St Joachim and St Anne were the parents of St Mary the mother of Jesus. In other words they were Jesus' grandparents on his mother's side. I quote from the website of St Anne's Catholic School in Woolston, Christchurch. Each year the Church venerates the memory of Saints Anne & Joachim on July 26th. An ancient story dating to the first centuries of the Church’s life recalls how Saints Anne & Joachim, like Abraham and Sarah, were scorned by their neighbours because they had no children. This info comes to us from the Gospel of St James which is an Apocryphal writing dated a little later than the Bible Gospels and which does not carry the same authority in some Churches. Nevertheless, the story seems to be credible in the light of the stories we have in the Bible of Jesus and Mary.
We will take time on Sunday 26th July this year to remember St Anne and her husband Joachim and in the process honour the faith that their story inspires, true or apocryphal, that speaks of faithfulness to and trust in God in the light of very difficult circumstances. At the same time we will remind ourselves that the ministries of St Anne's are entirely fitting to be named for St Anne in that she was a kuia who cared for her mokopuna (Jesus and others) and in so doing was blessed to have the Son of God as her moko. Please pray for all the ministries of Porirua Anglican that is named for St Anne, that they will faithfully reflect Gospel truth, love and compassion.
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Its a new month as we enter the second half of 2020. What a year it is! Our July News encourages us to keep thinking about what God is and has been doing in our midst. When we share in church or elsewhere what we believe God has been up to we reinforce a sense of the presence of God with us. That's always a good thing to do. That's what we read about in Genesis as we continue to follow the story of Abraham and his whanau as he becomes the father of the people of God. Recently we heard again how Rebekah, who became Abraham's son Isaac's wife, exhibited great faith firstly as she shared water with Abraham's servant and his camels and later as she left her close family behind and traveled far to become Isaac's wife. You can read this interesting story in Genesis 24. We reflect on New World Porirua's support for St Anne's Pantry through the Family2Family promotion. We publish Sunday Bible readings for July. And more ...
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