Helping People to Meet God • Make Friends • Grow in Faith

The ideology of progress

Earlier in the year, controversial broadcaster John Banks’ contract with a radio station was terminated, because he seemed to agree with a caller that Māori were from a stone-age culture. Many commentators were enraged by such an offensive comparison. People pointed to signs of sophistication in traditional Māori culture to show that the caller was wrong. For me as an archaeologist the…

Palm Sunday

This Sunday is Palm Sunday. It is the day when we remember how Jesus was welcomed with enthusiasm into Jerusalem. The crowd waved palm branches, shouted for joy and welcomed their hero. And then, a few days later, the crowd called for Jesus to be crucified, to be done away with. Jesus was no longer…

Easter Appeals

If you would like to support St Paul’s, the Anglican Missions Lenten Appeal or CBA (Christian Broadcasting Association), thank you – and here is how to. For St Paul’s – an offering is collected during the service for you to give as you feel led. There are Anglican Missions Appeal envelopes available in the church…

Lent and Holy Week

As we could not meet for Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent was somewhat lost in the Alert Level changes. Nevertheless, there have been pointers to this season of Lent in our worship here at church. Lenten worship is simpler, as shown by the absence of flowers in the church and the omission of the…

Music and Worship

The other day I was standing in the kitchen preparing dinner—that mainly involved the washing and preparation of vegetables from our garden. From the adjacent room I heard the soundtrack of the movie that the ladies of the house were watching together. The music conveyed the mood of the film at each point, the beauty,…

Parish Finances

We don’t often talk about finances, but they are part of church life. The provisional results for last year are now available and we will hopefully consider audited results at the Parish Annual General Meeting. As expected, there was a deficit last year and the Parish had to access some savings. The deficit, however, was…

To change the world

Last year I wrote about the church and politics. I had quite some feedback, so I decided to read a book on the topic. It is called “To change the World” by James Davison Hunter. The book includes a lot of background analysis. In the modern period it looks mainly at the interaction between Christians…

Future directions

Thank you to all those participating at the Future Directions Meeting last Sunday. Through the meeting we realised that we needed more prayer and more analysis, but were also clear that the process could not be drawn out. We want to be responsible stewards of what is entrusted to us. As we look into the…

Level 2 Alert and services

The Ash Wednesday service at St Silas has been postponed until a later date in Lent. The Knitting Group at 2:00pm on Monday, 15 February 2021, will go ahead with appropriate distancing. Musical Play at 10:00 am on Tuesday, 16 February 2021, will go ahead. By attending parents/caregivers clearly indicate to the co-ordinator of the programme that they understand that the programme…