Rev John Peters from St Mary’s London is with us this week. He lands in Auckland on Saturday morning and is going to be staying with Dino and Lucy. John is an old friend of ours and was instrumental in the renewal of St Pauls back in 2004 when Bex and I and a team from St Mary’s came over to set up the new services. John claims never to suffer from jet lag and so it will be interesting to see what state he is in when Bex and I have an early dinner with him on Saturday! He is speaking at the 9am, 11am and 6.30pm Sunday services on the 22nd and 29th May. He is a great speaker and gifted at releasing the ministry of the Spirit and so I encourage you all to come along. John is also going to be leading an evening of worship, teaching and ministry on Wednesday 25th May at 7.30pm in the church.
Tim Giovanelli is also visiting us. Tim is a great guy and has become a good friend over the last few years despite being Australian. He is the Associate Pastor of Northside Baptist Church in Sydney, which is a very exciting church. He is coming to spend a week with us and hopefully be inspired and refreshed. As you know, I have been over to Northside a couple of times to visit them and have made many friends there. And so we are all in for a great week.
Mike Norris is the Vicar of St Paul's in Auckland City....
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
The Future of St Pauls: State of the Nation Address 30th May
At the beginning of March I returned from my study leave. You will recall at the AGM in my Vicar’s Report I spent some time reflecting on where St Paul’s had got to in its recent journey since Bex and my arrival in 2004. You will recall that I have felt (along with some of you) that as the church has grown in the last couple of years we had lost some of our “mojo”! I explained that this was normal for an organisation at our life stage and announced that we needed to do four things.
First, we need to refocus and sharpen our vision. Second, we need to address the internal organisational issues that often hamper organisations at our life stage. Third, we need to reality check our strategic desires against our resources as I felt we were trying to do too much with our available resources. Fourth, I mentioned that we need to narrow our focus on to the immediate priorities. As I closed I asked you to pray, be patient and keep going for it! I also stated that I hoped that I would be able to report back on the process by the end of May.
To assist with this process I subsequently announced that Evan Williams, one of our congregation members, had agreed to help.
I am delighted that we have now completed the review and I want to invite you to come to the “The Future of St Paul’s : State of the Nation Address” on Monday 30th May at 7.00pm for refreshments (meeting starting at 7.30pm) in the Crypt. This is going to be a key and exciting evening for members of the church where I will set out our vision and priorities for the immediate future and explain what we have done internally to hopefully improve the church. Could you please put this date in your diary now? It will be great to see you there.
First, we need to refocus and sharpen our vision. Second, we need to address the internal organisational issues that often hamper organisations at our life stage. Third, we need to reality check our strategic desires against our resources as I felt we were trying to do too much with our available resources. Fourth, I mentioned that we need to narrow our focus on to the immediate priorities. As I closed I asked you to pray, be patient and keep going for it! I also stated that I hoped that I would be able to report back on the process by the end of May.
To assist with this process I subsequently announced that Evan Williams, one of our congregation members, had agreed to help.
I am delighted that we have now completed the review and I want to invite you to come to the “The Future of St Paul’s : State of the Nation Address” on Monday 30th May at 7.00pm for refreshments (meeting starting at 7.30pm) in the Crypt. This is going to be a key and exciting evening for members of the church where I will set out our vision and priorities for the immediate future and explain what we have done internally to hopefully improve the church. Could you please put this date in your diary now? It will be great to see you there.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Hip Hip Hooray He's Dead?
What do you make of the death of Osama Bin Laden? I thought I would circulate this piece written by the Archbishops this week.
"Reflections at the time of the death of Osama bin Laden
The news of the demise of Osama bin Laden has been felt to bring a measure and a form of closure for thousands affected by the acts of terror over the past decade. It is crucial that the acts of terror in any form, including those masterminded by Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, be challenged and overcome.
However, the death of Osama bin Laden is no cause for gloating, or unthinking jubilation. The biblical record is clear in Ezekiel 18:32: “For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord GOD. Turn, then, and live.” We are therefore not called to relish the death of anyone. We are called to grieve the fact that turning and living was not chosen in the first place by Al Qaeda, who chose the way of death, but also to grieve all deadly spirals of violence and fear, hatred and prejudice with all
their various causes.
Learning to find a way of understanding the causes of the way of violence and death can, by grace, lead to a measure of God given forgiveness of enemies, as the Gospel calls us to do: Matthew 5:43- 44, John 13:34, Luke 6:27-28, Romans 12:14, 1 Corinthians 4:12, Romans 12:17-21, 1 Peter 3:9, 1 John 2:9-10. We need insight under God, rather than vengeance. Vengeance belongs to God (Romans 12:19, Hebrews 10:30). An eye for an eye (Matthew 5:38) and the whole world goes blind.
This means jingoism and enjoyment of the death of Osama bin Laden can find no place in Christian prayer or Christian thinking.
We can do no better than end with the words of a Christian leader who gave his life for the cause of justice, freedom and abundant life for all people: "I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."--Martin Luther King, Jr.
++Brown Turei
++David Moxon
Archbishops of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia"
"Reflections at the time of the death of Osama bin Laden
The news of the demise of Osama bin Laden has been felt to bring a measure and a form of closure for thousands affected by the acts of terror over the past decade. It is crucial that the acts of terror in any form, including those masterminded by Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, be challenged and overcome.
However, the death of Osama bin Laden is no cause for gloating, or unthinking jubilation. The biblical record is clear in Ezekiel 18:32: “For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord GOD. Turn, then, and live.” We are therefore not called to relish the death of anyone. We are called to grieve the fact that turning and living was not chosen in the first place by Al Qaeda, who chose the way of death, but also to grieve all deadly spirals of violence and fear, hatred and prejudice with all
their various causes.
Learning to find a way of understanding the causes of the way of violence and death can, by grace, lead to a measure of God given forgiveness of enemies, as the Gospel calls us to do: Matthew 5:43- 44, John 13:34, Luke 6:27-28, Romans 12:14, 1 Corinthians 4:12, Romans 12:17-21, 1 Peter 3:9, 1 John 2:9-10. We need insight under God, rather than vengeance. Vengeance belongs to God (Romans 12:19, Hebrews 10:30). An eye for an eye (Matthew 5:38) and the whole world goes blind.
This means jingoism and enjoyment of the death of Osama bin Laden can find no place in Christian prayer or Christian thinking.
We can do no better than end with the words of a Christian leader who gave his life for the cause of justice, freedom and abundant life for all people: "I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."--Martin Luther King, Jr.
++Brown Turei
++David Moxon
Archbishops of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia"
Does Love Win?
I have just finished reading “Love Wins” by Rob Bell. Just in case you don’t know Rob Bell, is a pastor from Mars Hill Church in Michigan. He has also written a number of books including Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith and Sex God: Exploring the Endless Connections between Sexuality and Spirituality. He is also responsible for the brilliant Nooma videos that were released about five years ago.
Love Wins is his latest book. In it he explores heaven, hell and “the fate of every person who ever lived” (and so just a few small topics then!). The book has proved deeply controversial within Christian circles in the States and many American evangelicals are "not amused" with some of the content of Bell's book and have accused him of heresy on the grounds that he is a Universalist (unfairly in my opinion). In fact Bell denies that he is a Universalist on his web site.
So does Love Wins win? The best review I have read of the book is a three part review written by our very own Andrew Shamy on the Compass website (http://www.compass.org.nz/conversations/) . This three part review is balanced and considered. Well done Andrew. (Incidentally Andrew opened our new preaching series on the book of Acts last Sunday with a superb talk which is worth listening to. (http://www.stpauls.org.nz/Growing/Talks.aspx))
Personally, I have read a lot of Bell’s stuff and love his creative communication style and his ability to resonate with contemporary culture, which often is a challenge for us in the church. However, communication brilliance aside, having read many of Bell’s books I have wondered what some of the hype has been about as his theology is fairly mainstream (indeed Love Wins carries the endorsement of Eugene Peterson). I have to say though that his latest offering contains passages of utter genius (particularly in the opening couple of chapters) which are very inspiring. Bell undoubtedly has a grand and majestic view of Christ. As the book progressed, I found that a few passages became rather fuzzy and Bell’s train of thought was a bit hard to follow on a few occasions and one chapter seemed unrelated to his main topic. Yet, whilst a couple of paragraphs towards the end left me feeling a bit uncomfortable this is not a hideous and irresponsible book! If I were you, I would grab a copy, read it, enjoy it and discuss the parts that unsettle you with your mates. Thrash it out and together you will grow in your faith.
Love Wins is his latest book. In it he explores heaven, hell and “the fate of every person who ever lived” (and so just a few small topics then!). The book has proved deeply controversial within Christian circles in the States and many American evangelicals are "not amused" with some of the content of Bell's book and have accused him of heresy on the grounds that he is a Universalist (unfairly in my opinion). In fact Bell denies that he is a Universalist on his web site.
So does Love Wins win? The best review I have read of the book is a three part review written by our very own Andrew Shamy on the Compass website (http://www.compass.org.nz/conversations/) . This three part review is balanced and considered. Well done Andrew. (Incidentally Andrew opened our new preaching series on the book of Acts last Sunday with a superb talk which is worth listening to. (http://www.stpauls.org.nz/Growing/Talks.aspx))
Personally, I have read a lot of Bell’s stuff and love his creative communication style and his ability to resonate with contemporary culture, which often is a challenge for us in the church. However, communication brilliance aside, having read many of Bell’s books I have wondered what some of the hype has been about as his theology is fairly mainstream (indeed Love Wins carries the endorsement of Eugene Peterson). I have to say though that his latest offering contains passages of utter genius (particularly in the opening couple of chapters) which are very inspiring. Bell undoubtedly has a grand and majestic view of Christ. As the book progressed, I found that a few passages became rather fuzzy and Bell’s train of thought was a bit hard to follow on a few occasions and one chapter seemed unrelated to his main topic. Yet, whilst a couple of paragraphs towards the end left me feeling a bit uncomfortable this is not a hideous and irresponsible book! If I were you, I would grab a copy, read it, enjoy it and discuss the parts that unsettle you with your mates. Thrash it out and together you will grow in your faith.
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