Thought for the week
Thought For the Week 9 March 2025
Welcome to our service today being led by Lois Shipley as I take a weekend off after what has been a busy period of ministry. Part of this busyness has been doing quarterly home communion services for folk who are mostly residing in elder care facilities. One of these was someone who found themselves quite […]
Continue Reading
Thought For The Week 2 March 2025
Autumnal Letting-Go After a late burst of summer weather, we are beginning to feel the turn of the season. Mornings have begun to feel quite autumnal. I love that word! And I have to say that autumn is my favourite season. There is something about the softer days, the sense of gathering in, the changing […]
Continue Reading
Thought For The Week 23 February 2025
Welcome to our service today, the first of our new arrangement of regular Sunday morning worship at St Stephens. Thank you to all who attended last week and took part in the discussion following the announcement from Judith Begg, our Parish Clerk. I was heartened and encouraged that the overwhelming response from our people is […]
Continue Reading
Thought For The Week 16 February 2025
Welcome to our service today as we begin worshipping as one people on one location. It is right that we begin this new season with a communion service celebrating our unity forged by the self-sacrificing death of Jesus. The common faith we share is the foundation of our unity, even amid our diversity. The move […]
Continue Reading
Thought for the Week 26 January 2025
Our scripture text today from 1 Corinthians 12: 12-31 calls us to consider how we can function as one body (the body of Christ) while facing the reality of our very real differences. How can we get unity from diversity? The Corinthian church was made up of very diverse groups; Jews and gentiles, slaves and […]
Continue Reading
Thought For The Week 22 December 2024
Welcome to this very special combined service celebrating the ministry of Rev Rory Grant and his family over the past 13 years. His move to Clevedon in the new year marks the end of an era for TPP. He arrived as a freshly minted minister out of the KCML internship programme and leaves as an […]
Continue Reading
Thought For The Week 15 December 2024
Thought For The Week: Coming Home At this time of year, I have quite evocative memories of my years in Auckland where I would drive around the city and the pōhutukawas would be blooming brilliantly, the summer breeze through my window, listening to Christmas songs on the radio. One that is synonymous with this season […]
Continue Reading
Thought For The Week 8 December 2024
Welcome to our special combined service today to mark the completion of Luke Blackbeard’s internship. Luke and his family have been with us for 2 years and is heading to Christchurch to be ordained and inducted at The Village Church. We welcome visitors from there who will share this celebration and attend Luke’s licensing service […]
Continue Reading
Thought For The Week 01 December 2024
This week is the beginning of Advent, a word that reminds us of the arrival of Jesus on earth in the mystery of the incarnation. While our wall calendars and diaries tell us that there is one month left to run in the year, in the Church calendar for Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox Christians, today […]
Continue Reading
Thought For The Week 24 November 2024
Earlier this week I watched an interesting interview with a former astronaut. They were talking about how in our world, so many of our problems, relational, economic, geographic and political, are exacerbated by our tendency to focus only on ourselves, our community, our country or people group. They also described a change in thinking experienced […]
Continue Reading