27 March 2013

LCNZ Update 27 March 2013

Grace and peace to you from God
Kia tau ki a koutou te atawhai me te rangimarie o te Atua
願 父 神 所 賜 的 恩 惠 和 平 安 與 你 們 同 在

Drought in the Heartland
A couple of weeks ago I drove to meetings in the lower central North Island area, at a time when the whole of the North Island and many parts of the South Island had been declared drought zones. At the time I hadn’t been out of Wellington by car and into the heartland of the country for some weeks.

I was in for a shock. The heartland was dry; it was grieving and in pain. The hills of the Tararua Ranges were brown and bare; dust blew from the paddocks around Palmerston North and Feilding, once-green front lawns in the small towns of Marton and Bulls were not green anymore. Even in my home heartland here in Wellington our water supplies are running low and signs along the motorways remind us that there is an outside water ban.

The nation’s heartland is dry … and so is ours.

On Monday I celebrated 51 years since the waters of baptism broke the drought of sin, death and the devil in my life. I thanked God for the rains and waters of my baptism … for in my baptism I had been baptised into Christ Jesus and also baptised into his death. I thanked God that therefore I had been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, I too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:3-4)

This weekend Jesus enters the baptism of his own death – a real drought-of-life moment for him as he cries out and asks God why he has forsaken him; why has life dried up for him. We are people who, through the power of sin, death and the devil, have hearts that are dry, grieving and in pain.

There is one place to look my friends – to the cross of Jesus … a drought moment for the Son of God; a drought-breaking moment for us. You will probably hear the prophet Isaiah say it well again this weekend –

Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. (Isaiah 53:4-5)

And then join me and millions of others as we sing the drought-breaking anthem on Easter morning –

When our hearts are wintry, grieving or in pain, Your touch can call us back to life again – Fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been: Love has come again, like wheat that springs up green. (NOËL NOUVELET John M.C. Crum 1872-1958)

St Johns Halcombe
The organising committee continue to work on preparing for the closing service of St Johns Halcombe on Sunday 2nd June.

  • Please check the Olive Tree which should arrive in your hands in the next day or two, for more details.
  • Pastor Harry Wendt and his wife Chloris have been invited to attend, and Pastor Harry has been invited to preach at the closing service.
  • The members of St Johns have decided that they would like to gift various special items and objects from their church building to other congregations of the LCNZ. They wish to do this as a way of inviting the rest of the church in NZ to remember with gratitude God’s blessing to and through their congregation. All pastors of the LCNZ have been contacted with regard to this and have been invited to receive these gifts during a special rite to be conducted during District Convention worship the following weekend at Botany.
Haere Ra; Farewell; Thank you
On Sunday 7th April, the Manawatu Parish will farewell the Kroehn family and thank God for their presence and ministry amongst us over the past 4+ years.

Pastor Lee and Anna have contributed to the life and ministry of the Lord’s church well beyond their local parish commitments in Palmerston North and Feilding. They have been generous and kind in offering themselves for the blessing of the wider church, and now we pray God’s aroha and blessing on them as they move to serve in another part of his Kingdom. Thank you Lee and Anna for your servant hearts!

Later in the day, Pastor Trevor Jurgens will conclude the Specific Ministry to which he was ordained in the Hawkes Bay. Trevor has also been a wonderful blessing to our church, serving the needs of many people with the gospel of Jesus throughout the Hawkes Bay, Feilding, Halcombe and Marton. May the Lord bless Trevor and Jeanette in their “retirement” at Koitiata (Turakina Beach), where there will also be opportunities for you to share the gospel with your neighbours there.

And so, Lee, Anna, Owen, Imogen and Jonah, Trevor and Jeannette – Kia tau ki a tātou katoa Te atawhai o tō tātou Ariki, a Ihu Karaiti Me te aroha o te Atua Me te whiwhingatahitanga Ki te wairua tapu Ake, ake, ake Amine. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all forever and ever. Amen.

Haere Ra

The members of St Pauls Wellington and St Francis Mauriceville West are also about to bid farewell to Pastor Norm Bergen and Kay after their three month locum ministry. Thank you also for blessing us with your presence, and your ministry of pastoral care, visiting and worship leadership. Return home safely in the shadow of the Almighty.

Haere Mai
At the same time that the members of St Pauls Wellington and St Francis Mauriceville West are farewelling the Bergens, they are also getting excited and ready to welcome Pastor Jim Pietsch. Jim arrives at the end of April after attending General Pastors’ Conference and General Synod, and will be installed on Sunday 5th May.

Worship in the LCNZ over the Easter Weekend

Botany Lutheran Church, East Tamaki
  • Maundy Thursday: 7.30pm
  • Easter Sunday: 10.00am (at Botany)
  • Easter Sunday: 10.00am (at Camp Adair YMCA, regional camp)
Mountainside Lutheran Church, Mt Wellington
  • Maundy Thursday: 7.00pm Passover meal, 1st Communion, Stripping of Altar and Foot-washing
  • Good Friday: 10.00am The Seven Words from the cross
  • Easter Sunday: 10.00am
Hamilton
  • Maundy Thursday: 7.30pm the 1st Service – the night on which He was betrayed
  • Good Friday: 10.00am the 2nd Service – by the blood of Jesus
  • Easter Sunday: 10.00am – the 3rd service – raised with Christ
Tauranga
  • Easter Sunday: 10.00am – Divine Service
Whakatane
  • Good Friday: 9:30am – Divine Service with Holy Communion
  • Easter Sunday: 9:30am – Divine Service with Holy Communion
Kawerau
  • Good Friday: 11:30am – Divine Service with Holy Communion
  • Easter Sunday: 10:30am – Divine Service with Holy Communion
Whanganui
  • Good Friday: 9.00am – meet at St James Church, Helmore Street – pilgrimage walk
  • Easter Sunday: 9.00am
Marton
  • Good Friday Walk: 9.00am (Organized by the Ministers Association) – begins with a short service at St Martins
  • Easter Sunday: 9.00am
Manawatu
  • Maundy Thursday: 7.00pm – combined Parish Worship at St Luke’s
  • Good Friday: 9.30am – combined Parish Worship at St Luke’s Pilgrimage of Faith: 12noon – beginning at Wesley Methodist, Broadway Ave, Palmerston North
  • Easter Sunday: 9.00am – Trinity Feilding
  • Easter Sunday: 10.30am – combined at St Luke’s
  • Easter Sunday: 2.00pm – Beacon
  • Easter Sunday: 6.00pm – Feilding Combined Churches at the Civic Centre
Wellington
  • Maundy Thursday: 7:30pm
  • Good Friday: 10:00am
  • Good Friday: 8.00pm – Bach Cantata Vespers (Matthäus-Passion by Heinrich Schütz)
  • Easter Sunday: 10:00am
Upper Moutere / Hope
  • Maundy Thursday: 7:30pm
  • Good Friday: 9:30am
  • Easter Sunday: 9:30am
Christchurch
  • Maundy Thursday: 7.30pm – Remembering our Servant King, Jesus and his Last Supper
  • Good Friday: 9-9.50am – Worship with Holy Communion
  • Good Friday: 10-11.30am – Burwood Churches – Journey with the Cross (a Good Friday pilgrimage)
  • Easter Sunday: 6.30am – ‘Son Rise’ Celebration
  • Easter Sunday: 7-8.30am – Easter Breakfast
  • Easter Sunday: 9.00am – Easter Celebration with Holy Communion
Kia tau ki a koutou te atawhai me te rangimarie o te Atua; grace and peace to you from God our Father.

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