them that God was still there for them. God had ...