Here’s our Zoom link –
Topic: St Martin’s Sunday Worship. To Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81508696154?pwd=cnErZFM5VG5OQVhsZkxYc0dxOHdvUT09
Meeting ID: 815 0869 6154
Passcode: 712158
NOTICES:
A very warm welcome to all who worship with us today, and many thanks to Rev Alan Webster for leading our service. Please join us for morning tea following the service.
Thank you to our Guest Speakers Cheryl & Laura from Waltham Cottage and also to everyone who regularly donates groceries.
An Invitation to the congregation to join the Fireside meeting on Monday 16th June when we are lucky to have arranged Alice Shanks as our speaker. Afternoon tea will be served afterwards. The meeting is to be in the church lounge at 2pm. Everyone is welcome. Queries to Margaret 366 8936.
Wednesday Walkers 11th June: meet 9.30am Cashmere Rd/Hoon Hay Rd. Coffee at Poco Poco Café. All welcome. Thea 027 351 5679.
Donations: if you would like to support the ministry at St Martins our bank account is: 03-1598-0011867-00. Please include your name as a reference.
St Mark’s Opawa is holding a fundraising movie night on Monday 28 July 5pm at Lumiere Cinema in the Arts Centre. Tickets $20. Nibbles provided. Cash bar operating. Movie to be screened TBC. If you are interested in coming along, please let Anna know.
THIS WEEK AT ST MARTINS
Monday 10am Tend cuppa & chat (lounge) Emily 022 094 1492
Monday 10am U3A focus group (church) Joy 337 2393
Monday 1.30pm U3A focus group (lounge) Richard 022 533 5444
Monday 7.15pm Meditation Group (lounge) Dugald 021 161 7007
Tuesday 10.30am South Elder Care (lounge) Jeannette 332 9869
Tuesday 7-9pm Mums ‘n’ Tums (lounge) Olivia 027 327 6369
Wednesday 9.30am Walking Group: Hoon Hay Thea 027 351 5679
Wednesday 7-9pm Cantabile Choir (lounge) Rose 027 254 0586
Thursday 10am Crafty Crafters (lounge) Sally 332 4730
Thursday 1.30pm Sit & Be Fit (church) Anneke 021 077 4065
Saturday 9am-4pm Private function (whole complex)
Moderator’s Pentecost Message 2025:
On Pentecost Sunday we read the Scriptures and reflect on the continuing story of our journey of faith with the Risen Christ and the Holy Spirit. We have the promise from Jesus that the Holy Spirit will teach us, lead us deeper into the truth of God, and remind us of the teachings that Jesus has already given us. We will experience the nudgings and the insights of the Holy Spirit in our living, and know the peace that Jesus offers us – a peace that gives wholeness and freedom from fear. There is much to celebrate!
At the time I was preparing to write this message, I spent three days at a women in ministry gathering at Te Maungarongo Marae – our Church’s national marae in ?hope. During our time together there was a workshop on marae tikanga and it was interesting to learn that every marae has its own mauri (life force, essence), and at Te Maungarongo the mauri is the Holy Spirit. So many people who come to this marae talk of how special it is, of how they feel close to God in this space, how they feel a home-coming, a welcome, an integration, a deep connection. The Holy Spirit is at work and is known. It is also known there through the people of Te Aka Puahou who give such manaakitanga (hospitality), which builds whanaungatanga (relationship). In step with this we think of the relational nature of the Holy Spirit as guide, teacher, advocate, counsellor, comforter. All things come together to provide a holy space. It feels like Te Maungarongo is similar to the Celtic Christians’ ‘thin place’ where the boundary between the material world and the spiritual or divine is perceived to be particularly thin. Where it is more permeable. A sacred place. What a gift.
In this season of Pentecost, where we reflect more deeply about the work of the Holy Spirit in our individual and corporate life, can we attend to that phrase from the Anglican prayer book which is used after Scripture is read: “Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church”. What do we feel the Spirit is saying to us, the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, at this time? Can we be attentive to the nudgings of the Holy Spirit, within and around us?
As we prepare for General Assembly in October, let us adopt a posture of listening to what the Holy Spirit is saying to us so that we can be all that God desires for us, individually and as a national Church. Discerning. Integrated. Energised. Engaged. Hopeful. May the warmth and the promptings of the Holy Spirit be with us all.
Rt Rev Rose Luxford.