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Hope

This coming Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent, which marks the period of time in the church year, as we wait and prepare for the arrival of Christmas day. It’s a reminder to us, who already know that Jesus has come, of the long period of waiting the people of Israel endured as they waited for the birth of the Messiah. As Christians we believe Jesus was the fulfilment of that long waited for promise and so we carry within us the hope that Jesus offers to everyone – life in connection with ...

You gotta serve someone

It’s a few years since Bob Dylan penned those words for a song he wrote. The song was a reminder that all of us serve somebody, so the key thing is to decide just who or what it is you will serve. This coming Sunday is called Christ the King Sunday in the church calendar, a reminder that Jesus is king of all. Most of us will say we’re not really into kings or giving allegiance to anybody but ourselves. We’re our own boss, our own man or woman. But as Dylan said, we all serve something - mo...

Behind it all

I have on my computer two images to use today. You may have seen recently some of the photos of the galaxies as presented by the James Webb satellite. For those familiar with the Hubble telescope images, these new images are even more impressive and compelling. A photo dubbed ‘The Pillars of Creation’ is so awesome. The second image, the one above, is that of a silver eye – a tiny little bird that flits around our garden. Both these images, special as they are, remind us of the one who cre...

For all creation

The Good News of the Jesus story is that God wants to make new every aspect of our world and that includes the environment in which we live. The Psalms or Poems of the Bible tell how the whole of creation longs to see the world made good. Listen to these words from Psalm 96. Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice! Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise! Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy! Let the trees of the forest sing for joy before the LORD, for he is co...

A families pain

We are posting this report from the police as the family, who we have connections with, wait for news of their missing daughter. Can you help provide answers for them? Please pray for Breanna’s family at this difficult time. Police are continuing their investigation into the disappearance of 22-year-old Breanna Muriwai who was last seen in the early hours of Sunday the 28th of August at Te Horo Beach. The clear focus of the investigation is to find Breanna and to establish the circumstances o...

What we worship

Last weekend I watched the Black Ferns win their first pool game of the Women’s Rugby World Cup. 40,000 people crammed into the stadium to support their team and when they won, the crowd heaped upon them their praise and adoration for such a great game. Several years ago an ad here in NZ showed the same stadium with a crowd and the All Blacks with the word ‘worship’ written across it. We often worship a winning team, we pile glory and honour upon them, declaring their worth. N.T Wright say...

What do you see?

It’s easy when we look at what is happening in our world at the moment to wonder where God might be in the midst of it all. Has God just left us to our own devices? Does God even care? Covid, war, rising living costs, corrupt politicians – the world sure seems messier than when I was a child. So is God absent or is it perhaps that we are looking in all the wrong places? Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote the following little poem Earth’s crammed with heaven And every common bush afire with G...

For all to see

A mirror is a device that reflects light back from itself.  But if you are standing off to one side slightly than there is every chance you may miss the reflection. A mirror ball by contrast reflects lots of light all over the place so that everywhere is covered by the reflection and if the ball is rotating then that light moves around as well. One mirror by itself is easily missed or if it is tainted or fails then the light is easily lost. But on a mirror ball if one mirror fails or is bro...

Who will I vote for?

In the mailbox this week I received my voting papers for those standing for public office in our local body elections. So many different people standing, so many different agendas, along with all sorts of promises of what they will or won’t do. How on earth are we supposed to choose?  We could choose the person who most agrees with our own agenda, whatever that might be. Or we can instead try and choose the people who will act with honesty and integrity, doing what is best for all those w...

Meet the candidates

One of our members has arranged the following event in which people standing for KCDC office can address our community in person. We have asked the candidates to address the question of how they will help develop well-being for our community on the Kāpiti Coast. The following people have agreed to attend and speak:-1. Maria Mc MILLIAN2. Ian POWELL3. Sophie HANDFORD4. Lawrence KIRBY5. Michelle LEWIS6. Rob KOTOED7. Kathryn SPIERS8.Martin FRAUENSTEIN9. David OGDEN10. Martin HALLIDAY The even...

A life of service

Whoever is the greatest should be the servant of the others - Jesus Regardless of our thoughts on the monarchy as an institution, Queen Elizabeth II demonstrated what it meant to live a life dedicated to serving others. These words penned by Matt Redman express what many of us may feel. “I cannot lead you into battle, I do not give you laws or administer justice but I can do something else, I can give you my heart and my devotion.” This quote from the Queen’s 1957 Christmas broadcast sums...

Life!

The story of Jesus is supposed to be a message of Good News, of hope and joy to all who hear it. And yet so often it is not portrayed in that way. Far too often this message of hope, of life in abundance, sounds like a message of doom and gloom. Mark, the writer of the earliest Gospel, begins with the words, ‘This is the good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God’.  A pretty bold claim to make but one which was and is good news. Here is God in-the-flesh come to live amongst us, and t...

You don’t deserve it

Have you ever been in a situation where someone else seemed to get treated better than you did? Maybe they got a pay rise and you didn’t.  Maybe they got a better grade on a paper. Maybe they got the credit for work you did. Maybe they got upgraded to a better seat on the airplane. And in that instance how did you feel? Maybe a bit ripped off, grumpy, annoyed. When it happens to kids they throw themselves down on the floor and shout ‘It’s not fair!’. Somehow they believe it’s unju...

You know there's always forgiveness

“I will never forgive them”.  How often do we hear those words today.  They cry out to us from the media outlets,  the movies we watch, our social media accounts.  I’ll never be able to forgive what he/she/they did.       Someone has to pay. One of the realities of living in a world filled with people is that at some stage, someone is going to hurt us.  At some point someone will lie to us, or rip us off and hurt us. And when that pers...

Have you found it yet?

The movie Jungle Cruise starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt tells the story of their search for the fabled Tree of Life. It’s a search that they will do anything to win even if it nearly costs them their lives in the process. No sacrifice is too large for them to make.  Jesus once told a story about treasure – it goes like this, 'The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when someone finds a treasure hidden in a field and buries it again. Such a person is happy and goes and sells ...

No action too small

A couple of years ago a video appeared on YouTube of a grandmother reading the story Wonky Donkey to her grandchild.  It’s read in a  beautiful Scottish accent but as she reads she begins to laugh at the story until she is so overcome with laughter, that she has tears in her eyes  and is almost unable to continue. This little video clip has gone viral on the Internet and has now been viewed by millions of people.  What’s more it caused a rush on the book which then sold o...

Some people are not what they appear to be

The news has recently carried the story of a rich lister who died while serving a prison sentence for drug and sexual-related offences. This self-made millionaire had it all but then let his own desires and addictions drag him into a life of crime. And he’s not the first such person – another of our economic heroes was convicted of child-pornography. Sometime it can be hard to separate good people from bad.  In fact Jesus told a story about wheat and weeds (you can find it in Matthew’...

Sorry

There’s a song released by Elton John  called ‘Sorry seems to be the hardest word’. It’s a reminder that most of us struggle to admit we were wrong, to apologise, to say Sorry. This week the Pope travelled to Canada with the purpose of apologizing to the indigenous people there for the actions of the Catholic Church toward them as people.  While it will never put right what happened to hundreds of children in the church’s care at schools, it does show a willingness to own th...

Own your own stuff

In the town in which I live there is a car with the word Accountability! written in big letters on the side. The owner is wanting to hold the local city council to account for decisions they have made. Accountability is something we all want for others – make them pay, hold them accountable, heads must roll, someone must be made an example of. We see and hear the cry’s for accountability all around us but not many of us want to be held accountable for our own actions or failings. It’s stra...

Enjoy Life!

Just do it is an advertising slogan released in 1988 by Nike, the shoe company and one most people are pretty familiar with. The writer of Ecclesiastes would have loved it because it summarises the message of his book. Life is short, get out there and make the most of it, especially while you are young. Don’t sit around, waiting for the right circumstances, worrying if you have got it all right because none of us knows what tomorrow will bring.  The time to act is now while you can! ...

It's not fair!

Most children have a pretty good sense of justice – they know when life seems unfair, and are pretty quick to tell us so.  I know my own children were quick to point this out when it seemed that one of their siblings got a special treat or were allowed to do something they weren’t. ‘It’s not fair’ was the anguished cry. We may all like life to be fair but unfortunately it isn’t, good people get trampled by bad people, accidents happen, and the lottery of where we are born and ...

The good old days

Listening to the radio the other night, the announcer was talking about how difficult things were in New Zealand/Aotearoa at the moment and as I listened to the others he was talking with, there was a hint of nostalgia for another time – a time when we were a much more caring, united country. The writer to Ecclesiastes warns against such thinking 'Do not say, "Why were the old days better than these?" For it is not wise to ask such questions.' Eccl 7:10.  Why does he suggest that? Because...

Eternity in their hearts

Have you ever found yourself staring at the night sky, wondering if there was more to life than what we see around us. This idea that we were made for something more is found in all sorts of stories, movies, poems and quotes.  It’s as though we have it written on our DNA - the belief that this life is not all there is. C.S Lewis once said ‘If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.’ Th...

We have vacancies!

Due to families moving away and children starting kindy we now have space for new families. Why not come and join us?mainly music runs Wednesdays from 10am. Cost $2 per child or $3 per family. We do ask that you wear a mask. This programme is a fun way for parentsand their children to spend quality time together based around music and movement.It is an opportunity for us as a church to connect with and offer something back to the community of which we are a part. It’s also a way for us to demo...

All that glitters is not gold.

Every week people by the thousands buy a ticket in the lottery, hoping that their numbers will come up, and that life will somehow become better than it was before.  It’s this hope, dream or fantasy that keeps us coming back, even when we know the odds are stacked against us. But hey, you’ve got to be in to win don’t ya. Unfortunately, history tells us that all that extra money doesn’t mean a life of luxury and nor does it help life make sense. In fact it often brings a whole new se...