03 April 2011 - Letter from the Vicar

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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