LCNZ Update

Dear friends in Christ,

Today I met with 14 "Heads of Churches" in New Zealand. This includes all the national Presidents, Archbishops and Leaders of denominations. There was sharing and prayer for Christchurch as you could imagine. The Anglican, Catholic Presbyterian congregations have lost many of their historic buildings. They are thankful for other churches and community groups for hosting homeless congregations. Have a look at Pastor David Lipsys' news brief which mentions how we are hosting several churches at st Paul's and expressing in a caring way what it means to be one in Christ. You can find David's news on our web site under the Christchurch page. Here is a link:
http://www.lutheran.org.nz/c18.php?info_id=1

What follows is from our Pastor in Christchurch...
3 March: Well, after several full days of digging, we have cleared most of the deposited mud and sand from the yards of two neighbours' homes and our home. Though we are tired with aching muscles and eyes full of grit, our spirits have been lifted sky-high through the whole experience! You see, we were assisted by an amazing collection of strangers over the last week - most of whom have no church connection, but who simply arrived on our door-step with spade or wheelbarrow and very caring hearts - keen to assist people who had experienced difficulties that they had been spared. And so, over the last 5 days we have laboured and sweated shoulder-to-shoulder in combinations of humanity that wouldn't ordinarily mix with one-another: university professors; high school and varsity students; highly-qualified professionals; unskilled-unemployed men and women; new arrivals from Asia, America and Europe; a heavily tatooed White Power skinhead; a 10 year-old boy; a former prostitute; and a humbled and very thankful Lutheran pastor and his wife. We have been visited by a troup of our Lord's angels in these dire days - and our lives have been exceptionally blessed!

4 March: While our church building came through last week's (and last year's) earthquakes relatively unscathed, the same cannnot be said for many other houses of worship throughout Christchurch, unfortunately - and I'm not only thinking of the main Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Methodist and Presbyterian churches in town, that are now apparently beyond saving. Many suburban church buildings are now unusable; and so, we at St.Paul's Lutheran will be sharing our building on Sundays until Easter at least, with our local Catholic congregation and a larger Anglican congregation - both now homeless. This will inevitably mean some compromise for us in order to accommodate the needs of the other congregations; however, I think we can give up some convenience for Lent, to help fellow Christians!
This morning I conducted a simple family funeral service for the oldest member of our congregation - Mrs Anni Grimm, who died at 2:20am, aged 97years. This service was conducted in her room at a seniors' rest home inside the central city earthquake cordon, which - like my pastoral visits with her over the last week - meant me having to convince police and soldiers at the road barricade that I really was a Christian pastor and not just some random leather-clad biker with malicious intentions! (A public memorial service for Anni will be conducted at St.Paul's in a few weeks time, when post-earthquake activities have slowed down a bit.)

7 March: All Sunday worship services at St.Paul's went well - Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican - despite us having a reduced electricity supply, and so, no sanctuary lighting or heating! This week, we will also provide meeting space for a local child-care centre and a parents-support agency, both unable to use their regular buildings due to earthquake damage; and we are also hosting the Burwood Churches' Ash Wednesday evening service.