What a wonderful Holy Week and Easter we have had again at S. Michael’s. We are very grateful that so many of you put yourselves out, not only to participate in the liturgy of the week, but also to do all those things that have enriched our celebration and made it so powerful. Your generous contributions have been a great gift to the whole community.
Today, while still celebrating the festival, we offer and bless the gifts of the harvest. This is late in the season, but there is still much that we can bring in thanksgiving, and then pass on to the City Mission. Jenny Daniels and our harvest festival organisers have also gathered other kinds of produce, the arts and crafts that many of us have made. Thank you for all your work in bringing this together.
I am very fortunate to be able to take study leave this year, seven years since my last such time away. I shall leave the Parish on 11 May for nearly four months. My much-needed leave is made possible by the Study Leave Fund of the Diocese, into which every ministry unit pays each year. While I am away the fund will continue to pay my stipend, and the parish will pay for my replacement.
During my absence Fr Tim Hurd, who has until recently been Vicar of All Saints, Dunedin, will serve at S. Michael’s along with the Revd Lynne Horwood, Fr Ron Smith and Fr Bob Peck. You will remember that Fr Tim preached at Michaelmas a couple of years ago. He has been appointed to a parish on the second island of Fiji, in the Diocese of Polynesia, but has to wait several months for the official paperwork to be done.
We shall need to find some simple but adequate accommodation for Fr Tim while he is here. He could house-mind, or live in part of a house, or else use a small flat. Please tell us if you can help.
Next Saturday is Anzac Day. There are major inner-city commemorations that morning, and at S. Michael’s we shall mark the occasion at the normal 8:00 am Mass.
May God bless you all.
Peter Williams
