Caring for God’s People and World
We are certainly well aware winter is with us with the cold snaps and the heavy downpours of rain we are experiencing. Yes, these are the effects of climate change as the warm air can hold more water and we certainly know when it is too much for it to hold any longer. Again there are restrictions on hospital visiting, especially for children. It is because of these respiratory illnesses that we are involved in the pyjama drive as we seek to keep children warmer and out of hospital.
Many areas of the world are still gripped in the Covid pandemic and it is only with everyone playing their part that there is any hope of us retaining the freedom we are currently experiencing.
We must retain our care of ourselves and others by staying home when we are unwell and tracking our movements.
The needs of our community continue to grow, and we are grateful to those who continue to supply good food and warm clothing for those in need.
Please keep in your prayers those who are suffering in our country, our Pacific neighbours and those living in countries where they feel their lives are threatened, especially those in South Africa and all who are anxious for their families overseas.
Life around the parish is busy and this Sunday, being social service Sunday, the children are preparing lunch for some of the less mobile people around us.
With Creation being our current season of the church year it is good that we are having some beautiful days to enjoy some of God’s creation that surrounds us. I do hope you are able to take the time to spend some time in the sun and appreciate the beauty of God’s creation around us. There are some beautiful trees and shrubs blooming and there will be young animals in our fields.
The progress on our major construction project is frustratingly slow and despite a huge commitment of time and expertise on the part of Richard Gibbons little progress appears to be happening. I assure you we are trying. We are expecting a 3D model of the restored church very soon and we look forward to that. The completion of the fence at the Wesley St entrance to the church will be completed very soon, we hope, and the letterboxes will be replaced. Currently there is a challenge getting some building materials.
The sudden downfalls of rain make getting to church challenging for some of our parishioners. If you are able to transport someone, we would appreciate you letting us know. We do realise that people are not able to attend every week but people appreciate being able to attend when they can.
Do remember there is the monthly 11.15am service in Nora Brown for those who struggle to get to 8am or 9.30am services on these cold wintry mornings.
Keep warm and keep well
Blessings to you all
Jan
OPPORTUNITIES FOR WORSHIP
Sunday Worship Times
St Andrew’s
Each Sunday 8am & 9.30am Holy Communion
1st Sunday 11.15am Holy Communion (Nora Brown Hall)
St Paul’s Buckland
3rd & 5th Sundays this month 11.15am Holy Communion
NOTE NO Buckland service on 8th or 22nd August. However we will have services on the 3rd and 5th Sundays. Please join us at St Andrew’s at 8 am or 9.30am on the 8th of August as our Archdeacon, the Venerable Michael Berry, will be visiting the parish. On the 22nd August the Rev Linda Murphy will be sharing with us about the work of the Auckland City Mission.
Sunday Readings for August 2021
| First reading | Gospel | |
| 1st | Ephesians 4:1-16 | John 6: 24-35 |
| 8th | Ephesians 4:25 – 5:2 | John 6: 35, 41-51 |
| 15th | Ephesians 5:15-20 | John 6:51-58 |
| 22nd | Ephesians 6:10-20 | John 6:56-69 |
| 29th | James 1:17-27 | Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 |
Rest homes and hospital services, and activities in August
| Sunday 1st | 11.15am | Nora Brown |
| Tuesday 3rd | 10.30am | Palms rest home |
| Wednesday 4th | 10.30am | Mothers’ Union |
| Thursday 5th | 10.30am | Franklin Village |
| Wednesday 11th | 11am | Lakeside |
| Thursday 12th | 10.30am | Women’s Fellowship |
| Thursday 19th | 10am | Church cleaning |
| Tuesday 24th | 11am | Possum Bourne Village |
| Tuesday 24th | 11am | Possum Bourne Village |
“Save the Night”
of Sunday 14th November 2021
for the
St Andrew’s Restoration Fundraising Dinner
at the Pukekohe Town Hall
This will be an opportunity for the community to come together to dine, dance and bid in the auctions to raise money to restore the church to meet earthquake standards.
The outstanding Off Broadway Big Band will be featuring.
Ticket sales will start in August.
Silent Auction Donations for the Dinner
If you have a business contact who can help provide items or services for the silent auctions, could you please contact the church office.
There will be opportunities to donate items for the hampers from16th October.
PLEASE LET JAN KNOW IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING CONFIRMATION THIS YEAR ON 14th NOVEMBER.
Get one. Give one
Fundraiser page created in the Community category by Anglican Missions – Wellington
The ‘Get one. Give one.’ campaign protects and supports the world’s most vulnerable from COVID-19 through vaccine equality.
Whether or not you have received your Covid-19 vaccine, give $10 so that one of the world’s most vulnerable people can get theirs. $50 covers a family of five! $100 covers two families!
As vaccines roll out across Aotearoa New Zealand, in many low-income countries, vaccines may not be available; there may not be enough of them to go around, and their cost will significantly impact availability thereby increasing inequality.
While we are thankful for the availability of vaccines in our country, we are aware that many people are not so fortunate. The Get one. Give one. Campaign aims to protect and support the most vulnerable.
Through this Campaign, New Zealanders can contribute to a global initiative that funds vaccine equality in countries that would otherwise miss out.
Donations can be left in the plate at the back of the church on Sunday or drop into the office labelled COVID Vaccine.
We encourage you to give as soon as possible even if you are yet to receive your vaccine.
At times we need a little smile
or a rainbow big and bright.
At times we need a helping hand
to help us make things right.
At times our belief in ourselves
will teach us how strong we are.
That smile, that rainbow, that helping hand.
Our beliefs will get us far.
Michelle Ebel
Tarore
In the 1830s a Māori girl called Tarore lived in the Waikato. She was about 12 years old. Her father, Ngakuku, was a rangatira – a Māori chief. Life was uncertain. People traded for guns. There were tensions. War parties could strike at any time. If people were killed revenge was expected.
Some missionaries arrived with God’s written Word, the Bible. These missionaries, Rev and Mrs Brown, wanted to teach people to read, so that they could read the Bible and learn about God’s love. Tarore had heard about their school, so she asked her father, “Please, can I go? I’d like to learn from the book.” Ngakuku agreed.
At school Tarore learned about Jesus. Jesus was different. He had great mana. But Jesus didn’t fight back, even when his enemies were going to kill him. Instead, Tarore learned, Jesus loved people. From the Bible, Tarore learned that Jesus helped people love each other and taught them to love God. She learned that Jesus was the Son of God, and that he died on a cross and rose again. She learned that, by his death and rising to life again, Jesus defeated all the dark powers of the world and put us right with God. Tarore decided to follow Jesus.
At this time, the first parts of the Maori Bible were being printed. One of the first was Te Rongopai a Ruka – the Gospel of Luke. The Browns gave a copy to Tarore.
As Tarore read from her book to her people, Ngakuku her father stood nearby and listened to his daughter. The message about love and peace was new, but it had an impact as Tarore’s people thought about the hate and pain of war. Fighting was never far away.
Ngakuku decided to take his young people over the Kaimai mountains to Tauranga. They stopped to spend the night by the Wairere Falls. The group gathered around the campfire. Perhaps Tarore brought out her Gospel and read to the group. Then, putting her book under her head, she slept.
But up the valley, warriors watched smoke from Tarore’s camp rising above the trees and made their way quietly towards the sleepers.
Crack! A branch broke. Ngakuku was instantly awake. “What was that!?” Crack! There it was again. “Quick!” shouted Ngakuku, “Into the bush and hide!”
Ngakuku grabbed his little son and led the way. But where was Tarore?
When it was safe Ngakuku went back, afraid about what he would find. By a tree where she had slept, Tarore lay dead. Ngakuku wept.
“Revenge!” cried others in the group.
“No!” said Ngakuku, “There’s been enough killing!”
“Where is Tarore’s book?” someone asked. But it had been taken.
Uita had taken the Gospel. Thinking it must be a great treasure, he took it back to Rotorua. But no one could understand the strange marks. No one, that is, until Ripahau arrived. Ripahau was a slave from Otaki who had been taken to the Bay of Islands. He had been taught to read by the missionaries there. His master had died and now he was returning home.
“I will read it.” said Ripahau. Others gathered around to hear.
As he listened Uita found the words were a special message for him. “Love my enemies? But I killed the wahine who had this book … I want the peace Jesus brings.”
So Uita sent a message and asked forgiveness from Ngakuku. And there was peace, not through force, but through the power of God’s Word.
Ripahau left and went on to Otaki. There he taught Tamihana, son of the great Otaki rangatira Te Rauparaha and his cousin Te Whi-whi He taught them to read from Tarore’s Gospel. But Te Rauparaha himself was a fierce man of war. People feared him.
One day Te Rauparaha’s son, Tamihana, said, “I do not want war! I want to follow the way of peace.”
He taught his people from Tarore’s book. Te Whi-whi went to Paihia to bring a missionary to teach them more about Jesus. Even Te Rauparaha began to change his ways.
Tamihana looked across at the South Island. People lived there in fear of wars and revenge. He said, “I will take them the message of peace.” So he set off in a canoe to the very places where the name of his father was enough to make people grab their weapons. There he told the people the things he had learned from Tarore’s book – how Jesus had taught that the way of peace was better than the way of hatred and war.
Six years later Bishop Selwyn took his missionary journey through New Zealand. No European missionary had been to the South Island, but Selwyn found the people living in peace and following Jesus. Many people had learned to read and write. The only textbook they had known was Tarore’s Gospel of Luke and two pages from the Māori Prayer Book.
What about Ngakuku and Uita? Rev Brown records in his journal that, in 1842, Ngakuku and Uita met: “In the evening, they were engaged together in worshipping God at their prayer meeting and were apparently on the most friendly terms. Who but the Christian loves their enemies?”
| Our Op Shop management team are considering which time is best for the Op Shop to be open, 9am until 12 noon or 10am until 1 pm. For the next month we will trial opening hours from 9am to 1pm and monitor whether 9am – 10am or 12noon -1 pm is the busiest time. |
Handel Quire present Ravishing Romantics3pm Sunday August 8, St Andrew’s Pukekohe SS Wesley: The Wilderness, Ascribe Unto the Lord; Brahms: Op 109 No 1-3 for double choir; Bairstow: Blessed City, Heavenly Salem, Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence; Tchaikovsky: Hymn of the Cherubim. Organist: Helen Lukman-Fox. Director: Robert Howell. Adults $40, Seniors $35, Students FREE with ID. You can book your tickets up until August 6th at St Andrew’s Anglican Church Office and receive a discount of $10 off the price of the ticket. |
PROPERTY REPORT
BUILDING MATTERS
While not much that is visible has been happening at present I can assure you that there is lots happening in dealing with blocked drains and the ongoing maintenance when there are 7 retirement units, a rental property, the vicarage, the church complex and church to maintain.
With respect to our major projects: The structure for the letter boxes for the units should be replaced in the coming week and we should see progress on the fence that is replacing the tecoma hedge.
There has been very little progress with the replacement of the arch. There is ongoing discussion with the insurance company on this and we are hoping for a resolution shortly. I am very grateful for his ??? work on this matter and we are hopeful for a resolution shortly. Richard Gibbons is making progress on the restoration of the church which is progressing with the design. Again a huge thank you to Richard for his work on this project.
SUSTAINABILITY REPORT
The winter garden continues to tended to by Pauline and Renton Brown. As we enter the season of creation we are hoping to add to our garden and will probably mark this year with the planting at least one other tree. This will probably be a lemon tree in our citrus garden. Thanks to all involved in the grounds, maintenance and sustainability projects which we must all take our part in as an Eco Church.
ENVIRONMENT QUIZ FOR THE YOUNG
(AND NOT SO YOUNG)
How much do you know about New Zealand’s natural places and the creatures in them?
What should you do if you see a seal or sea lion enjoying the sunshine?
a) Get up close for a photo b) Feed it some food c) Stay away and leave it alone
How far can a kiwi fly?
a) From Auckland to Wellington b)The length of a rugby field c) It can’t fly at all
The kiwi is the only bird known to have nostrils at the end of its bill – true or false?
This bird has the Māori name ‘ruru’. What’s its English name?
- a) Morepork b) Morebeef c) Morelamb
What New Zealand reptile has been around since the time of the dinosaurs?
What is the smallest type of dolphin in the world?
Hint: It has the same name as a character from Māori legend
a) Māui b) Moana c) Hector’s
Which of these species is cannibalistic (meaning it will eat members of its own kind)
a) Kea b) Whio/blue duck c) Kauri snail
Possums, stoats and rats are the biggest threats to our native species – true or false?
When a wētā grows, it sheds its outer skin. What is this called?
a) Exoskeleton b) Sunburn c) Leftovers
There is a species of giant wētā called ‘wētāpunga’. What does this mean?
a) God of ugly things b) Big friend c) Scare your sister
Season of Creation Challenge
During August take the time to use our senses.
Please take the time to see and hear the environment we live in.
CHALLENGE
When you are out and about take time to photograph something in nature and either print it out or better still email to the parish office so we can collate at least some of these.
Do tell us where you saw this.
Health and Safety Policy
THERE IS A DEFIBRILLATOR INSTALLED BY THE OFFICE DOOR
A copy of the Parish Health and Safety Policy, along with the processes required for the implementation of the policy, is available on the shelf at the back of the church, published on our website or available from the parish office.
An evacuation plan is in each area for the church and complex.
Reid Anderson Hall: Assembly area is the car park behind the hall unless the location of the emergency situation is on the south wall preventing evacuation on that side of the building. In this case the assembly area is by the road in front of the church.
Nora Brown Hall: Assembly area is by the road in front of the church or on the vicarage lawn depending on the location of the emergency situation.
Other rooms in the complex: Assembly area move to the vicarage lawn.
St Andrew’s Church: Assembly area is by the road at the front of the church.
St Paul’s Church: Assembly area is by the road at the front of the church.
First aid kits and accident reporting sheets are located:
- Reid Anderson – In the cupboard over the small hand basin, by the back door in the kitchen.
- Nora Brown – on the shelf above the microwave. Record sheets are next to the microwave.
- Parish office – 2nd to top shelf on left side in the back room. The office is locked when unattended.
Forms are to be completed as soon as the accident has been dealt with.
Treatment, including resources that are used, is to be recorded on the sheet.
PARISH DIRECTORY
Vicar: The Rev’d Jan Wallace 238-7723 Home
238-7228 Office 0274-521-366 Mob
Email. jan.wallace@xtra.co.nz
Vestry
Chairperson Jan Wallace
Treasurer and acting Vestry secretary Karen Stevens
Wardens Pauline Brown 021-1823703 Glenis Kerr 238-5136
Synod Reps Vicky Mee
Vestry members Jocelyn Brodie, Renton Brown, Richard Gibbons,
Maggie Gibson, Helen Halliwell, Julie Perelini, Philip Watson
Buckland Reps Jim Moore, Vicky Mee
Parish Ministry Team
Vestry Wardens Pauline Brown and Glenis Kerr
Family Gael Crimmins Communications Cecily Daroux
Community Vicky Mee Sustainability Pauline Brown
Worship Rev Jan Wallace, Glenis Kerr, Rev David Walker, Rev Merlene Walker, Judith Parke, Rev Irene Brodie, Rev Tricia Carter, Rev John Carter
Pastoral Care Rev Jan Wallace, Rev Merlene Walker
Administration
Treasurer Karen Stevens
Central Vestry Trust Board Treasurer Ros Phillips
Parish Recorder Keith Gardner (Parish Envelope Scheme)
Parish Administrator Judith Tucker
Office Hours Monday to Thursday | 9am ~ 2pm
Address 31 – 37 Queen St, PO Box 338, Pukekohe
Phone 09-238-7228
Email address pukekoheanglicanchurch@xtra.co.nz
Op Shop 9am ~ 12 noon on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays
PASTORAL CARE
Community Programmes
at Pukekohe Anglican Church
| Space – For you and babyFor the first year of baby’s life
A number of groups are run each week to keep the age range of the babies within approximately 3 months. Term time only. |
| The Selwyn Foundation – For the older members of the community
A hot lunch is available for a small charge. Transport can also be arranged. Tuesday 9.30am |
| St Andrew’s Seniors fellowship group |
| For older members of the community – exercise, morning tea and cards. 9.15 am Thursdays |
| Oasis – Music & Coffee group
A natural progression from Space for preschool children Mon & Fri 9.15am ~11am Term time only |
| Seasons
An after-school group held at 4pm on Thursdays for children who have experienced a significant loss or grief in their lives. An adult programme runs at various times. Phone 0274521366 for information |
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
AUGUST
Sunday 8th: The Ven Michael Berry preaching 8am and 9.30 am services.
Sunday 8th: The Handel Consort & Quire perform Ravishing Romantics in the church at 3pm. It features the music of Brahms, S.S. Wesley, Bairstow and Tchaikovsky. Tickets $40 adults, seniors $35, students free with ID OR Save $10 off the door price by booking through the office.
Thursday 12th: Women’s Fellowship service in the church at 10.30am followed by a social gathering at a local café. Join us for either the service or the coffee or both!
Thursday 19th: Clean Church – Vacuuming and general cleaning with Women’s Fellowship members as they clean the wood with a viral coating. At 10.30am members make their way to a local café for coffee. Please contact Jan if you can assist with this task on the 4th Thursday of each month
Sunday 22nd: The Rev Linda Murphy preaching on the Auckland City Mission at 8 am and 9.30 am.
LATER IN THE YEAR
Saturday 16th October, 8am: Parish Fair
Sunday 14th November: Confirmation Service; hopefully dedication of Peace Memorial Arch; Church Restoration Fundraising Dinner
Handel’s Quire Musical event – later in the year