願 父 神 所 賜 的 恩 惠 和 平 安 與 你 們 同 在
Grace and peace to you from God
Time to Tell the Stories
I get the opportunity some days to either drive our 7-year old daughter to school or to pick her up from school and drive her home. She’s a talker, and during that 11km trip I get to hear quite a bit, especially about what’s going on at school and the new things she’s learning. I get to hear her stories.
At the moment she’s telling me a lot about the phases of the moon and the constellations of the stars. I’m hearing about Matariki (the Maori name for the group of stars also known as the Pleiades star cluster referred to as the traditional Maori New Year). And this morning on the way in I heard about her cross country running … if you’re good enough you get chosen for the Eastern Zone, and if you do well there, then it’s the Wellington regionals, and from there the nationals … and from there? Well, she worked out, that would be international … the Olympics. And then she quickly added, “Mum (who’s a teacher at her school) said we might be learning about the Olympics next term.”
I’m getting ready for more stories.
Friends, I like to think that we’re entering a season of the church year where we really get excited about telling the stories … and in particular the story of God’s amazing love for everyone in Jesus Christ. Since the beginning of the church year (Advent) we’ve been caught up in something wonderful – God revelation of himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ – his birth, his ministry, his suffering and passion, his death, his glorious resurrection, his ascension to the right hand of God, and most recently the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. This is the story of God’s loving engagement with you and me, and with his creation.
If you like, we’ve been included in God’s story of love, and now, with the promise of and out-pouring of the Holy Spirit, we are told that we will have everything needed to tell the stories of God (you will be my witnesses … to the ends of the earth).
Question: can you and your church community be as excited about telling the story of God as my 7-year old is telling me about what’s going on at school? I hope you can, by the power of the Spirit, and so we pray similarly to last time …
- Lord, bless us all as we desire to act for you under the influence of the Spirit and tell the amazing stories of God’s love for all people. Amen.
In order to tell the stories of God’s love, we need to be constantly reminded of them – ideally every day. There is a wonderful resource available on-line called Taking Faith Home which I know some congregations are downloading and making available each week. This resource links Sunday worship (and the stories) with household faith formation Monday to Saturday. It’s designed to help households and families live, share and celebrate faith together each and every week.
You can sign up to receive this free at http://www.formingfaith.com/6.html - go to the bottom of the page and sign up. And I’d like to encourage pastors and parish office staff to check this out and print it in your regular weekly bulletins.
- Thank you Lord God for making resources available to us and to your church, so that we might be nurtured in our faith in you and equipped to tell the stories of your love. Amen.
A Memorial Service for Pastor Allan Heppner will be held at 7:30pm on Wednesday 13th June at St Matthew Lutheran Church – 27 Abbotsford Street, Whitiora, Hamilton 3200.
- All welcome to come and share with family and friends to give thanks to God for the life of Pastor Allan.
- The service will be followed by a time of fellowship with supper.
- Please bring a plate if you are able.
Please note this correction to the address for the Manawatu Lutheran Parish:
P.O. Box 47
Palmerston North Central
Palmerston North 4440
Haere Ra; Haere Mai
Last Sunday marked the completion of Pastor Martin Schirmer’s locum ministry at Mountainside Lutheran Church and the North Shore. Thanks Martin and Liz for your time with us and for your ministry of love and pastoral care for the people of Auckland. Haere ra / farewell.
And welcome to Pastor Rex Mickan and his wife Robyn, who begins his locum ministry in Auckland this coming weekend. To you we say Haere mai / welcome, and God bless.
Retired seminary lecturer, Dr John Koch will start a 6 week locum ministry at St Pauls Wellington and St Francis Mauriceville West in mid-June. We look forward to welcoming John and Karen to New Zealand too.
- Thank you Lord God for providing pastors for your church – and in our case, here in the LCNZ – those who will come and fill in during vacancies. Bless their presence and their work among us, and watch over the families and friends they leave behind in Australia to be here. Amen.
What follows is a brief dot-point summary of some of the discussions had at the recent Council of Synod (CoS) meeting at St Pauls Christchurch last weekend (this summary courtesy of Pastor John Davison, Vice President).
- Thanks for prayer, encouragement, expressions of sympathy to Pastor Mark with the recent death of his father.
- Need to focus on the “joy of the Lord.”
- Vicar Tat Tsui approved for ordination on 29th July, 2012.
- Pastor Joe Kummerow acceptance of the call to Mountainside.
- The President’s support team is in place.
- CoS members will attend the next Kogodus II Prayer Retreat at Foxton on 14th-16th September, 2012.
- National Youth Camp at Foxton , 9th-13th July, 2012.
- National Prayer Network being developed.
- Church Workers Conference will be held in Whanganui from 19th-21st June, 2012.
- Twenty/20 Administration Workshop valued and appreciated.
- Presidents pastoral e-mail updates are appreciated. (To subscribe to this list, send an email to itofficer@lca.org.au giving the email address you need included.)
- Insurance issues were discussed.
- Tax deductibility of donations from NZ to Australian Lutheran World Service. This would be an expensive and complex process to set up. Suggested that anyone wishing to donate and receive tax deductibility use local (NZ) agencies which do similar work as ALWS.
- Salaries for Special Ministry Pastors (SMPs).
- LCNZ Salaries Advisory Council needs new members with financial skills.
- Grants approved for Mountainside, The Olive Tree, Whanganui and for SMP travel for training.
- LCNZ National Office Task Force options.
- Thanks were expressed to Katharina Borszik for contribution to COS and Twenty/20 training as she and her Daniel prepare to depart for a two year stint in Dubai.
- Gateway Gift major grant applications need to be in by the end of July.
- Almighty God thank you for the varied gifts of the members of the Council of Synod, and that through this council you provide for the on-going care of your church in New Zealand. Continue to help this council – and all our committees and task forces – to act on every opportunity for fruitful service. Send your Holy Spirit that everything we think, say, and do may be for the common good of your church and the glory of your name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Later in the afternoon we were taken on a tour around some of the worst affected earthquake areas of Christchurch.
We shared an evening fellowship meal with the members of St Pauls and then engaged in some dreaming and visioning for how God might want to use St Pauls Christchurch to continue telling his story of love in their city and community. On the Sunday morning most members of CoS were able to join St Pauls for worship and I was privileged to preach.
Thanks Christchurch for a wonderful weekend, and thanks for the little shake-up (or two) while we were with you. May the Spirit of God continue to shake (stir up) within you a desire to instruments of his love and healing.
Finally
Could pastors and parish office secretaries please consider doing the following:
- Cutting and pasting most/all of this regular update and including it in whatever weekly or regular bulletin/newsletter you provide for your people?
- Encouraging your members to sign-up to this update by sending an email to itofficer@lca.org.au?
Mā te Atua koe e tiaki
God be with you.
+MARK
President – Lutheran Church of New Zealand / Te Hāhi Rūtana o Aotearoa
