Last year one day when I sat in my office preparing the sermon I heard a knock on my door. I opened and there was a couple who handed me a photo. It was the photo of a model of St Paul’s. Their friend Dave Brown had made it. He had asked them to give…

I have been asked why this past Holy Week we had Communion on Good Friday and not Maundy Thursday. I don’t think either one is right or wrong, but I thought I should lay out my reasoning here. Communion, as it is celebrated today in many churches, is highly stylised and ritualised. That has its…

After the discussions at the AGM about working together with Te Papanui Trust on redeveloping the hall complex, I thought it might be good to set out a timeline of where we’ve come from so far. Diligent readers of vestry minutes might have gleaned the information, but it is better to see it all in…

Ever since my father’s accident last year, he relies more on his children helping him keep their land and animals. So when I visited my parents last year, I was swiftly pressed into service to cut up a tree that an arborist had felled. I was given a chain saw and the required safety equipment…

Every year I try to give something up for Lent or pick something up. One year, for example, I decided to regularly practice a musical instrument. Another year I gave up alcohol (except for Communion). This year I gave up chocolate for the duration of Lent. I didn’t totally succeed: at one time somebody offered…

Last week I was on my retreat, the first I’ve been on since my ordination. Clergy are encouraged to go on one retreat a year, so I took opportunity of going away during a week when I did not have any rest home service or other urgent commitments. The time proved to be right: I…

In 2021 the local Synod adopted the Diocesan Mission Action Plan (DMAP). This called for ministry units to develop their own mission action plan with the support of the Missional Leader. In light of this the Archdeacon for Regeneration and Mission, Mark Chamberlain, was with us last Sunday to lead us in this process. Vestry…

From when I was about eight years old I was a voracious reader. No book in the house was safe from me. When I was twelve years old I came across a substantial tome entitled “Heroic legends”. I began to read it: fascinating stories of enduring love, of heroic deeds, of battles won, of hardships…

In the last two newsletters I wrote about church funds. Most of those funds are held in trust for specific purposes and there generally is not much money flooding around. Many parishes, including those looking after iconic church buildings, struggle to finance the upkeep of those buildings. Still, the churches, including the Anglican Church, hold…

The fearsome chief Te Rauparaha is particularly well known for the frequent armed expeditions he led to the South Island. These enabled him to control some of the northern parts of the South Island and exact loot from and revenge on Ngāi Tahu. He was taken into custody by British Troops in 1846 and returned…