NOTICES:

A very warm welcome to all who worship with us this morning. We thank the Rev Sheena Dickson for leading today’s service.

MASK WEARING: Due to the rising number of community Covid cases, the Parish Council strongly encourages everyone to again wear a mask when attending church services.

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

THANK YOU from Waltham Cottage for the magnificent contributions everyone donated – thus enabling over 80 parcels to be created and wrapped for some very deserving folk.

CHRISTMAS SERVICES 2022 (no services here):

St Mark’s Anglican Church, 101 Opawa Rd

Christmas Eve     11pm (carols from 10.45pm)

Christmas Day              9am

(mask wearing encouraged)

Opawa Community Church, corner Aynsley Tce & Opawa Rd         

Christmas Day              9am

SUNDAYS IN JANUARY 2023 ~ all at 10am:

1^st & 8^th       here with Beckenham Methodist led by Rev Alan Webster

15^th & 22^nd at Beckenham Methodist Church, 83 Malcolm Ave

29^th              here as usual with Rev Hugh Perry

On Sunday 1^st we will also be joined by Opawa Community Church members.

THE PARISH OFFICE closes at 12 noon on Friday 23^rd December, and will re-open on Wednesday 25^th January 2023. Anna.

From this week’s Parish Council meeting:

• This week, Presbytery Council approved Rev Dan Yeazel as the Interim Moderator at St Martins. Dan is a minister in good standing in the PCUSA, but has been in New Zealand for some time serving in the North Island. He is now Christchurch based and is currently working as the Stated Supply Minister at Hurunui.
• Given the current numbers of COVID in the community, the Parish Council strongly advise that should you feel more comfortable wearing your mask in church, then please do so. Your welfare is our concern too. St Martins is very fortunate to be able to Zoom our services, and if that is an option for you, please use it.
• On the Executive team, Rob Meier has now retired from his position on the team and Barry Moore will take his place.
• The St Martins Facebook is to be retired and the web page given an uplift.
• Given the proximity to schools, day cares and even our own busy church facilities, an application has been made to the CCC regarding lowering the speed limit along St Martins Road.
• $865 was the collection taken at Don Fergus’s last service and, as was Don and Jo’s wish, was donated to Hagar.
• World Day of Prayer 2023 – it was decided that St Martins will not have a role in running this. However if members are wanting to engage in a service elsewhere, as and when we know details we will let you know. (3^rd March 2023)
• 1^st January 2023 – at our service we will be joined by members from the Opawa Community Church and the Beckenham Methodist. We will need extra folk to help on door and morning tea duties please. See Irene.

NOTICES:

A very warm welcome to all who worship with us this morning. We thank the Rev Chris Elliot for leading today’s service.

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

The 2023 morning tea & door duty roster is now available in the foyer.

GIFTS FOR WALTHAM COTTAGE: Thank you to everyone who has donated gifts.

CHRISTMAS SERVICES 2022 (no services here):

St Mark’s Anglican Church, 101 Opawa Rd

Christmas Eve               11pm (carols from 10.45pm)

Christmas Day              9am

Opawa Community Church, corner Aynsley Tce & Opawa Rd

Christmas Day              9am

SUNDAYS IN JANUARY 2023 ~ all at 10am:

1^st & 8^th       here with Beckenham Methodist led by Rev Alan Webster

15^th & 22^nd at Beckenham Methodist Church, 83 Malcolm Ave

29^th              here as usual with Rev Hugh Perry

On Sunday 1^st we will also be joined by Opawa Community Church members.

Carols at Opawa Community Church, Aynsley Tce this Friday 16^th  December 6pm. All are welcome.

You’re invited: This year we’re trialling something new at St Mark’s, Opawa with a nativity photo-booth set up in our chapel where families can come, dress up as a character from the Christmas story (Mary, Joseph, shepherds, angels, sheep, wise (wo)men etc), and take some photos. The space will be open from 3-5pm from the 11-18 December. All are welcome. Rev Ben Truman, Vicar.

THIS WEEK AT ST MARTINS          

Monday 1-4pm                  Foot Clinic (lounge) Janette 332 1240.

Tuesday 9.30am               South Elder Care lunch Jeannette 332 9869.

Tuesday 7.15pm               Meditation Group (church) Dugald 021 161 7007.

Wednesday 9.30am           Informal Walk Sonya 339 7038.

Wednesday 7.30pm          Parish Council meeting (lounge)

Thursday 10am                 Crafty Crafters (lounge) Jeannette 332 9869.

Thursday 12.30pm           Sit & Be Fit(church) Anneke 021 077 4065.

Thursday 5.30pm              Familial Trust (whole complex) Vanessa 022 169 6569.

Friday 9.30am                   Sing & Sign (lounge) Becky 022 086 2211.

• If you remain uncomfortable about being in church where masks are no longer required, use @church via Zoom until you feel confident enough to be in church with or without a mask.
• If you’re unwell please stay at home, and use @ Church via Zoom.

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 this morning. We thank the Rev Sheena Dickson for leading today’s service.

GIFTS FOR WALTHAM COTTAGE: We invite you to bring along Christmas gifts for Waltham Cottage to distribute to people in need. Next Sunday 11 December is your last opportunity to donate items. Thank you.

CHRISTMAS SERVICES 2022: At St Mark’s Anglican Church, 101 Opawa Rd. 11pm on Christmas Eve for Midnight Mass or 9am on Christmas Day. There will be NO services here at St Martins.

The 2023 morning tea & door duty roster is now available in the foyer.

Carols at Opawa Community Church, Aynsley Tce on  Friday 16^th  December 6pm. All are welcome.

THIS WEEK AT ST MARTINS          

Monday 1.30pm                Hillsborough-Heathcote WI (lounge) Jennifer 332 3314.

Tuesday 9.30am               South Elder Care (lounge) Jeannette 332 9869.

Tuesday 7.15pm               Meditation Group (church) Dugald 021 161 7007.

Wednesday 12 noon         Walking Group end of year lunch. Sonya 339 7038.

Wednesday 3pm               Private function (lounge).

Thursday 10am                 Crafty Crafters (lounge) Jeannette 332 9869.

Thursday 1.30pm              Sit & Be Fit(church) Anneke 021 077 4065.

Thursday 5.30pm              Familial Trust (whole complex) Vanessa 022 169 6569.

Friday 9.30am                   Sing & Sign (lounge) Becky 022 086 2211.

• If you remain uncomfortable about being in church where masks are no longer required, use @church via Zoom until you feel confident enough to be in church with or without a mask.
• If you’re unwell please stay at home, and use @ Church via Zoom.

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 this morning. We thank the Rev Chris Elliot for leading today’s service.

There will be a short Congregational meeting following the service today to approve the Parish Profile. Any apologies to Irene please.

Special Christmas ‘Messenger’: TODAY is the deadline for articles to be included. Please email contributions to Charlotte & Sally (hooty@xtra.co.nz).

Wednesday Walkers 30^th November: Meet 9.30am at the Te Kuru & Eastman Wetlands carpark 600 Cashmere Road.  Coffee at Urban Cafe in Oderings Cashmere.  All welcome.  Sonya 027 253 3397.

GIFTS FOR WALTHAM COTTAGE: We invite you to bring along Christmas gifts for Waltham Cottage to distribute to people in need. Items must be new, and we require gifts suitable for all ages – men, women, teenagers and children. Please do not wrap them. Donations of wrapping paper also appreciated. Bring any contributions along to church until 11 December and place under the tree. Thank you.

A message from Sue: Peter has some excess tomato, chilli and capsicum seedlings looking for a home. Anyone who wants them should phone before coming round (960 7657).

LOST: Keyring with a few keys and a small red Swiss army pocket knife attached. Please hand in to the Office if you’ve found them.

CHRISTMAS SERVICES: This year we have been invited to join our neighbours at St Mark’s Anglican Church, 101 Opawa Rd to celebrate Christmas, either at 11pm on Christmas Eve for Midnight Mass or at 9am on Christmas Day. There will be NO services here at St Martins.

A message from Don: Thanks to you all for making last Sunday’s wonderful lunch happen, which I enjoyed greatly despite not feeling the best (and since testing positive for Covid!)

THIS WEEK AT ST MARTINS          

Tuesday 9.30am               South Elder Care (lounge) Jeannette 332 9869.

Tuesday 7.15pm               Meditation Group (church) Dugald 021 161 7007.

Wednesday 9.30am          Walking Group: Cashmere wetlands Sonya 339 7038.

Thursday 10am                 Crafty Crafters (lounge) Jeannette 332 9869.

Thursday 1.30pm              Sit & Be Fit(church) Anneke 021 077 4065.

Thursday 5.30pm              Familial Trust (whole complex) Vanessa 022 169 6569.

Friday 9.30am                   Sing & Sign (lounge) Becky 022 086 2211.

• If you remain uncomfortable about being in church where masks are no longer required, use @church via Zoom until you feel confident enough to be in church with or without a mask.
• If you’re unwell please stay at home, and use @ Church via Zoom.

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 this morning. Please stay for the BBQ following the service as we farewell Don.

NEXT SUNDAY 27^th November there is a Congregational meeting following the service to approve the Parish Profile. Any apologies to Irene please.

Wednesday Walkers 23^rd November: Contact Sonya 027 2533397 for this week’s destination.

GIFTS FOR WALTHAM COTTAGE: We invite you to bring along Christmas gifts for Waltham Cottage to distribute to people in need. Items must be new, and we require gifts suitable for all ages – men, women, teenagers and children. Please do not wrap them. Donations of wrapping paper also appreciated. Bring any contributions along to church from next Sunday 27 November until 11 December and place under the tree. Thank you.

A message from Sue: Peter has some excess tomato, chilli and capsicum seedlings looking for a home. Anyone who wants them should phone before coming round (960 7657).

Special Christmas ‘Messenger’: please email contributions to Charlotte & Sally by Sunday 27 November (hooty@xtra.co.nz).

From the Moderator – An Advent Message: Is Jesus the help we are looking for? There is a poignant segment in the Advent readings for this year that finds John the Baptist languishing in Herod’s dungeon and doubting whether Jesus is the promised Messiah. Despite his earlier calls to prepare the way for the Messiah, events have turned for the worse. So, he sends his disciples to ask whether Jesus really is the promised Messiah, or should we look elsewhere (see Matthew 11: 2-3).

I am sure that there are many in the world today who share the doubt! Ukrainian Orthodox families experiencing Christmas this year in cramped refugee conditions so far away from home, or worse still, in areas of Ukraine where fear of missile strikes will dominate their ‘festive’ season! And, in a similar vein, homeless families in our country, crammed into temporary accommodation of motel units, struggling to meet rising food costs.

The story of hardship, anguish and suffering is repeated many times over in our world as we approach Christmas this year. So where are you Jesus, in this world with so much suffering? With John the Baptist we may be justified in asking the question, Are you the hope we are looking for? Or should we look elsewhere?

Part of the answer comes for me in asking this question, Where would Jesus be born in 2022? In 2008, the UK Churches Advertising Network asked that question and came up with this answer: a freezing bus shelter. They then made a poster depicting this and had it displayed in over 1,000 bus shelters across the UK.

This was a message of hope: God incarnated help that comes into the places of poverty and despair. Originally it was a baby born in the middle of a winter night, out where the animals were kept. This speaks a message of God’s presence in the most unlikely and despairing places.

In the bus stop posters, some of the bystanders see what is happening and respond with worshipful devotion, while others are too busy checking the bus timetable. May our churches help people to stop and notice the hope that the birth of Jesus brings to our needy world this year.

Right Rev Hamish Galloway, Moderator Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand
moderator@presbyterian.org.nz 

THIS WEEK AT ST MARTINS          

Tuesday 9.30am               South Elder Care (lounge) Jeannette 332 9869.

Tuesday 7.15pm               Meditation Group (church) Dugald 021 161 7007.

Wednesday 9.30am          Walking Group: Sonya 339 7038.

Thursday 10am                 Crafty Crafters (lounge) Jeannette 332 9869.

Thursday 1.30pm              Sit & Be Fit(church) Anneke 021 077 4065.

Thursday 5.30pm              Familial Trust (whole complex) Vanessa 022 169 6569.

Friday 9.30am                   Sing & Sign (lounge) Becky 022 086 2211.