Tim Writes …When going on study leave a vicar is asked to be involved in arranging an interim minister. I had informally talked to a retired Anglican priest in Christchurch, who was open to the idea of coming to St Paul’s for some time. But the Bishop had other plans for that person. The Bishop…

Clergy are eligible to apply for a maximum of three months’ leave after every seven years of service in any diocese, calculated from ordination, commission or appointment. I was ordained deacon on 15 December 2017 and began work as a curate on 15 January 2018. That’s why I applied for study leave and a grant…

In my personal devotions I have recently come across a few verses that stressed that humans may make plans, but often things turn out quite differently. They also suggest that God’s hand is somehow part of this different course of events. I was thinking that this also held for church affairs. In the office here…

On the weekend I was at a public reserve and noticed the dog poo in the grass. “Who would not clean up after their dog?” I thought. Someone clearly had not been considerate and I was getting a bit annoyed. But then I thought back a few years. I remembered how not that long ago…

If you’re not around the Hall during the week, you may not notice that this can be quite a busy place. Many groups use the Hall and Lounge. The Mana Ako group for young disabled people is in the Lounge on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. That means that some of these young people spend a…

I was a teenager when my parents first arrived with the family in New Zealand. Initially we lived in Orewa just north of Auckland. Two days after our arrival my mother marched us to the shoe shop to buy gumboots. In our first month in New Zealand there were only two days without rain. But…

Last year the tennis court and vicarage land was offered for sale through a real estate agent. After reviewing the offers, we decided with CPT (Church Property Trustees) to work with a shortlist of two potential buyers. One final offer was too low and had some other issues. The other offer was for just the…

The first verse of Michael Card’s beautiful song “The Final Word” is:‘You and me, we use so very many clumsy words The noise of what we often say is not worth being heard When the Father’s wisdom wanted to communicate His love He spoke it in one final perfect word’ That puts it well, but…Michael…

Waiting for Christmas is not easy. These days it is quite normal to have the lights, the carols, the mince pies and the crackers early. But what about the presents? I was told about a young woman who would give all the Christmas presents to her children early. She was not able to wait until…