Thought for the week
Thought For The Week 06 September 2026
Thought For The Week: 1 September – 4 October IMMERSION IN LIVING WATER The 2026 theme for the Season of Creation, “Immersion in Living Water”, refers to the living waters that flow from the temple in Ezekiel’s vision of the new Jerusalem (Ezekiel 47:1-12). As the river goes out from the city, it gathers strength […]
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Thought For The Week 30 August 2026
Welcome to our service today as we conclude our series reflecting theologically on sport. I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have. It’s been wonderful hearing inspiring and often amusing stories and connecting with deeper lessons from the scriptures. As we bring this to a close, we will consider a crucial element […]
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Thought for the Week 23 August 2026
The few New Testament verses that directly reference sport speak of running and boxing specifically and these are used to illustrate the point that the Christian life requires training and discipline and a determination to endure hardship. St Paul could have used the popular gladiator battles to make the same point, but he doesn’t. Could […]
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Thought for the Week 16 August 2026
Welcome to our service today where we continue with our series looking at sport; today we dive into the dark side! We’ve established that sport brings many benefits to our lives- health and wellbeing, entertainment, character formation and so on. But like all human endeavours, sport is tainted by what the bible calls ‘sin’, which […]
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Thought for the Week 9 August 2026
At this month’s parish council meeting we celebrated Murray Facer’s long tenure on the council coming to an end. Murray shouted us tea (pizza) and Judith made her family’s famous cream horns. Murray joined St Stephens in 1980 when he and Christine came to Timaru and were looking for a church for their young family. […]
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Thought for the Week 2 August 2026
Welcome to our service this week as we kick off our month-long series reflecting on the role of sport in our culture. Last weekend Catherine and I attended the Alpine Presbytery retreat in Hanmer Springs which was led by Sage Harris from Whakatu/Nelson. One of the topics he spoke about was the need for the […]
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Thought for the Week 26 July 2026
“Dear whānau, as we gather this morning, may we be encouraged by the God who meets us in every calm and every storm.” This Sunday we step into the boat with the disciples as Jesus invites them to cross “to the other side.” What begins as an ordinary journey quickly becomes a moment of deep […]
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Thought for the Week 19 July 2026
We have certainly had some days this week that have made it quite clear it is winter. In winter our focus changes, away from the beach, outdoor picnics and long sunny days in the garden. We spend more time at home sitting around the fire or basking in the warmth of the heatpump, chatting, reading […]
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Thought for the Week 12 July 2026
Thought For The Week: Welcome to our service today. It has certainly been a wet and wild week of weather but happily there has been no flooding in the Trinity Centre basement. It has a low-lying corner sump that has blocked in the past causing water to go through the doors but happily it has […]
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Thought for the Week 5 July 2026
At our recent prayer retreat we were given a simple exercise; choose a coloured disc and reflect on the words printed on the underside (the choosing was done without knowing what was printed on the disc). I got the words ‘pay attention’. This led me to think about a rest home service I had recently […]
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