We've had a good reminder this week about supporting each other. Let's keep doing that, in every way we can.
Libby and I have written on Front page of the pewsheet for this Sunday (See our website News tab) about that. The page says:
Life is fragile. People are fickle. When things have been running relatively smoothly for a while we get complacent – even if we’ve been talking about the last disaster. Then something happens to shake us out of our self-assuredness. Something like a rude comment, the death of a dream, or a 7.8 earthquake just after midnight. In some ways that’s what’s happened this week. We’ve been talking about strengthening our buildings, with the memory of the 2013 quakes in our consciousness. But when Monday morning happened and with each aftershock, we naturally went on full alert.
Staff visited and rang as many of our more vulnerable parishioners and their teams as they could after checking family and neighbours. Stephen Sheat has made two inspections of Nativity this week, and had a 2nd opinion from an engineer in Christchurch. The building seems as safe as it was before. If you have any needs – even for prayer – please contact us.
It’s our southern family and friends, and fellow Christians in the Awatere and Kaikoura parishes who are in trouble. The three most immediate needs are money, water and bread. So, this Sunday there will be a retiring offertory. That money will be paid into an account held by the Awatere parish and distributed by them.
So, praise God for adrenaline and aftershocks. They keep us prepared for danger, and release in a controlled way the tension in the earth’s crust. Praise God for the way they remind us that he will come again, and that we’re never to fall into a Godless complacency. Praise God for the love that can bind humanity, and especially his Church in an outpouring of love for those who are suffering even when we are.
"We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia; 2 for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. 3 For, as I can testify, they voluntarily gave according to their means, and even beyond their means, 4 begging us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in this ministry to the saints."
(2 Corinthians 8:1-4)
Hope you can help with that one. God bless
Libby and I have written on Front page of the pewsheet for this Sunday (See our website News tab) about that. The page says:
Life is fragile. People are fickle. When things have been running relatively smoothly for a while we get complacent – even if we’ve been talking about the last disaster. Then something happens to shake us out of our self-assuredness. Something like a rude comment, the death of a dream, or a 7.8 earthquake just after midnight. In some ways that’s what’s happened this week. We’ve been talking about strengthening our buildings, with the memory of the 2013 quakes in our consciousness. But when Monday morning happened and with each aftershock, we naturally went on full alert.
Staff visited and rang as many of our more vulnerable parishioners and their teams as they could after checking family and neighbours. Stephen Sheat has made two inspections of Nativity this week, and had a 2nd opinion from an engineer in Christchurch. The building seems as safe as it was before. If you have any needs – even for prayer – please contact us.
It’s our southern family and friends, and fellow Christians in the Awatere and Kaikoura parishes who are in trouble. The three most immediate needs are money, water and bread. So, this Sunday there will be a retiring offertory. That money will be paid into an account held by the Awatere parish and distributed by them.
So, praise God for adrenaline and aftershocks. They keep us prepared for danger, and release in a controlled way the tension in the earth’s crust. Praise God for the way they remind us that he will come again, and that we’re never to fall into a Godless complacency. Praise God for the love that can bind humanity, and especially his Church in an outpouring of love for those who are suffering even when we are.
"We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia; 2 for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. 3 For, as I can testify, they voluntarily gave according to their means, and even beyond their means, 4 begging us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in this ministry to the saints."
(2 Corinthians 8:1-4)
Hope you can help with that one. God bless
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