Dear Friends,
I am very pleased to announce that the next Vicar of Cashmere will be the Rev’d Kofe Havea who at present is curate in the Parish of Upper Riccarton-Yaldhurst. Congratulations, Kofe! This appointment will take effect on 1 December 2020 and nearer the time we will announce time and date details for Kofe’s induction at St Augustine’s Church.
This week is Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori. Resources for this important week in NZ life are found online here. Bit by bit we are becoming more comfortable with the use of Te Reo, including in our worship services. Across my own lifetime the warm reception of Te Reo and the increasing ordinariness of Te Reo being used in broadcasting is a significant social change. Yet significant challenges remain for Pākehā, for example, that we make more than a token effort to acknowledge the importance of Te Reo as one of the three official languages of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Quite a lot happened in the Diocese over the weekend, most but not all of which was good news.
On Saturday afternoon an Ultreya (gathering) was held for the Cursillo movement. The Ultreya included presenting our new Diocesan Lay Director, Mike Morley-Bunker with his licence, formally thanking Stephanie Johnston for her service as Diocesan Lay Director, and thanking David and Glenda Prosser for their service until recently as National Lay Directors for Cursillo NZ. In other Cursillo news, a decision has been made, because of Covid uncertainties to postpone the Cursillo Weekend set down for November this year until early 2021.
Teresa and I travelled to St Aidan’s Church, Mt Somers, on Sunday morning to share in celebrations of the 120th anniversary of the church. In recent years considerable work thinning out trees around the church and adding a ramp to the entrance of the church has taken place. In support of the Rev’ds Annette and Harvey Eggleston’s ministry leadership of the Parish of Mayfield-Mt Somers, I was delighted to be able to present Charles Jaine with his licence as a lay worship leader for the parish.
On Sunday evening it was a pleasure to participate in St Margaret’s College’s Service of Blessing for Years 11 to 13 and then to be present at the Young Adult Worship Night for September at the Transitional Cathedral. We have some very talented young people in our Diocese!
A few hours later, however, as you likely have read in the news, a series of damaging events occurred, all at the hands of one alleged perpetrator, including an arson attack on the Transitional Cathedral and arson and burglary at St Bartholomew’s, Kaiapoi. We can count our blessings that damage to both our buildings was not worse given that another building damaged in the same spree, the Jehovah’s Witness church in Parklands was burned to the ground.
Last but certainly not least this week, I mention our Synod and invite all readers to join our live-streamed Synod service tomorrow night (Thursday) at 7 pm on YouTube here. The business itself of Synod will take place on Friday on Zoom, Please pray for us as we engage in this novel experience. We especially ask for prayer that there will be no technological glitches!
Arohanui,
