NOTICES:
A very warm welcome to you all this morning. After
the service please come through to the Lounge for a cuppa and a time to talk.
Pathways is a friendship and study group in our congregation which is growing together in faith. It meets monthly on a Saturday morning for about 90 minutes and this month will begin looking at a series of 5 studies looking at relationships. We will look at family relationships, church relationships, relating to strangers, broken relationships and how they might be mended, and our relationship with God.
Members of the group say this is a really good group to belong to and journey with. It is gentle, relaxed, friendly, and at our level.
If you would be interested in popping along to check out the group
this month would be a good time to do this as they start a new series. Talk to Peggy Cree, Hilary Moore, Elizabeth
Penwell, Sue Saunders, Jill Grierson, Margaret Shanks, Alice Shanks or Rob
Connell for more information or join us THIS Saturday 25th May at
10am.
Church Cleaning: Every three weeks, the facilities will be cleaned commercially by Moonlighters Cleaning. We are seeking volunteers from the congregation (men and women!) to clean the church plant in the intervening weeks. Please add your name to the list on the clipboard in the foyer if you can help. A list of duties required is also available. Thank you to those who have already volunteered.
Crafty Crafters: Meets on Thursdays in the Church lounge 10am-12noon. New faces are always welcome. $3 per session. Contact Lyndsey 388 1264 for more information.
Family Movie Night Friday 24th May 7pm at Opawa Community Church, cnr
Opawa Rd & Aynsley Tce. This month’s movie is “Robots”. Free entry; drinks & nibbles for sale. All welcome.
Wednesday Walkers 22nd May: Meet 9.30am at the Bus Exchange by Lichfield/Colombo corner. Coffee venue TBC. All welcome. Sonya 027 253 3397.
Bacon Fundraiser: Joanwill be picking up the bacon on Monday 27th May. It would be appreciated if the money owing could be handed in next Sunday please.
EcuAction Seminar Report
This week Colin Meurk spoke about Climate Change and plants. He reminded us that we will see significant loss of plant and animal life with the latest UN report saying a million species will go extinct by 2050. As habitat warms and changes in other ways many species will not adapt quickly enough while other species will thrive. He supports declaring a climate change emergency. Colin was particularly keen for Christchurch to recognise the wonderful diversity of life found in our city and to declare our city a National Park City as London has done. He wants to encourage initiatives that help people link more strongly with nature. He also encourages the growth of native flora and fauna and taking pride in our unique heritage rather than importing plants for our gardens and city spaces.
Fr Frank Kelly spoke from a faith perspective and reminded us of our responsibility as outlined in Genesis 1 to be caretakers and trustees of the earth. We do not own the earth, God does. He also commended Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si. (Praise be to You) This is the second encyclical of Pope Francis. The encyclical has the subtitle “on care for our common home”. In it, the Pope critiques consumerism and irresponsible development, laments environmental degradation and global warming, and calls all people of the world to take “swift and unified global action”.
Next Thursday at 5.30pm
Charles Drace speaks on Climate Change
and Capitalism.
Session Report:
Session noted with thanks the retirement of June Service as our morning tea coordinator….thanks June for organising and facilitating this ministry!
A 24 page report from General Assembly concerning Euthanasia is available. If you would like a copy please contact Dugald or the office.
We thanked the St Mark’s/St Anne’s Anglican Parish and Beckenham Methodist Church for their generous gifts to celebrate our return to the church.
Conditions of use contracts have been drawn up for hiring the church complex. The Session also approved an alcohol policy.
We expect we still have a final bill to pay of approx. $36,000 to the contractors and can report we have money in hand to pay this.
We are slowly building up usage of the complex with regular users now being Sit and Keep Fit, Craft group, Foot Clinic, and a decision by South Elder care to return to the complex when it is secure with fencing.
A newcomers form has been drawn up and placed in the foyer which we invite newcomers to fill in. This will give us information to prepare a nametag and facilitate delivery of a newsletter. We have asked Heather Crew, Janet Dunn, Ken Austin, and Jill Grierson to be people who welcome newcomers, but of course this is something we all need to work at.
David Beaumont has retired from leading services at Archer Home. Thank you David for your ministry there.
Dugald will receive the gold card in August this year and is looking to retire early in 2020. The Presbytery will be approached with a view to setting up a ministry settlement board.
Session will appoint a Child Safety Protection Officer by 1 August.
A proposal to hold a regular afternoon communion service especially for seniors is being examined to see if there would be sufficent interest.
St Martins MenzShed based in the Community Building (Old SS Rooms at the back of our section). We will have an initial meeting on a Monday May 27th at 7.15pm to gauge interest in setting up a group to run a menzshed in this area and take the first steps to get this project moving. Please tell blokes of the neighbourhood about this initiative that will provide a meeting place for men, and we hope will be a place where women will be invited to learn practical skills.
St Martins Meditation Group…. We plan to initiate a group that would learn and practice mediation together. We will have an initial planning meeting for those interested on Tuesday June 11th at 7.00pm. This is a group for beginners and explorers. The group would meet in the church complex every week for to practice meditation for 20 minutes and to for a short learning time. Stillness is a way to hear and know God more closely in our lives. It is anticipated this will be an ecumenical group using mediation techniques as outlined by the World Community for Christian Meditation. See www.wccm.org
Movie Nights are being planned forJune 1st, July 6th, August 4th 5.45pm at church – bring your takeaway tea (eg fish and chips) drinks provided, movie starts at 6.15pm and finish at 8pm. Possible movies on offer: Paddington, Green Book, Moana.
Paddington is a family movie that also has serious messages of the wonders and importance of hospitality. It is partly animated, but is a fun movie that will bring a smile to your face as Paddington Bear is accepted into the Brown family home in London after travelling there from deepest Peru.
Green Book is a recently released and widely acclaimed adults movie. It is a 2018 American biographical comedy-drama set in 1962. The film is inspired by the true story of a tour of the deep south by an African American classical and jazz pianist and his white Italian American driver.