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
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For the past five months Porirua Anglicans have been using te Whare Karakia, 49A Mungavin Avenue, Porirua as their Church Centre. Sunday morning worship has located there as have all other church activities. During this time further thought has been given to the future use, or disposal, of St Anne's and its grounds. On Sunday 15th October 2023, 11:30am in St Anne's Foyer, 2 Arawhata Street, Porirua, decisions will be made about next steps. We will have new information from engineers and the Anglican diocese; we will reflect on how using te Whare Karakia has been for us; and we will together decide next steps. In his report to the Porirua October Vestry, priest in charge Terry Alve made these observations that bear on the discussion we will have in the SGM:
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. |
AuthorMembers of the Porirua Anglican Communities Archives
September 2024
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