SMAA CHURCH - Weekly Letter

03 April 2011 - Letter from the Vicar

2011-04-05T17:10:00.000+12:00

Dear Friends,

Today is Mothering Sunday and we welcome many of the S. Michael’s School community as it joins with the Parish for the Mass this morning. As is the custom on this day, we bless flowers and give them to our mothers and caregivers, thanking them for their care and nurture of us.

Mothering Sunday is half-way through the season of Lent, and so we are reminded that Holy Week and Easter are not far away. Ar that time we shall again gather to tell and live through the great story which defines us as Christians and in which we find the foundation of our faith—the story of our salvation. Bishop George Connor, formerly of Dunedin, will join us as our special preacher. He says that he is in touch with what we are all experiencing, through family members who live in severely damaged parts of Christchurch. We look forward to his sharing of God’s word with us.

There are only two weeks left of this school term. Because Holy Week is in the first week of the holidays, we shall mark its main events with short School services next week. These will be in the church and all are welcome to join us.

This year we are unable to have the Solemn Stations of the Cross with Liszt’s music, as much of it is for the organ. Instead, at 7:00 pm on Palm Sunday we shall have Stations of the Cross, enriched with vocal music. The organ is badly damaged and, when the insurers are agreed, it will be taken away for repair.

We hear today two of Jesus’ three wonderful stories about joyful finding, as told by Luke. These are The Lost Sheep and The Lost Coin, and the third is about the waiting father and his prodigal son. In these stories, the main characters (the shepherd and the householder) lose, search and find the lost object, and then celebrate with friends and neighbours. In both cases the character goes to very great lengths to find what is lost. Jesus presents an image of how God, like a shepherd or a householder, or a devoted parent, makes a very costly effort to bring back the lost. When we are lost or in some way estranged, God always offers us the gift of forgiveness and restoration to the community. Repentance, the turning around to new life, happens when we are able to accept this kind of God, to enter into the joy of being found, and then to live in this profound acceptance.

This is a good opportunity to remind School families that every year we offer school pupils the opportunity to be baptised. We certainly do not put pressure on anyone to be baptised. But while young people are at S. Michael’s and surrounded by the life of a Christian community of faith, they have a good setting in which to grow into their baptism and be prepared to consider their own commitment to Christian faith as young adults. A letter will go out to School families very soon. Candidates will be prepared in Term Two and baptised early in Term Three. Please think about this.

We now have a limited power supply to the church, and it is very expensive to augment it. We shall do so in the depths of winter. But in the meantime, if you are coming to the church and it is cool, please bring very warm clothes.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

Lent Readings: Week Four

Monday Isaiah 65: 17–21 John 4: 43–54
Tuesday Ezekiel 47: 1–9, 12 John 5: 1–3, 5–16
Wednesday Isaiah 49: 8–15 John 5: 17–30
Thursday Exodus 32: 7–14 John 5: 31–47
Friday Wisdom 2: 1, 12–22 John 7: 1–2, 10, 25–30
Saturday Jeremiah 11: 18–20 John 7: 40–52

27th March 2011 - Letter from the Vicar

2011-03-26T23:04:00.000+13:00

Dear Friends,

At the moment I think we are all finding that everything we try to do in Christchurch , takes more and more time and effort. Closed streets, damaged roads and bridges, and very slow traffic make our days more stressful and less productive than we would like. The patience and generosity of so many people is appreciated.

At S. Michael’s we are trying to restart the parish programme, but are aware that it is no easy matter for most of us to get to the church for Mass or for meetings of any kind. As the air becomes suddenly cooler we wonder how long we can go without power in the Church. We are working with our electricians and builders to get as many of our facilities working as soon as possible. If a power supply is not available when the winter comes in earnest, we may have to move into the Parish Hall. The School is well back now and coping bravely with the reduced space and the vagaries of the plumbing.

Despite all this our Sundays have been lovely, with unaccompanied singing and gentle candlelight, and the same sense of community as usual.

Next Sunday is Mothering Sunday again, and as many as possible of the Church and School communities will gather here together for the Sung Mass. This will include the blessing and distribution of flowers to mothers and caregivers. It would be appreciated if those so gifted could make and bring some small posies of flowers and greenery to add to the supply that will be distributed at the Mass.

I leave you with some words from Henri Nouwen:

We often wonder what we can do for others, especially for those in great need. It is not a sign of powerlessness when we say; we must pray for one another. To pray for one another is, first of all, to acknowledge, in the presence of God, that we belong to each other as children of the same God. Without this acknowledgement of human solidarity, what we do for one another does not flow from who we truly are. We are brothers and sisters, not competitors or rivals. We are children of one God, not partisans of different gods.

To pray, that is to listen to the voice of the One who calls us the eloved is to learn that that voice excludes no one. Where I dwell, God dwells with me, and where God dwells with me I find all my sisters and brothers. And so intimacy with God and solidarity with all people are two aspects of dwelling in the present moment that can never be separated.

God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

Lent Readings: Week Three
Monday 2 Kings 5: 1–15 Luke 4: 24–30
Tuesday Daniel 2: 20–23 Matthew 18: 21–35
Wednesday Deuteronomy 4: 1, 5–9 Matthew 5: 17–19
Thursday Jeremiah 7: 23–28 Luke 11: 14–23
Friday Hosea 14: 2–10 Mark 12: 28–34
Saturday Hosea 5: 15–6:6 Luke 18: 9–14

20th March 2011 - Letter from the Vicar

2011-03-19T15:59:00.000+13:00

Dear Friends,

Yesterday I had a call from one of my cousins, who has had to postpone his wedding which I was to conduct next weekend. His bride is Japanese and comes from Northeast Japan where the terrible devastation has occurred. Though they eventually found that all the family have survived, none of them can consider coming to Christchurch at this time. This is only one of many personal connections between our disaster and theirs. The world is a small place and we are wise to see how closely joined together we all are, in trouble and in joy. Our suffering God is present with them and with us in our trauma.

The Transfiguration of Jesus, of which we read on this Sunday, is a mystical experience in which he and his disciples are reminded that God’s holy presence is active in the events of their life, even events that become more and more testing and even terrible, as Jesus approaches the stronghold of his opponents in Jerusalem. God’s Holy Spirit is active in our lives too, even in our ‘time of trial’. It is good if we can trust that, even though it may take us time to see it.

It was good to be back in S. Michael’s Church last Sunday, and to be here again today. We still have no power and that may be the case for some time, but we have managed with daylight and candlelight. We now have a water supply and that is an improvement. The Revd Lynne Horwood and others have kept the church open for some hours each day. Despite the cordon across the road, people are still about, and some welcome the opportunity to come into this place of prayer.

The School has reopened and we hope that the roll will fill up as word gets around. The staff have been wonderful in getting the School ready and coping with all the uncertainties. Please support them in your prayers.

As you will see, the stone building has had much of the high-up stonework removed for safety’s sake. The walls up to the height of the eaves have stood up well, strengthened by the work we did a few years ago. While the School has had to move out of this area, it still has plenty of classroom space in the new building. The stone building will, I am sure, be looked at very critically by the safety inspectors, when they have finished elsewhere.

In the week ahead we shall celebrate most of our usual daily Masses at S. Michael’s. Please look at the schedule for this week to check the times. The only change is that on Wednesday we shall not have the 7:00 am Mass here, but instead a 10:00 am Mass at S. John’s, Bishopdale.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Willaims

Lent Readings: Week Two

Monday Daniel 9: 4–10 Luke 6: 36–38

Tuesday Isaiah 1: 10, 16–20 Matthew 23: 1–12

Wednesday Jeremiah 18: 18–20 Matthew 20: 17–28

Thursday Jeremiah 17: 5–10 Luke 16: 19–31

Lady Day Isaiah 7: 10–14 Luke 1: 26–28

or Friday Genesis 37: 3–4, 12–13, 17–28 Matthew 21: 33–46

Saturday Micah 7: 14–15, 18–20 Luke 15: 1–3, 11–32

13th March 2011 - Letter from the Vicar

2011-03-12T23:02:00.001+13:00

Dear Friends,

It is good to be back in S. Michael’s Church today after a hard fortnight of exile. In the midst of the chaos, many of us have been fortunate to be able to gather at S. John’s Bishopdale for a Wednesday and a Sunday Mass, and then for the two Masses on Ash Wednesday. We have also been able to give Margaret Knights the liturgical farewell she deserved, despite the obvious difficulties. On those occasions it has been very clear to us that the Church is the community of people and the liturgy, not the building we are in.

S. Michael’s is still perched on the edge of a largely ruined city centre, where shops and offices and people and jobs have gone, and where many will be afraid to return even when permitted.

Some of you have lost houses altogether, or they have been severely damaged, and others of us wonder how long our buildings can continue to resist the wrenching and bucking of the ground beneath them. The emotional cost of all this is huge and painful. It is important for our health to share this with others, and the Revd Lynne Horwood and Claire Anstice and I are available if you need to unburden yourself. Some of us may need expert counselling, and we can help arrange that for you.

We are struggling to get everything lined up so that the School can return as soon as possible, but that may be much harder than we had thought.

Whatever happens we shall open S. Michael’s Church as often as possible, and keep it as a place of prayer for the city and for the broken world God loves so much.

Throughout Lent we are providing a list of the daily Mass readings so that when you cannot come to the altar, you can still listen with the Church to God’s word for us. Simple things, like praying the Our Father carefully every day, reading the Psalms for the day, or the Bible readings that are provided here, can be a refreshing discipline during Lent, and a strengthening thing for us in this hard time.

I hope that through Lent our Church community will be strengthened to face ‘the time of trial’, to be delivered from evil, and to give itself to God’s way wholly and joyfully.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

Lent Readings: Week One

Monday Leviticus 19: 1–2, 11–18 Matthew 25: 31–46
Tuesday Isaiah 55: 10–11  Matthew 6: 7–15
Wednesday Jonah 3: 1–10    Luke 11: 29–32
Thursday Esther 14: 1, 3–5, 12–14  Matthew 7: 7–12
Friday Ezekiel 18: 21–28  Matthew 5: 20–26
Saturday Deuteronomy 26: 16–19  Matthew 5: 43–48

Service datails for Sunday 13th March 2011

2011-03-10T09:24:00.000+13:00

From Sunday 13th March the plan is for services to resume in our heritage Church on the corner of Oxford Terrace/ Durham Street at the following times:

8am Low Mass
10am Solemn Mass
5pm Evensong and Benediction (see note below from Robert MacLagon)

Tim Hall

Please note that evening service this Sunday will be at 5:00 pm, not 7:00 pm as previously advertised. All services will be at St Michael's

There is now a fence around the Old Stone Building. This means parking off Durham Street is limited. Access to the lounge should be via the Church if possible. Those who normally enter the church via the lounge can enter most easily via the North porch or will be assisted at the West door.

Robert Maclagan

Service Times/ Locations...

2011-03-06T21:06:00.000+13:00

Ash Wednesday

10:00 am at St John's, Bishopdate

6:30 pm at St John's, Bishopdale

Sunday March 13 - Lent 1

Unless otherwise notified all services are planned to be at St Michael's

8:00 am Low Mass
10:00 am Solemn Mass
7:00 pm Evensong and Benediction

Photos of the Church and School are to be fiound at:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=51343&id=100001363244932&l=e2e13d0f7d

Robert Maclagan

Christchurch Earthquake - Feb 22 2011

2011-03-06T13:35:00.001+13:00

Some photos of SMAA taken after the Feb 22 earthquake:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=51343&id=100001363244932&l=e2e13d0f7d

4th March - From the vicar's Warden

2011-03-04T13:22:00.000+13:00

Greetings

1. The Requiem mass for Margaret Knights will be held at Lamb and Haywood on Wairakei Road at 10:00 on Saturday, 5 March

2. A St Michael's Mass will be held on Sunday at 17:00 on Sunday, 6 March at St John's Bishopdale, 2 Chedworth Avenue, Bishopdale. We will follow this with a finger food supper (Chedworth Avenue is off Cotswald Avenue, which is on the right opposite Bishopdale Park, off Harewood Road as you come from the city).

3. A St Michael's Mass will again be held on Wednesday, 9 March at St John's Bishopdale.

Again please spread the word.

St Michael's appears to be structurally sound but remains within the cordon. It has a yellow sticker mainly due to the damaged Old stone Building. We will keep you informed of when we can return to St Michael's.

Robert Maclagan

26th Feb 2011 - Vicar's Warden

2011-02-26T20:29:00.001+13:00

This morning the church and school were inspected by Holmes Consulting. Both were given Yellow stickers. I understand the Yellow sticker for the church is mainly connected with the state of the old stone building I attach some photos taken by the school Principal who accompanied Holmes Consulting.

The proposed ecumenical service planned for Hagely Park has been postponed.

Tomorrow, Sunday 27 February, The St Luke's congrgation will celebrate a parish outdoor Eucharist, in St Albans Park at 9.30am. Gather at the corner of Barbadoes Street & Edward Avenue, where there is plenty of parking. Bring folding chairs or blankets to sit on the ground, and be sure to dress warmly. The parish voicemail (366 2253) will be updated Sunday morning should the weather situation change. St Michael's people are invited to join them.

We will inform you of any home eucharists to be held next week when they are organised.

Pleas spread the word to those who are not on this ad-hoc email list.

Robert Maclagan

20 Feb 2011 - Letter from the Vicar

2011-02-20T14:43:00.000+13:00

Dear Friends,

The first words Jesus uses in John’s Gospel are “What are you looking for?” and then “Come and see.” He invites people to come on a journey with him and learn to see and ‘be’ again. John trusts that if we follow Jesus in his story to the Cross and beyond, we may be ‘born again’, suddenly seeing everything in a new and deeper light. We may come to trust and know God’s promise of blessing ‘from the inside.’

What Jesus promises is that we shall discover, to the depths of our being, what he knew: that we are all God’s beloved ones in whom is God’s delight. That with God there can be an intimacy and security that we all long and thirst for.

If we put ourselves out during Lent, by one means or another, to follow Jesus and ‘come and see’, we may be surprised into the grace of God. Seeing with his eyes, we may discover that we are more loved than ever we believed. And that is what most of us need to experience. It will transform us.

The gathering of God’s people together week by week in rich liturgy can provide the setting for joyous immersion in faith, and mark us as new beings for ever. I hope that we can always be prayerfully offering that to others, for God so loved the world.

Soon we shall be entering the season of Lent and then six weeks later, Holy Week, when the Liturgy at S. Michael’s will be leading us through the central events of the Gospel. I hope that we can approach that expectantly, and invite others to join us, so that we may all accept the gracious call to “Come and see.”

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

God’s Generous Love

What God says to you in Jesus is this: You are forgiven. Nothing more. Nothing less. This is the message Jesus spoke and lived.

But is it really good news? And for whom?... It looks as if the good news was originally good for ordinary people, people who were not particularly pious, not particularly respectable. To them, God said in Jesus, ‘You are forgiven’.

God might have said it more simply: ‘You are loved. I love you.’ This message is true, but it would have been ambiguous. It might have meant, ‘I love you because you’re good.’ It might have meant, ‘I still love you and would like to go on loving you, but I won’t tolerate your behaviour much longer.’

Instead, God says something quite unambiguous: ‘You are forgiven.’ What this means is, ‘I love you anyway, no matter what. I love you not because you are particularly good nor because you are particularly repentant nor because I’m trying to bribe you or threaten you into changing. I love you because I love you.’

William Countryman The Truth about Love; Re-introducing the Good News

13 Feb 2011 - Letter from the Vicar

2011-02-12T23:59:00.003+13:00

Dear Friends,

Lent begins very late this year, on 9 March. There are still three Sundays before Ash Wednesday, and so we have more time to think what we shall do during this special season of the Church.

The culmination of Lent, and of course the reason for it, is the great Easter celebration, which this year will be on 21–24 April. At S. Michael’s this is very much the centre of our liturgical year, and we make special provision for the whole week from Palm Sunday (17 April) until Easter Day. In this 160th anniversary year we are privileged to have as our Holy Week preacher Bishop George Connor, retired Bishop of Dunedin.

In preparation for Easter you may like to join a special Lent study group, or a Lent prayer group, which we shall arrange at suitable day and evening times. These will provide opportunities to ask all the things that you have not got around to asking before. I hope that one daytime group will be at a suitable time for School parents and caregivers. A schedule of such opportunities will be available at the church during the next three weeks.

In particular there may be some of you who would like to be prepared to be baptised or to renew your baptismal commitment at Easter. It is for this purpose in particular that the forty days of Lent were first set aside, and it is a great gift to a congregation to have some among it who are preparing in this way. Please contact me if you are interested.
On Sunday 6 March, we shall give thanks for the harvest. Because Lent and Easter are late, we can celebrate this closer to the actual time when we harvest the produce from our gardens and farms.

The daily Mass at S. Michael’s is the focus of this parish’s ministry of prayer, which I take very seriously. Through Christ we are glad to offer prayer for the sick and the troubled. The parish list includes people having an acute health (or other) crisis, those having planned surgery or treatment, and those in their last illness. It also includes some chronically ill, those in pain, frailty, or disability over a long period. By printing the list this faith community commits itself to pray for these people, and we must all take our part in that. This does not mean that the whole list, or indeed any of it, needs to be read at every Mass. The important thing is not that the names are paraded, but that the people are prayed for. Each of us can do this in whatever way is convenient—at home, at spare moments during the day, and while waiting for Mass to begin. That is why the list is provided. Of course we can pray with greatest understanding for the people we know. Between us all will be covered.

This being the case, it is acceptable, in the Prayers of the People, to offer the list as a whole, without reciting any or every name. I certainly undertake to read all the names at one of my Masses each week. At other times, I trust that all those whom we carry on the list and in our hearts are being gathered up in the prayer of Christ among us. He knows every need, and invites us to share in his compassion through our prayer.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

06 Feb 2011 - Letter from the Vicar

2011-02-05T22:26:00.001+13:00

Dear Friends,

Today is Waitangi Day, the day on which we celebrate the birth of our nation that took place when the Queen’s representative signed the Treaty with the chiefs of the various Maori tribes. That there is such a treaty as a declaration of intention for national life is a blessing for us all, as we try to make our country a good place for all who live here. But that alone does not make living together an easy matter.

In 1986, Sir James Henare wrote an introduction to a useful little book by Hiwi and Pat Tauroa about Maoritanga. He said, ‘Knowledge is the dawn of understanding. Understanding is the first sign of tolerance, and tolerance is the bright light of racial harmony. Someone once said, rather cynically, that tolerance was composed of nine parts apathy to one of brotherly love. Unfortunately apathy has been prevalent in New Zealand for far too long, and many, unwitting or otherwise, have believed it to be a formula for racial understanding and tolerance. The deliberate exodus of the Maori from their rural isolation into the urban community, for economic reasons, is a major factor of Maori evolution that has brought both races into closer contact and greater awareness of the other’s cultural and racial differences. Each ethnic group has something to give the other and something to learn from the other.

Barriers are being created unnecessarily by the hypersensitivity of the Maori, and by the insensitivity of the Pakeha to Maori aspirations. But with goodwill, greater understanding, and better knowledge of the other’s values and culture, these barriers can be demolished.’

Our Church has even re-written its Constitution to promote a serious respect for all our different ways. Many of us in the 80s and 90s took part in events to learn Maoritanga, and perhaps we need to do so again. Today we celebrate what we do enjoy together, and pray for good and healthy relationships with the tangata whenua, as well as with all other groups who have settled in this land with us.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

A Thanksgiving for our Country:

Blessed are you, God of the universe.
You have created us, and given us life.
Blessed are you, God of the planet earth.
You have set our world like a radiant jewel in the heavens,
and filled it with action, beauty, suffering, struggle and hope.
Blessed are you, God of Aotearoa New Zealand,
in all the peoples who live here, in all the lessons we have learned,
in all that remains for us to do.
Blessed are you because you need us,
because you make us worthwhile,
because you give us people to love and work to do
for your universe, for your world and for ourselves.
A New Zealand Prayer Book/ He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa.

30 Jan 2011 - Letter from the Vicar

2011-01-29T22:05:00.003+13:00

Dear Friends,

It is good to be gathered as this community of faith again, as schools return and workplaces reopen for the year. I hope that those of you who have had holidays have been refreshed, and that all are feeling renewed for another year. Johnann and I have had a good holiday, in Wellington and Taranaki, and for the last few days I have been enjoying the sun and the sea on Stewart Island.

We return to a special year for S. Michael’s as we celebrate 160 years of the church in this place. In the Mass we ‘proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes,’ as has been done here for all those years. Our bell, which arrived with the first settlers, will be rung 160 times at the end of Mass. Later we shall meet for the picnic at Mona Vale.

Today we celebrate Candlemas, the fortieth day after Christmas, when according to the Gospel story, Joseph and Mary take their first-born son to be presented in the Temple, and Simeon recognises him as ‘the light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of God’s people Israel.’ The light theme, which is so pervasive in the celebration of Christmas and its associated festivals, is undoubtedly more telling at this time in the northern hemisphere. But of course the light is a universal symbol of all that challenges the darkness of much human experience, and speaks of the hope that there is in Jesus Christ and the Gospel he embodies and proclaims.

Primary schools, including S. Michael’s Church School, begin again tomorrow. Here we shall gather at 8:40 for an assembly, when we shall pray God’s blessing on the new school year. Then as each class goes to its room, it will be blessed with those who teach and learn there. We welcome back our pupils and our hardworking staff.

Next Sunday is our National Day, Waitangi Day. We shall commemorate that at our usual Sunday services. We are fortunate in Aotearoa-New Zealand that, so early in our story, some people had the wisdom to frame and promote a Treaty between the indigenous peoples and the new European settlers. It gives us some bearings today when we have to face what we have become, and the chequered history that has brought us here. And we can be proud that it was the Christian leaders of the day who largely brokered the Treaty. Whatever political issues still surround it today, we can all honour the Treaty on our national day as the expression of an intention of respect and justice towards each other.

The Revd Lynne Horwood is not now teaching in the School, but working fully in the Parish. This is a great gift to us and we are seeking to use the opportunity for growth of the church community. Lynne will also be studying, and involved for about six weeks in intensive Clinical Pastoral Education training.

I hope there may be a few people who wish to be prepared specially for baptism or to renew their baptismal promises at Easter. They will meet throughout Lent in a small catechumenal group. Would any of you, or your friends, like to join this group for your own renewal, or as a ministry to new believers? Please contact me soon.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

“A Most Exceptional Parish”
January 1851: The floor of the V-hut was burnt-off ground…, the seats were boards..., packing cases covered with canvas made an altar…
July 1851: In the new temporary church, the congregation “beamed with joyful satisfaction”.
December 1856: Bishop Harper was enthroned in the extended building, which had “a very churchlike appearance within and without”.
July 1861: “…a well-ordered church, with reverent ritual, choir, organ, and a large congregation.”
By 1867: the cohesiveness, sense of loyalty and financial buoyancy of the newly defined parish were such that it was able to contemplate building a new parish church.
Michaelmas 1870: Bishop Harper lays the foundation stone of the new church.
April 1872: Last service in the “quaint old church”.
May 1872: First service in the present church, “without any exception, the finest wooden church in NZ.”
1894: The new vicar, Walter Averill, commends the “dignified” and “reverent” services at S. Michael’s.
Christmas 1897: There were palms, ferns, other pot plants and white lilies and Canterbury bells in the pulpit, and the font was wreathed with evergreens and white blossoms.
1911: Fr Burton told the congregation that “with their help, and by God’s grace, he would, before a year elapsed, light such a flame in that parish and this city that would never go out in the lifetime of those present in that church that night.”
Later: With doctrine and ceremonial went a distinctive style of pastoral care..., and an equally distinctive style of mission. But one parishioner was less impressed, “S. Michael’s is getting higher and higher. We must reach heaven soon.”
Under Fr Gault: It was an impressive show that went on in the sanctuary at the far end of the church, beyond the chanting choir… Clouds of incense rose as the Mass progressed… Processions were grand…
With Fr Raphael: Changes came, designed to show the real meaning of the Eucharist, to involve the people not only in the worship but also in the mission of the Church. The sanctuary was re-ordered; there was renewed vigour and an outgoing attitude.
1968 Fr Philip: “The eucharistic pattern slowly leaves its imprint upon those who regularly and faithfully take part in it. This is the genius of S. Michael’s… It has the power to draw one back again.”
1996 Fr Jonathan: “The parish is burgeoning with new life and initiative.”
January 2001 Fr Peter: “As we offer ourselves again, this day and every day, we pray that this may continue to be a holy place and a caring community…”
As Fr Perry wrote in 1926, S. Michael’s has been
“a pioneer church in more than one direction. God has been with us of a truth.”
(With thanks to Marie Peters for use of material from: Christchurch-St Michael’s)

S. Michael’s bell came out from London in the Charlotte Jane. It was brought from Lyttelton in June 1851 and hung in a simple belfry.
In 1858 it was sent back to England for recasting after developing a crack. “Perhaps its absence had made people more aware of its value to the community, not just as a church bell… but also as an alarm and even more as a regulator of timepieces for the whole town…”
In 1861 the bell was hung in the present belfry. Designed by Benjamin Mountfort and Isaac Luck, the bell tower was considered to be “a great ornament to the town”

Christmas 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-12-24T15:03:00.000+13:00

Dear Friends,

It is with great joy that we gather together again with Christians everywhere, to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s ‘Word made flesh’.

This is the 159th time that Christmas has been celebrated on this site. In 2011 both this Parish and its School will be 160 years old, a milestone that will be celebrated appropriately throughout the year.

May those of you who are visitors to S. Michael’s be blessed by your visit, and may God keep you safe as you go upon your way. Some of you are people who have moved away, but for whom S. Michael’s will always be home. We love to welcome you back. Others will be seeking to keep this festival in a significant way, and so have come to this holy place. May the Spirit of the Christ-child grow in you, and may you discover with all of us, that indeed ‘God is with us’, as he always promises.

Today in this lovely church, decorated with candles and flowers, and filled with music and wonderful people of faith and goodwill, we celebrate the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ. We celebrate the birth as we attend to the Christmas crib, and place the Christ-child there, as we listen to the readings from the Scriptures and let their wisdom and proclamation seep into us and shape us, and as we gather at the altar and receive God’s gracious gift of himself, offered before us, in the Body and Blood of Christ. We do all this in the confidence that, whatever our state in life at the moment, whatever the cloud that may cover us and ours, Jesus Christ is living within and among us. He alone brings new life and in the darkness enables us to find light.

Thank you, on behalf of us all, to those who have done so much to make our celebration of the festival so very special. Musicians, servers, readers, sacristans, flower arrangers, printers and publishers, cleaners, pastoral visitors, clergy, and all the rest who keep this wonderful ship afloat.

Our cash collections at Christmas are all given to the Christian World Service Appeal. CWS is a proven agency which addresses the underlying causes of poverty and injustice through its community-based development programmes. In the past the government has supplemented the funds raised by churches, but this situation is changing, leaving some CWS partner programmes unsupported. Our contributions are needed this year more than ever. Envelopes are available today, as gifts are tax deductible. Please give generously at this time when we ourselves receive so much.

May those of you who are having annual holiday at this time keep safe, and return refreshed for the year ahead.

May God bless you all

Fr Peter Williams

19 Dec 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-12-18T23:59:00.001+13:00

Dear Friends,

We are in the last days of Advent now, and savouring the countdown to the Nativity festival. The daily readings are rich in the sense of yearning for better things.

Today the Gospel turns from John the Baptist to Joseph and Mary, as it prepares us to celebrate the birth of God’s special one, Jesus Christ. Joseph is told that, by the power of God’s Holy Spirit, Mary is to bear a child who will be called ‘Emmanuel’, which means ‘God is with us’. They turned their lives around to enable ‘the Word to become flesh and dwell among us’.

The whole of the Christian life, and indeed the whole of any wise and reflective life at all, is about learning and discovering that great truth, that ‘God is with us.’ The whole life and death of Jesus shows us what that means. Through the Holy Spirit, each one of us has the opportunity to discover what it means in our context, and to turn our lives around to make it clearly so. God is with us, and it matters. As we gather to be God’s people, to hear the Scriptures together, to break the bread and share his cup, we are proclaiming ‘God is with us’, and it matters. As we care, and trust, and reconcile, and forgive, and give hospitality in the exchanges of everyday life, so we are proclaiming ‘God is with us’, and it matters very much. It makes all the difference. That is why we are Christians, that is why we are Church, that is why we have a mission. God is truly with all that he has made: this is his message to the world at Christmas.

Tonight we shall enjoy the Service of Lessons and Carols for Christmas. The choir is in very fine form. I hope that many of you will come and bring friends as well, for this lovely service of scriptural and musical meditation on the Christmas story. You may be able to bring a small contribution of food or drink for a supper afterwards.

On Monday evening at 6:30 pm we shall welcome children and their families to the children’s carol service. Please invite any children you know. After the short service there will be a Christmas supper for the children.

Finally, I hope that the Christian World Service Christmas Appeal will again receive generous support (gifts are tax deductible). Envelopes are available today. It is good for us to be intentionally generous to those who have few resources, at a time when we spend so much on ourselves. CWS has a proven track record and we can give through this agency with confidence.

I look forward to celebrating Christmas with you at S. Michael’s. May it be a happy and blessed time for you all.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

Advent Readings: Week Four
Monday Isaiah 7: 10–14   Luke 1: 26–38
Tuesday Zephaniah 3: 14–18  Luke 1: 39–45
Wednesday 1 Samuel 1: 24–28  Luke 1: 46–56
Thursday Malachi 3: 1–4, 4:5–6   Luke 1: 57–66
Friday  2 Samuel 7: 1–5, 8–12, 14, 16 Luke 1: 67–79

CWS Christmas Appeal Theme: “Share the care” A prayer for Gaza: where mother and baby clinics are maintained in the midst of siege and conflict, where thousands of children have been given a healthy start in life, and where their mothers can find a safe environment in which to share their stories.

Loving God, we bring before you the people of Palestine, especially the children. We pray for the maternal and child health clinics of Palestine, which are working to bring health to the people. Bless the mothers who must raise their children in traumatic circumstances. Bless the children as they grow up in the midst of conflict. May they know that they are loved and valued and may they inherit a future free of conflict and filled with love and hope. Amen.

Please give generously this Christmas,
and share the care with CWS partners

12 Dec 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-12-12T18:20:00.000+13:00

Dear Friends,

Today, the third Sunday of Advent, we celebrate the joy that comes to those who open their lives to the Spirit of God. In the case of John the Baptist we see the joy that belongs to those who pretend to be nothing other than their humble selves. He is content to be only the voice that carries the word God puts in his mouth. His way is to hand over totally to Christ. This Sunday is sometimes called ‘Gaudete (Rejoice) Sunday’ because of the references to joy in the texts. The vestments worn today are rose, and the third candle on the Advent wreath is pink. The music also reflects this theme of joy.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) is always available here, and particularly in Advent. The cleansing in this sacrament helps to make ‘a highway for our God’ through our cluttered lives. It used to be said that “all may, no one must, and some should” make use of this Sacrament of the Church. Confession times are on Saturday as advertised, or by appointment.

S. Michael’s Church School has finished for the year. At their final Mass, each of the Year 8 leavers spoke confidently of some of the things that had been important for them at S. Michael’s. Their offerings were followed by the refrain: For what has been, thanks be to God, for what is, thanks be to God, for what shall be, thanks be to God. We also blessed children leaving the School for other reasons, some of them returning overseas to live. We wish all those involved in schools a refreshing and safe summer holiday, and enthusiasm for the next step of their journey.

Next Sunday evening we have our service of Nine Lessons and Carols for Christmas, for which the choir has prepared carefully. Come and bring your friends. This will be followed by a special supper in the hall. The next day there is the Children’s Crib and Carols Service, to which some come who have little other connection to S. Michael’s. We are glad to welcome them, and we would appreciate offers of help with hospitality and the running of this simple service.

We look forward to wonderful services at Christmas. Again, this may be an opportunity to introduce new people to S. Michael’s, and even to Christian faith.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

Advent Readings: Week Three

Monday Numbers 24: 2–7, 15–17 Matthew 21: 23–27
Tuesday Zephaniah 3: 1–2, 9–13  Matthew 21: 28–32
Wednesday Isaiah 45: 6b–8, 21b–25  Luke 7: 18b–23
Thursday Isaiah 54: 1–10   Luke 7: 24–30
Friday   Genesis 49: 2, 8–10  Matthew 1: 1–17
Saturday Jeremiah 23: 5–8  Matthew 1: 18–24

05 Dec 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-12-04T23:59:00.001+13:00

Dear Friends,

As I was writing this on Thursday, I was very aware of all those gathering in Greymouth for the memorial service for the Pike River miners. I telephoned Barry and Lesta Smithson and left a message of assurance of our love and prayers for their small community as it copes with this huge disaster.

The assurance that Matthew’s Gospel seeks to give us, as we read it in the Liturgy over the next twelve months, is that God is always with us, in the very best and very worst circumstances of human life. God suffers with us as we suffer, and rejoices with us as we rejoice. Matthew begins his Gospel with the birth of Jesus Christ whom he calls ‘Emmanuel’, God is with us. At the end of his Gospel, the Risen Christ promises “I am with you to the end of the age”. During this season, let us learn again to be people who trust that God is with us, in every circumstance. And let us help others to learn that this is so, especially as we try to support those who are suffering through mine disaster and earthquake.

After the Sung Mass we are invited to patronise the bring and buy stall in the hall. Anne Ladd is overseeing this to raise some money for the organ restoration fund. There is a raffle running too, with a hand-made quilt and a rich Christmas cake among the prizes. At 5:00 pm today the S. Michael’s Church School community will gather in the church for its Christmas Carol Service. This will follow the annual Santa Parade in the city, for which a group in the parish will open the playground for parking at a modest price. There will be a Taizé service tonight.

This is the last week of our School’s year. The Leavers’ Lunch will be on Tuesday. The final School Mass will be on Thursday, and the Break-up and Prize-giving Ceremony will be that evening at 7:00 pm at Christ’s College.

In this busy season, please do not forget the CWS Christmas Appeal. I am glad that as a parish we contribute generously each year. As we spend a lot on ourselves and our families, may we put aside some resources to give hope to those who have very little. CWS is the Church’s very reliable and efficient agent, delivering help to places and communities where it is especially needed.

I hope that you may give yourself some time for the daily Bible readings (listed below) and so expose yourself to some of the wonderful Advent images there: images of God who comes to us at every moment, and often in circumstances unpromising and surprising—as a child born in an animal shed, or a young man executed on a gibbet, in hope when all seems very grim, in acts of kindness and undeserved forgiveness, in extravagant generosity.

May God give us all strength and discernment in this season. May our quiet trust help us to make it a time when our longing for the reign of God is refreshed and nurtured, and our desire for many lesser things put in its proper place.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

CWS Christmas Appeal

Theme: “Share the care”

A prayer for Tonga:

where many people are suffering from the impact of imported food and the resultant problems of obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Community Trust workers teach and lead workshops on traditional foods and ways to improve its production.

God of peace and justice, we pray for the health and welfare of all people, that they may eat the food that sustains life. Grant us all the resources and wisdom to address the critical health issues facing the planet. In particular we pray for the Tongan Community Trust in its work to assist Tongans reclaim healthy nutrition, cheaper food and their traditional ways of life. We pray for a quiet food revolution in Tonga that will testify to your love and care for all Tongans. Amen.

Please give generously this Christmas, and share the care with CWS partners.

Advent Readings: Week Two

Monday Isaiah 35: 1–10  Luke 5: 17–26
Tuesday Isaiah 40: 1–11  Matthew 18: 12–14
Wednesday Isaiah 40: 25–31 Matthew 11: 28–30
Thursday Isaiah 41: 13–20 Matthew 11: 11–15
Friday  Isaiah 48: 17–19 Matthew 11: 16–19
Saturday Ecclesiasticus 48: 1–4, 9–11 Matthew 17: 10–13

28 Nov 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-11-27T23:59:00.000+13:00

Dear Friends,

Advent begins today, the beginning of a new year for the Church. With new resolve we continue to gather together, day by day and Sunday by Sunday, to tell and celebrate the Christian story, the story that makes us the people of God. Over these four weeks of the Advent season, the austerely beautiful liturgy leads us to the celebration of Christmas. The progressive lighting each week of the candles on the Advent wreath is a sign of the waiting that characterises this season.

In saying this, we must acknowledge the terrible waiting endured by so many since the first explosion in the Pike River mine a week ago, and its tragic conclusion. We have been praying for all involved in that situation, and I have been in touch with our sometime parishioners, Barry and Lesta Smithson, who live at Runanga among those most affected. We continue to pray for them all.

Among our special services of this season are the Service of Advent Carols and Readings at 7:00 pm tonight, the School Carol Service at 5:00 pm next Sunday, and the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols at 7:00 pm on 19 December. This year we shall again have the Carols at the Crib Service for little children on Monday 20 December, at 6:00 pm.

Advent is a season for us to get in touch with our own longing, and to see it in relation to humanity’s perennial longing for the creation to be completed and all things to be well. Our deep yearning for justice and reconciliation and wholeness and peace, however it is expressed, matches God’s own longing for those things. Our longing and God’s coincide in Jesus Christ, whose birth as one of us we shall soon celebrate, and whose continuing work we participate in through the Holy Spirit.

The Scripture readings for today call us to be awake and alert, always prepared to face the coming of the One who is the end of all our longing. Achieving this readiness is the Advent task of all Christian disciples and people of good will.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

The whole earth’s a waiting-room
(J.T. Nolan Let the earth rejoice!)

We wait—all day long,
For planes and buses,
For dates and appointments,
For five o’clock and Friday.

Some of us wait for a Second Coming.
For God in a whirlwind,
Paratrooper Christ.
All around us people are waiting;

A child for attention;
A spouse for conversation;
A parent for a letter or call.
The prisoner waits for freedom;

The exile, to come home.
The hungry, for food,
And the lonely, for a friend.
The whole earth’s a waiting-room!
“The Saviour will see you now,”
is what we expect to hear at the end.

Maybe we should raise our expectations,
he Saviour might see us now
If we know how to find him.
Could it be that Jesus, too, is waiting
For us to know he is around?

21 Nov 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-11-20T12:00:00.003+13:00

Dear Friends,

Today we conclude the liturgical year by celebrating with thanksgiving, confidence and hope the Reign of Christ in all creation. In doing this, we proclaim that Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, is the measure of all value in the world, and that his way takes us close to the heart and will of God. His rule which we honour today is not of the domineering, power-over-others kind. Rather it is the compelling power of someone whose integrity in weakness and sacrificial service lures us into following him. His way is open to community and relationship, rather than to competition and isolation. It is that way that Christians are called to follow as they live in the community.

We are glad to welcome again Fr David Stevenson as our preacher at the Solemn Mass today. He was brought up in Christchurch and serves now in the Diocese of Norwich. As is customary, we shall conclude the Mass with the procession of the Blessed Sacrament in the wakahuia.

Next Sunday is Advent Sunday and the beginning of a new year of the Church, one in which we shall read mostly from Matthew’s Gospel. I hope that you may be able to read the daily readings which the Church provides during these four weeks of preparation for the festival of Christmas, and all that it signifies. They can give us some stability and perspective as the ‘silly season’ pulls us this way and that.

This Thursday at 7:30 pm S. Michael’s Church will host a concert/recital by Jules Riding. Jules, who lives in Auckland is travelling throughout the country giving recitals in some of our best-known churches. He was a leader in the renaissance of high quality popular Christian music that grew up around S. Paul’s, Symonds Street, in the 1960s. He writes his own lyrics and music, and sings and plays sensitively and beautifully. Entry is by payment of a koha only. I hope that some of us may be able come and enjoy this concert, and that we can pass the word around among others who may be interested.

The wedding season has begun. There was a wedding yesterday and there will be two next Saturday at S. Michael’s . We offer our prayers and good wishes to those celebrating their commitment to each other.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

Introducing the CWS Christmas Appeal

Theme: “Share the care”

Whatever difficulties people are facing here, the reality for poorer communities in developing countries is far worse. But they don’t want to be labelled as poor and hopeless, they prefer to fight for their future. With a little help they can be healthier, more resilient, and self-supporting. Christian World Service has a simple purpose: to help families eat better, drink safe water, and enjoy better health.

In its sixty-fifth year the Appeal highlights the work of CWS partners in Uganda, Tonga, Haiti and Gaza.

CWS: the international aid, development and justice agency of NZ’s Churches

14 Nov 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-11-13T12:00:00.001+13:00

Dear Friends,

I hope you are enjoying the holiday weekend and are able to do things that you don’t usually have time for. The Botanical Gardens are wonderful at the moment, and especially the Heritage Rose Gardens, tucked in behind the old Nurses’ Home in Riccarton Avenue.

This evening at Evensong and Benediction Fr David Stevenson will speak to us about the remarkable 14th century mystic, Dame Julian of Norwich. Fr David has been on the staff of the Norwich parish which includes her shrine, and has a story to tell about it. He is here for a couple of weeks before returning to England to take up a new appointment, and he wants to spend some time with us here at S. Michael’s. David’s parents are John and Mary Stevenson of this congregation, who are of course delighted to have him home.

Today’s Gospel is about the impermanence of our lives, our world, our human kingdoms, and the permanence of God’s kingdom. Our recent traumatic events have reminded us of this. None of the things that we count on to be there always will necessarily be so. Family, friends, work, home, land and water can be gone in a minute. Jesus was trying to tell his followers that final trust in human structures is misplaced. Nothing is permanent, nothing is lasting, nothing except God. They then wanted a sign of when the end would come. That would enable them to be in control and avoid the turmoil.

We too want signs of when catastrophic things will happen so that we can control or avoid them. Jesus tells us that we are not to run away, not to cease working, but rather to stand firm in the knowledge that all of life, all of time, our present and our future are all in the hands of a loving God who will “give us words and a wisdom… and not a hair of our head will perish.” God, who is at our beginning, is with us always, and still at our end. It is into that profound trust that we are to grow, so that we may live well with our uncertainty.

Next Sunday is the last Sunday of the liturgical year, and on it we celebrate the Reign of Christ. The work of God in Jesus Christ that we have been celebrating throughout the year is universal in its scope; it is for the good of all creation, and it is the measure of everything that is in creation. It is in gratitude for this that we and all people are called to join with Christ in the great offering of thanks and praise. As is customary, the Solemn Mass concludes with the procession of the Blessed Sacrament in the wakahuia. The preacher will be Fr David Stevenson.

As always at this time of year, my calendar is packed tight with special events. I am sure that yours is too. In the midst of the pressure we may find we have to struggle to be truly present to what is here and now, and to be truly present to the people with whom we are in contact. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that fun and play and laughter and socialising are good and necessary elements in a healthy life, quite as important as work, and that we should make the most of them.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

07 Nov 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-11-06T21:22:00.000+13:00

Dear Friends,

This morning we baptise and welcome into the Church Hollie Girvan and Isabella Girvan. And we welcome their family and friends as they gather with us today.

Thank you to all who contributed to the lovely commemoration of All Saints last Sunday, and then All Souls on Tuesday. It was good too to have some visitors from far and near. Tomorrow some of us will represent the Parish at the funeral of Maurice Goodall, sixth Bishop of Christchurch, and a former City Missioner.

This week the country comes to town for the Show and the Races. We can hope that the weather will behave and that Show Week will display Christchurch at its shining best. It is good at these times if we can have the church open for the visitors who are usually about. On Labour Day we were able to welcome about 20 visitors! If any of you are at a loose end and could spend an hour or two minding the church on Friday or over the weekend, please tell me. It can be a time to do some praying, as well as an opportunity to meet and give hospitality to visitors, local and foreign. Several of our congregation joined S. Michael’s because of the kindness and helpfulness of those minding the church on such days.

I share with you this take on the Zacchæus story, from a little book called Sensing the Crowds, a theological reflection on the behaviour of crowds. This extract is by Martyn Percy.

[In today’s Gospel] Zacchæus is portrayed as either fraudulent or as a collaborator with the occupying Roman government. The reaction of the crowd bears this out. They all ‘murmured’ that Jesus had gone to be the guest of a sinner. Zacchæus meanwhile has responded to Jesus’ visit by giving half his goods to the poor. Then comes the hidden sting in the story, for he adds that if he has defrauded anyone of anything he will restore it fourfold. If. That ‘if’ must be one of the most important two-letter words in the Gospels. That Zacchæus is despised by the crowd is not in doubt. But nowhere in the story does it say he was dishonest. He is simply hated for what he does, but he almost certainly acts with honesty and integrity.

What then does Jesus’ action signify? Simply this: that in the midst of a crowd bestowing their adulation he refuses to side with their base prejudices. Zacchæus is affirmed for who he is. He does not repent, contrary to how the story is usually read; he has no need to. Rather a person who is despised is allowed to flourish, and he is now seen as a person of generosity. He has after all given away half of what he has.

Consistently, Jesus sides with the ostracised, the rejected, the unclean, the impure, the alleged sinner, and the half-breeds. He is no crowd-pleaser, he is their confounder. Even before the palm branches are stripped from the trees, and the cries of ‘blessed’ are heard, Jesus is a disturber of crowds. He does not want their praise; he wants their commitment. And they will make him pay for this, this failure to deliver what they promised themselves.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

Vestry Notes

$2,500 donated to the Bishop’s appeal for Haiti, and the parish to assist the Roumanian Church with repairs to the Church of the Good Shepherd (thank you to Dave McFerran for the work he has done there).
New appointment to the Parish Trust: Richard Peters, a lawyer and member of our choir.
Next Deputy Principal of S. Michael’s School: Tony Kendrew, Year 7 teacher.
Concert at S. Michael’s on 25 November: Jules Riding, Christian song-writer and performer.
Jane Evans to convene a working party to begin planning for the parish’s 160th anniversary celebrations next year.
Thank you to Anthony Coulter for his work in compiling a photographic record of earthquake damage to the church.

31 October 2010 - Letter from Vicar

2010-10-30T12:00:00.004+13:00

Dear Friends,

Today we join with the whole Church as we celebrate the festival of All Saints. The saints are that great company of people of every age, who have chosen, and lived in, and enjoyed, the happiness or the blessing of God, and who continue to do so. Because they have let the spirit of Christ be alive in them, they have shown us glimpses of what God is like. Some of them are known by name to us, but most are not. These are the ones who have lived quiet faithful lives in their own places and times. It is good for us to find out more about some of the saints whom the Church has acknowledged. Their stories can be an encouragement to us as we struggle to live good lives.

The Beatitudes from Luke, that we read today as the Gospel, speak of the character of those who live in this blessing of God. Henri Nouwen suggests that they can also be seen as a self-portrait of Jesus. ‘The whole message of the Gospel is this: become like Jesus. We have his self-portrait. When we keep that in front of our eyes, we will soon learn what it means to follow Jesus and become like him.’

Within this season of remembering the saints, we remember all the faithful departed. We do that particularly on Tuesday, All Souls’ Day, at the two Masses that will be celebrated at S. Michael’s. We know that those with whom we have shared our lives, who gave to us as we to them, and who have now died, are not remote from us. As we once shared bread with them from day to day, still we are as close as ever to them in Christ and his Eucharist.

S. Gregory of Nyssa (c.355–395) used to say that the one thing worthwhile in life is to be a friend of God. The great company of saints whom we celebrate at this time are those whose heroic nature has come from their trust in that friendship. In life and death they have enjoyed being God’s friends, sharing the blessing or happiness of God. Their lives of courage and service and significant witness have flowed from that friendship. We are told that Mother Teresa, that great friend of God and of those left destitute on the streets of Calcutta, would go aside to pray when she was exhausted, and would emerge soon after fresh and radiant. She lived on the vital energy of her friendship with God.

Thank you to all who helped keep the church welcoming for Heritage Week. I have spoken to a couple of the visitors who have been delighted to have called here.

Yesterday your parish representatives attended the Diocesan Synod which had been abandoned on the morning of 4 September. They will report soon on what was achieved.

Enjoy the springtime and the joyful friendship of God and the saints.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

24th October 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-10-21T19:37:00.003+13:00

Dear Friends,

It is Christchurch Heritage Week again, and the extensive programme sponsored by Beca and promoted by the City Council is in full swing. There are many good opportunities to learn more about the history and the people of our settlement. In the widely distributed brochure, S. Michael’s is represented with a full-page photo of our belfry. Unfortunately the Fr Burton Centenary Seminar which is advertised opposite has had to be cancelled because of the move of the Diocesan Synod meeting to the same day, Saturday 30 October. Throughout the week we are trying to keep our church open, and today our Sung Mass is a celebration of ‘heritage’.

‘Heritage’ is not just about old buildings. It is about everything that we have received and that we pass on: everything in our history, environment and culture.

Faith perspectives are therefore very relevant, and Christian faith perspectives no less than others. For each of us the basic questions of identity are to do with our ‘heritage’, knowing and accepting ourselves as a ‘gift’ of God to be nurtured and developed and eventually to be given back to God. Applying this attitude to others, and indeed to everything that is a given part of our experience, gives meaning to the living of our life.

The saints and heroes of faith are people whom we can admire for what they have managed to do with who they are. They are truly heroes of heritage, their grace-filled lives joyfully received and lovingly passed on. And in Jesus Christ we see uniquely a life received from and given back to God in perfect trust. We also see the likely cost of such a life.

It is for this reason that at Mass, week by week or day by day, we offer ourselves as honestly as possible, and we put our trust in the loving God whom we find in the liturgy of word and altar. We look to be transformed by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; receiving Christ’s body, we become his Body.

Next Sunday we shall celebrate the festival of All Saints, and then on the Tuesday following, the Solemnity of All Souls. Please help us prepare accurate lists of names of the departed to be remembered on that occasion.

At its meeting on Tuesday, the Vestry will consider making a gift on our behalf to the Bishop’s Thanksgiving Appeal for Haiti, where she has personal church contacts. I am suggesting that we make an equal gift to a local post-earthquake need as well. It would be good to add any contribution you may wish to make personally. Please use the envelopes provided today, and leave them in the offertory plate or at the office.

May God bless you all. Fr Peter Williams

17 Oct 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-10-14T18:49:00.004+13:00

Dear Friends,

Welcome to you all today, as we gather to offer God our thanks and praise, on our own behalf and also for all the world which God has made and loves so much, if only it knew it. At Mass we continue to read the special stories from Luke’s Gospel. I am very conscious of the pains that this Gospel writer took to show that the good news of Jesus Christ is for absolutely everyone. If anyone is excluded from the promise of the Gospel, then it cannot be good news at all. God’s acceptance and love are unconditional, despite the tendency among some Christians in our time to proclaim it in a very conditional way.

Tomorrow is the Feast of S. Luke. We shall have our usual morning Mass, and in the evening join the people of S. Luke’s Church for their celebration. This will be at the Rose Historic Chapel, 866 Colombo Street. The Mass will be followed by refreshments at the S. Luke’s Centre by the church. I hope that a good number of us will be able to show solidarity with them as they celebrate their festival outside their accustomed holy place.

On Thursday evening the City’s Beca Heritage Week begins. This will be specially poignant this year, as much of our built heritage has been so damaged by the earthquake. Its theme is ‘On the Horizon: rediscover the settlement of our City’. S. Michael’s is registered as a heritage site for the week, containing as it does the first Parish Church and School, and with four heritage buildings, four heritage trees, and the swale (gully), a remnant of a tributary stream of the Avon. We hope to be open for most of the week (Thursday to Friday of the following week) and especially over Labour weekend when people may have time to explore the city. Are you willing to spend an hour or two keeping the church open? The Solemn Mass next Sunday will be a Heritage Mass at which we shall thank God for what we have been given, and commit ourselves to pass on a worthwhile community and city to those who will follow us.

Labour Weekend of course is always associated with gardening by Christchurch people, the earliest date on which you can safely plant your potatoes, the appearance of the very first rose blooms, trips to busy nurseries and thundering trade at garden centres. But above all, the wonderful spring smells of newly turned soil, freshly mown grass, and lilac blossom. As all this happens around us, I hope that we can marvel again at the cycle of the seasons, the dying and rising of the natural world, the restoration of the greenness and colour after the austerity of winter. The arrival of summer seems more promising now that we have enjoyed some very warm days; and a glance at the shops makes it clear that Christmas is alarmingly near. I have to remind myself at this time, when life seems to speed up so much, to look up from my work and take time to enjoy the miracles happening at every moment in our gardens and parks.

If you came to morning tea after Mass last week, you probably had a piece of the marvellous fruit-cake sent to us by the Smithsons, from Runanga, near Greymouth. This was a gift to show support for us as we continue to cope with the earthquakes. We are very grateful to them for this practical sign of their thoughts and prayers for us.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

10 Oct 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-10-08T13:01:00.003+13:00

Dear Friends,

Samuel Johnson remarked that “Gratitude is a fruit of great cultivation; you do not find it among gross people.” Gratitude is a vital part of the true Christian spirit, because it requires us to be appreciatively alive to the actions and feelings and motives of others. It is a virtue that requires an acute sense of relationship with God and other people, and so opens us to the ‘grace’ of God, however that comes to us. Perhaps the leper in today’s Gospel was acutely aware of relationships because, as a leper and a Samaritan in that society, he was so cruelly denied them. But that also made him doubly aware of what Jesus had done, the grace that had been given him.

Jane Williams remarks of this episode in the Gospel, “Jesus says to the leper, ‘Your faith has made you whole.’ In that sentence he gives the man back power over his own life, treating him as an equal, fully restored to human relationships. What a gift to a man who was used to being shunned, spending all his life only with other lepers, and with people throwing charity at him and then running away quickly to escape contamination.”

Being fully restored to relationships, human and divine, is what heaven is about, or the Kingdom that Jesus proclaims. That is supposed to be our business as a Church, as Christians.

Perhaps we can bear all this in mind as we thank God for our safety during our city’s recent trauma, and as we consider responding to Bishop Victoria’s appeal to make a thanksgiving gift to people in Haiti, and also reflect on the costly gesture of the Tongan people towards us.

Schools throughout the country, including our own S. Michael’s School, return for the fourth term tomorrow. We pray for teachers and all staff and pupils as they do so.

S. Luke’s Day is on Monday week, and we are invited to join the people for their celebration that evening. As their church building can’t be used, we shall gather with them in the Rose Historic Chapel in Colombo Street.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

Anniversaries of the Departed

The list used for weekly remembrances is being made available in the church for the next ten days for parishioners to check dates, spelling etc. It is also important that each listed name have a contact name or reference, so please fill in this column where necessary.

If you have names to add, please print them at the foot of the appropriate page.

This chronological list will be re-arranged in alphabetical order to form the basis for the All Souls’ Day Commemoration

03 Oct 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-09-30T20:41:00.002+13:00

The House of God

“O how amiable are thy dwellings, thou Lord of hosts!

My soul hath a desire and longing to enter into the courts
of the Lord; my heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God.

Yea, the sparrow hath found her an house and the swallow a nest
where she may lay her young, even thy altars, O Lord of hosts,
my King and my God.

Blessed are they that dwell in thy house,
they will be alway praising thee.

For one day in thy courts is better than a thousand.

I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God
than to dwell in the tents of ungodliness.” (Psalm 84)

From the Vicar…

Dear Friends,

Today, as we continue our celebration of Michaelmas, we give thanks for the dedication of S. Michael’s Church building, which has served us for 138 of our 159 years, and which thankfully survived the earthquake with only minor damage.

And today it is our great joy to baptise Matilda Jane Williams, daughter of Anselm and Susy-Jane, and fifth grandchild of the vicarage family. We welcome friends and family and invite everyone to join in the special morning tea afterwards.

Our celebration of Michaelmas on Wednesday evening was a truly wonderful occasion. Thank you to all of you who put in so much work and imagination to make it so. It was a delight to be a part of both the wonderful Mass presided over by Bishop Victoria, and of the dinner which followed. There were a lot of visitors who enjoyed themselves very much. I hope that they will have been moved and encouraged by their participation.

I was glad that at last we were able to have the dedication of the new altar, given by the Martin family. We are grateful to them, as also to their parents, Les and Joan Martin, in whose memory it is given. When you are able, have a close look at the beautiful top of the altar. It was designed by Alun Wilkie and crafted by David Thurston of Takamatua.

We have also received greetings from people throughout New Zealand and overseas, who have once been part of this community, and still celebrate with us.

The Diocesan Synod, which should have taken place on 4 September, has been rescheduled for Saturday 30 October, when we were planning to hold our Affirming Catholics Symposium. Though I had thought we might be able to go ahead, I have finally decided we must postpone the symposium until next year. Some who wished to attend feel duty-bound to be at Synod, and others are low in energy after the month’s trials. Next year is our 160th year and the symposium could be part of the special programme then. Please tell any others who may have been planning to join us on 30 October.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

29 Sep 2010 - Michaelmas

2010-09-29T08:25:00.001+13:00

Dear Friends,

Welcome to you all as this community of faith gathers to celebrate again its Patronal Festival, the feast of Michael, Archangel, ‘who is like God,’ and all the angels and archangels.

We are delighted that visitors are with us, friends from other churches, colleagues in ministry, former parishioners, friends and relatives, and enquirers. It is a joy to welcome home some of you who live in other parts of New Zealand, people for whom S. Michael’s has never ceased to be a spiritual home. Many of us are shaken and weary after the events of this last month, but here we seek to open our hearts in thanksgiving for God’s goodness and mercy.

We are glad to welcome Bishop Victoria to preside and preach for this Festival Mass, and to dedicate the new altar. This is the gift of the family of the late Leslie and Joan Martin, who were committed parish members and leaders some years ago. It is given by the family in their beloved memory.

There has been a community of faith here for 159 years now. Since September 1910 the Eucharist has been celebrated in this place daily, and the Blessed Sacrament reserved as a focus for prayer. Generations have adorned and cherished the building, and music of the highest standard has been offered for the praise of God.

The Liturgy offered here has been a witness to the glory and holiness and loving-kindness of God, while it has shaped a people in the way of Jesus Christ, and sent them out to give themselves in costly service.

It is with all this behind us and around us that we gather this evening to celebrate the festival, to open our hearts and minds and bodies and spirits to the good news of God, and to enjoy each other as sisters and brothers in Christ.

Jacob awoke from his dream of the great promise of God, and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” I hope and pray that we too may so awaken to God’s presence in this community gathered around the altar, that, with our perception heightened, we may go out and welcome the Risen Lord in every corner of the wider community. And even in its darkest corners, may we so engage, that we can truly say with Jacob, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”

In the sight of the angels, I will praise you, O God.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

26 Sep 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-09-23T19:57:00.006+12:00

Dear Friends

Today at the 10:00 am Mass, Claire Anstice will speak about the work of the Interchurch Hospital Chaplaincy Service, which provides and guides the ministry of chaplaincy in most hospitals in New Zealand. Christchurch Hospital, which is on our doorstep, is a major centre for this work, employing a team of chaplains, some of whom are in paid positions and some of whom are unpaid. They are all trained and accredited by the service, as well as by the Churches they come from.

The Health Department recognises the value of chaplains to the extent that it provides half of the funding for those in agreed positions. The Churches have to provide the other half of the funding. Much of their work is in supporting people who are forced by a health crisis to face difficult life issues. We have brochures for distribution and encourage donations (envelopes provided) towards the costs of the chaplaincy service. Claire Anstice, our People’s Warden, is part of the chaplaincy team at Christchurch Hospital, which is also her place of work.

At the recent Vestry meeting, the first for two months, we received the Revd Lynne Horwood’s generous offer to work as a non-stipendiary priest in the Parish next year while she works on a Bachelor of Theology. We envisage a strong chaplaincy to the School and some new growth initiatives which are impossible with only one priest, as well as her liturgical and preaching and pastoral duties. The parish also received a generous legacy from the estate of the late Janette Lewis.

We are determined to share our resources with other congregations and people who have been deprived by the earthquakes. Yesterday we hosted a funeral from elsewhere, and we have been able to assist the Romanian Orthodox Church whose building in Phillipstown was badly damaged, and then further despoiled by some vandals. In the weeks and months ahead we may receive further requests to use the church and hall for various events.

Our annual Patronal festival, Michaelmas, is on Wednesday and will be celebrated here with a Low Mass at 7:00 am and the Solemn Mass at 6:30 pm. The preacher and presider will be Bishop Victoria. This will be followed by the Michaelmas Dinner. This is an opportunity to welcome friends and enquirers to S. Michael’s, and for all of us to have a good time together.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

Vestry Notes
September Meeting

Parish goals set at the away-day now approved for distribution
Affirming Catholics Symposium to go ahead on 30–31 October
New church heating installation completed and proving very effective
Directions on heater use being prepared for sidespeople
Earthquake damage:
Some cracks have appeared but no structural damage has occurred
The organ is intact
Diocese supplying checklist for damage assessment of buildings
Letter of thanks to be sent to firms responsible for recent successful strengthening work on the church

Solemn Festival Mass of Michaelmas

Wednesday 29 September at 6:30 pm

Celebrant and Preacher: Bishop Victoria

Tickets for the Michaelmas Dinner are available today

(adults $10, children $5)

To supplement the meat and vegetable dishes and the bread being provided,
members of the congregation are asked to bring a salad,
and members of the choir to bring a plate of dessert finger food.

There is also a Low Mass of the Feast at 7:00 am

19 Sep 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-09-16T17:49:00.006+12:00

Dear Friends,

For a second Sunday we are glad to welcome the people of S. Luke’s, whose lovely church building has been put out of action by the earthquakes. Quite properly, they would like to be able to gather in the geographical area of their primary ministry, but we shall make our facilities available while that is not possible. We also welcome others who have been displaced from loved places of worship, and people who have begun a new personal exploration because of what has happened to them. We are having enquiries from groups who have lost meeting or working places, and would like to share our facilities. I hope that we can accommodate some of them.

Some among our congregation, like many others in the city, have been badly hit and are now having to wait for the verdicts of building and insurance assessors. And apart from the very visible physical damage many may be living with, there is an emotional burden that most of us are carrying. We need to be careful of ourselves, and trust others in the community for companionship and support.

Michaelmas is almost upon us. Our Patronal Festival happily falls in Spring and invites us to cheer up and celebrate after the cold and dark of the Winter, and, this year, the shock of the earthquake. It is also an opportunity, a rallying point, to reaffirm the ethos of the Parish and to celebrate its place in the Church and in the City. I hope that you will all think carefully and imaginatively about inviting friends, and people with connections here, and seekers in general, to the Michaelmas celebration. On Wednesday 29 September there will be the usual Low Mass at 7:00 am, with the Solemn Mass and dinner in the evening. At the Mass Bishop Victoria will consecrate our nave altar in the church, the gift of the Martin family.

Dinner tickets (and invitations to go with them if you are inviting others) are available in the hall after Mass today.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

Solemn Festival Mass of Michaelmas

Wednesday 29 September at 6:30 pm

Celebrant and Preacher: Bishop Victoria

Tickets for the Michaelmas Dinner are available today

(adults $10, children $5)

06 Sept - Earthquake Update

2010-09-06T16:06:00.008+12:00

Amazingly St Michael's Church and St Michael's Church School have not suffered any serious damage from the 7.1 earthquake which happened at 4.35am Saturday 4th September.

However, services on Sunday 5th Sept were cancelled and the John Middleton memorial service has been re-scheduled for Sunday 12th Sept (due to travel difficulties in the immediate earthquake aftermath).

Monday morning Mass was also cancelled and I suspect the Tuesday morning Mass will also be cancelled due to travel difficulties (roads cordoned off).

I understand that Schools are hoping to re-start on Wednesday so I am also assuming that the Church will also be striving to get back to normal at the same time.

Take Care

Tim Hall

05 Sep 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-09-03T17:40:00.003+12:00

Dear Friends, (due to the earthquake services on Sunday 5th Sept were cancelled and the John Middleton memorial service has been re-scheduled for Sunday 12th Sept)

At the Sung Mass this morning, the S. Michael’s Young Voices group will sing alongside the Parish Choir. It is wonderful to see and hear the growth in confidence and voice in these young people.

At Festal Evensong tonight we shall be quietly remembering John Middleton, who was S. Michael’s Director of Music from December 1974 until August 15 1999. He was also at times Parish Treasurer and Vicar’s Warden. He had been given high honour by the Royal School of Church Music for services to church music, and he was Treasurer of the local branch until very recently. Our musicians will be joined by other former colleagues of John for this Evensong, for which music has been specially chosen. Afterwards there will be supper in the hall.

As I write, the Diocesan Synod has not yet begun, but as you read, it will be well finished. It began with the Synod Service in the Cathedral on Friday evening, and then the business was conducted throughout Saturday. We shall report on the proceedings in due course.

The Gospel reading for today brings us one of the ‘harsh’ texts of the Gospel, one which is demanding in any case, but also easily misunderstood. Luke’s text has Jesus saying that to follow him, disciples must ‘hate’ those who are closest and dearest to them—their families. Jesus’ use of the word ‘hate’ is a semitism, a colourful way of speaking that was characteristic of the language of the time. It is a bit like saying today that things we enjoy are ‘awesome’, an exaggeration for effect. So‘hating’ doesn’t mean quite what it seems, but is rather an extreme way of saying that disciples must put everything else second to the demands of following Jesus. In fact, once we have put ‘following Jesus’ first, then our likely next priority, our committed relationships, will probably be much richer, and certainly not full of what we know as hatred.

‘Following Jesus’ and ‘carrying our cross’, to which we are committed at our baptism, are our first allegiance, and give shape and value and colour to all our other decisions and commitments.

Luke then gives two examples of how people need to be well prepared if they make costly commitments. He says that following Jesus will involve a personal cost that we need to be prepared for, and that we shall have to be careful that our attachment to possessions and wealth and status does not get in the way.

It is good to be experiencing some glimpses of Spring. The almond tree by the Montreal Street bridge, which is our usual harbinger of Spring in the area of S. Michael’s, is in full bloom, and will soon be followed by the cherries on the Oxford Terrace frontage.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

William John Middleton Hon RSCM

14 May 1930–26 July 2010

John began to play the organ at the age of thirteen. After joining the Bank of New Zealand in 1947 he was transferred to many different places over the years. So he became organist and choirmaster at churches in Invercargill, Riccarton, Motueka, Tumaru… Whenever he was to be transferred he would ensure that the church would not be left in the lurch. When in Christchurch he and Patricia led the music at the local Christian Science Church. He returned permanently to Christchurch in 1974 and became music director at S. Michael and All Angels. He held this post with distinction until 1984, and again from 1988–99.

Wherever John found himself, he ended up being elected Treasurer, either for the RSCM or the local Organists’ Association, or both. Similarly at S. Michael’s he was immediately elected to Vestry, and during the 1980s he became Vicar’s Warden, and served on the Finance and Stewardship Committees. He set high standards in everything he did, and expected the same dedication and commitment from colleagues and choir members.

For his work with the RSCM, both locally and nationally, he was honoured with the award of Hon RSCM. His work with the RSCM Foundation made him indispensable. He was ably supported through his later musical life by his wife Patricia, a fine soprano.

Former choir members remember John as “a splendid chap—we were very fond of him” and “a very sensitive—sometimes jaunty—accompanist”. “John never took the limelight personally but expressed himself through quiet and constant commitment to the music.” “John and Pat were a great team, and it was a great team to be part of for twenty years. They never missed a party, of which there were many! We enjoyed John’s choice of music, and especially appreciated his sensitivity to the liturgy. He always managed to find music that was both beautiful in itself and exactly appropriate to the occasion, and just hard enough to challenge a choir without distressing them. His sometimes gruff exterior was his way of protecting an inner person of great sensitivity and feeling, fired by a passion for beauty and harmony.”

“John was a very fine musician and a very straight and direct man.

It was an honour and pleasure to know him.”

29 Aug 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-08-26T19:56:00.002+12:00

Dear Friends,

I am glad that Dr Marla Hughes is leaving the children and preaching to the grown-ups at this morning’s Sung Mass. We appreciate her leading of the Sunday School and her preparing of the School baptismal candidates, but it is also good to use the experience she gained as a preacher in her former Episcopal Church in Washington DC.

Thank you to the Ginger Group and those who made last Saturday’s Midwinter Mingle such a success. Even I, half dead with a cold, was caught up in the activities and really enjoyed it. We look forward to the next one.

The S. Michael’s Church School Board has recently received the resignation of the Revd Lynne Horwood as Deputy Principal and Year 8 Teacher, to take effect at the end of the year. I leave it to her to tell you of her plans, but we are not expecting any change in the near future in her much appreciated ministry in S. Michael’s Parish.

As I write this in what can only be glorious spring sunshine, I am recovering from our celebration of Holy Baptism in which 14 young people of the School were baptised, and welcomed into the Church. The annual offer of baptism to School pupils leads to a lot of preparatory work, all of which is amply rewarded in the joy in the children’s faces as they carry their candles from the font to the altar. I am grateful to Lynne Horwood and Marla Hughes for their contribution, and for the whole community as it supports these young people.

On Tuesday we farewelled Dorothy Pratt, who has been a faithful (more recently house-bound) parishioner since the 1960s. May she rest in peace.

The Diocesan Synod will meet on Saturday 4 September, from 8:30 am until 9:00 pm. The new venue this year is the Christian Cullen Lounge at the Addington Events Centre, Twigger Street, Addington. The Synod Eucharist will be at the Cathedral at 7:00 pm on the preceding evening. You are welcome to attend this Eucharist and to visit the Synod if you wish.

That Saturday, 4 September, is the 100th anniversary of the Induction of the Revd H.D. Burton as Vicar of S. Michael’s. He had arrived from England with his wife and daughters two weeks before, aboard the Runic. We shall make much more of this anniversary at All Saintstide with our Affirming Catholics weekend.

This evening Evensong will be led by the Chamber Choir The Ten, a young people’s choir directed by Paul Ellis. And next Sunday at Evensong, with music in praise of God, we shall especially remember the late John Middleton, who was a former Director of Music here.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

22 Aug 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-08-26T19:54:00.001+12:00

Dear Friends,

On Thursday this week at 8:40 am, it will be our great pleasure to baptise 16 young people of S. Michael’s School. They have been prepared for baptism by the Revd Lynne Horwood and Dr Marla Hughes. We have included a list of their names in this Trumpet so that we can all pray for them and their families.

On Monday last week we remembered the fifth anniversary of the murder of a modern saint, Brother Roger of the Taizé Community in France, in his 90th year. And on Friday we remembered the 70th anniversary of his arrival at Taizé in 1940. Brother Roger was brought up in Switzerland, though his mother was French. In 1940, when he was 25, he felt called to leave neutral Switzerland and go and live a life of prayer for reconciliation, on the front line of the war in France. He settled in the half-deserted village of Taizé in Burgundy. Here he sheltered Jews and other refugees, and after the war, German casualties. Soon he was joined by other brothers, of all Christian traditions, and a life of service and prayer began. Now there are about 120 brothers in the Community, and some of them live in houses in some of the poorest and most troubled places on the earth.

Taizé has become an ecumenical pilgrimage centre, visited by over 100,000 people every year, mostly young, and from every part of the world. Most years the community organises a great gathering of youth in some part of the world, so that in a climate of prayer and worship, young people of many nationalities may meet and learn to trust each other.

Brother Roger was a mild, childlike figure, who had a simple and resourceful faith, a gift for language, beautiful ideas and moving prayers. His martyr’s death at the age of 90 was a sadly ironical twist and a tragic end to a remarkable career.

The worship of the Taizé community is very simple and very profound, with beautiful catchy chants and long prayerful silences. At S. Michael’s we offer Evening Prayer one Sunday night each month in the style of Taizé, and join our prayer for reconciliation with theirs. You are always welcome to join us.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

15 Aug 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-08-14T20:34:00.002+12:00

Dear Friends,

Today with the whole Church we celebrate Mary, Mother of the Lord. She is the first to respond to the coming of Jesus Christ, and so can be said to be the first ‘Christian’. As she becomes the mother of Jesus Christ, so she becomes the mother of the Body of Christ which is the Church. Her destiny is that of every faithful Christian, being taken with the risen Christ into the unending glory and praise of God. We celebrate all this in the Mass and with the procession of our Lady of Walsingham.

Appropriately we celebrate the same goodness and promise of God as we baptise Gareth Justin Sheard, son of Chris and Emma, and grandson of Malcolm and Marjorie Griffiths. We welcome their families and friends back to S. Michael’s today.

Here are some words from the Archbishop of Canterbury about the place of Mary in the Church:

When Mary conceives and so gives room to God, God gives room to her: her humanity blossoms into its fullest glory. For centuries, Christians have kept coming back to the idea that what happens in Mary is what has to happen to some degree in each of us. She, uniquely and once for all, says a “yes” so complete that her entire material life is changed by the coming of God to her.

And we are called to the same task, to give God room so that we may be changed, so that the eternal Word will live in us and speak and act in love to others. Only so are we ‘magnified’ like Mary, given our full dignity and splendour.

I hope you will all make the effort to come and join in the S. Michael’s Midwinter Mingle on Saturday evening. A lot of work is being put into this party, and I am sure we shall all enjoy it very much.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

After a Pilgrimage to Walsingham:

From its origins in 1061 until the Reformation, Walsingham has been a major European pilgrimage destination—easily outranking Canterbury and attracting pilgrims from all over Christendom. Anglicanism is a practice of great and true beauty and moderation and intelligence and good taste; the national pilgrimage is none of these things. It is a jamboree for people who do not necessarily care much for dignity and good order, but do believe, often quite inarticulately, that joy is pleasing to the Lord.

Oddly enough many of the people most critical of Walsingham are the very same people who like to complain that Christianity is dualistic, anti-body, anti-pleasure and legalistically restrictive. The national pilgrimage celebrates the Incarnation—God made not simply “flesh” but a drinking, laughing, food-loving, friendship-seeking, party-going human being. It celebrates a child who went on pilgrimage himself and, to the justifiable irritation of his parents, got lost and found again. The national pilgrimage refreshes the religious parts that other Anglican practices do not reach. I think they are parts that we need to refresh. (Sara Maitland, The Guardian 5 June 2010)

08 Aug 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-08-07T19:37:00.001+12:00

Dear Friends,

Today is our Thanksgiving Sunday, the day on which we are invited to renew our financial commitment to the life and work of S. Michael’s Parish. We do this in thankfulness for God’s goodness towards us, and in response to our calling as baptised Christian people to share the Gospel and build up the community of God’s friends.

We can only be grateful that so many give so much for the running of the parish, as well as to other special appeals. Some of what we receive is passed on to support Church work in chaplaincies, missions and other special work. Giving according to our means is an expression of our commitment, and an expression of thankful response for all God’s goodness to us. It is wonderful when this giving is a glad part of our belonging to this community of faith. For new people who wish to begin such a commitment, this is your chance too. Remember Jesus’ words (Luke 6: 38): “Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”

Today we are all invited to hand in our confidential giving card at the Offertory. It is good to do this, as the commitment we make is very much part of our thankful duty to God. The giving packs (if you haven’t got one, please ask) contain a letter from me and the Wardens, a confidential giving card, and a return envelope. If you wish to give by automatic payment, as many do, Judy Tait will contact you for appropriate details. If you need more time, you are welcome to return the card at any time.

Next Sunday the Church celebrates the Assumption of Our Lady. We know that all who live and die in Christ can expect to rise to new life with him. As we celebrate the death day of Mary who was the first to respond to the coming of Jesus Christ, we celebrate the promise of resurrection that is hers and ours. There will be the usual procession of Our Lady at the Sung Mass, and the Revd Carlie Hannah will preach at Evensong. And also next Sunday morning we shall baptise Gareth Sheard, grandson of Malcolm and Marjorie Griffiths.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

Vestry Notes July Meeting

Reappointed to the Parish Trust: Yvonne Pasea, Steve Woodside, Philip Richards
19 children at S. Michael’s School being prepared by Revd Lynne Horwood and Marla Hughes for Baptism and Welcome to Holy Communion
Pre-Synod meeting attended by Synod Representatives
John Graveston reported on the leadership camp he attended at Living Springs
Contract for promoters holding concerts in the church has been prepared Thanks to parishioners who shared ideas on this
Christchurch Art Gallery has provided digital copies of our watercolours by Mountfort and Raworth

01 Aug 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-07-31T20:32:00.001+12:00

Dear Friends,

Next Sunday is the day we have set aside to express our thanks and praise to God by renewing our financial commitment to the ministry of the Church.

It has been three years since we had a Sunday when we did this, paying attention to our giving to the work of the Parish and the wider Church. Perhaps this is because each year, through your generosity, the income from all our giving does increase, usually exceeding the admittedly cautious budget we have set.

But it is also because at S. Michael’s we have the great gift and responsibility of having income from other sources than our giving. This may cushion us against any struggle to make ends meet. We have great reason to thank God for this other income, and to strive always to use it wisely.

Our financial commitment is never separate from our commitment to Christian faith, and to the community of faith to which we belong. It is appropriate then that at this time we think about our own ministry in this community, taking a fresh look at how we may perhaps participate more fully in the life of the Church, and re-examining the everyday ministry that we have in our homes, workplaces, and wherever we mix with people.

Please take one of the envelopes that are available today, and be prepared to return it during the Mass next Sunday, or whenever you are able. Try to do this carefully and prayerfully.

On Monday last John Middleton died after a long illness. He served S. Michael’s as Director of Music for several periods over a long time. John was a very sensitive liturgical organist, who worked well with the choir and was a good friend to many of us. At a date yet to be determined, we shall dedicate one of our Evensongs to his memory, and invite some of his former musical colleagues to take part.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

World Peace Day: Friday 6 August

They shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.

(Isaiah 2: 4)

A Prayer for Peace:

O God, it is your will to hold both heaven and earth in a single peace.
Let the design of your great love shine on the waste of our wraths and sorrows,
and give peace to your Church,
peace among nations, peace in our homes,
and peace in our hearts. Amen.

A Prayer for Peace:

O God, it is your will to hold both heaven and earth in a single peace. Let the design of your great love shine on the waste of our wraths and sorrows, and give peace to your Church, peace among nations, peace in our homes, and peace in our hearts. Amen.

24 July 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-07-24T22:12:00.005+12:00

Dear Friends,

It is a great pleasure today for all of us at S. Michael’s Church to welcome members of the S. Michael’s Church School community— pupils, staff and families—as together we thank and praise God, and mark the 159th anniversary of the founding of our School.

It is in this gathering for Eucharist, once a week, that the special character of our School is fully expressed. In the same way, the Parish community is shaped as it gathers here Sunday by Sunday and day by day. I hope that in praying and singing together, in hearing God’s word and sharing at God’s table, we may share in one Spirit.

We are fortunate to have as our preacher this morning the Revd Dr Peter Carrell, Director of Education in the Diocese of Christchurch. This is his first official visit to S. Michael’s, and I hope that we may continue to welcome him here from time to time in the future.

A comment that I read recently is well worth our pondering on. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, said that ‘real spiritual education in schools (homes and churches too) happens when children are in an atmosphere where all kinds of things put them in touch with a vital, coherent picture of how a good life is lived. This gets more remote the more teachers are weighed down with administration and testing— and the more they themselves lack a coherent picture of how life is well lived.’ This is a big call for teachers, parents, clergy and all those who may be examples for children, but it is an essential one.

In my book, two marks of a ‘life well lived’ are thankfulness and generosity. When we are thankful for who and what we are, even if we don’t fit some of society’s supposed norms, then we shall have a groundedness and a security that allows us to be generous to others. We won’t have to cling to others, or to possessions and status, to have proper self-esteem. We shall be able to give of ourselves without feeling we are diminished. It can be hard to train ourselves in generosity, especially generosity of spirit. It is easier to begin with thankfulness, and to spend some time daily simply saying thank you to God for every gift we enjoy, including the gift that we ourselves are. A habit of thankfulness often bears fruit in a spirit of generosity, and true graciousness.

Next Sunday we shall distribute to parishioners material relating to our ongoing Christian Giving programme, asking us all to consider our gifts of time, finance and skill towards the mission of our parish. Sunday 8 August will be our Thanksgiving Sunday, when we shall remake our commitments to the work of the Church in this parish and beyond.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

Sunday School

Children of all ages are welcome to participate in our fortnightly sessions. Our programme is based on the Sunday’s readings and always includes an activity or craft. Details on flyer, or ring Marla (960 0753).

S. Michael’s Young Voices

This group of seventeen enthusiastic improving singers has already sung once here at Mass. We have room for three more (boys or girls). Rehearsals are on Wednesdays 3:15–3:45 pm.Details from Paul Ellis.

17 July 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-07-16T20:45:00.003+12:00

Dear Friends,

Next Sunday at 10:00 am the whole of the S. Michael’s School Community will join with the Parish congregation, as we celebrate School Founders’ Day. At the Solemn Mass, we shall affirm again the foundations and priorities that we regard as so vital for the School we own and oversee as a part of our parish ministry. The visiting preacher will be the Revd Dr Peter Carrell, who is based at Theology House in Merivale.

It was good to meet Jolyon White last Sunday when he preached at S. Michael’s. I hope that we can spend more time with him as he seeks to connect us with our call to provide social service and to seek social justice.

We welcome back John De la Bere and are able to report that those who stood in for him, publishing the Trumpet and overseeing liturgical things, did so with distinction. Thank you to those people for keeping the standard high.

From now on, the Friday morning Mass at S. Michael’s will be at 10:00 am instead of 8:00 am. I hope that some others of you may consider committing yourselves to this or another morning, so that the offering of a daily Mass, which began at S. Michael’s 100 years ago, may continue.

Although at S. Michael’s we read the Bible extensively and in a disciplined way, we should be concerned that not only in our society but even in our church communities, we are losing familiarity with its texts. Dr Chris Marshall, who once gave superb talks on the Sermon on the Mount at our clergy conference, has remarked with concern that “the Christian community is becoming increasingly estranged from its sacred text, the Bible, increasingly deaf to its witness, bewildered by its contents, unsure of how best to read it or apply it, and unable to explain just why the Bible ought to be esteemed so highly.” Another said recently that “the less we listen to Scripture, the more we will accept the world as we know it as out default setting, and the less we will have to offer the world that is fresh and powerful and redemptive.” And the great Anglican priest and educator John Westerhoff says, “Unless the story is known, understood, owned and lived, we and our Church will not have a Christian faith. Transformation takes time. It requires disciplined engagement over an extended period. The Bible needs to be at the heart of what we do, an undergirding of all our ministries.” Our problem today is that many of us are not hearing or reading Scripture on a daily basis at all, let alone seriously wrestling with it. And the fundamentalists who make most noise about the Bible, and claim to own it, discredit it by idolising and misusing it so badly. Those who do expose themselves on a regular basis to the Bible texts, and seek food along their way from there, will say how confronting and surprising and worthwhile that can be. Though many questions are raised in my mind when I read the Bible, I always find that in some way I am fed. I encourage you all to persist, and if you want help, to ask for it.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

11 Jul 2010 - Letter form the People's Warden

2010-07-08T16:44:00.005+12:00

In this season of coughs and colds, dismal days and enormous power bills, it was great last weekend to have two cold, frosty mornings which produced clear and sunny days. The snow on the mountains, seen from the northern part of the city, was bright and fresh against the blue and cloudless sky. The mountains seemed so close, and visitors to the city were surprised to find them so near. Christchurch people know that in fact it takes quite a journey to reach those mountains, and many of us used the great days on more mundane tasks in the garden. I was reminded of the journeys that make up our lives, and how often we stick with the mundane but necessary tasks and do not reach out to the more distant challenges.

The Scriptures are full of journeys—physical and spiritual—of groups and of individuals. Most of these journeys are long and difficult, requiring perseverance and faith and needing constant encouragement from leaders. Jesus’ parable in our Gospel reading today tells of a number of journeying people—the man who fell into the hands of the robbers, the passing priest and the passing Levite, and the Samaritan—all had differing and individual experience of a journey that day. All faced challenges, and responded according to their beliefs and sensitivities.

Mike Riddell in his Creed of Compassion writes:

Because Christ has called us to follow in his footsteps and bestowed on the community of faith the continuation of his mission, we believe: We have a responsibility to make concrete the love of God within our own history and surrounding, declaring in word and deed the purposes and character of God.

Because Jesus has called us to love our neighbours and defined our neighbours as those in need, we believe:

Obedience to Christ requires of us the practical and self-sacrificing love of people in need, whatever their belief or condition.

We are privileged to have as our preacher this morning Jolyon White, Social Justice Enabler for Anglican Care in our Diocese. He was previously based in Wellington as the enabler for the Anglican Social Justice Commission. He is an advocate for the marginalised, and is keen to see local churches back at the heart of social justice and empowerment in our local communities. You may have read his article in the latest Anglican Taonga. We look forward to hearing him speak this morning.

May God continue to bless our journeys.

Claire Anstice

Vestry Notes

Away Day: discussions on Back to Church Sunday and parish planning

Youth Leadership Camp: Vestry to assist John Graveston to attend

Art work for the hall: Philip Trusttum’s offer accepted

Transport to church: can any parishioners assist?

The gravel area at the west end of the church to be asphalted

Fence and gate to be installed between lawn and playground (north side)

Stall after Mass each Sunday, proceeds to the Organ Restoration Fund

Quotes accepted for new main altar candlesticks

Mission giving: increase to $420 per month

S. Chad’s: monthly donation of $250 to continue for another year

Jules Riding concert: booked for November in the church

Ginger Group: organising a seminar and a social event (see notices)

27 Jun 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-06-24T17:02:00.001+12:00

Dear Friends,

This evening at the Festal Evensong at 7:00 pm we shall be honoured to welcome the Most Revd Katharine Jefferts Schori, who is the Presiding Bishop and Primate of our sister church, the Episcopal Church of the USA. Bishop Katharine is a scientist and oceanographer, and a pilot, as is her daughter. She is committed to social issues, particularly the eradication of poverty and hunger.

As Bishop Victoria is away, Bishop John Gray will be her host and will join with us. Bishop Katharine will preach. There is likely to be a large congregation of visitors to S. Michael’s and the parish is providing a reception in the hall afterwards, so that people can meet Bishop Katharine. I hope you will all try to come—this is a wonderful opportunity for us to show the S. Michael’s Church community in its element to many who may not previously have darkened our doors.

On Friday the Year Seven and Eight pupils of S. Michael’s School, with their parents, School Staff and friends, took part in the biennial Victorian Soirée, one of the most amazing events in any school programme. For all of this term these classes have been studying the period and visiting places of historical significance around Christchurch. They went to Riccarton House and to Ferrymead, where they particularly enjoyed a hands-on experience of Victorian living. Finally they have learned the traditional ballroom dances and customs. So we danced the Palais Glide, the Gay Gordons, the Boston Two-step, the Circle Glide and the Snowball Waltz, among others, all dressed in elegant Victorian gowns and suits. Congratulations to all those who again made this wonderful evening possible.

The winter school holidays begin on Friday and last for two weeks, during which we hope teachers, children and families can enjoy a change of pace. During this time, parishioners may of course park in the school playground while they are here for worship and parish activities.

On the first Sunday after the School’s return, 25 July, we shall celebrate the 159th anniversary of the founding of S. Michael’s Church School, the first school to open in Christchurch. The preacher will be the Diocesan Education Director, the Revd Dr Peter Carrell.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

20 Jun 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-06-17T17:16:00.002+12:00

Dear Friends,

It is midwinter at last, and so we can now begin to look forward to a turn towards lighter mornings and evenings, and the first signs of new growth. We can see how in old Europe those light-festivals of Christmas, Epiphany and Candlemas not only told the Christian story of hope in a dark world, but also strengthened people to be patient in the severe cold and darkness for the seasons of growth and warmth to come.

Next Sunday evening, we shall be honoured to be providing the liturgical welcome in the South Island to the Most Revd Katherine Jefferts-Schori, Presiding Bishop and Primate of our generous and brave sister church, the Episcopal Church of the USA. As Bishop Victoria is away, Bishop John Gray will be her host and will join with us. We shall offer Festal Evensong, at which she will preach. There is likely to be a large congregation of visitors to S. Michael’s and we intend to provide a simple and warm reception in the hall afterwards, so that people can meet Bishop Katherine. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to show the S. Michael’s Church community in its element to many who may not previously have come here.

Today’s Gospel provides a classic story of Jesus confronting the violent powers that are inclined to underlie most human societies. Communities often manage to keep a semblance of order and well-being by forcing out certain elements. There is nothing that those anxious for peace at any cost like better than the slam of prison gates. That is why politicians with a feel for re-election (and the power of the mob) start calling for tougher sentences and penalties. In earlier times, mental hospitals and orphanages played the same role. Get rid of those who remind us of what makes us uneasy about ourselves. And so communities shut their scapegoat victims away and the peace is kept.

The demoniac in Luke 8: 26-39, raving around naked among the tombs, is exactly this, his community’s scapegoat, the bearer of all their unhealth. His encounter with Jesus unmasks this. The ‘demons’ are his community’s manic drive to shut him out and treat him as dead. Their name is truly ‘Legion’ because they are simply the desperate fears of the mob’s victimising mentality. Faced with Jesus, the ‘demons’ go where the sick and destructive impulses of the mob need to go; to the bottom of the sea in a crazed herd of pigs. The man is left ‘clothed and in his right mind.’

In healing this ‘possessed’ man, Jesus effectively overrules the community’s diagnosis of him and returns the man to live among them, for his healing and theirs. They will all be healthier if they can find their peace with him included rather than excluded. Rather than letting him continue to be the dehumanised victim, Jesus tells him to go home and tell his story and show his face. “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.”

It is good to see that some whom the church rejects (ever so nicely) are refusing to accept the cruel diagnoses of old, and are returning to tell how much God has done for them. Jesus Christ is calling us to repent of this injustice, this scapegoating, so that we can feel cleansed of what we fear in ourselves. We need to join him in destroying the harmful myths and in welcoming the demonised back into our communities. That is the task of our time.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

All Saintstide: Affirming Catholics Event

On the weekend of 29-31 October, we shall be putting on a national event to gather affirming Anglican Catholics together here, and to celebrate the centenary of the arrival of Fr Harry Darwin Burton to be Vicar of S. Michael’s.

Burton arrived in 1910 with an outstanding record as a mission preacher who had set up a new parish in St Albans, England. He had the confidence of one from a professional family with considerable middle-class wealth. In a short five years at S. Michael’s, much of it spent on leave in England or as a chaplain in the forces, Burton transformed the style of ministry so that it has lasted even to the present day. He rebuilt the School, and took a vigorous part in Christchurch society, particularly in the local arts scene.

Three speakers will explore the Catholic movement in the Anglican Church and seek to point us to the future. They will be Fr Michael Blain of Wellington, Jonathan Mane-Wheoki of Auckland, and Fr Stephen Williams from Newcastle, NSW.

After the Saturday of seminars, worship and fellowship, we shall celebrate All Saints with festal services on the Sunday.

Please put this in your diaries and pass the word around. It will be part of our contribution to Christchurch Beca Heritage Week.

13 Jun 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-06-10T17:33:00.003+12:00

Dear Friends,

This has been quite a week. I woke on Sunday with only half a voice, and by Sunday night I had the most terrible man-cold. Then on Tuesday we moved across town from the large rented vicarage to our own brand-new house, much smaller and warmer and sunnier. The pre-moving and post-moving work has kept us frantically busy, racing against time, and hampered by the incessant rain. The bad weather has prevented the laying of our drive and forecourt, which should have been finished three weeks ago. There were wet cartons and puddles and mud everywhere. I am consoled by remembering the first Vicar of S. Michael’s, who in the winter of 1851 wrote that in the endless rain their tiny house leaked so much that he and his wife and new-born child had to have a tarpaulin over their bed, and that when they got up, the water poured all through the room. For us, the clear frosty Wednesday was a delightful relief.

Our hearts are with Bosco and Helen and Jonathan Peters in the weeks ahead as they face the difficult days of the trial.

On Thursday I went to Auckland to represent S. Michael’s at the funeral of the Revd Jenny Harrison, who was our curate in the late nineties. I am writing this as I wait to go to S. Peter’s, Onehunga, for the service. On Saturday we are to hold a memorial service for Jenny at S. Michael’s. Our first woman curate, Jenny was an outstanding pastor and priest in both Parish and School. Our love and prayers are with John McAlpine, her husband and co-vicar at S. Peter’s.

John De la Bere has gone away for a few weeks to visit his family in Hong Kong and St Albans, England. We shall miss him greatly. Dorothy Perkins and Dorothy Burrows are producing the Trumpet, for which we are very grateful.

Next Saturday our Vestry members will spend a few hours together at S. James, Harewood, planning and praying and getting to know each other better.

This weekend, we are delighted to celebrate his 80th birthday with Fr Bob Peck. When he came to S. Michael’s a dozen years ago after a career in the Diocese of Lexington, Kentucky, and in the Diocese of Wellington, and then terms as Mayor of Ohakune, he brought his passion for social justice, warm and expert pastoral care, and his gift for brief and fitting words. God bless you, Fr Bob.

I leave you with some wise words from The Human Condition, by Thomas Keating:

God has not promised to take away our trials,

but to help us change our attitude toward them.

That is what holiness really is.

In this life, happiness is rooted in our basic attitude toward reality.

May God bless you all. Fr Peter Williams

06 Jun 2010 - Letter from the People's Warden

2010-06-05T20:23:00.002+12:00

From the People’s Warden …

Dear Friends,

My mother, on occasion, would try to hurry us along with, “You are as slow as a wet week”. These last days have reminded me of her, and just how slow and long a wet week can be. Yet, I can give thanks for umbrellas and strong shoes, for soup and warm rooms and even hopefully, time to read a good book.

Today’s readings show us the healing generosity of God and its effect. When Elijah asked God to let the child live again, it was a gift to the widow of Zarephath who had shared her last food with him. His prayer was answered—the life of the child came back to him.

In Galatians, Paul writes of his gratitude for the grace of God that turned the destructive direction of his life to one which was active for the glory of God.

In the reading from Luke, Jesus sees the distress of the mother whose only son had died, and was being carried out of the town of Nain for burial. Jesus notices, he is not asked. He acts freely, in compassion, doing something that no-one would have imagined anyone could do. Going forward, he touches the bier and calls the young man to get up. As the young man rose at Jesus’ call, all were amazed, and could see for themselves that God was in that place. The actions of Jesus would have called forth in the observers echoes of the prophets of old. We can see in this scene the connection with Jesus’ own death, and his rising to leave death behind for ever. We see the generosity of the love of God going out where there is a need.

Our own generosity is often stifled by second thoughts—our lack of confidence, concern for the opinions of others or the personal costs which may result, and our constraints of time or circumstance. But often we can show generosity in very simple ways—the smile in the lift, the courtesy in heavy traffic on a wet day, or the quick friendly phone call. As the winter begins to have an effect on our activities and our spirits, may we always be aware of the encouraging generosity of God, and give thanks for the example and gift of his son Jesus Christ, and ask for the leading of the Holy Spirit to overcome our hesitations.

Michael Leunig writes, “We give thanks for the blessings of winter…”

May we find our own blessings and give thanks.

Claire Anstice

Vestry Notes:

Quotes accepted for new church heaters.

A contract being prepared for groups holding concerts in the church.

On 27 June, the Most Revd Katherine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, to be the preacher here at a special Evensong.

29–31 October, a festival to be held to celebrate All Saints and to commemorate the centenary of Fr Burton’s arrival at S. Michael’s.

Ginger Group is planning several social events. New members welcome.

30 May 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-05-29T22:18:00.001+12:00

Dear Friends,

Now that the long Easter season has ended, today we join with the whole Church in celebrating the Most Holy Trinity, God in whom we live and move and have our being.

When we are baptised, it is into the name of the Holy Trinity, God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit: God, creator, saviour, and life-giving spirit. In the Christian story, God is like a dynamic community, always giving and receiving love from person to person—that love which is the creative energy of everything. Our baptism declares that we too are caught up in this community, and invites us to flourish as we join in receiving and giving love. At the font we commit ourselves to foster this community and to stand against all that would spoil and destroy it, especially that innate selfish rivalry that seeks our survival by the exclusion of others.

A Christian writer of last century once said, ‘’The Holy Trinity is our social programme.” He was acknowledging the fact that belief in such a God commits us to organising our societies and relationships so that all may freely give and receive love and esteem and respect, and that all may live in the life-giving dynamic of such community.

Thursday is the feast of Corpus Christi, when we especially thank God for the gift of the Blessed Sacrament. There will be Masses at 8:40 am (simple School Mass in the hall, to which all are invited) and 12:15 pm, and the Solemn Mass at 6:30 pm. The priest and people of S. Luke’s Parish will be guests for the evening Mass, and then for the pot-luck meal afterwards.

Janette Lewis died peacefully on Thursday morning, having carefully settled all her affairs during her long illness. She has been involved in this S. Michael’s community at several periods over many years, whenever she could during her distinguished nursing career and latterly in her retirement years. We shall farewell her from S. Michael’s on Monday afternoon. May she rest in peace and rise in glory.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

23 May 2010 - Letter form the Vicar

2010-05-24T11:35:00.000+12:00

Dear friends,

As the Great Fifty Days of Easter conclude today, we celebrate the Holy Spirit of God, generously poured through our hearts and out into the public places of our lives.

With the Resurrection, Christ is no longer in the tomb, contained and confined, no longer rendered timid and silent. With Pentecost, the same liberation erupts in his faithful people, sending them out to speak truly, act justly, and serve sacrificially.

Fittingly, we conclude the Easter season as we began it, with strong symbols of our baptism and the calling that comes from that. We are sprinkled with baptismal water as we recall God’s gift of forgiveness to us. And then, after the profession of our faith, the faith of the Church, we are invited to follow our catechumens, Anthony, Donee and Stephen and their supporters, and come forward and have our hands anointed for the ministry to which our baptism commits us. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we have the privilege and responsibility of sharing practically in the ongoing work of Christ. And so we are charged; “Remember that your hands are the hands of Christ.”

I am delighted when I see members of our community finding a ministry that is uniquely theirs, perhaps finding a just and good cause, and ways of doing something about it. This shows the Spirit pushing us out to do Christ’s work.

And I am delighted that through the Spirit, our community of faith continues to pick up and include new God-seekers. We all need to cooperate for this to happen. Do you have friends or acquaintances, who may be seekers, whom you could invite to join us for the Liturgy, especially on one of the great festivals like Pentecost?

God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

The Monday to Saturday after Pentecost are Days of Prayer for the Ministry of the Church and for ordinands (Ember Days)

Gracious God, by your Holy Spirit you have appointed various orders of ministry; hear our prayers for all ministers and for those to be ordained or commissioned; maintain them in truth and renew them in holiness, that they may faithfully serve you to the glory of your name and the good of your Church. Amen.

16 May 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-05-15T17:13:00.002+12:00

Dear Friends,

As the great Fifty Days of Easter draw to a close, the liturgy of the Church moves us on from our celebration of the great work Jesus Christ has done for us, by his life, death and resurrection, to our taking responsibility for the work that he will do through us. Work that is in the same shape as his, in the same Spirit that is his, involving deliberate laying down of life in appropriate ways so that life may be fuller for all.

Through the strengthening and guiding gift of the Holy Spirit, we are now entrusted to be Christ’s partners in the world. And so next Sunday, the Feast of Pentecost, we shall have our hands anointed for ministry, so that we may be strengthened to serve in the way of Jesus Christ into whom we are baptised.

Colin Gibson’s lovely hymn celebrates the great truth of this season:

He came singing love

and he lived singing love

he died singing love.

He arose in silence!

For the love to go on

we must make it our song.

You and I be the singers.

When we are faithful, we ourselves are part of the wonderful way in which the love we have known in Christ, the love which we have made our own, flourishes and continues to be fruitful.

Throughout this week we continue to pray for the unity of Christians, and for the healthy growth of the Church in faithfulness and in Christ-like community.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

Vestry Notes 4 May 2010

Thank you from S. Chad’s for our interest and financial support

Robert Maclagan reappointed to the School Board

Claire Anstice, Robert Maclagan, Barbara Byers, Michael Graveston

appointed Parish Nominators

Quotes received for new church heating

Christening gown for parish baptisms given by Rita Libeau

Planning under way for parish 160th anniversary next year

Vestry Away Day Saturday 19 June

09 May 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-05-08T19:59:00.003+12:00

Dear Friends,

Thank you all for the efficient and good-humoured AGM of Parishioners last Sunday. The new Vestry which you elected appears to be in a mood for growth and renewal. Today at the Sung Mass they, with the Wardens and Synod Representatives, will be commissioned for service through the year ahead.

For the last year, S. Michael’s has been providing some financial support for the ministry of S. Chad’s Church, which is serving its local community of Linwood imaginatively and vigorously. At the Vestry meeting on Tuesday this support was confirmed for the year ahead.

Next Thursday is Ascension Day, the fortieth day of Easter. The principal Mass of the day will be at S. Luke’s Church, Manchester Street, at 7:30 pm. The Vicar and parishioners of S. Luke’s have invited us all to join them there for this celebration, as has become our custom. The Masses at S. Michael’s Church will be at 8:40 am (School Mass, to which all are invited), and 12:15 pm (with laying-on of hands and anointing for healing).

Michael Leunig has a prayer:

Let us live in such a way

that when we die

our love will survive

and continue to grow. Amen.

That simple prayer sums up the vocation of every Christian person. At this time of the Christian year, near the end of the great fifty days of Easter, we turn from Jesus Christ and his story of victory over death and all that spoils human life, to the lives of all of us who seek, at his invitation, to live in his way. That which in Jesus’ life and death is expressive of the nature of God, is poured into us and expressed in our lives, by the power of the Holy Spirit. In other words, when we are faithful, we ourselves are part of the wonderful process of his love surviving and continuing to grow.

It is customary from Ascension Day until Pentecost to pray for the unity of Christians. This is not just a desirable extra, but the very measure of our faithfulness and credibility.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

S. Michael’s Vestry 2010

Vicar: Fr Peter Williams

Priest Assistant: Revd Lynne Horwood

Churchwardens: Robert Maclagan Claire Anstice

Synodspeople: Tim Hill Michael Graveston

Elected Members: Dorothy Burrows Denis Coulter

Peter Daniels John De la Bere

Jane Evans John Fowler

Michael Ladd Virginia O’Donnell

Peter Troon

02/05/2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-04-29T20:24:00.004+12:00

Dear Friends,

We gather after Mass today for the Annual General Meeting of Parishioners. First there will be a substantial morning tea in the hall, and then the meeting will begin about 11:30 am. After the receiving of reports and any discussion, we shall elect Parish Officers for the next year: a People’s Warden and a Vestry of about eight people. Last year we were away by one o’clock, and I hope that this will be the case again this year.

The many reports that will be presented at the meeting display the wide range of parish life, and testify to the ministry of you all. A glance at the weekly Trumpet and at these reports will show that this is a very active parish and that a great number of you are contributing to that life and activity. Beyond the obvious ‘church’ ministries, I honour the able and robust ministries of so many of you, every day, at home, in employment, in voluntary work, and in the community. We must never forget that the role of our baptismal calling and our life together in the Church is to turn us to God’s glory, in worship and in Christ-like service in our daily lives.

S. Michael’s is a wonderful community of committed and able people. May we all be trusting of God and of each other, and so see the Holy Spirit build us up into the living Body of Christ. With a generous theology and spirituality, a strong worship life, and a willingness to take a responsible part in the events of the day, we can be a community that is a real and credible witness in this city.

Last Wednesday we celebrated the first School Mass of the new term. This was a celebration of Easter. You are all always welcome to attend the School Masses at 8:40 am on Wednesdays.

I give notice to School parents that any children at S. Michael’s who wish will be prepared for baptism in the third term. Please speak to me or to the Revd Lynne Horwood if you have any enquiries about baptism. In due course a letter will be sent out to School families.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

The Final Word is Love.

At times it has been, in the words of Father Zossima, a harsh and dreadful thing, and our very faith in love has been tried through fire. We cannot love God unless we love each other, and to love we must know each other. We know him in the breaking of bread, and we know each other in the breaking of bread, and we are not alone any more. Heaven is a banquet and life is a banquet too, even with a crust, where there is companionship. We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community.

Dorothy Day The Long Loneliness; an Autobiography

25/04/2010 - Letter from the People's Warden

2010-04-22T21:10:00.004+12:00

From the People’s Warden

Dear Friends,

Leaves are everywhere! Christchurch colours this week are definitely gold and red—as I drive through Riccarton Ave it has been an effort to keep my eyes on the road and not on the trees. It’s a reminder of the gentle changing of the seasons, a time to look back and to look forward.

Anzac Day is also a day to consider the past and the future. I am reminded of my childhood attendance at the local Anzac Parade, compulsory from my earliest days. I remember the crowds standing quietly at our local Memorial, the Salvation Army band leading the parade of Returned Servicemen, and uniformed Scouts and Girl Guides and St John Ambulance cadets carrying wreaths of real flowers. The sound of the disciplined marching feet and the clinking of medals. The sudden sharp rifle sound as the big boys of the high school military cadets offered a salute to the Fallen, the tinkling sound as the spent shells hit the road, and the surreptitious dive of the little boys to gather them up. It was difficult for a child to relate to the horrors of war—such violence seemed very far from the quiet ordinariness of post-war suburban Auckland.

We still feel the lasting effects of war on the families of our country. There would be few families without empty gaps left by those who did not return, without the problems of those who did return, changed greatly by their experiences, and then the difficulties of those who stayed and whose lives had also been changed by new challenges and responsibilities.

All conflict can produce lasting damage, and even between friends the hasty word spoken, and the equally hasty reaction and response, can damage relationships whose repair can take time and dedicated effort. We do well to remember that Jesus loves and values each of us.

The golden leaves are also piling up untidily in corners and gutters—we have work to do. Our Annual General Meeting will be held after Mass next Sunday morning. It will not go on for too long and I hope everyone will take part. This is the time to thank Vestry members for their service, and to elect the 2010 Vestry. Please give some thought to this—nomination forms are at the back of the church today.

May we all be mindful of our blessings.

Claire Anstice

18/04/2010 - Letter from the Hon. Assistant Priest

2010-04-15T18:07:00.001+12:00

From the Priest Assistant…

Dear Friends,

In the Northern Hemisphere the arrival of the spring and the greening of the earth herald the triumph of life over death that we celebrate at Easter. Here in the South, nature has a different way of proclaiming the Easter victory, as the gardens and parks around us turn to gold and bronze reflecting the glory of the Risen Christ, and we enjoy the gentle warmth of the autumn sun. It is also a great joy for us to be able to include Harvest Festival in our Easter celebrations.

Offering these gifts in thankfulness and humility seems to me to be a wonderful and appropriate response to all that we have received and celebrated at Easter of the abundant grace and mercy of God. How fitting that as we celebrate Jesus as the first-born from the dead, we offer to God our harvest festival offerings, our symbolic first-fruits. Looking around the church at the wonderful displays is a wonderful reminder that God’s creative love is at the heart of all that is in heaven and earth, and that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is good news for all creation.

In last week’s Gospel we heard how the disciples were sent out to continue Jesus’ mission. Today we hear Our Lord’s instructions to Peter, “Feed my sheep,” and “Follow me.” All of us who are baptised into the Body of Christ are given gifts that enable us to be Jesus’ voice, his feet and his loving hands. We are all called, and empowered, to follow Christ and to feed his sheep, through sharing the Gospel of love and forgiveness and through service to others. Today’s harvest reminds us of our responsibility to share what we have received, and what a privilege it is for us to be able to do that by forwarding our harvest gifts to the Christchurch City Mission and the Community of the Sacred Name.

It is also a delight to welcome Jack and Leonie Ward to S. Michael’s this morning. Jack and Leonie are the parents of Derek Ward and parents-in-law of Keryn, both of whom have enriched our music over the past two and a half years. They are celebrating their sixtieth wedding anniversary by touring around New Zealand and spending some time with each of their three sons and their families. We congratulate them most warmly and sincerely on this marvellous occasion. We give thanks for Jack and Leonie’s years of marriage, and pray that God will bless them richly in the years ahead.

May God bless you all, and may the presence of the Risen Christ bring you strength and joy and peace in your daily life and work.

Lynne Horwood

11/04/2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-04-12T21:54:00.001+12:00

Dear Friends,

What a powerful and glorious Holy Week and Easter we have had again at S. Michael’s. It just got better and better. I saw again how the strong and dramatic liturgy of the season catches us up and takes us perhaps where we did not know we wanted to go. We are very grateful that so many of our community of faith put themselves 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 wonderful. Your generous contributions of time and energy have been a great gift to the whole community.

Easter continues in fact for fifty days, until Pentecost. During these Great Fifty Days, the Scripture readings explore the life that we have in Christ, as Christian communities and as disciples of Christ. Again, the catechumens Steven, Donee and Anthony lead us in this exploratory process in which we rediscover the depths of our sacramental and spiritual life.

Today, in the Gospel the encounter of the risen Jesus with Thomas is intended to address any sense of let-down there might be after all the excitement and wonder of the Easter celebration (today is not called Low Sunday for no reason!). The choir is having a well-earned break and the evening service will be Taizé Prayer.

Next Sunday, 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 and the Community of the Sacred Name. Jenny Daniels will welcome assistance in preparing the church for the occasion. Thank you, Jenny and helpers, for all your work to bring this together.

The landscaping work continues on the north side of the church. The relaid lawns there and a new promenade path will eventually be complemented with some beds of roses and other flowers.

Looking ahead, the Annual General Meeting of Parishioners will be held in the hall on Sunday 2 May, after the Sung Mass. We look forward to hearing reports from all parish activities and groups. These reports are required soon so that they may be given to people to read before the meeting. They will help to give us all a good picture of the range of our parish life.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

28/03/2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-03-26T12:19:00.002+13:00

Dear Friends,

Today we enter into the wonderful celebration of Holy Week. In the richness of Christian worship and celebration, we walk in Jesus’ steps from joyful entry (today), to controversy, betrayal and farewell (Monday to Thursday) to death (Friday) and to resurrection (Saturday night and Sunday).

Palm Sunday celebrates the entry of Jesus to Jerusalem to confront the authorities. We mark this today with the procession from the school atrium to the church, and then the reading of the Passion according to Luke.

Remember that walking with Jesus during this Holy Week is possible only because Jesus walked with us. We can follow in his footsteps only because he stood in our shoes and knows our pain, our grief, our fears and even the darkness of death. Yet we are confident that the journey is worth taking. We know how the week will end. God raises Jesus from the dead, exalts him to be our living Lord, and enables us to rise along with him to eternal life. In the meantime we need not hasten through the week to find the good news. It is already good that God has provided for us a living Lord who knows our sorrows and is present with us in the darkness of our lives.

Our liturgical programme for this week is carefully prepared, very full, and very rich. I hope that you can participate fully in it and that it will be a blessing for you. I also hope that you will invite others to take part. We welcome visitors from near and far, and trust that all will feel at home in this community of faith.

Our whole celebration will be enriched with wonderful music from our choir and organist, and with the participation and hard work of so many in all kinds of ways. Next Saturday morning there will be a great deal of activity in the church, with many of you involved in servers’ rehearsals, brass cleaning, and flower arranging. On Saturday evening after the Easter Vigil and Mass there will be an Easter party. It would be appreciated if you could bring some light nibbles or a drink to share.

Above all, let us enter this week with prayer and with deep yearning for God’s way of righteousness and peace to be evident among us.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

Readings for Holy Week

Monday Isaiah 42: 1–9 John 12: 1–11

Tuesday Isaiah 49: 1–7 John 12: 20–36

Wednesday Isaiah 50: 4–9 John 13: 21–32

Thursday Exodus 12: 1–14 1 Corinthians 11: 23–26 John 13: 1–35

Friday Isaiah 52: 13–53: 12 Hebrews 4: 14–16, 5: 7–9 John 18 & 19

Saturday Exodus 14: 15–15: 1 Romans 6: 3–11 Luke 24: 1–12

21/03/2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-03-18T21:05:00.003+13:00

Dear Friends,

Last Sunday it was good to have so many of the S. Michael’s School community join the Parish for the Mothering Sunday Mass. All played their parts creditably and the atmosphere was good.

We are looking forward now to Holy Week. This is always a time of special witness at S. Michael’s, as with the whole Church we celebrate liturgically these crucial events in the career of Jesus Christ, events that confronted evil and set us free.

During this week, the Church tells and walks us through the great story that is at the centre of what being Christian is all about. It is not just a story that is out there; it is a story that is really ‘for us.’ It is good then if we can give time to joining the community in paying careful and expectant attention to the story as it unfolds again before us and around us. As we celebrate the Holy Week liturgy together, ‘we are there,’ becoming a part of the great story and, by the grace of God, better witnesses to it.

This evening, in the place of Evensong we shall walk the Way of the Cross, in a liturgical presentation of Liszt’s Via Crucis. And next Sunday, Palm Sunday, we arrive at 9:30 am for the Procession of Palms and Solemn Liturgy.

Remember that our liturgical observance of all the events of this season provides a very rare opportunity in Christchurch and in New Zealand. The special rites of Holy Week reach back into early Christian times. They are enriched with the traditional chants and polyphonic music of the liturgy, performed at S. Michael’s to a very high standard. The Scriptures are read extensively, mining the long story of the people of God for the meaning of the events we recall.

If we can give ourselves to pay careful attention to God, by walking through the liturgy of these precious days, we may well find we emerge as new people. That is why it is so important that we all invite other people, friends, family, strangers, to the Holy Week services. Many of us have found that immersion in them, with their vivid action, powerful story, and exceptional music, has been a life-changing experience.

The School will be marking the events of the Passion at daily services during Holy Week, before their term ends on Maundy Thursday.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

Lent Readings: Week Five

Monday Susanna 41–62 (Apocrypha) John 8: 1–11

Tuesday Numbers 21: 4–9 John 8: 21–30

Wednesday Daniel 3: 14–28 John 8: 31–42

Thursday Genesis 17: 3–9 John 8: 51–59

Friday Jeremiah 20: 10–13 John 10: 31–42

Saturday Ezekiel 37: 21–28 John 11: 45–56

Holy Week at S. Michael’s

2010

Palm Sunday, 28 March

8:00 am Low Mass

9:30 am Blessing of Palms in the School atrium

Procession in honour of Christ the King

Solemn Mass with choral reading of the Passion

according to S. Luke

7:00 pm Evensong & Benediction

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday in Holy Week

Monday
8:00 am Low Mass
6:00 pm Low Mass with meditation

Tuesday
10:00 am Low Mass
6:00 pm Low Mass with meditation

Wednesday
7:00 am Low Mass
6:00 pm Low Mass with meditation

The Triduum Sacrum

Maundy Thursday, 1 April

7:30 pm Solemn Mass of the Last Supper
foot-washing
procession to the Altar of Repose stripping of the altars.
Watch of the Passion until 9:00 am Good Friday.

Good Friday, 2 April

10:00 am Children’s Tableau
12 noon Solemn Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion

Holy Saturday, 3 April

7:30 pm The Easter Vigil:
The New Fire
Service of Light
Renewal of Baptismal Vows
Solemn Mass of the Resurrection

EASTER
at S. Michael’s

EASTER DAY, 4 April

8:00 am Low Mass

10:00 am Solemn Mass and Procession

Renewal of Baptismal Vows

7:00 pm Solemn Festal Evensong & Benediction

In Eastertide

Easter Week
Monday to Easter Saturday 5–10 April
Low Masses at the usual times

Low Sunday, 11 April
8:00 am Low Mass
10:00 am Solemn Mass
7:00 pm Taizé Evening Service

Sunday, 18 April Harvest Festival
8:00 am Low Mass
10:00 am Solemn Mass
7:00 pm Evensong & Benediction

Sundays of Easter, 25 April, 2, 9, 16 May
Services at the usual times:

8:00 am Low Mass

10:00 am Solemn Mass

7:00 pm Evensong & Benediction

Parish Annual Meeting
Sunday 2 May, after the Solemn Mass

Ascension Day, Thursday 13 May
7:00 am Low Mass
12:15 pm Low Mass, with laying-on of hands for healing
7:30 pm Solemn Mass & Procession at S. Luke’s

Pentecost, Sunday 23 May

8:00 am Low Mass
10:00 am Solemn Mass and Procession
7:00 pm Festal Evensong & Benediction

14/03/2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-03-11T21:35:00.003+13:00

Dear Friends,

Today is Mothering Sunday, and we welcome the whole S. Michael’s School community as it joins with the Parish for the Mass this morning. As is the custom on this day, we bless flowers and give them to our mothers and caregivers. It is good to have the School and Parish choirs singing together, and to have school pupils reading the Gospel chorally, leading prayers, reading and serving. I am particularly glad to welcome Archdeacon John Day who is our preacher today. After eight years at S. Barnabas Fendalton, he now has a role encouraging the mission of all the church communities in the Diocese. After the service you are all invited to morning tea in the hall and to patronise the sausage sizzle in the playground.

Next Sunday, Passion Sunday, in the place of Evensong at 7:00 pm we shall follow the way of the cross using our stations around the church, and with the powerful music of Franz Liszt.

We hear today Jesus’ wonderful story of two sons and their father, one of three stories about joyful finding that Luke brings to us in his Gospel. The other two are the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin, which immediately precede our story. In these the main character (the shepherd and the householder) loses, searches for and finds the lost object, and then celebrates with friends and neighbours. In both cases the character goes to great lengths to find what is lost. Jesus presents an image of how God, like the shepherd or the householder, makes a very costly effort to bring back the lost.

In today’s story, the Prodigal Son, this theme is taken further. It is truly said that the whole of the good news that Christian faith proclaims is summed up in this story. When we are lost or in some way estranged, God always offers us the gift of forgiveness and restoration to the community. Repentance, the turning around to new life, happens when we are able to accept this kind of God, to enter into the joy of being found, and then to live in this profound acceptance.

A good spiritual exercise for this time is to imagine ourselves as, in turn, the waiting father, the returning son, and the elder son, and to relate these to our own experience. As we make this spiritual journey, perhaps we may find within ourselves not only the lost child of God, but also the compassionately accepting mother and father that is God.

There are three weeks left of the School term, and three weeks left of our Lenten preparation for the Easter celebration. The Bishop has recently bidden us: “As we continue to journey along the road to Easter I am aware of the temptation to be so busy that there is insufficient time to pray and prepare ourselves for the Pascal Mystery. Do take time to step out of the busyness of life to remember whose you are and to whom you belong.”

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

Lent Readings: Week Four

Monday Isaiah 65: 17–21 John 4: 43–54

Tuesday Ezekiel 47: 1–9, 12 John 5: 1–3, 5–16

Wednesday Isaiah 49: 8–15 John 5: 17–30

Thursday Exodus 32: 7–14 John 5: 31–47

Friday Wisdom 2: 1, 12–22 John 7: 1–2, 10, 25–30

Saturday Jeremiah 11: 18–20 John 7: 40–52

07/03/2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-03-05T12:44:00.004+13:00

Dear Friends,

During Lent I have spent some time with Parish and School groups looking at the way various artists have portrayed the passion, death and resurrection of Christ. Using their chosen medium, painting, drawing, sculpture, movies, music or poetry, they express their response to the great events that are part of the Christian story of our salvation. It is amazing how personal and original each perception can be, and yet how strong and consistent the Gospel message continues to be. Lent is a time when we can all reflect again on the story of the cross of Christ and all that surrounds it, so that it becomes again a story with power for our lives, and for the actual world we live in.

Next Sunday is Mothering Sunday, and the Church and School communities will gather here together for the Sung Mass. This will include the blessing and distribution of flowers to mothers and care-givers. It would be appreciated if all who can would make and bring some small posies of flowers and greenery to add to the supply. The preacher is to be the Venerable John Day, Archdeacon for Mission in the Diocese, and until recently Vicar of Fendalton.

We welcome into our parish area the headquarters of ITIM, the ecumenical group that organises workplace chaplaincies. The new office is in the Age Concern building at 64 Cashel Street, across the river from S. Michael’s. The chaplaincies are carried out in businesses and organisations throughout the city.

We also welcome in the central city a new ecumenical colleague, the Revd Dr Mary Caygill, who comes from teaching pastoral theology in Auckland, to be Mission Superintendent at Durham Street Methodist Church.

I leave you with some words from Henri Nouwen:

We often wonder what we can do for others, especially for those in great need. It is not a sign of powerlessness when we say, “We must pray for one another.” To pray for one another is, first of all, to acknowledge, in the presence of God, that we belong to each other as children of the same God. Without this acknowledgement of human solidarity, what we do for one another does not flow from who we truly are. We are brothers and sisters, not competitors or rivals. We are children of one God, not partisans of different gods.

To pray, that is to listen to the voice of the One who calls us the ‘beloved’ is to learn that that voice excludes no one. Where I dwell, God dwells with me, and where God dwells with me I find all my sisters and brothers. And so intimacy with God and solidarity with all people are two aspects of dwelling in the present moment that can never be separated.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

Lent Readings: Week Three

Monday 2 Kings 5: 1–15 Luke 4: 24–30

Tuesday Daniel 3: 25, 34–43 Matthew 18: 21–35

Wednesday Deuteronomy 4: 1, 5–9 Matthew 5: 17–19

Thursday Jeremiah 7: 23–28 Luke 11: 14–23

Friday Hosea 14: 2–10 Mark 12: 28–34

Saturday Hosea 5: 15–6: 6 Luke 18: 9–14

28/02/2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-02-25T19:17:00.006+13:00

Dear Friends,

There are always lots of things going on in our city, more than most of us can manage (or afford) to keep up with; at the moment, the much-shrunken Festival of Flowers, and very soon the Elleslie International Flower Show. These are not only for visitors to the city; they are also signs of the many layers of rich civic life that we can all enjoy. Some of those layers are musical, and our fine tradition of liturgical church music contributes to this. We are fortunate too that such touring groups as the Cologne New Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra sometimes come our way. They will play in S. Michael’s Church this evening.

Another very different layer of our civic life together is represented by the Christchurch City Mission, originating in and governed by our Anglican Diocese, but supported very widely by people of goodwill. The City Mission provides care and basic living and rehabilitation facilities for many in the city who simply can’t manage on their own.

The Mission began in Antigua Street, in this parish, and we have always had strong connections with it. Our weekly grocery offerings continue to be greatly appreciated, and through the Lenten Appeal we now have the opportunity to make our contribution towards the Mission’s daily running costs.

Every thirty to forty years throughout its history, the Mission has had to upgrade its facilities in order to do its work safely and well. At the moment it is embarking on a redevelopment that will set it up for the next thirty years, and citizens will be invited to contribute. Most of the cost has already been promised by major trusts and other donors, a sign that the work is widely valued. The appeal will go public soon, and any who plan to contribute will be welcome to view the present facilities.

I am pleased that, in a city which invests in a huge range of good things for its citizens, the most vulnerable are looked after too. We can be thankful that our Church is a catalyst in that concern.

The Gospel today is Luke’s account of the Transfiguration of Christ. From this experience of the glory of God on the mountain, Jesus and his friends were able to look backwards over the journey of their people, and forwards into hard times ahead, but to see them in a different light. Archbishop Michael Ramsey once said:

When Jesus went up the mountain and was transfigured he did not leave behind the conflicts of his mission, the pains of humanity and the agonies he had yet to face. No, he carried these with him to the mountain, so that when he was transfigured all these were transfigured with him. It was the transfiguration of the whole Christ, in all that he suffered and was going to suffer. Glory for the Christian is never a glory ‘apart’. Human life, just as it is, is the stuff from which glory is made, by the bringing of situations, just as they are, into a new context in which they become changed from top to bottom. The implications of this for the times we live in are many.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

Lent Readings: Week Two

Monday Daniel 9: 4–10 Luke 6: 36–38

Tuesday Isaiah 1: 10, 16–20 Matthew 23: 1–12

Wednesday Jeremiah 18: 18–20 Matthew 20: 17–28

Thursday Jeremiah 17: 5–10 Luke 16: 19–31

Friday Genesis 37: 3–4, 12–28 Matthew 21: 33–46

Saturday Micah 7: 14–20 Luke 15: 11–32

Stations of the Cross

This devotion to the Passion of Jesus is a way of re-enacting in our own country a pilgrim’s devotional progress through Jerusalem from the place of judgement to the sepulchre.

For this purpose, a series of fourteen pictures or carvings is set up around the church to help us call to mind the incidents of Christ’s journey. At each station we pause for meditation and brief prayers are said.

This is a devotion which may be undertaken by anyone at any time, but in Lent it is particularly appropriate for a group, as an act of worship.

21/02/2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-02-18T19:56:00.006+13:00

Dear Friends,

Lent began on Wednesday, and this was marked at S. Michael’s in the Liturgies of the Church. During the 40 days of Lent we are invited to return to a simple and total trust in God, who is the source and end of all life. We are called to reject all the temptations that would persuade us to put our trust elsewhere, in less worthy things.

In the Gospels we see Jesus facing this ‘time of trial’ and choosing between two world-views, both of which may apparently be justified by the words of the Bible. He rejects the devil’s world-view that is based on the magical, the powerful, the spectacular—and the immense popular appeal that might be associated with such things. He proclaims and chooses a world-view that is rooted in humble, non-coercive, sacrificial love. In his short ministry he demonstrates this in faithfulness to God, and in costly service.

We are called to see our own choices, our own way of life, alongside this way of Jesus, and to allow his way to influence ours. I hope that we can all make some effort to do so during this season of Lent, and that we may then encounter the Easter celebration with mind and heart renewed.

Today during the 10:00 am Mass we welcome back our Sunday School children, with their supervisor Dr Marla Hughes. Each programme consists of a short lesson, and an activity or craft. Children of all ages are welcome to attend.

Next Sunday our Taizé Evening Prayer will be at 4:00 pm. At 8:00 pm, the Cologne New Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra will be giving a concert in S. Michael’s Church, with works by Vivaldi, J.S. Bach, Tchaikovsky, Mozart and Elgar. Tickets are available at Ticketek or at the door from 7:00 pm.

Throughout Lent we are providing a list of the daily Mass readings so that those of you who cannot come to the altar can still listen with the Church to God’s word for us. Simple things, like praying the Our Father carefully every day, reading the Psalms for the day, or the Bible readings that are provided here, can be a refreshing discipline during Lent. On Friday evenings at 7:00 pm you are invited to gather and pray the Stations of the Cross together.

I hope that through Lent our Church community will be strengthened to face ‘the time of trial’, to be delivered from evil, and to give itself to God’s way wholly and joyfully.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

Lent Readings: Week One

Monday Leviticus 19: 1–2, 11–18 Matthew 25: 31–46

Tuesday Isaiah 55: 10–11 Matthew 6: 7–15

Wednesday Jonah 3: 1–10 Luke 11: 29–30

Thursday Esther 14: 1, 3–5, 12–14 Matthew 7: 7–12

Friday Ezekiel 18: 21–28 Matthew 5: 20–26

Saturday Deuteronomy 26: 16–19 Matthew 5: 43–48

07/02/2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-02-05T19:15:00.003+13:00

From the Vicar…

Dear Friends,

Yesterday was Waitangi Day, our national holiday, the day on which we celebrate the birth of our nation that took place when the Queen’s representative signed the Treaty with the chiefs of the various Maori tribes. That there is such a Treaty as a declaration of intention for national life is a blessing for us all as we try to make our country a good place for all who live here. We shall mark this in an appropriate way at the Sunday Masses.

The first hymn at the Sung Mass was written especially for Waitangi Day by Shirley Murray and is set to the very fine tune Dunedin, composed by Vernon Griffiths. Griffiths also composed today’s opening organ voluntary. From 1928 until 1932, early in his outstanding career as a music educator, Griffiths was Music Director here at S. Michael’s. Though he was the son of an Anglican vicar, he had become a Roman Catholic before he came to New Zealand in 1926.

There will be no School Mass at S. Michael’s this week as some classes will be away at a School camp. Instead we shall celebrate a Mass at the camp, at Living Springs, Governors Bay.

We now have three catechumenal candidates who are preparing to renew their baptismal promises at Easter. The first meeting of the group will be on Monday evening, 15 February. The programme is very responsive to the needs and questions of the participants. Here is a chance to ask all the questions you have been too afraid to ask before. Please speak to me if you would like to have a part in this.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

The prayer of praise

One form of prayer that may help make the presence of the Risen Saviour more real in your life and give you a reassuring sense of being supported and surrounded by God’s loving providence, is the Prayer of Praise. It can bring you great peace and joy. This simple form of prayer consists of thanking and praising God for everything whatever in your life. Its basis is the belief that nothing happens in your life that is not, or at least cannot be turned to God’s glory—absolutely nothing, not even your sins— not even the murder of Jesus Christ.

When you have repented, you can praise God even for your sins because he will draw great good from them. Too often people carry a lifelong burden of guilt in their hearts for sins they have committed. Even when convinced of God’s forgiveness, many are unable to shake off their feeling of guilt. If you can express heartfelt thanks and praise to God for having sinned, you may feel that all is well, that all is in God’s hands, and that your labours will be fruitful as a result. James W. Skehan SJ

31/01/2010 - Letter from the Vicar

2010-02-01T11:40:00.001+13:00

Dear Friends,

It is good to be gathered here again, as schools return and workplaces reopen for the year. I hope that those of you who have had holidays have been refreshed, and that all are feeling renewed for another year.

Today we celebrate Candlemas, the fortieth day after Christmas, when according to the Gospel story, Joseph and Mary take their first-born son to be presented in the Temple, and Simeon recognises him as ‘The light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of God’s people Israel.’ The light theme, which is so pervasive in the celebration of Christmas and its associated festivals, is undoubtedly more telling at this time in the northern hemisphere. But of course the light is a universal symbol of all that challenges the darkness of much human experience, and speaks of the hope that there is in Jesus Christ and the Gospel he embodies and proclaims.

At the end of Mass today we have another opportunity to contribute to the CWS Appeal for the relief of suffering in Haiti. Envelopes are available at the back of the church for those who would like a receipt.

Primary schools, including S. Michael’s Church School, begin again tomorrow. Here the School will gather at 8:40 am for an assembly, when we shall pray God’s blessing on the new school year. Then as each class goes to its room, it will be blessed with those who teach and learn there. We welcome back our pupils and our hardworking staff.

Next Saturday is our National Day, Waitangi Day. This will be celebrated at appropriate sites around the country. In Christchurch, there will be a special service at 10:00 am in the Cathedral and all are welcome to attend this. At S. Michael’s there will be the usual Low Mass at 8:00 am. We are fortunate in Aotearoa-New Zealand that, so early in our story, some people had the wisdom to frame and promote a Treaty between the indigenous peoples and the new European settlers. It gives us some bearings today when we have to face what we have become, and the chequered history that has brought us here. And we can be proud that it was the Christian leaders of the day who largely brokered the Treaty. Whatever political issues still surround it today, we can all honour the Treaty on our national Day as the expression of an intention of respect and justice towards each other.

There are a couple of people who wish to be prepared specially to renew their baptismal promises at Easter. They will meet throughout Lent in a small catechumenal group. Would any others like to join this group for their own renewal, or as a ministry to new believers? Please contact me soon.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

25/12/2009 - Christmas Letter from Bishop Victoria

2009-12-27T20:36:00.002+13:00

Dear Friends,

As we move from Advent into the full celebration of Christmas, I give thanks for all of you and rejoice with you in the birth of Christ the Lord. Let’s put worries about theologically misleading billboards aside and give thanks for God’s participation in the conception and birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, born of Mary, in poverty and obscurity, yet the Saviour of the world. May your worship this Christmas be joyful, and may time taken with family and friends be filled with laughter and fellowship. Thank you for inviting me to come among you as your bishop. I give thanks to God for every remembrance of you.

I also will be taking some holidays in January but can be reached if needed at bpvmatthewsATgmailDOTcom

In Christ,

+Victoria

25/12/2009 - Christmas Letter from the Vicar

2009-12-27T20:34:00.002+13:00

Dear Friends,

On behalf of the parish community of S. Michael and All Angels, Christchurch, I welcome all of you as we gather together once more to welcome the birth of Jesus Christ, God’s ‘Word made flesh’.

May those of you who are visitors to S. Michael’s be blessed by your visit, and may God keep you safe as you go upon your way. Some of you are people who have moved away, but for whom S. Michael’s will always be home. We love to welcome you back. Others will be seeking to keep this festival in a significant way, and so have come to this holy place. May the Spirit of the Christ-child grow in you, and may you discover with all of us that indeed ‘God is with us’, as he always promises.

Today in this lovely church, decorated with candles and flowers, and filled with music and wonderful people of faith and goodwill, we celebrate the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ. We celebrate the birth as we attend to the Christmas crib and place the Christ-child there, as we listen to the readings from the Scriptures and let their wisdom and proclamation seep into us and shape us, and as we gather at the altar and receive God’s gracious gift of himself, offered before us, in the Body and Blood of Christ. We do all this in the confidence that, whatever our state in life at the moment, whatever the cloud that may cover us and ours, Jesus Christ is living within and among us. He alone brings new life and in the darkness enables us to find light.

Our cash collections at Christmas are all given to the Christian World Service Appeal. I hope that this year the Appeal will be supported as generously as always, so that we may help CWS to keep hope alive for people in some of the world’s dark places. This agency has a proven track record and we can give through it with confidence (gifts are tax deductible). Envelopes are available at the back of the church. It is good for us to be intentionally generous to those who have few resources, at a time when we spend so much on ourselves.

May those of you who are having annual holiday at this time keep safe, and return refreshed for the year ahead.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

20/12/2009 - Letter from the Vicar

2009-12-17T19:40:00.004+13:00

Dear Friends,

We are in the last days of Advent now, and savouring the countdown to the Nativity festival. The daily readings are rich in the sense of yearning for better things.

Today the Gospel turns from John the Baptist to Mary as it prepares us to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Mary, we are told, is the one ‘who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled’. She committed her life so that this would indeed happen, bringing to birth and nurturing to maturity her gifted son.

All of us who respond with welcome to Jesus Christ, and who seek to live in his Spirit, will listen to the promises of God and seek to be a part of the means by which they are fulfilled. At this time, God’s promise of a reign of peace is as precious and as apparently impossible as it ever was. Perhaps our call is to allow ourselves more and more to be instruments of that peace, letting it come to birth in the smallest details of our human interactions and nurturing it with just deeds and generous trust.

Today, among all else that is going on, it is our great pleasure to celebrate Rita Libeau’s 80th birthday. The actual day was yesterday, but this morning her family invites us to enjoy the special morning tea they are providing in her honour. Our warmest good wishes to you, Rita, and may you have many more birthdays in this community.

This morning we shall be presenting certificates to four of our people who have just completed the four-year Education for Ministry course in a group based here at S. Michael’s. They are Kay Knowles, Rachel Watson, Michael Graveston and Stephen McKelvey. Dr Marla Hughes and I have been the mentors for the group. The course is an excellent basis for ministry in daily life and in the Church. Another group will start in the new year, and interested people are welcome to speak to me soon.

Tonight we shall enjoy the Service of Lessons and Carols for Christmas. The choir is in very fine form. I hope that many of you will come, and bring friends as well, for this lovely service of scriptural and musical meditation on the Christmas story. You may be able to bring a small contribution of food or drink for a supper afterwards in the hall.

On Monday evening at 6:30 pm we shall welcome children and their families to the Children’s Carol Service. Please invite any children you know. After the short service there will be a Christmas supper for the children.

Finally, I hope that the Christian World Service Christmas Appeal will again receive generous support (gifts are tax deductible). Envelopes are available today. It is good for us to be intentionally generous to those who have few resources, at a time when we spend so much on ourselves. CWS has a proven track record and we can give through this agency with confidence.

I look forward to celebrating Christmas with you at S. Michael’s. May it be a happy and blessed time for us all.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

CWS Christmas Appeal

Theme: “Give us a chance”

Light one candle for LOVE:

In the central Philippines, most people are tenant farmers or fishers. Trying to support themselves and their families is discouraging and often desperate. They are poor not through laziness but because of their circumstances.

Joel is a 57 year-old farmer with six family members to support, from a patch of land insufficient for even their basic needs. With help from CWS partner Developers Foundation he has been able to take on pig-raising and rice-trading, and to learn about re-investing for expansion. Now he employs a neighbour, his family lives in a concrete house, his children go to school. And Joel is vice-president of the group which gave him his start: “It was wonderful to know that we ordinary people could do something for ourselves and our village. I realised that it was through unity that farmers like us could work for change in our community.” Through CWS the work of support, care and LOVE continues.

Please give generously this Christmas, and give them a chance.

Advent: Week Four

Monday Zephaniah 3: 14–18 Luke 1: 39–45

Tuesday 1 Samuel 1: 24–28 Luke 1: 46–56

Wednesday Malachi 3: 1–4, 23–24 Luke 1: 57–66

Thursday (am) 2 Samuel 7: 1–5, 8–12, 14, 16 Luke 1: 67–79

Christmas Services at S. Michael 2009

Confessions before Christmas:
Monday 5:00–5:30 pm, Wednesday 8:00–8:30 am
Thursday 1:00–1:30 pm, or by appointment (351 5039)

Monday 21 December
6:30 pm Children’s Carol & Crib Service

The Festival of Christmas

Thursday Christmas Eve

12:15 pm Low Mass of Advent

11:00 pm Carols

11:30 pm Solemn Mass of Christmas Night

Procession of the Christ Child to the Crib

Friday Christmas Day

8:00 am Mass of the Dawn

10:00 am Solemn Mass of the Day,
Procession & Crib Devotions

Weekday Masses continue as usual after Christmas

Sunday Evening Services resume on 24 January

13/12/2009 - Letter from the Vicar

2009-12-10T19:03:00.004+13:00

Dear Friends,

At the Solemn Mass today we baptise Charlie Anderson Russell, second son of Ben and Tiffany Russell, and brother of William, baptised here on this Sunday four years ago. As we receive Charlie into membership of the Church, we welcome his family and friends who have come to support him.

S. Michael’s Church School has finished its year. At the final Mass on Thursday, the Year 8 leavers each spoke of some of the things that had been important for them at S. Michael’s. These ranged from friendships, and academic, cultural and sporting opportunities, to being baptised, and learning to be a Mass server. These offerings were followed by the refrain: For what has been, thanks be to God, for what is, thanks be to God, for what shall be, thanks be to God. We wish all those involved in schools, a refreshing and safe summer holiday, and enthusiasm for the next step of their journey.

Next Sunday after the Solemn Mass there will be a special morning tea for Rita Libeau, who will be celebrating her 80th birthday. Her family are providing this and invite us all to share this occasion with Rita.

And that evening at 7:00 pm, our choir will be leading us in the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols for Christmas.

As we approach Christmas, the Blessed Virgin Mary emerges as a key character in the great story of God’s coming to us in Jesus Christ. I include here for you a scriptural reflection from the 2005 Agreed Statement on Mary of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC).

The scriptural witness summons all believers in every generation to call Mary “Blessed”: this Jewish woman of humble status, this daughter of Israel living in hope of justice for the poor, whom God has graced and chosen to become the Virgin Mother of his Son through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit. We are to bless her as the ‘handmaid of the Lord’ who gave her unqualified assent to the fulfilment of God’s saving plan, as the mother who pondered all things in her heart, as the refugee seeking asylum in a foreign land, as a mother pierced by the innocent suffering of her own child, and as the woman to whom Jesus entrusted his friends. We are at one with her and the apostles, as they pray for the outpouring of the Spirit upon the nascent Church, the eschatological family of Christ. And we may even glimpse in her the final destiny of God’s people to share in her Son’s victory over the powers of evil and death.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

Advent Readings: Week Three

Monday Numbers 24: 2–7, 15–17 Matthew 21: 23–27

Tuesday Zephaniah 3: 1–2, 9–13 Matthew 21: 28–32

Wednesday Genesis 49: 2, 8–10 Matthew 1: 1–17

Thursday Jeremiah 23: 5–8 Matthew 1: 18–24

Friday Judges 13: 2–7, 24–25 Luke 1: 5–25

Saturday Isaiah 7: 10–14 Luke 1: 26–38

CWS Christmas Appeal

Theme: “Give us a chance”

Light one candle for JOY in Uganda:

Thousands of Ugandan children have been orphaned by AIDS. They are cared for by older children or ageing grandparents. In the drought-prone Oruchinga Valley, the women and children have to fetch water daily from the river nearly 8 kilometres away. It must be used first for drinking, cooking and washing, with little to spare for cultivation.

CWS partner CCSU has been subsidising the building of rainwater tanks. They provide the materials not locally available; community groups collect the rest and learn how to build and maintain the tanks. Having a steady water supply means that the people can cultivate their land to grow food and rear some livestock. All are healthier, and more children have the chance to attend school. There is JOY in the hope of a better future.

Please give generously this Christmas, and give them a chance.

06/12/2009 - Letter from the Vicar

2009-12-04T20:10:00.004+13:00

Dear Friends,

Many of you are probably caught up in the rush to finish business before the long summer recess. At the same time we are in the middle of a heavy round of break-ups, farewells, and end-of-year parties. While we may enjoy them, I sometimes think it would be even better if that rich food and drink and company was not available all at once, but more evenly throughout the year. Those of us involved in schools are particularly stretched at the moment.

S. Michael’s Church School is in its last busy week. Tonight at 5:00 pm the School community and families will gather in the church for the School Carol Service. On Thursday, the last day of school will begin with the final Mass for the year at 8:40 am in the church, and conclude with the Break-up and Prize-giving Ceremony at 7:00 pm in the Christ’s College Hall. Earlier in the week some parishioners will provide a special lunch for the Year 8 leavers.

This morning we continue the Advent Liturgy with its lovely music and readings and prayers. Afterwards, at a special morning tea, we shall be honouring the 95th birthday of Fr Reg Williams. Some of his friends and relations from elsewhere will be joining us. Of course all of you, parishioners and visitors, are invited to the hall as usual.

In this busy season, please do not forget the Christian World Service Christmas Appeal. I am glad that as a parish we contribute generously each year. As we spend a lot on ourselves and our families, may we put aside some resources to give hope to those who have very little. Christian World Service is the Church’s very reliable and efficient agent, delivering help to places and communities where it is especially needed.

May God give us all strength and discernment in this ‘silly season’. May our quiet trust help us to make it a time when our longing for the reign of God is refreshed and nurtured, and our desire for many lesser things put in its proper place.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

Advent Readings: Week Two

Monday Isaiah 35: 1–10 Luke 5: 17–26

Tuesday Isaiah 40: 1–11 Matthew 18: 12–14

Wednesday Isaiah 40: 25–31 Matthew 11: 28–30

Thursday Isaiah 41: 13–20 Matthew 11: 11–15

Friday Isaiah 48: 17–19 Matthew 11: 16–19

Saturday Ecclesiasticus 48: 1–4, 9–11 Matthew 17: 10–13

Advent, along with Lent, is a time of preparation. During Advent, we go with John into the wilderness to prepare the way to welcome Christ into our hearts and lives anew at Christmas. We have the opportunity to explore the inner geography of our lives for areas of dead wood, thorns or tangled knots. Twisted relationships, the dead wood of old hurts or habits, the confusion that sometimes comes when we feel we can’t see the wood for the trees—all these are wilderness areas, and they need to be cleared away before growth and new life are possible. Or perhaps there are desert patches—arid, dry areas where nothing can grow or blossom, parts of us which have almost withered away from not being used or tended or tested—some tenderness, some care, some talent, some forgiveness, some humour—that need the water of life to bring them bursting into flower.

Kathy Galloway; Getting Personal: Sermons and Meditations.

29/11/2009 - Letter from the Vicar

2009-11-26T19:54:00.003+13:00

Dear Friends,

Advent begins today, the beginning of a new year for the Church. Over four weeks, its austerely beautiful liturgy leads us to the celebration of Christmas.

This morning we baptise James Tiberius Anderson, and welcome his family and friends as they gather with us.

Among the special services of the season are the Advent Carol Service at 7:00 pm tonight, the School Carol Service at 5:00 pm next Sunday, and the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols at 7:00 pm on 20 December. This year we shall again have the Carols at the Crib Service for little children on Monday 21 December at 6:00 pm.

Advent is a season of preparation for Christmas certainly, but it is also clearly a time when we prepare for summer (will it ever come?), the end of the civil year, and for the closing-down of New Zealand for summer holidays.

The perverse fact that the end of the civil year is also the beginning of the Church’s year is a clue that Advent is about something more than just preparation. At a time when we can easily become very jaded, we are recalled to live every moment of our lives full of hope in the promise that God is. This is a season to underscore an attitude towards life, an attitude of patient waiting to see the renewing activity of God in all the events of the day.

I hope that you will make a special effort to immerse yourselves in the weekly and daily readings for the season, and to pray quietly with them. The Scriptures feed our imagination with nurturing images of promise and hope, and by waiting with them we can have that hope become a part of us. Then we shall see and experience things in a new and different way.

Fr Reg Williams will celebrate his 95th birthday on 10 December. There will be a special morning tea for him after Mass next Sunday.

Tomorrow, S. Andrew’s Day, Fr Philip Baker celebrates 60 years as a priest. We honour him for his faithful service to S. Michael’s and to the wider church in New Zealand and abroad. For thirteen years he served in the mission field in Melanesia, including six years as Warden of S. Peter’s College, Siota.

May God bless you

Fr Peter Williams

Advent Readings: Week One

Monday Isaiah 2: 1–5 Matthew 8: 5–11

(S. Andrew’s Day) Romans 10: 9–18 Matthew 4: 18–22

Tuesday Isaiah 11: 1–10 Luke 10: 21–24

Wednesday Isaiah 25: 6–10a Matthew 15: 29–37

Thursday Isaiah 26: 1–6 Matthew 7: 21, 24–27

Friday Isaiah 29: 17–24 Matthew 9: 27–31

Saturday Isaiah 30: 19–26 Matthew 9: 35–10: 1, 6–8

22/11/2009 - Letter from the Vicar

2009-11-19T20:47:00.003+13:00

Dear Friends,

Today we conclude the liturgical year by celebrating with thanksgiving, confidence and hope, the Reign of Christ in all creation. In doing this, we proclaim that Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, is the measure of all value in the world, and that his way takes us close to the heart and will of God. His rule is not of the domineering, power-over-others kind. Rather it is the compelling power of someone whose integrity in weakness and sacrificial service lures us into following him. His way is open to community and relationship, rather than to competition and isolation. It is that way that Christians are called to follow as they live in the community.

As is customary, we shall conclude the Solemn Mass with the procession of the Blessed Sacrament in the wakahuia.

Next Sunday is Advent Sunday and the beginning of a new year of the Church. At the Sung Mass we shall baptise young James Tiberius Anderson, son of Mark and Katrina and brother of Karenia, Bennet and Fletcher.

Next weekend also brings two important anniversaries. The first is the sixtieth anniversary of Fr Philip Baker’s ordination to the priesthood. Twenty-one of those years were spent in a greatly respected ministry as Vicar of S. Michael’s. Until recently he has served generously as one of our honorary assistant priests, and is still always present at the Sunday 8:00 am Mass. We honour him and give thanks for his service to S. Michael’s and to the wider Church.

The second is the twentieth anniversary of the publication of A New Zealand Prayer Book, He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa. Our Archbishops send this message: “The prayer book has become a taonga of this Church but has also enriched the lives of Anglicans around the world. It is appropriate to give thanks for this treasure on the last Sunday in November this year. Valuing how many people have been supported, resourced and strengthened by over 900 pages of text, prose, poetry and theology. It is truly said that what we orate in prayer we believe, in what we believe we do (lex orandi, lex credendi, lex labore). This is the Anglican experience of common prayer shaped by widely shared liturgical texts and all the faith-based words we use in prayer, contemplation, and Eucharist.

On this anniversary, we can be reminded of the words at the beginning of the book: ‘The Lord’s song has been sung in this twice-discovered land since before Samuel Marsden first preached the Gospel on that Christmas Day in 1814 in Oihi Bay. With the publication of A New Zealand Prayer Book, He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa the song is continued, the task of the Provincial Commission on Prayer Book Revision is completed, and new voices begin to be heard. It is our hope that the use of these services will enable us to worship God in our authentic voice, and to affirm our identity as the people of God in Aotearoa New Zealand.’ ”

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

Introducing the CWS Christmas Appeal

Theme: “Give us a chance”

Whatever difficulties people are facing in New Zealand, the reality for poorer communities in developing countries is far worse. Their wish is not for hand-outs, just for a helping hand, and a chance in life.

Christian World Service supports thirty organisations around the world, all dedicated to working for better conditions for people in their own communities. This year the Appeal highlights the work of CWS partners in Uganda, Fiji, Gaza and the Philippines.

15/11/2009 - Letter from the Vicar

2009-11-12T11:22:00.003+13:00

Dear Friends,

As you are well aware, the Vatican has recently unveiled a scheme whereby Anglicans who are so minded may be received into the Roman Catholic Communion, without giving up many of the essentials of Anglican Church style. I had a strong immediate reaction to this news, but have wanted to pause a bit instead of speaking too rashly or too soon. I have also had a direct email from a not well-identified party, encouraging me to respond to the Pope’s offer and offering support.

We Anglican Catholics have always believed that the Church of England essentially continued as part of the great Catholic Church of the west, despite the political events that severed the link with the authority in Rome. Even here, in this corner of the very dispersed Anglican Communion, we continue to believe that. The Catholic essentials continue to keep us close, even though we Anglicans have developed a marked style of our own. As an Anglican Catholic I value that distinctive style a great deal: its dispersal of authority; its unity in essentials and great diversity in inessentials; its ability to live appropriately in very different contexts; its unity through common prayer more than through common dogma; its liberality of style, and so much else.

The Vatican offer appears to invite Anglicans to retain Anglican style, while joining a Communion which is controlled and centralised as never before, which is strangling the life of many of its own communities by its rigid insistence on inessentials such as clerical celibacy and the ordination of men only, and which is inhibiting the ministry potential of so many by demanding slavish conformity. There is an inconsistency here which makes me very uneasy. It certainly has not raised my respect for Vatican judgement or leadership. I shall be very surprised if many Anglicans respond to this offer, and they are likely to be those who cannot cope with the generosity of Anglican style anyway.

The Vatican’s problems which are great, and the Anglican Church’s problems which are also great, will not be helped at all by such an ill-considered move. The spectacular decline of organised Christianity in the west is no respecter of churches, and is best responded to with a generosity of ministry and spirit, rather than with a retreat to the fortresses.

Welcome to visitors to S. Michael’s and to Christchurch for this holiday weekend.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Willaims

08/11/2009 - Letter from the Vicar

2009-11-06T13:46:00.003+13:00

Dear Friends,

This week the country comes to town for the Show and the Races. We can hope that the unseasonable weather is behind us and that Show Week will display Christchurch at its shining best. I hope we can all enjoy the Canterbury Anniversary holiday on Friday.

It is good at these times if we can have the church open for the visitors who are usually about. If any of you are at a loose end and could spend an hour or two on the holiday or at the weekend minding the church, please tell me. It can be a time to do some praying, as well as an opportunity to meet and give hospitality to visitors, local and foreign. Several of our congregation joined S. Michael’s because of the kindness and helpfulness of those minding the church on such days.

We are very aware of those labouring with or towards examinations at the moment. It took me years before I was able to disassociate the joys of Spring from the drudgery of final exam preparation. But for those who are still in that bind, whether as students or teachers, we pray that all may go well.

This afternoon at 2:00 pm our Director of Music, Paul Ellis, will give an organ recital in the Cathedral. This is said to be his ‘swansong’ there, but I doubt it. We are very fortunate to have Paul’s leadership at S. Michael’s now. I hope some of us can attend the recital.

Thank you to all who contributed to the lovely commemoration of All Saints last Sunday, and then All Souls on Monday. It was good to have some visitors from far and near. I leave with you a few thoughts about living and dying, that have come my way during this season.

A truly lived-in life can be happily died in. Michael Leunig

When we are ready to die at any moment, we are ready to live at any moment.
Henri Nouwen

When I am with people who seem like ‘saints’, they don’t make me feel how dead I am, but rather how alive I can become.

Nothing can make up for the absence of someone whom we love, and it would be wrong to find a substitute; we must simply hold out and see it through. That sounds very hard at first, but at the same time it is a great consolation, for the gap, as long as it remains unfilled, preserves the bonds between us. It is nonsense to say that God fills the gap; God doesn’t fill it, but on the contrary, keeps it empty and so helps to keep alive our former communion with each other, even at the cost of pain.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The presence of that absence is everywhere. Edna St Vincent Millay

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

01/11/2009 - Letter from the Vicar

2009-10-29T19:38:00.006+13:00

Dear Friends,

Today we join with the whole Church as we celebrate the festival of All Saints. The saints are that great company of people of every age, who have chosen, and lived in, and enjoyed, the happiness of the blessing of God, and who continue to do so. Because they have let the spirit of Christ be alive in them, they have shown us glimpses of what God is like. Some of them are known by name to us, but most are not. These are the ones who have lived quiet faithful lives in their own places and times.

Within this season of remembering the saints, we remember all the faithful departed. We do that particularly tomorrow, All Souls’ Day, at the two Masses that will be celebrated at S. Michael’s. We know that those with whom we have shared our lives, who gave to us as we to them, and who have now died, are not remote from us. We can still share bread with them in Christ and his Eucharist, as we once shared bread with them in our daily lives.

The Bible talks of all who are brothers and sisters in Christ, as saints. It assumes that those who are close to Jesus, who seek to walk in his way, will be so full of his life that it will be contagious.

“Because I am alive, you shall live also,” Jesus says. This contagious aliveness is more true of Jesus of Nazareth, than of any other human being. ‘In him was life, and that life was the light of all people,’ John’s Gospel tells us. And so do all those stories in the Gospels, of people healed and brought back to life in so many ways. Jesus was essentially alive, in the very depth alive: alive to God, alive to the world and alive to every human being in his inwardness. He was so alive, that it is from him that we take our life. (Bishop John Taylor) “Because I am alive, you shall live also,” Jesus says. He says this as we open our hearts to hear his words, and as we open our hands and mouths to receive the sacrament, and as we open our lives to receive others in love. Jesus uses the bread and wine, as he uses our bodies and our blood too, to touch us and others, so that we all may receive the life from him, and make it our own, and overflow with it to others, in ways that we alone can do.

His life in us and our lives in him, that is what makes saints, the friends of God. Blessed be God in his saints. May they continue to bring God’s life to all the world.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

25/10/2009 - Letter from the Vicar

2009-10-25T19:44:00.001+13:00

From the Vicar…

Dear Friends,

We are fortunate to have the Labour Day public holiday at this beautiful time of year. I hope that all of you can make the most of the holiday weekend to enjoy the beauty of our city in its most striking season. Every day I am enjoying the blossoms and the new green on the trees. It will be good when the gentle sunshine becomes more stable, and the icy southerlies begin to leave us alone. A warm welcome to any of you who are visiting Christchurch and S. Michael’s at this time.

Thank you for the welcome you gave S. Luke’s people as they joined us last Sunday morning while celebrating their sesquicentenary. The re-enactment walk to S. Luke’s went very well, and it was good also to join them as the Bishop of Christchurch presided over their Festival Mass in the evening,

The sermons of the day drew attention to the particular contributions of S. Luke ‘whose praise is in the Gospel’. In a few weeks we shall start reading the Gospel of Luke again Sunday by Sunday, and we shall be able to get into the brilliant Christian mind and imagination of this writer, whom God has used so powerfully.

Among many other things, I am very conscious of the pains that that Gospel writer took to show that the good news of Jesus Christ is for absolutely everyone. If anyone is excluded from the promise of the Gospel, then it cannot be good news at all. Despite the tendency among some Christians in our time to proclaim it in a very conditional way, God’s acceptance and love are unconditional.

Next Sunday is All Saints’ Day, when at all our services we shall praise and thank God for the lives of those the Church honours for their remarkable lives. On Monday, All Souls’ Day, we remember with love our own faithful departed.

At this time of year, we again invite anyone interested in participating in some sessions of Christian enquiry to get in touch with me or the Revd Lynne Horwood. You may be moved by curiosity, or by a desire to be baptised, or in order to be prepared for renewal of your baptismal commitments. Does your life need some spiritual strengthening at its centre? Does your church membership need some resourcing and encouraging? Do you want a new springtime in your life? This may be your opportunity.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

All Souls’ Day, 2 November

There will be a said Requiem Mass at 8:00 am and Solemn Sung Requiem at 6:30 pm.

The lists of names of the departed are at the back of the church and in the hall today. Please check these for accuracy and indicate which names are to be remembered at 8:00 am. All others will be read at 6:30 pm. There is space for additional names.

If you wish to a name to be read at one of the Masses on All Souls’ Day, either add the name to the list in the church or contact the Trumpet (03) 981 7582 or trumpet@smaa.clear.net.nz before midday on Friday 30 October.

18/10/2009 - Letter from the Vicar

2009-10-19T16:08:00.000+13:00

Dear Friends,

This morning we are glad to welcome Fr David, Fr Jim and many members of the congregation of S. Luke’s Church, Manchester Street. With them we celebrate their 150 years of life as a community of faith, in a parish that was carved out of this one. On that S. Luke’s Day in 1859, after Divine Service at S. Michael’s, Bishop Harper led a procession to the S. Luke’s site, where a foundation stone was laid for the first church building. Exactly fifty years later, Bishop Julius laid a stone for the new church of S. Luke on the same site, the great stone building that we all know, and which is celebrating its centenary today.

After the Mass this morning, and a quick morning tea, as many of us as are able will re-enact this procession, concluding with a short commemoration in front of the church. And at 6:00 pm, Bishop Victoria will preside over the Festival Mass at S. Luke’s, the climax of this weekend of celebration.

Our warmest congratulations to the people of S. Luke’s. May God bless your continuing life. We are glad to be on the journey of faith alongside you.

On this S. Luke’s Day we read from the Gospel of Luke. In a few weeks we shall begin reading through the whole of this Gospel Sunday by Sunday. Luke sees the life and ministry of Jesus as a visitation on God’s part to Israel and the world. Those who receive him find that he brings them into a much wider sphere of hospitality, the ‘hospitality of God’. The one who comes as visitor and guest in fact becomes host, and offers a hospitality in which human beings can become truly human, be at home, and know salvation in the depths of their hearts. There is a lot to learn here for our mission today; we shall begin to unpack it during the year of Luke.

On Thursday evening in S. Michael’s Church there will be a concert by Boh Runga and Greg Johnson, one of a series of concerts in churches throughout the country. Preparations will be under way for most of Thursday, but the 12:15 Mass will take place as usual. Bookings are being handled by Ticketek, and there may be a few door sales. Our liaison with the organisers is David Gray, and a few of us will be ushers and stewards, ensuring that S. Michael’s is hospitable to our visitors.

The celebration of All Saints and All Souls is near (1 & 2 November). Please prepare names of the departed to be prayed for at that time.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

11/10/2009 - Letter from the Vicar

2009-10-08T20:23:00.002+13:00

Dear Friends,

It is our pleasure today to baptise Jorja Mae Tizzard and to welcome her family and friends to S. Michael’s.

Next Sunday, S. Luke’s Day, we shall take part in the celebration of 150 years of the Parish of S. Luke’s, Manchester Street.

An entry in Bishop Harper’s register records that

“On Tuesday, S. Luke’s Day, the 18th of October, 1859, after Divine service in the Church of S. Michael and All Angels, Christchurch, the Bishop, accompanied by several of the clergy and the Minister and churchwardens of the Parochial District of Christchurch, laid the foundation stone of the Church of S. Luke on the Church Reserve adjoining Manchester Street to the north of the River Avon.”

That was the beginning of the new Parish.

The people of S. Luke’s will be here with us next Sunday morning. After the Sung Mass we shall have a quick morning tea, and then as many as are able will process to S. Luke’s along the same way as they did in 1859. There, at noon, we shall have a very brief commemoration of that occasion. After that, lunch will be available for those who have ordered it, and the rest of us will return to S. Michael’s and go home. I hope a goodly number can join the procession on foot, and we shall ensure that those who can’t do the walk will be driven to S. Luke’s and then back here.

In the evening at 6:00 pm the Bishop will preside at the Sesquicentennial Mass at S. Luke’s, and dedicate their new porch and memorial garden. We are all invited to join them. There will be Evensong and Benediction at S. Michael’s at 7:00 pm as usual.

Last week we brought back to S. Michael’s a quantity of building stone, which we had been storing offsite. This came from part of the block which was demolished when we rebuilt the School. While the Halswell stone is valuable, and will eventually be used in the landscaping of the site, there are two pallets of Oamaru stone which we will not use, and so this is available for any of you to take away. If you wish to take some, please tell me or Judy at the Parish Office.

This morning you will have another opportunity to contribute to the CWS Tsunami Appeal through a retiring collection.

Schools throughout the country return for the fourth term tomorrow. We pray for teachers and other staff and pupils at this time.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

04/10/2009 - Letter from the Vicar

2009-10-02T16:11:00.002+13:00

Dear Friends,

Thank you to all who helped make our celebration of Michaelmas on Tuesday night such a great success. Thank you for the wonderful preaching, music, flowers, liturgy, and all the hours of work that so many of you put in beforehand. Thank you too for the opportunity to continue our hospitality with the dinner in the hall afterwards, and all the planning and work involved in that. It was good to be able to welcome visitors, and to welcome home some of our own from other parts of the country, on this wonderful occasion.

Today we continue our festival by celebrating the dedication of S. Michael’s Church, this building which has served this community for 137 of our 158 years. While this can be an opportunity to look back, it will be much more exciting if we can use it as an opportunity to look forward.

Joining us today is the choir of S. Mark’s Church, Remuera, with their Director, Nicholas Sutcliffe, and their Vicar, the Revd Mark Sullivan. They are singing together with our choir at both 10:00 am and 7:00 pm. We are delighted that they decided to make an excursion to Christchurch, and that they are generously adding their music-making and presence to our festival.

I have spoken before of Richard Giles, an English priest who is now Dean of the Episcopal Cathedral in Philadelphia. He has written a couple of very stimulating books on church buildings and their importance in evangelism and congregational growth. For us of the Catholic tradition, the church building is not just a decorated meeting hall for church activities. The building is the House of the Church, that assembly of people who are the People of God and the Body of Christ. The building, whether simple or elaborate, should speak of the great story of the People of God as we know it in the Bible, and within that, the particular story and journey of its own community. It is the place where that story is told and celebrated again and again, motivating God’s people to share the good news that they enjoy.

Giles says: The building can tell the story of the particular community who meet regularly within its walls to encounter the living Lord and to grow in goodness and holiness. It can leave the visitor with something to chew on, something to make them think that perhaps there is something in this Christianity lark after all, if this particular group of people can tell and celebrate their story with such pride and vigour and delight. The place where the people of God meet needs to show what is essential and godly about being human.

We are very fortunate at S. Michael’s to have a holy place which takes people’s breath away when they first enter. We do not want it to become another closed religious monument, as churches can so easily be, but rather to continue to be the always-available, warm and prayer-filled holy place that we know it to be. So it is good that tomorrow Mary Hart will begin her duties as verger here for six months. She will be keeping the church open and welcoming visitors, as well as doing some other tasks at quieter times. Please make yourselves known to her and help her to settle in.

May we strive to articulate better the faith story that our community needs to tell, so that all may feel and be excited by the sacred events of the past as they spill over into the real adventure of the present moment.

Warmest Michaelmas blessings to you all.

Fr Peter Williams

29/09/2009 - Letter from the Vicar

2009-09-25T19:18:00.003+12:00

Dear Friends,

Welcome to you all as this community of faith gathers to celebrate again its Patronal Festival, the feast of Michael, Archangel, ‘who is like God’.

I am glad to welcome our preacher, the Revd Lynda Patterson, who is Theologian in Residence at Christchurch Cathedral. Lynda is Irish, and studied and taught Biblical studies at Oxford University before coming to New Zealand for ordination. She has earned a strong reputation as a preacher, calling on her dexterity with the Biblical text, her insight into the human condition, and the silver tongue of the Irish.

There has been a community of faith here for 158 years now. Since 1910 the Eucharist has been celebrated in this place daily, and the Blessed Sacrament reserved as a focus for prayer. Generations have adorned and cherished the building, and music of the highest standard has been offered for the praise of God.

The Liturgy offered here has been a witness to the glory and holiness and loving kindness of God, while it has shaped a people in the way of Jesus Christ, and sent them out to give themselves in costly service.

Jacob awoke from his dream of the great promise of God, and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” I hope and pray that we too may so awaken to God’s presence in this community gathered around the altar that, with our perception heightened, we may go out and welcome the Risen Lord in every corner of the wider community. And even in its darkest corners, may we so engage that we can truly say with Jacob, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

27/09/2009 - Letter from the Vicar

2009-09-24T21:06:00.005+12:00

Dear Friends,

Today at the 10:00 am Mass, Claire Anstice will speak about the work of the Interchurch Hospital Chaplaincy Service, which provides and guides the ministry of chaplaincy in most hospitals in New Zealand. Christchurch Hospital, which is on our doorstep, is a major centre for this work, employing a team of chaplains, some of whom are in paid positions and some of whom are unpaid. They are all trained and accredited by the service, as well as by the Churches they come from. The Health Department recognises the value of chaplains to the extent that it provides half of the funding for those in agreed positions. The Churches have to provide the other half of the funding. Much of their work is in supporting people who are forced by a health crisis to face difficult life issues. We have brochures for distribution and envelopes for donations towards the costs of the chaplaincy service. Claire is one of the chaplaincy team at Christchurch Hospital, as well as being employed there, and being our People’s Warden.

Thank you to all who were able to represent the parish at the recent funerals of Hester Ramsay and Taryne Malaquin, two servants of God in and from this parish community. The work that so many of you do to enable a good S. Michael’s funeral is much appreciated. It is also very good evangelism, helping people to discover a sense of the Christian significance of life and of death. Many visitors remark on the impact of our funerals, which surprise them and make them curious.

Our annual patronal festival, Michaelmas, is on Tuesday and will be celebrated here with a Low Mass at 10:00 am and the Solemn Mass at 6:30 pm. This will be followed by the Michaelmas dinner. This year the meal will be catered but parishioners are asked to contribute a salad or wine. This celebration is another opportunity to welcome friends and enquirers to S. Michael’s, and for all of us to have a good time.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

20/09/2009 - Letter from the Vicar

2009-09-17T19:34:00.003+12:00

Dear Friends,

S. Michael’s Church School finished its third term on Friday, and is now on holiday for three weeks. At the School Mass last Wednesday, surrounded by families and godparents and friends and the whole School community, we welcomed to Holy Communion twenty-nine young people. Some of these had been baptised here a fortnight ago, and the rest at other times and places. I am very grateful to Dr Marla Hughes and the Revd Lynne Horwood, who have prepared these children throughout the last term. With the help of our prayers and loving support, may these young people grow into who they are, beloved children of God and members of the Body of Christ.

Next Sunday we shall pay some attention to the work of Hospital Chaplaincy. This is an important ecumenical ministry which has always been carried out in our Parish area. Our own Claire Anstice is one of the chaplaincy team and she will speak at the 10:00 am Mass. (Remember that Daylight Saving begins next Sunday morning.)

The music for Evensong on that day will be led by The Eight, the newest chamber choir in Christchurch, and will include canticles by Jeremy Woodside and anthems by Richard Madden.

The Gospel today has Jesus laying down his values clearly and shockingly. To his disciples, who have been talking about their relative status, he takes an anonymous child and says “This is me”. If you are pursuing status in society, then you are not going the way of the Kingdom.

Jesus compares himself, and by extension God, to a child. It is not innocence as absence of sin that he probably has in mind. Rather, children were not the proper recipients of honour. They did not do the kinds of things that adults (and especially men) did to acquire honour. They did not seek to enhance their reputations by demonstrating prowess and beneficence. They did not exercise authority over others. In the honour-shame value system they were nonentities. Now Jesus says that by welcoming one such insignificant person, you welcome him, and when you welcome him, you welcome God!

Jesus’ demand that his followers become humble servants was difficult for the disciples, just as it is difficult for us today. We are taught by our culture that success means gaining for ourselves. It is no easy thing to make real sacrifices for others, to give of ourselves, to put aside our own interests and give up what our culture tells us is most important. Yet Jesus is clear that in God’s kingdom, that is what is required.

(David Watson Commentary on Mark)

This ‘great reversal’ is the basis of Christian values, and it is always a challenge to the things we take for granted.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

13/09/2009 - Letter from the Vicar

2009-09-14T16:44:00.000+12:00

Dear Friends,

Today is Back to Church Sunday. Welcome to you all, and especially to visitors and those of you who have chosen to come back to church today.

Back to Church Sunday is being held throughout the diocese. It acknowledges that the Church, which was once reasonably central to our society, is now extremely peripheral. And yet its gathering together Sunday by Sunday to affirm that the world is God’s, and that it works best for all if we all acknowledge that, is vital.

At S. Michael’s we take great care to praise and thank God whom we see in Jesus Christ, to hear what God may be saying to us in the Scriptures, and to be empowered to take our part in God’s continuing work wherever we are and whatever we do.

S. Michael’s is a wonderful community of hospitable and committed and able people which gathers in this lovely place. With a generous theology and spirituality, a strong worship life, and a willingness to take a responsible part in the events of the day, we can be a community that is a real and credible witness in this city.

I hope that day by day we may all be trusting of God and of each other, and so see the Holy Spirit build us up into the living Body of Christ.

The School community has just presented its wonderful production of the Jack and the Beanstalk story in Majestic House. This was an absolute delight, with every pupil involved, and much great talent evident. Thank you to all have worked hard to make the production such a success once again.

On Tuesday morning we shall be saying goodbye to Hester Ramsay at her funeral service in the church. Hester was actively involved in S. Michael’s Parish and School from 1948, when the family came from England, until prevented by ill health in recent years. She was a Churchwarden and Nominator and Vestrywoman as well as being an outstanding flower arranger and potter. She was also involved in drama productions over the years.

We pray for Hester, and offer our loving support to her family.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

06/09/2009 - Letter from the Vicar

2009-09-08T16:35:00.002+12:00

Dear Friends,

I have been back with you for ten days now and a lot has happened. I was delighted to be welcomed back by the cherry trees along our Oxford Terrace frontage, which chose the last Saturday of August to burst into flower. Now the city is blooming everywhere with daffodils and blossoms and the leaf buds are about to open as the mornings become lighter and brighter.

A big crowd of us gathered last Wednesday to baptise eighteen young people from S. Michael’s School. We pray and hope that their time at S. Michael’s School will be one in which their growth into that baptism will be inspired and supported. I have been re-making contacts with parishioners who are sick and in hospital or housebound, and am grateful for so many others of you who help look after them.

I have attended two funerals, supporting people close to the departed. Loss and sadness are never far away from us, and a community of faith can be a great comfort.

As I write, the Diocesan Synod has not yet begun, but as you read, it will be well finished. It is to begin with the Synod service in the Cathedral on Friday evening, with the business taking the whole of Saturday. This is the shortest time we have ever set aside for the annual Synod, but it is our Bishop’s wish that we do things more efficiently. We shall report on the proceedings in due course.

A week ago I attended the AGM of the City Mission. The calls on all its services have increased greatly during this time of recession and so our gifts continue to be much appreciated.

Please help us put our best foot forward for the ‘Back to Church Sunday’ next week. Remember to use the special invitation cards -- who can you invite and bring?

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

30/08/2009 - Letter from the Parish Priest

2009-08-27T19:48:00.005+12:00

Dear Friends,

I am very glad to be back with you all at S. Michael’s after my long leave. While I have enjoyed participating in the Liturgy in communities in other places, I have missed this community of faith very much. You may not know that my leave (and that of other clergy) was made possible by the scheme put in place about thirty years ago by the Diocesan Synod. It provided that every clergy stipended position in the Diocese put aside a small sum monthly, so that every seven years the holders of those positions might take three months of paid leave, for refreshment and new resourcing. I am very grateful for that opportunity and return to you much the better for it.

My leave would have been impossible without the willingness of others to take on responsibilities here at S. Michael’s. Fr Tim Hurd suddenly became available to be the acting Parish Priest for a few months. I am grateful for his careful and rich ministry, as I know you are. We wish him well as he waits to go to new work in Polynesia. The Revd Lynne Horwood also took on extra responsibility and oversaw the Parish with her usual wisdom and grace. The Churchwardens had to exercise even wider responsibilities than usual, and did so very competently.

Above all, a great number of you, clergy and laity, kept up your usual high standard of ministry, and kept this community healthy and alive. To that I am glad to return.

Next Friday evening and Saturday the Diocesan Synod meets. Those of us who are Parish Representatives will take part in this Synod, the first to be stamped with our Bishop’s own style. All are welcome to join in the opening Eucharist in the Cathedral on Friday at 7:00 pm.

This Wednesday at 8:40 am a number of young people of S. Michael’s Church School will be baptised in the church. Please pray for them and their families, and if you wish, join us as we celebrate this important step with them.

May God bless you all.

Fr Peter Williams

23/08/2009 - Letter from the Acting Parish Priest

2009-08-20T21:31:00.003+12:00

Dear Friends,

I would like to commend to you ‘Back to Church Sunday’, being offered for the first time in this Diocese on September 13. This is a Church of England initiative that has been taken up by a number of dioceses after a presentation to General Synod last year. The concept is simple: there are people who have been part of the Church’s life and now, for whatever reason, are not. They may have drifted away, they may have left more intentionally, they may just have got out of the habit of regular worship. They may be looking for a path back. Or just curious or questioning.

And so we offer this no-strings-attached, no-further-expectations invitation to someone we know: Come, join me in going back to church.

The task of evangelism can seem daunting, but those who have had some previous contact at least share with us a language: liturgy and the story of faith. ‘Back to Church Sunday’ offers us an opportunity to be part of the task of evangelism in the most simple fashion: as we are, with people we already know. The ‘as we are’ motif is important. The idea is that we invite one person to one service on what will be one ordinary Sunday: family, friends, neighbours.

We are hoping to build up the life of this parish, but in the integrity of who we are at S. Michael’s. We are also invited to look at ourselves through others’ eyes: How hospitable are we? What do we do to help visitors find their way (through liturgy, to morning tea, to make connections they need)? Are we child and family friendly? Will those who will join us find a Christ-centred community? Big questions, and part of what makes this venture valuable, regardless of any increase in numbers in the Sundays following September 13. Please do support this initiative, and give it some prayerful thought. Who can you invite?

Today is my last Sunday with you (Fr Peter returns Sunday next), and so I would like to thank you. Thank you for the privilege and joy of sharing these weeks with you. Thank you for your hospitality and friendship. Thank you for your support and kindness, particularly in recent days.

Deep peace of the running wave to you.

Deep peace of the flowing air to you.

Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.

Deep peace of the shining stars to you.

Peace of the Son of Peace to you.

May God bless you all.

Fr Tim Hurd

From the People’s Warden…

Today is the last Sunday that Fr Tim Hurd will be with us as acting Parish Priest at S. Michael’s, and we will be farewelling him at a special morning tea in the hall this morning.

Thank you, Tim, for your care of this parish, for your preaching and leadership, your enthusiasm and readiness to help in so many ways, your considerable IT skills with computers, your great voice, and all the other gifts that have made your time here so good for us. We have really appreciated having you with us and feel that you have become part of our community. We wish you well for your time in Fiji and will be remembering you in our prayers. Come and see us again whenever you can!

^{Claire Anstice}

16/08/2009 - Letter from the Acting Parish Priest

2009-08-14T10:44:00.002+12:00

Dear Friends,

O greenest branch, I greet you,

you who budded in the winds of the questioning of the saints.

The time came for you to blossom in your branches,

I salute you!

The sun’s heat distilled in you the fragrance of balsam.

For in you bloomed the beautiful flower

which gave fragrance to all the dried out spices.

And they all burgeoned in their strength and greenness.

(Hildegard von Bingen)

Today we celebrate the Assumption, one of the principal Feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary (the others being the Annunciation, and the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth, and—while a Feast of Our Lord—Candlemas).

Mary, Mother of Our Lord, is vitally important to our faith. She is Theotokos, God-bearer. She is a ‘yes’ to God’s invitation and salvation in the Incarnation. Not some passive channel for God entering the world, rather an active participant in liberation, holding before us the Christ Child. Holding before us on the journey her own questions about who this Jesus is. Holding before us the broken body of her son at the foot of the cross. Holding before us in life and in death what it means to bear God into the world. Holding before us a vision of God’s kingdom in the Magnificat we hear this morning and at every Evensong.

Mary is bearer of Emmanuel, God with us. She is the pattern for what we may be in our time, a ‘yes’ to God’s invitation: bearers of God through struggle and joy and questioning and pain to a world which needs the liberating Good News of the Incarnation.

We especially celebrate at the Assumption (called in the Eastern Church the Dormition, her ‘falling asleep’) Our Lady’s birth into the unending life and joy of heaven, where the faithfulness and blessedness of the Virgin Mother of God is made complete in the presence and life of the Godhead. Her prayers for us are part of the unending intercession of all the Saints, their continuing ‘yes’ to all that God may do for, in, and through us.

I would like to thank David Gray for all his recent work following the restoration that has been done in the church. Through his submission, S. Michael’s has been successful in achieving a Hagley-Ferrymead Community Board Award (to sit beside that for the School) for that work. Well done!

May God bless you all.

Fr Tim Hurd

09/08/2009 - Letter from the Acting Parish Priest

2009-08-06T16:35:00.003+12:00

From the Acting Parish Priest…

Dear Friends,

Our Gospel this morning is again part of the lengthy reflection by the Evangelist John on Jesus, the Bread of Life.

It’s a metaphor and reality that clearly Our Lord’s first audience struggled with. It has resonances backwards into the Old Testament, forwards into the Last Supper and Eucharist, and eternally as a pre-figuring of the Messianic feast.

In the crudest sense, there is truth in the phrase, “You are what you eat”. We have to eat to stay alive, and in the long run what we eat is the material from which our being is built. What better in substance and symbol than Eucharist?

It is about transformation. Somehow, by participating in this mystery, we are changed. We incorporate, physically and in mystery, something of the divine within us, and are thus somehow growing in our ability to be in and to be aware of the presence of God.

We are fed, literally and in ways we cannot comprehend. With food we could never work for nor purchase.

None of us ‘understands’ this Sacrament. That’s why we have recovered the tradition of children receiving Communion after Baptism alone. Putting paid to any idea that we can only receive after Confirmation, when we’ve worked out exactly what’s going on.

Of course at any age we approach with awe and a sense of the simple profundity of what we are doing. But really, we only know our hunger and our thirst.

As Rainer Maria Rilke writes:

That’s when I want you—you knower of my emptiness,

you unspeaking partner to my sorrow.

That’s when I need you, God, like food.

This is a dynamic relationship, and while we are physically living we are offered the mystery and immense gift of connecting, physically, in this Sacrament with the God who seeks us out.

Each of us, in our own way, is invited to respond to this bread and this wine and to utter as we receive, our “Amen”.

May God bless you all.

Fr Tim Hurd

02/08/2009 - Letter from the Acting Parish Priest

2009-07-31T10:22:00.004+12:00

Dear Friends,

It is my pleasure to welcome on behalf of S. Michael’s Church the pupils, parents, Staff and Board of S. Michael’s School to this Founders’ Day Mass. In one sense you need no welcome, as you are part of this community and the common life of the parish and school. The children are well and truly familiar—and I hope at home—in this space.

Together we celebrate this shared life, which dates from the earliest days of this church and this city. 158 years ago our forebears embarked on a journey of commitment and optimistic endeavour, grounded in faith, and founded on the Gospel of Christ.

The place of faith and the values of the Gospel are an essential component of school life. In prayer, in learning and relating, in our weekly School Mass, we are shaped as a community, and in this our pupils grow and find nurture. In an age of change and challenge, this experience of common life—growing from and in Christian spirituality —is a taonga, a treasure. Today we celebrate our holding that, and hope to be able to pass to another generation such a gift.

I am currently Acting Parish Priest while Fr Peter is on study leave. He will return at the end of the month, and shortly thereafter we will share in the Baptism of a significant number of pupils, and the Welcome to Holy Communion for those already baptised. We pray for those on that journey.

Please accept the invitation, too, to join us for Sunday worship regularly. The enclosed flyer gives details of our Sunday School, which meets on the 1st, 3rd and 5th Sundays of the month. In addition, the parish is beginning a children’s choir. Please do contact Music Director Paul Ellis if you would like to know more.

May God bless you all.

Fr Tim Hurd

Thursday is Hiroshima Day
We offer this Collect for Peace

Almighty and eternal God, you have made of one blood all the nations of the earth and will that they live together in peace and harmony; so order the course of this world that all peoples may be brought together under Christ’s most gentle rule. Grant that we who share his blood may, through your unifying Spirit, break down the walls that divide your children. Amen.

To the parents of S. Michael’s School pupils:

Did you know that S. Michael’s parish has a Sunday School programme?
And your children are welcome!

It is for children of all ages. (A parent should accompany very small children.) Children are welcome even if they can attend only occasionally.

Each class is about 30 –35 minutes in length. Children come to the 10:00 am service, and after the opening singing and prayers, there is an announcement for Sunday School. The children and I (with my helpers) go into the parish lounge for their class. We all come back into the church before the Eucharist.

The programme is based on the same lessons the adults hear in church, so that you can talk to your children about what they learned. But it is also designed to be fun! After a short lesson, there is always an activity or craft. Most weeks, the children have something to take home to remind them of what they learned. Our lessons have one central theme: Our God is a God of love, and we seek to share that love with others.

We generally meet on the first, third, and fifth Sundays of each month.
(There may be a few exceptions for weeks with special church services,
and there will be a summer break.)

A schedule for the rest of 2009 is listed below.

Marla Hughes (960 0753)
Sunday School Supervisor

16 August 1 November

30 August 15 November

6 September 29 November

20 September 6 December

4 October 20 December

18 October

26/07/2009 - Letter from the Acting Parish Priest

2009-07-23T22:22:00.003+12:00

Dear Friends,

This morning at 10:00 am we welcome members of the National Male Choir of New Zealand. It is a joy and a blessing to have you here at S. Michael’s, and we wish you well for your performances later in the year. Thank you for sharing your gifts with us today and so enriching our worship, to God’s glory.

Today is Social Services Sunday, an occasion that gives us opportunity to acknowledge, celebrate and pray for our community-facing ministry as Church.

We are this day mindful of the City Mission, the diocese’s Aged Care services, hospital, tertiary and prison chaplaincies, family and children’s services, community and school programmes. A number of these are grouped under the ‘Anglican Care’ banner, and I hope we can feel a sense of ownership of this work done in our name.

This does not, of course, let us off the hook! Jesus charges us all with care of the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick, imprisoned (Matthew 25: 31–46). Service to others is an intrinsic part of service to God. Some of that happens when we gather our gifts together, as we do in our helping agencies. Much of it happens when we respond to the needs of those we ourselves encounter. Indeed a new resource from Anglican Care is made available today, to take away and ponder: A Creed and Theology of Social Service.

Our Gospel this morning offers a parable enacted of God’s goodness and bounty, born out of the seed of a boy offering his small resources. Whatever we give, in whatever kind we are able, Christ takes, blesses and breaks—and the needs of many are met. This is the parable enacted also in the Eucharist: our bread and wine, simple and small, at Christ’s Table become the Feast of Heaven.

This week may we have our eyes open to the capacity we have, however meagre it may seem, to meet the needs of those around us:

Seven times a day, as I work upon this hungry farm,

I say to you: “Lord, why am I here?

What is there here to stir my gifts to growth?

What great thing can I do for others—

I who am captive to this dreary toil?”

And seven times a day you answer,

“I cannot do without you.

Once my Son lived your life,

and by his faithfulness he sowed my mind, my kindness, my truth.

But now he has come to my side, and you must take his place.”

(Hebridean Altars)

May God bless you all.

Fr Tim Hurd

19/07/2009 - Letter from the Acting Parish Priest

2009-07-17T15:27:00.002+12:00

Dear Friends,

Today’s readings – including that most famous of texts, Psalm 23 – are to do with sheep and shepherds. Very comfortable words, Beatrix Potter-esque, pastoral. Or not. For there’s more than a subtle whiff of the political around that metaphor. Most of us don’t get to be the shepherd in this scenario! Those of us described as sheep – then or now – are unlikely to appreciate the allegory…

Jeremiah the Prophet reminds us of the fact that God is constantly calling new shepherds. The ones we have so often let us down, but God still seems to trust the model. Shepherds are called and recalled, constantly taken from the flock itself, to lead God’s people. We need only look at the symbolism of a bishop’s crozier (crook) to be reminded of our continuity with this ancient agrarian image.

And yet shepherds always disappoint. The profundity and power of the 23rd Psalm is the realisation that we trust only and ultimately in one unselfish, unswayable shepherd, God and God alone.

We enter into the model, mindful that our mortal rulers and guides, temporal and spiritual, are as we are: human, frail, fickle. Bearing this in mind, we are called to conform ourselves and our leadership to something different from that which the prophets criticised.

God in Christ Jesus proves to be so different to all those who, in the words of the Old Testament, were supposed to “shepherd my people Israel”: kings and leaders of all kinds. God is contrasted with every illegitimate oppressive regime and impersonal institution – the Church at times included – before and since.

Our Shepherd models what it is to both serve and lead. Traditionally, Middle Eastern shepherds lead from the front. They don’t ask sheep or goats to go anywhere they themselves haven’t already been. That’s the metaphor. Ours is to be not a powerful, top-down leadership. Ours is to be a nurturing, empowering, compassionate shepherding that is ultimately a reflection of God, the Shepherd of Psalm 23.

May God bless you all

Fr Tim Hurd

12/07/2009 - Letter from the Acting Parish Priest

2009-07-10T16:11:00.002+12:00

Dear Friends,

If last Sunday’s readings prompted us to hear our call to be prophets, however without honour we may feel in that, this week’s Gospel gives us a clear sense of the cost of that calling. Herod loses his head, and shortly thereafter, so does John the Baptist: prophet, teller of truth before the powerful.

The story of John’s beheading is well known, and it may seem strange that such a gruesome episode should feature in our ‘good news’ for this day.

Questions of identity are where the account begins, so for clarification:

This King Herod is not the Herod of Jesus’ birth. He’s not even, really, a ‘king’. Rome doesn’t like ‘kings’. Herod the Great is dead, with his kingdom divided among his three sons. They rule as tetrarchs. Herod Antipas rules Galilee and Perea, a compromised collaborator who wants his people to see him as a Jew but who lives and looks far more like a Roman.

Herodias is Herod’s wife. She was married to his brother, Philip, ruling across the Sea of Galilee. While they were all in Rome, however, Herod (also married) fell in love with her, and they went home together. It’s the kind of incestuous story that could be plucked straight from a soap opera. Indeed, the furious father of Herod’s first wife later goes to war with him, and Herod’s army, betrayed by his brother’s people, is routed. All of which many see as his just deserts, and some sort of divine retribution for the death of John.

Herodias, the daughter, often named by tradition Salome, was the child of Herodias’ first marriage. Quite what we should make of her dancing at the birthday banquet of her uncle and step-father, pleasing Herod and his guests so greatly, is open to huge interpretation. The willingness of Herod to offer her anything she desires might mean that this was a party and a dynasty getting rather out of control…

John the Baptist challenged Herod and Herodias, who presented themselves as Jewish royalty, to behave as their faith should determine. That their relationhip, perceived as immoral, was initiated at the heart of the Roman Empire only served to underline the political statement inherent in challenging Rome’s puppet ruler.

So John, though influential, finds himself like so many prophets and tellers of truth, political and spiritual, in prison. His legacy Jesus upholds, in continuity with the Prophets of the Old Testament. We often speak of Christ as High Priest and King, as Lord. How does our image change when we also honour him as Prophet?

May God bless you all.

Fr Tim Hurd

05/07/2009 - Letter from the Acting Parish Priest

2009-07-02T19:08:00.004+12:00

Dear Friends,

It was a privilege to gather yesterday and farewell our friend and brother Bernard Richards; to commend him to the God and Lord he served so faithfully; to offer our comfort and love to his family. Fr Bernard was part of the life of St Michael’s – parish and school – for some 17 years. His ministry and friendship will be missed by many. Requiescat in pace.

Such moments in our lives give us pause for thought. We are saddened, yet supremely thankful for the gift of another’s life and gifts and companionship on the Way. Caught, a little like S. Paul in our Epistle, in the agony and ecstasy of life and love. Paul writes of his ek stasis – his standing outside himself – in heavenly revelation, and his “thorn in the flesh”, his weakness and experience of insult and calamity.

Paul’s response is to own his answer to prayer. Not the miraculous fix-it he and we might so often desire, but something altogether more profound and provocative:

“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”

Paul meditated on this, so his writings suggest, for the rest of his life. As preacher. As apostle. As prisoner. As martyr.

The Church is a family of people who know their need. In that we discover God’s inconceivable grace, and mercy, and love. In our weakness, we know God’s power. In our grief, we find God’s consolation. In our dying, we are born to eternal life.

May God bless you all.

Fr Tim Hurd

28/06/2009 - Letter from the Acting Parish Priest

2009-06-26T19:51:00.004+12:00

Dear Friends,

Welcome to Jessica Lillie – and her family – as she comes this day to be made a member of Christ’s Body, the family of faith, the Church. The Church exists as a parable of the hospitality and the radical inclusive call of God in Christ Jesus.

Today happens to be Refugee Sunday, and in an odd way our long Gospel speaks to alienation, need and hospitality: a microcosm of the story of salvation.

Jairus comes to Jesus and begs him to help his critically ill daughter. While they are en route the story is interrupted by a woman who touches Jesus’ clothes. The key detail is that this woman has been bleeding, haemorrhaging, for twelve years. Hers is not just a physical, but a social condition. Under Jewish Law, she is ritually ‘unclean’. This woman has been essentially outcast for twelve years.

She might meet Jesus in a crowd, but is utterly alone. Her money is gone, spent on doctors and failed cures. Desperate, she dares to break the Law that keeps her isolated by touching Jesus. Making him unclean, according to the rules.

Perhaps such a story makes sense to the refugee: those who have had to leave the ordinary world they know; the roles and relationships that give life shape and meaning; the security of language and land, of money and even identity. People who in desperation often have to break the rules.

Our response to such people should surely be modelled on that of Jesus: compassionate, aware. Finding time and space for them, even when there are other critical demands. Returning them to, making for them, a place of inclusion in the world.

We live in a land of plenty. We are called – as are the Corinthians in Paul’s appeal for the Church at Jerusalem – to be generous. Generous in our giving. Generous in our attitudes and our dealing with those who are different from us. Generous in our welcome:

We saw a stranger yesterday, we put food in the eating-place,

Drink in the drinking-place, music in the listening-place,

And with the sacred name of the triune God

He blessed us and our house, our cattle and our dear ones.

As the lark says in her song:

Often, often, often goes the Christ in the stranger’s guise.

(Celtic Rune of Hospitality)

May God bless you all.

Fr Tim Hurd

21/06/2009 - Letter from the Acting Parish Priest

2009-06-19T18:02:00.007+12:00

Dear Friends,

How often have you felt all was turbulent and chaotic around you?

The story of Jesus stilling the storm touches something real and visceral about life and grief and anger and anguish. How often might we have said with the disciples, “do you not care that we are perishing?”

Like Job, we press our case with God; and Almighty God speaks words that seem aloof, unapproachable. Our literal or metaphorical day in court does us precious little good. Who can argue with God?

This morning, Jesus is woken by his terrified disciples, caught with them in the maelstrom of a sudden storm. This has mythic creation story echoes, of course: the idea that chaotic waters preceded life has both biblical and scientific resonance.

But this is a story of the Incarnation. Jesus is not removed from the swell, the sweat and swearing. He says to the wind and waters – and to us – “Peace! Be still!” – and against all reason, they are. Are we?

Without being overly simplistic, or unhelpfully trite, do we allow ourselves to have the presence of mind when all is unfolding appallingly, to hear those words in our hearts? Peace. Be still.

Our faith is very often found unequal to our fear, let alone our distress, but Jesus challenges us, comforts us, calls us to dare believe what we profess. And in that to touch the peace of God, which passes all understanding.

Walter Hilton, 14th Century mystic, wrote words that speak to me of Incarnate God sailing with us in our shaky vessel on dark and turbulent waters:

Jesus, you are both love and light,
and you are in the darkness
whether it brings pain or peace.
You are at work in my soul.
You move me to anguish with desire and longing for your light,
but as yet I do not rest in your love.

That rest, that peace, is our life’s work. And our hope for eternity.

May God bless you all.

Fr Tim Hurd

SMAA CHURCH - Weekly Letter

03 April 2011 - Letter from the Vicar

27th March 2011 - Letter from the Vicar

20th March 2011 - Letter from the Vicar

13th March 2011 - Letter from the Vicar

Service datails for Sunday 13th March 2011

Service Times/ Locations...

Christchurch Earthquake - Feb 22 2011

4th March - From the vicar's Warden

26th Feb 2011 - Vicar's Warden

20 Feb 2011 - Letter from the Vicar

13 Feb 2011 - Letter from the Vicar

06 Feb 2011 - Letter from the Vicar

30 Jan 2011 - Letter from the Vicar

Christmas 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

19 Dec 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

12 Dec 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

05 Dec 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

28 Nov 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

21 Nov 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

14 Nov 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

07 Nov 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

31 October 2010 - Letter from Vicar

24th October 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

17 Oct 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

10 Oct 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

03 Oct 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

From the Vicar…

29 Sep 2010 - Michaelmas

26 Sep 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

19 Sep 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

06 Sept - Earthquake Update

05 Sep 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

29 Aug 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

22 Aug 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

15 Aug 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

08 Aug 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

01 Aug 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

24 July 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

17 July 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

11 Jul 2010 - Letter form the People's Warden

27 Jun 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

20 Jun 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

13 Jun 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

06 Jun 2010 - Letter from the People's Warden

30 May 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

23 May 2010 - Letter form the Vicar

16 May 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

09 May 2010 - Letter from the Vicar

02/05/2010 - Letter from the Vicar

25/04/2010 - Letter from the People's Warden

18/04/2010 - Letter from the Hon. Assistant Priest

11/04/2010 - Letter from the Vicar

28/03/2010 - Letter from the Vicar

21/03/2010 - Letter from the Vicar

Palm Sunday, 28 March

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday in Holy Week

The Triduum Sacrum

EASTER DAY, 4 April

In Eastertide

Low Sunday, 11 April8:00 am Low Mass10:00 am Solemn Mass7:00 pm Taizé Evening Service

Sunday, 18 April Harvest Festival 8:00 am Low Mass10:00 am Solemn Mass7:00 pm Evensong & Benediction

Sundays of Easter, 25 April, 2, 9, 16 MayServices at the usual times:

8:00 am Low Mass

10:00 am Solemn Mass

7:00 pm Evensong & Benediction

Ascension Day, Thursday 13 May 7:00 am Low Mass12:15 pm Low Mass, with laying-on of hands for healing 7:30 pm Solemn Mass & Procession at S. Luke’s

Pentecost, Sunday 23 May

14/03/2010 - Letter from the Vicar

07/03/2010 - Letter from the Vicar

28/02/2010 - Letter from the Vicar

Lent Readings: Week Two

Stations of the Cross

21/02/2010 - Letter from the Vicar

07/02/2010 - Letter from the Vicar

The prayer of praise

31/01/2010 - Letter from the Vicar

25/12/2009 - Christmas Letter from Bishop Victoria

25/12/2009 - Christmas Letter from the Vicar

20/12/2009 - Letter from the Vicar

Low Sunday, 11 April
8:00 am Low Mass
10:00 am Solemn Mass
7:00 pm Taizé Evening Service

Sunday, 18 April Harvest Festival
8:00 am Low Mass
10:00 am Solemn Mass
7:00 pm Evensong & Benediction

Sundays of Easter, 25 April, 2, 9, 16 May
Services at the usual times:

Ascension Day, Thursday 13 May
7:00 am Low Mass
12:15 pm Low Mass, with laying-on of hands for healing
7:30 pm Solemn Mass & Procession at S. Luke’s