E News 31st March 2023
Would you believe this week is my one year anniversary at SAOTT. I officially started last year on 1st April and Palm Sunday was my first service and what a week it has been. On Tuesday I conducted two funerals here at St. Andrew’s on the Terrace. The first funeral was for Denis Grenville Thom a well known lawyer and chairman of many Boards. In the afternoon was the funeral of a former member of St. Andrew’s Rachel Plimmer whom some of you will remember. The church was packed including the gallery with about 320 people. This Saturday 1st April is the installation of the new Rabbi at Temple Sinai Dr Esther Jilovsky with a Shabbat morning service at 10.30am. So it will have been a very full-on week.
On Monday I discovered the Lighthouse Cinema in Petone. I arrived early to get the carpark across the road at 12pm. I walked over to the cinema thinking I was just going to purchase my ticket for the 1pm viewing and go up the main road for lunch. When I walked in I saw that hey presto they had a café inside so I bought my lunch there and enjoyed the ambiance and music until it was time for the movie Red, white and brass. A true story about a Tongan fan who missed out on tickets to the 2011 rugby world cup game against France in Wellington so he encourages people from his father’s Wesleyan church to form a brass band to perform at the pre-game so they can get to see the game afterwards. They had a month to learn how to play an instrument. It is very funny; I highly recommend it if you want a good laugh. It’s a real feel good movie. The next movie on my list to watch is Alleluia starring Jennifer Saunders and Judi Dench. It is a comedy about growing old. A geriatric ward in a small Yorkshire hospital that is threatened with closure. The hospital and residents fight back. I’m hoping to get a group together from our cuppa and chat group or anyone from the parish who want to join me on a Monday afternoon for lunch and then the movie on $11 Monday special. I’m aiming for Monday 17th April at 12pm. I’ll wait and see how many takers I get. Drop me an email at minister@standrews.org.nz if you are keen to join me.
This Sunday is Passion Sunday or Palm Sunday depending on which emphasis you want to give it. Because we are making the first Sunday of every month a “Family service” I have chosen to do Palm Sunday because I think it is easier to talk about Palms with the children rather than Passion. Those who were revising the lectionary came to the conclusion that too many Christians were opting for coming to church on Palm Sunday and celebrating Jesus triumphant entry into Jerusalem and then staying away until Easter Sunday and skipping Good Friday, so they went from triumph to triumph and no suffering in between.
Wouldn’t life be so easy if we could just choose to live in triumph and eliminate all the suffering that comes our way in life? If we had a choice to choose triumph over suffering, we would probably all choose triumphs no one likes to suffer. As we approach Holy week you will probably have much to reflect on with what is happening in your own lives. How can Easter time be an opportunity for you to have a kenotic emptying like Jesus did on the cross. Purging and letting go of all unnecessary baggage that follows us around and ties us down unnecessarily. Let it go. Make this Easter time a new beginning for you. Fei
You can read the full E-news here: https://mailchi.mp/d8a05b5715b0/this-weeks-newsletter-from-st-andrews-on-the-terrace-9334667
