E NEWS 26TH APRIL 2024
HAPPY 90TH BIRTHDAY TO JANICE GAULT
90 Years old is such a marvelous milestone. Janice has been looking forward to today and will be having a celebratory dinner with her children this evening. As we say in Samoa “ia manuia lou 90 tausaga”. Like a few in our congregation you have reached that milestone and some beyond, and this week along with Janice we also celebrate Valerie Rhodes 92nd birthday. A big hip, hip hooray to you both.
Yesterday’s commemorative ANZAC services were recognised in Gallipoli, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, in the Pacific Islands where many unknown soldiers from Niue, Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga joined the NZ forces and fought for NZ. Unfortunately, they went unnoticed right up until today. A new documentary has recently been released. If you are interested in learning more please go to this link below or google: “the forgotten soldiers of Niue” https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/untold-pacific-history/story/2018930696/season-2-episode-1-the-forgotten-soldiers-of-niue. I had planned to attend the 11am service at the Pukeahu National War Memorial Park like I did last year but it was cancelled due to bad weather. So guess what I did? I crawled back into bed and had a very lazy morning, then watched ANZAC celebrations in the comfort of my new upcycled recliner. .
At cuppa and chat this week I showed photos of my “before and after” reclining chair that my husband bought me back in 2009, we bought it along with our new black leather lounge suite thinking it was also black leather. But alas it was not and didn’t last the distance. The imitation leather started peeling away. It looked so ugly so it was locked away in the garage. It has sentimental value for me so I could not bring myself to part with it even when I packed up the house to move here to Wellington. It came with me. Finally, I managed to get around to sending it to the reupholster’s in Petone aptly named “Road to Recovery”. I was given a choice of leathers to purchase which would then be sent to the upholsterers. The cheapest leather on offer was actually Italian leather and light blue in colour. My lounge colour scheme at home is “aqua blue”, rugs, cushions etc. so it would blend in well. Here is a before and after photo of my recliner. Just sharing this in case it gives you ideas of what you can do with those pieces of furniture that you don’t know what to do with.
I wonder whether this is metaphor for our human condition? Is it possible for humans to be recycled? Yes, I believe it is. The term, however, is not recycled but “transformed”. This would make a great sermon topic.
Now we can officially welcome Jemma to her new job as Parish Administrator this week. Jemma’s start was delayed due to Covid. When you have an opportunity to pop into the office, please say hi to her. My office is always open if you want to pop in for a coffee, but please let me know first.
This Sunday we commemorate the signing of the “Wellington Tenths Treaty”. I personally do not know much about this but we will commemorate this event during part of our Sunday worship service. Also this Sunday our chosen lectionary readings are from the Gospel of John 15:1-8 on “Jesus the True Vine” and the Epistle of 1 John 4:7-21. “On what does love look like?”. My theme is “How do we know if this will be a good season?” I don’t want to give much away like I usually do in E News, so now you will have something to ponder over until Sunday. Enjoy your weekend. Faafetai, Fei
You can read the full E-news here: https://mailchi.mp/31e7a0dc8c59/this-weeks-newsletter-from-st-andrews-on-the-terrace-9445800
