E NEWS 7TH MARCH 2025
OMG, it has been hard to concentrate while I’m watching Samoan Parliament live on You Tube as Prime Minister The Honourable Fiame Naomi Mataafa fights a second challenge of “a vote of no confidence” to her leadership after surviving one 7 days ago. What a shambles it was leading up to the vote. The outcome of the vote those for 19. Those against 32. So once again my friend Fiame has survived another round of crucifixion. People have been very personal and questioning her sexuality and the fact that she has never married or had children. Very, rude and very inappropriate. Even the speaker of the house was selective with who he allowed to speak and how long he gave them to speak. His bias was obvious. The honourable Fiame ended the day’s proceedings with a very humble speech of thanks. I have just sent a message of encouragement.
Today is the anniversary of my 34th year of ordination 7th March 1991 at Pacific Islander’s Church Newtown Wellington as National Youth Co-ordinator of the PCANZ. It’s been a full on week with our Ecumenical Ash Wednesday service at St. Michaels of the Angels with St. John’s Willis Street on Wednesday night. Our church the PCANZ has never been one to celebrate or commemorate Ash Wednesday so it was a first for me. It was all about repentance and sin. The jury is still out for me on how St. Andrew’s on the Terrace would carry out an Ash Wednesday service ourselves. Will give it some thought over the next 365 days.
Next Monday I will be away on annual leave in Auckland and also visiting my nephew Lucas and his family in Canberra on their new farm in Queybeyan, airfare compliments of my dear nephew… Jim Cunningham will be leading next Sunday’s service on the 16th March.
This Sunday our Gospel readings focus on Jesus Temptation in the desert. My theme is “By whose Authority?” I look forward to exploring this with you all on Sunday. I had to put my heater on for the first time last night. You can already feel the autumn cold sneaking in.
Below are Holy week preparations and things for you to volunteer for. Please let Jemma or I know if you would like to write a prayer or provide one of the dishes for Maundy Thursday or Hot Cross Buns for Easter Sunday. Happy travels through Lent. Nga mihi nui. Fei .
HOLY WEEK PREPARATION 14-20TH APRIL 2025
In anticipation of Holy Week beginning Monday April 14th through to Easter Sunday 20th April I am looking for volunteers regarding food for our Maundy Thursday Last Supper Seder Meal to be held here at St. Andrew’s at 6.30pm. I’m unsure of numbers that will be attending so more than one person can volunteer for something. For the menu we will need:
- 2 legs of roast lamb (I am happy to donate the 2 legs of lamb but I need 2 volunteers to cook them) I can drop the lamb off to you at home.
- Matzo bread (unleavened bread or pita bread)
- Bitter herbs, green salads
- Wine
- Grape juice
- Charoset: Charoset is a sweet, dark-coloured mixture of finely chopped fruits and nuts eaten at the Passover Seder. According to the Talmud, its colour and texture are meant to recall mortar, which the Israelites used when they were enslaved in Ancient Egypt, as mentioned in Tractate Pesahim 116a of the Talmud. The word comes from the Hebrew word for clay. (see recipe below) You can google the recipe.
Can you please let me know which of this menu you would like to volunteer to bring. Thank you, Fei.
Volunteers needed Stations of the cross- readings to be read on Good Friday 18th April 2025
Kia ora and welcome to St Andrew’s on The Terrace for our Good Friday service, a New Zealand Version of the Stations of the Cross.
The Stations of the Cross Liturgy is a journey or pilgrimage. Early in our tradition, Christians wished to follow the footsteps of Jesus’ path to the cross. From the 15th and 16th Centuries the stages of that journey were formalised into a series of “stations” which were created on church walls or as outdoor shrines so that those who could not travel to Jerusalem could also participate.
Our Stations of the Cross service is linked to the paintings of Professor Robert Gauldie first shown at Easter 1987. There is a mixed feeling in our congregation with some who have a love/hate relationship with this artwork.
Information about Robert Gauldie
“Bob Gauldie was an accomplished researcher and academic who built a reputation for pushing boundaries during a career which included more than 150 scientific publications. He was also not afraid of pushing boundaries in his other great love, painting, with one work irking religious traditionalists and coming close to landing him in trouble with the law.
Following an exhibition of his paintings in 1985, Professor Gauldie was asked to paint the Stations of the cross for Wellington Presbyterian Church St Andrew’s on The Terrace. The 14 stations tell the story of Jesus from his death sentence to his entombment, but those painted by Prof Gauldie and first shown at Easter 1987 caused a stir by depicting Christ as a 44-gallon oil drum. The Evening Post newspaper received several letters attacking the work as “blasphemy” and Prof Gauldie recalled how a senior Wellington police officer warned he could be charged with criminal blasphemy, though in the end no action was taken.
Prof Gauldie said using a 44- gallon drum to symbolise Jesus depicted the stations in a way that was “realistic in the religious sense”. “As a symbol they are ubiquitous, loud and associated with trash. They were ideal for my purpose to portray the Stations of the Cross as the brutal murder, the clangorous, violent trashing of Jesus, the reduction of all his teachings to a worthless and brutalised body that was empty of life”.
Robert Gauldie’s obituary in The Dominion Post 18th June 2011.
Available at http://robertgauldie.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/bob_gauldie_obit.pdf
STATIONS OF THE CROSS
1st station Jesus is condemned to death.
Mark 15 1-5, 11-15
15 As soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate.2Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” He answered him, “You say so.”3Then the chief priests accused him of many things.4Pilate asked him again, “Have you no answer? See how many charges they bring against you.”5But Jesus made no further reply, so that Pilate was amazed.
11But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead.12Pilate spoke to them again, “Then what do you wish me to do with the man you call the King of the Jews?”13They shouted back, “Crucify him!”14Pilate asked them, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him!”15So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.
2nd station Jesus takes up his cross
Mark 15; 16-20
16Then the soldiers led him into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters); and they called together the whole cohort.17And they clothed him in a purple cloak; and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on him.18And they began saluting him, “Hail, King of the Jews!”19They struck his head with a reed, spat upon him, and knelt down in homage to him.20After mocking him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
3rd station Jesus falls for the first time
Isaiah 53;1
53Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
4th station Jesus meets his mother
Bible reading – Luke 2: 22, 34, 35
The time came for Joseph and Mary to perform the ceremony of purification as the Law of Moses commanded. So they took the child Jesus to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.
At the time there was a man named Simeon living in Jerusalem. Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, ‘This child is chosen by God for the destruction and salvation of many in Israel. He will be a sign from God, which many people will speak against and so reveal their secret thoughts. And sorrow, like a sharp sword, will break your own heart.
5th station Simon helps Jesus carry his cross
Mark 15; 21
21They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus.
6th station Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
Matthew 25; 35-36, 40
35for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,36I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 40And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’
7th Station Jesus falls the second time
Isaiah 53;7
7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
Eighth station Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
Luke 23;27-28
27A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him.28But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children”.
Ninth station Jesus falls for the third time
Isaiah 53; 4-5
“Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.”
Tenth station Jesus is stripped of his clothes
Mark 15 ;22-24
“Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull). And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it. And they crucified him and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take.”
Eleventh station Jesus is nailed to the cross
Luke 23: 35, 39
And the people stood by watching; but the leaders scoffed at him saying, “He saved others, let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one! One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.”
Twelfth station Jesus dies
Luke 23;44-46
“It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun’s light failed and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”. Having said this he breathed his last.”
Thirteenth station Jesus is taken down from the cross
Mark 15; 42-46
“When evening had come, and since it was the day of Preparation, that is the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was himself waiting expectantly for the Kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate wondered if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead for some time. When he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph. Then Joseph brought a linen cloth, and taking down the body wrapped it in the linen cloth and laid it in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock.”
Fourteenth station Jesus is laid in the tomb
Mark 15 46b-47
“He then rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where the body was laid.”
Could you please let me know which station you would like to volunteer to read and also your reading will be followed by a prayer that you will write to accompany your reading. Thank you.
EASTER SUNDAY:
HOT CROSS BUNS TO SHARE FOR MORNING TEA
You can read the full E-News here: https://mailchi.mp/d15c3ec13785/this-weeks-newsletter-from-st-andrews-on-the-terrace-10133515
