This is the week leading up to Pentecost. Like the early disciples in the Upper Room in Acts 1, the church is gathering to pray each day ...
On Tuesday we prayed for facilities - so glad of our past; for evangelism - especially for the clarity of our own witness; for the need for a small group ministry leader
This is the week leading up to Pentecost. Like the early disciples in the Upper Room in Acts 1, the church is gathering to pray each day ...
On Monday we prayed for children - so thankful for new faces and their potential - for administration - placing our finances before God, thankful for the many who serve and by their quiet acts, make Opawa what it is; for our ministry leadership - so glad of their years of experience and diversity of gifts ...
Some 2000 years ago the first disciples of Jesus were praying for the outpouring of the Spirit. Our call as Christians is not only to know, but also to follow. Please, like the early disciples, join us this week for a week of prayer; 7:30-9:00 on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, praying for Opawa church and ministries. A prayer guide with prayer items for each day of the week is inserted with this newsletter. How about every person at Opawa attend at least one evening of prayer?
When the Spirit came at Pentecost, it was poured out inside and outside the church, in words and actions. So, let’s be like the early disciples and learn about following the Spirit inside and outside the church, with words and deeds. Pentecost weekend has many options for a diverse church;
Friday, 2nd June: Enjoy being a church community, all ages and all stages. 6.15pm BYO takeaways for tea, followed by 7.00-8.30pm Trivia night (and a late night movie for night owls). Register your trivia team on the notice board, or write your name to be added to a team.
Saturday 3rd June: Come for a morning (9:30-12:30) of Bible teaching: the Spirit and the ministry of Jesus (Steve Taylor) followed by either Story telling (Simon Brown) OR Leaf rubbing & kite making.
And/or come for an afternoon; (1.30-3:30) of Bible teaching: the Spirit and the ministry of the church (Steve Taylor) followed by either New Life: rituals and prayers for new babies OR Leaf rubbing and kite making OR Tile painting creative expression.
OR Creating public art as mission: From Inspiration to Installation, an all Saturday seminar with Peter and Joyce Majendie (9.30-5.30 pm). (We have people flying in from Tauranga and Auckland for this).
Then enjoy being a church community, Saturday evening from 7.00-8.30pm. There is a concert with live storytelling, followed by late night worship (9.00-10.00pm) in a Pentecost art installation.
So many ways for us to grow as a church community of the Spirit.
This week much media attention has focused on the launch of the movie, Da Vinci Code. The movie follows Harvard professor, Robert Langdon, and gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, who follow a set of bizarre clues in their search for answers to the murder of a friend. To quote from the book upon which the movie is based: "Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine code and quickly assemble the pieces of the puzzle, the Priory's secret- and a stunning historical truth will be lost forever." The movie is fictional crime thriller, but cleverly includes selected details about Jesus, early Christianity and medieval history. For a public increasingly unfamiliar with Christianity, the book offers an alternative understanding of the origins of Christian faith.
This week Christians have responded in a number of ways.
a) Ban: Protests and legal attempts to stop the movie have occurred in countries around the world. One result is the continued media portrayal of Christians in a negative light.
b) Ignore: Pretend the movie does not exist. One result is that we miss the opportunity to dialogue with millions of people who have read the book or who might go to see the movie.
c) Reflect: The book invites us to reflect on how our Christian faith did emerge. It can serve as a catalyst to discuss Jesus with questioning people. To help us do this we are preaching on the movie today (and perhaps next week). And starting Tuesday June 6th, the espresso congregation are hosting a series of conversations; exploring questions such as - would it have been wrong for Jesus to marry? Has the church suppressed women? - as a friend of mine wrote this week: "there is another reason to [engage] with the film or to read the book. And that is if you want to discuss it with anyone it will be hard for you to be authoritative about it if you haven't seen it or read it! This is a wonderful opportunity for us to engage with our friends in a discussion that goes to the very veracity of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. The one who we worship and follow."
Decoding Da Vinci? Facts and Fictions.
Sermon, Sunday May 21, 10:30-11:45 am
A pastoral prayer for Mother's Day
(from Lynne)
God, it is mothers’ day.
And so we think about mothers and we think about children.
We think about others and we think about ourselves.
God, we pray for new mothers:
women who are today celebrating their first mother’s day.
Be near to new mothers.
May they know the joy of precious moments with their babies
as well as your strength and sustaining
amid the interrupted sleep and constant demands.
God, we pray for mothers who have lost a child.
Through miscarriage or death
Through adoption
Through abortion
Through the breakdown of a relationship.
Be near to those mothers
May they know a growing sense of hope, love, joy and peace
as well as your strength and sustaining amid their sadness and pain.
God, we pray for mothers who long
for a better relationship with their child
May you help them do all they can to heal rifts,
Whilst realising that it is not only their responsibility.
Help them to reach out and to let go appropriately.
We pray for women who parent alone
Thank you for their courage
Sustain them as they seek to be both mother and father
to their precious children.
Place others alongside them to help and encourage them.
We pray for women who long to be mothers
Comfort them, heal them, sustain them, be near them.
We pray for babies for them, in your time.
We pray for all mothers
Give them an ever-growing love for their children.
Help them enable their children to grow and develop
Give them courage and grace as relationships change
God, we thank you for our mothers
For the women who bore us and birthed us
For the women who fed us and cared for us
For the women who loved us and disciplined us.
Some of us find it easy to thank our Mums
for all they have done for us
Some of us wish we could speak words
to mothers we no longer have.
Comfort those who mourn
Give courage and strength to those who need it
Grant us all an appreciation of those who have
“mothered us” appropriately
be they birth mothers, adoptive mothers,
dear friends or others.
In Jesus name
Amen
John 6:63: “The Spirit is the one who gives life! Human strength can do nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are from that life-giving Spirit.”
I often link this understanding of the Spirit as Life-giver with Matthew 23:37, “Love God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind.” Or as it says in The Message translation; “Love God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.”
This is a call to experience and express our Christian faith not only in our heads and on Sunday, but in our hands and our weeks. The Spirit of God is a Life-giver in all of our life.
Hence Pentecost 2006.
A week of prayer from Monday May 29 to Thursday June 1.
A Saturday of Bible teaching morning and afternoon, along with a chance to express that teaching in words (storytelling), in deed (tile making or kite flying), in life (prayers and rituals for new babies).
Peter and Joyce Majendie have funding from the Wayne Wright Scholarship to create a Pentecost art installation and run a whole day Saturday seminar about the process of creating art installations. We have had enquiries already from Tauranga and Dunedin.
A Friday evening of Trivia, late night movie and Saturday evening of live music and storytelling.
Input will come from Steve Taylor and Simon Brown (author, storyteller and Baptist church planter).
It is going to be a great weekend, a chance to love God in so many different ways. Publicity is here.
Congratulations to Richard and Joanna, Xavier and Sheridan on the birth of their new daughter and sister!