A very warm welcome to you all this morning. Please come through to the Lounge after the service for a cuppa and a time to talk.
Foot Clinic TOMORROW 1-4pm in the lounge.
All the congregation are welcome: Learn to make flax flowers – which will give a New Zealand touch to our Christmas services – at the Fireside meeting on Tuesday 29th October in the church lounge. The meeting will be at 7.45pm, allowing the meditation group who meet earlier some peace and quiet before we arrive.
Allison has arranged for Peg Riley to teach us and she will explain custom as well as flax purpose. She said “We will need a flax leaf – long if possible, cut just the day before, the fresher the better!!, at least one per person, but we can have two or more if you like! Sharp scissors are helpful, (but you only need one good pair as we can share,) for cutting to length as we start.”
Please come and join us.
Assisted Dying….local churches are offering an opportunity to learn more about this important legislation at 7.00pm on Sunday 10th November at Opawa Baptist Church. More details coming.
Singing Group…. meets 9.15am sharp on the first and third Sundays. Today’s song is “God’s Kingdom It Will Come”.
Articles are now required for the next ‘Messenger’.
Please email any contributions to anneke.howie@gmail.com Deadline: Friday 14th November.
Wednesday Walkers 23rd Oct: Meet 9.30am Meet in Brookford Pl, off Cashmere Rd, Westmorland. Gerard and Thea will lead us on our walk around the area. Coffee at Alice in Wonderland Café, Oderings Cashmere Rd. All welcome. Sonya 027 253 3397.
Dis-Ability – an evening with Roland Walter. Tuesday 12 November 7pm at Cashmere Presbyterian Church. Koha entry. Supper provided. Don’t miss this incredible opportunity to meet Roland and hear his story.
Roland Walter is spastically paralyzed. He doesn’t allow this to impede him in any way. By expressing his thoughts through art, dance and assisted speech he shares his message with the world:
Nothing is impossible.
No matter who you are, life is a gift which should be embraced
Meditation Group: Tuesdays 7.00-7.45pm in the church. You’re welcome to ‘come and try’.
Crafty Crafters: Meets on Thursdays in the Church lounge 10am-12noon. $3 per session.
For Your Diaries: Next Parish Breakfast is on Sunday 3rd November 8.45am, hosted by the Worship Committee.
On Sunday 27th October you are
invited to bike to church
as part of Biketober. No
longer able to bike safely? Walk or ride share.
Presbyterian Support Upper South Island – Notice of 110th Annual Meeting Thursday 24 October 2019 at 5pm, 44 Bealey Ave. Drinks and canapés between 5pm and 6pm, during which time staff will be available to take guests on a short tour of our new home, Te Korowai. The Annual Meeting will commence at 6pm.
Board of Managers Report:
Landscaping… A fence with gates will shortly be installed between the church and the Menzshed community room. The new grass is growing well…. Thanks to Cyril.
Shelving … a plan for more storage shelving in the upstairs store and shed one is being worked on.
Table storage in lounge and foyer… Simple racks have been installed and seem to be working well.
Menzshed… The classroom block has been transported on site to be used as a woodworking workshop. Currently we are gathering the data to make a consent application. This involves structural design of pile foundations, and a fire engineers report. We hope to have a consent application into the council by the end of the month, which if successful would allow work to begin in December to place the building on piles and do the needed fire improvements. This work will be funded by a grant from the Alpine Mission fund for $22,000.
Working Bee…..next working bee on Saturday 30th November, 9.00am. There will be clearing work around the section, window washing, and other matters to be attended to.
Corrugated roof over the kitchen and toilets…. Will be replaced over the Christmas period.
Grass Bins….the old 44gal drums will be removed and grass clippings will now be put in the council green bin.
Accounts for payment…. Our expenses over the last 2 months included paying insurance of $7,800, electricity $1300, and amounted to $26,000. Our income for the period was $29,300, but this included our grant from Manchester Unity Trust of $11,000 to support the work of our Elder Care Programme.
Financial Situation…. A small task group has been set up to look at how we might lift our giving and general income to allow us to seek a full time ministry position. If we restricted ongoing maintenance to absolute essentials we believe we would need to find another $40,000 per annum. If the congregation were to accept this challenge it would mean increased giving, an emphasis on inviting others to join us, and some creative fundraising in the wider community.
Prayer is a vital part of our lives as Christians. In our own time it has become a neglected spiritual practice. Often it has been reduced to a ‘what can God do for me” practice. We often fail to take spiritual formation seriously in our lives.
Prayer is “keeping company with God”. In our time what is needed is recognising that prayer is about transformation – transformation of our very beings. Instead of sending words off out there somewhere to get God to do things, we need to recapture prayer as a time God connects with us deep to deep and changes us. This is why Jesus so often stressed the need to find a quiet place to pray. He talked of going into the inner room which I see as the deeper place of my being. Practices like mediation can help us do this.
Prayer, like all spiritual practices, is about becoming more centred in God. Centring in God changes us. It produces what Paul called the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. These fruits are many but the most important are compassion, authenticity, courage, and gratitude.
We all know the institutional church is dying. People say we need to do more in our community, or we need to change the way we do things to be more relevant as a church. If there one thing we need it is a more persistent and active practice of prayer.