The time has come to say goodbye to my Porirua Anglican friends, at least in my role as priest. Thanks for all your love and goodwill as we have journeyed together over these past 6+ years. Some of you have been there throughout this time; others for part of it. It has been a time of significant change and challenge, a bit like it was for the very first Christian disciples who had a rollercoster of a ride! While I would never pretend that we had the challenges they did; in our context there have been times of high elation and periods of deep anguish. In all our faith in God has been stretched and, I hope, matured.

As I move into retirement, I reflect on the following:

• The young people, and the two pool baptisms in particular: the early one at Russell Street School and the later large one outside St Anne's;
• The marriages: particularly of the Manulevu boys to Rita and Abby respectively, plus Robin and Mai Lucy;
• The funerals: especially the three current church members who died during my watch: Bill Donovan, Erin Bidois and Sala Manulevu - may they rest in peace and their close ones be comforted;
• St Anne's Pantry that had earlier been overseen by Diane and Bob with Val, followed by the time during the Covid19 years 2020-2023. We geared up to offer large numbers of food parcels with the help of KCA staff. Porirua donors and volunteers with Sofia, Margaret, Jane and Fiona worked tirelessly;
• The purchase and renovation of 49A Mungavin Ave: the Diocesan vision to support the purchase in 2021, David Parmenter's practical improvements, the Goss bequest availability, and Bishop Ellie's blessing of the premises early 2022 as the Pantry relocated there;
• The final decision to move on from St Anne's to te Whare Karakia on 1 May 2023, as the Pantry closed after 3+ years serving during the pandemic;
• The arrival of Pastor Charles Nikora on our last Sunday at St Anne's and his great encouragement for a year until family commitments and the Lord took him to Sydney;
• The final decision, a little over a year ago, to confirm the relocation of Parish operations to 49A which paved the way for the decommissioning of St Anne's on 15 December 2024.

​What a ride as we have embraced the many challenges along the way maintaining the unity of Christ, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit and in all constantly coming back to the God who stretches, forgives, sustains, nurtures, challenges and loves us. To God be the glory, forever, Amen. ​God be with you and your future together as the Body of Christ in eastern Porirua.  And, Margaret joins with me in this farewell as we end by reminding us all of these wonderful words of St Paul to the Ephesians, chapter 4:32, ... and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

Arohanui
Terry

Te Whare Karakia is about to become a distribution hub for the Fruit & Vege Co-op being  organised by the Ranui Heights Seventh Day Adventist Church.

From Thursday 10 October you will be able to collect your fruit & veges from TWK @ 49A Mungain Ave. Come up the drive and collect from the back room accessed via the back porch. 

TWK Co-op Collection times: ​Thursday 11:30-12:30am & 6:30-7pm

​To place your order ($15) please visit: 

​https://www.hauorakai.nz

Place your order by 5pm Friday and collect from 49A Mungavin Ave.  on the following Thursday as above.

We haven't been using this social media space recently but here is an offering as we proceed into spring 2024. A spring theme is new life which is also an apt way of describing what we aspire to as Church. If Jesus Christ is anything, He is the one who came that we may have abundant life. Life that reflects the love and the power of God in meaningful ways.
Yesterday our Sunday worship readings from Isaiah 35 and Mark 7 offered "Healing Words" as we thought about the lame walking, blind seeing, lame walking, deaf hearing, dumb speaking and possessed delivered. We reinforced the scripture readings by reminding ourselves that Jesus heals today. Testimony was given about modern day healings: grand mal epilepsy, impacted wisdom teeth, leg deformities, deafness, human and dog blindness, child A.L.L. cancer healed and cancer pain quelled. We even talked of blessed handkerchiefs assisting healing! And then we prayed for one another as we had need.
The image below reminds of another way new life expresses in church. We have recently engaged with a number of people from Myanmar (Burma). We have been blessed to have in worship a family of five who have recently arrived from that country. They have little to no English so Mai Lucy has been translating and we have all been blessed to embrace these newcomers who are pictured on the left side of the photo.

Yesterday we were further blessed to have Dominick as our musician as he played the keyboard fr the first time at te Whare. He is a year 13, musicially talented Bishop Viard College student. This week his College band is one of the top ten College bands competing in Auckland. Dominick also brings a Philippino flavour to our growing international community: Maori, Pasifika, European, Myanmar, Philippine, Indonesian and Malaysian. I'm reminded of a Sunday reading we had in Church recently, "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus."
St Paul's Letter to the Galatians 3:28.

​Terry Alve - Priest