Christmas 2013

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8 Dec 2013 ... message that Nicky Gumble shares. We had our Holy Spirit day at the Cedar Centre in Beach. Haven. It was a lovely setting and we had a good ...
The

Christmas 2013

EAGLE

Newsletter of the Anglican Parish of St John Campbells Bay

s a m t s i r h C s g n i s s e l B

Our parish family Baptisms: Libby Moore Mathew Crean Alfie Sandford George Cox

17 November 2013 24 November 2013 8 December 2013 8 November 2013

Women’s Fellowship

The Women’s Fellowship had their AGM and Carol Groom and Pam Paul were re-elected unopposed to their current positions, as Leader and Treasurer, and Jocelyn Pratt was unanimously elected Secretary, replacing Barbara Fraser, who did not seek re-election. A committee of five members was elected. The Christmas Luncheon, to which representatives from local churches have been invited, will be held on 3rd. December. Afterwards, at 1.30pm children from Mairangi Bay School will entertain in the church. We would welcome anyone interested in coming along to enjoy their performance. Barbara Fraser.

Baptism of Mathew Crean

Congratulations to:

Valerie and Colin Finlayson, who celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary recently. Amy Smith, who was a member of our congregation and youth group from 1998 to 2009, has recently graduated with a PhD in Biomedical Science.  In January she will take up a 3-year post as researcher in Parkinson’s disease at Oxford University in England. We celebrate her

Christmas Pageant Family service 5pm Saturday 7 December A service for all ages to take part and tell the Christmas story. Please bring a salad or dessert to contribute to the shared meal afterwards, and  If you are able to; a new gift for ATWC, or something for the Food Basket

Alpha at St Johns We have been doing an Alpha Course at St Johns for the last few weeks and it has been a really good experience. We usually have about 15 people attending and we have all enjoyed the food, fellowship and the wonderfully clear message that Nicky Gumble shares. We had our Holy Spirit day at the Cedar Centre in Beach Haven. It was a lovely setting and we had a good day with lovely food, music led by Eric and a time of prayer when the Holy Spirit met with us and blessed us. We have a few more weeks to go and look forward to every teaching session! Kath Freeman

success and honour the perseverance and sheer effort that has brought her to this point! “Big Dreams lead to big dreams, but Big Dreams plus determined hard work can lead to amazing things.” Amy will now be near her Gran, Aunts, Uncles and some cousins, which is a great bonus for her. Val, Byron and Nick will miss her. God bless you on your journey, Amy. This newsletter is published by the Anglican Parish of St John Campbells Bay, Auckland. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the editors nor the church. Please direct any correspondence to : The Editor, P O Box 65-029, Mairangi Bay. or email: [email protected]

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The EAGLE

Anglican Church of St John Campbells Bay

From Blake Ramage, our vicar ...

P O Box 65-029 Mairangi Bay

Social justice outworked in the 21st century. Recently, I gave a sermon in which I sought to explore how we can, on an every day and practical level, adhere to Jesus’ call to seek justice for the least and lowly. In this article I would like to reiterate some of the points I made and provide information you can use to carry out this important call to justice.

Church & parish office 327 Beach Road Campbells Bay Tel: 478 3575 Fax: 478 3572

Jesus when teaching his disciples says to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a person’s life does not consist in the abundance of their possessions.”

[email protected] www.stjohns.net.nz

Often, when it comes down to it, it’s our greed, our desire for more and more and more for cheaper and cheaper and cheaper that fuels a lot of the abuses we see in the world.

 In this issue: Our parish family

2

Women’s Fellowship

2

Alpha at St Johns

2

From our vicar ...

3

For your diary

4

Waskia project update 5 Pruning 6 Vestry – what is it and who are they? 7 CAP Money has come to St Johns 8 News from Sarah

9

Earth Care column

9

The week in view and directory 10 Selwyn Centre news 11 “Slice of Heaven” Garden Tour Back cover

By saving a few dollars on a product, we can be rewarding companies that are providing the product cheaply simply because they are not paying their employees a fair wage to produce it. In other words, I’m asking someone else to cover the full cost of the product by having reduced wages, rather than myself paying the full and fair cost of the product. Each of us have moral choices to make about what we buy and consume. Many years ago, slavery was made illegal. But imagine back then if something you were wearing was made by slaves - how would you feel about wearing it? I wouldn’t feel right about wearing something I knew was produced through the misery of someone else. And yet, the situation in our world today is not too dissimilar, where companies can pay the people that produce the goods basically nothing, while paying the executives and shareholders (literally the richest people on earth) hundreds of millions of dollars more. Something is not right in that scenario, something is out of balance, and that’s because it’s a scenario driven by greed with vulnerability meeting opportunism. Now the retort to this of course is to say, well if these companies weren’t employing the people at all there would be even more hardship. But that is, I think, to set up a false conundrum; an “either/or” rather than a “both/and” as companies could both employ people from developing countries and pay them a fair wage. More than merely watching what we purchase and buying responsibly, it has been pointed out by Rodger Spiller, a responsible investment specialist at Money Matters, that investing responsibly can have an even greater impact than making responsible choices about what we buy. A simple phone call to a company you are thinking of buying shares in can determine what kind of working hours, wages, and break-times are being offered to their employees, both those here and those employed by the company overseas. In addition, I’m sure a phone call like that, from a potential investor, is noted by the company as well. Imagine if they had 5 phone calls a week from potential investors asking these kinds of questions - it would put the issue on the company’s radar to a far greater extent.

Front cover is a Christmas background free vector graphic from Vector Jungle. com

December 2013

We can research the companies we both purchase from and invest in to evaluate their business practices. I still remember when in Uganda my genuine shock to find that many Western companies set up factories next to the Nile, a major water source for hundreds of millions of people, and pump all of their waste into it. The Nile now runs brown with waste in Uganda and this major water source is wiped out. This kind of business practice is immoral, and we, as followers of Jesus, cannot have any part of it, or part of any company that acts in this manner. Continued on page 4

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Confirmation and Admission to Communion service by Bishop Ross 9am Sunday, 15 December followed by a shared morning tea NO 8AM SERVICE THAT DAY

For your diary Every Sunday

Services at 8:00am and 9:30am including January

Every Wednesday

Holy communion – 10am except after Christmas and through January

Dec 1 Sunday

The Eagle published



1 Sunday

Advent services – 8:00am and 9:30am



1 Sunday

Advent Evensong – 6:00pm

3 Tuesday Women’s Fellowship Christmas luncheon – noon

4 Wednesday Taizé worship – 7:30pm



7 Saturday



11 Wednesday Vestry potluck Chrismas dinner – 6:00pm

Family service/Christmas pageant – 5:00pm

15 Sunday Confirmation and Admission to Confirmation service –9:00am (no 8am service)

22 Sunday

Knightsbridge service – 10:45am



22 Sunday

Nine lessons and carols - 7:00pm

24 Tuesday Christmas Eve family services – 5:00pm and 7:00pm

24 Tuesday

Christmas Eve midnight service – 11:30pm

25 Wednesday Christmas Day services – 8am and 9:30am



Jan Sunday services at 8:00am and 9:30am. No Evensong, Taizé or Wednesday morning services during january. Feb 2 Sunday

AAW Sunday services – 8:00am and 9:00am



2 Sunday

Evensong – 6:00pm



4 Tuesday

Women’s Fellowship – 10:00am



5 Wednesday Taizé worship – 7:30pm in church



9 Sunday

Deadline for contributions to The Eagle



15 Saturday

Family service – 5:00pm



16 Sunday

The Eagle to be published



16 Sunday

Knightsbridge service – 10:45am



27 Thursday

Vestry meeting – 7:30pm

Next issue of The Eagle: Publishing date: 16 February 2014

Deadline for copy: Page 4

9 February 2014

From Blake Ramage continued from page 3 Do you invest in companies that destroy food and water sources for the world’s poorest citizens, use child labour, encourage gambling or produce tobacco? We would want to answer “no” but more likely than not we will be wrong on that. Let me ask you a question: Where is your KiwiSaver money invested? Do you know the names of the companies your Provider has invested your money into? Or for those with PIE funds, which companies has your Provider chosen to put your money in? You can ask your Provider for a list and check. As above, checking can be as simple as picking up the phone and calling the company. If calling each company from the list your KiwiSaver provider gives you seems a bit much, there are a number of responsible KiwiSaver options including SuperLife’s Ethical KiwiSaver fund, Grosvenor’s Ethical Kiwi Fund, Craigs KiwiSTART, Mercer KiwiSaver, which offers the AMP Capital funds, and the Anglican Church’s Koinonia Fund. Ian Woods, head of environmental, social and governance research at AMP Capital Investors, says it is about using the power of the shareholder to make change, in his words: “The shareholders are the owners and when the owners want change they will get change.” We are not victims of corporations, we are not powerless, in fact we have a range of tools that collectively can make an impact and change our world. So let’s use them, after all, we are called to be good stewards of the precious earth and the precious people that God has created and entrusted to our care. Blake Ramage - vicar

New Wine Festival Warkworth 8-12 January 2014 The theme for Camp will be Made for More and it will be the place to be! A place to ‘take time out’ to focus on God, hear from his word and to worship and fellowship with a range of fellow Christians and families from across the Church. There will be great speakers from N.Z. and overseas. There are separate ministry areas for all ages. Mahurangi College is the setting this Camp and facilities are greater and larger than last year. Ever wondered what it is like? It is just 40 minutes away from the Shore so a ‘day’s visit’ is offered. Accommodation around the area is varied, but needs to be booked early for full Camp attendance. Please see registrations and notices in St John’s church foyer – for further info see Kath Freeman or Fay Aitken.

The EAGLE

Waskia project update Gratitude for the uplifting – and the hard! As I sit down to share with you this morning, what is uppermost in my heart are feelings of gratitude for the relationship there is between the whole Waskia language community (albeit I can’t know all 35,000 people personally!), all the project team, and my own self. I am aware that it is a great blessing in my life. Whenever I ‘drop in on’ a congregation at Sunday worship, or a village, a school, or on an individual or family group, people are always really welcoming. There are the handshakes and hugs, the shared betel nuts, the scurries to find me a comfortable chair to sit on. (I feel a bit like an old lady of the tribe!). Once we get ourselves seated in a shady place all the listening and talking gets under way. With all the strong and vibrant personalities and strong opinions, sometimes there are ‘complaints’ about how the project is going, or else not going. But complaints aired are all good; what we are blessed with is plenty of interest. I am aware of what is hard in the project, and what is uplifting. Yet every piece of it, I am convinced is sign of the work of God in us. And isn’t it the hard things in particular that often enable our souls to mature more? It’s a delight to share with you about my last time with the Waskia people in September/October, as well as some snippets of what is currently happening, and what is on our hearts as we look forward.

My recent time in Papua New Guinea A great relief – the drought finally broke When I got back to my village, I found that a long drought had left the ground parched and swirling dust everywhere. And the people were feeling the stress of trying to manage with the lack of water. Every day the women and girls were rising before dawn and walking a long way down to springs near the sea to fill up bottles and pails of water. (They can carry these balanced on their heads; I certainly couldn’t!) The wearying part was the long uphill trek back home carrying enough water for yet another day. Wonderfully the very night I arrived back, a little rain fell. People got just enough water in their drums to cook food, wash dishes, and have water to drink for a day or so. There is no flush toilet, and I can wash with just a cup of water – better than water being carried a long way! People around the village said, “Oh, Jan has come - and she’s brought the rain with her!” More rain did keep falling. It ended up we weren’t prevented from doing the programs we’d hoped to – except for one, when rain teemed down, which was in itself a blessing.

Weeping with a family While I’d been back in NZ, in my village a young father of five children had died suddenly, exact cause unknown. I made my way down the track to the house of Eric’s family with a gift of some sugar and things in my string bag. I immediately saw the grave close by the family home, decorated with fresh new flowers this very morning. I was aware of the poignancy and hugeness of the loss of this loved father, husband and son. It was great to see that his mother and his wife (who is from another tribe) were at home, and the grandchildren/children

December 2013

playing happily close by. The children went off to tell their granddad (one of my clan brothers) who was working in the family coconut plantation that I’d come. It was special for the women to tell their story first and me to hear it well. The family had recognized that something was not at all right with Eric. By what he was saying, it seemed he was preparing them for his dying. His father set off for the aid post for urgent help; but before he got there Eric had already died in his mother’s embrace, with his wife and young children right beside him. I listened carefully as they filled me in on every detail of their experience. Eventually Eric’s father arrived back and joined us. The cause of the death was a puzzle. Sometimes cerebral malaria can cause sudden death – or other things too in Papua New Guinea. “God took him,” the ones who loved him said simply. Still the difficulty and the suffering were in no way minimized in our conversation: a young wife far from her own people and village left a widow without a husband’s support … (Without machinery, there’s a lot of heavy manual work that only men do, like copra work, house-building and the breaking in of gardens) … and grandparents who are getting older now needing to pick up more responsibility and do more work to care for five young children. Yet it was clear that there was a deep sense of a mutual trust and love between this bereaved family and God. ‘God knows we’re strong and loving enough to withstand grief and hardship,” they said. God had ‘spoken’ too through a beautiful night dream of Eric’s dad that had brought consolation.



… and later the uplift of laughter

We had wept together, so the next time I dropped in to see them there was a lovely opportunity to laugh together. We shared a special story from way back in the 1980’s. At the time of Eric’s birth, one pouring wet night, the village midwives were concerned there was something not right about mum’s labour. When they came and told my co-worker Fay and I, our not being doctors, we said, “Let’s set off immediately to the hospital,” all the while praying we’d be able to get our 4-wheel-drive vehicle through any swollen rivers, and that the timing would work for a safe delivery. We were within half of an hour of the hospital when we came upon a really swollen river. Eric’s dad and the other guys went down into the water to test the depth and look at the current flows. But meanwhile Mum in unbearable pain got out from the back of the vehicle, protesting she could go no further. I remember saying, “I’m going to help lift you back into the vehicle right now and we will get to the doctor in time and you and the baby will be OK! We can’t risk you giving birth here on the roadside without expert help.” I will never forget driving down the steep rocky incline to the river, and then right in it with the water pushing strongly against the car following exactly every shout and signal from the guys . . . until they finally said, “Now keep up the revs and drive up the steep [and muddy!] road here. We’ll run up behind you.” The Australian doctor was duly awoken and Eric safely delivered, with much thanks to God! Sitting around the family cooking fire, we had a really good laugh together as we recounted the story.

Nourishment of the soul We had many retreat days with various groups - starting out with Waskia language reading practice Continued on page 6

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Waskia project continued from page 5

as people gathered (which always takes a while), and then moving into a stiller time of retreat when most had come. It’s rewarding seeing the people reading the new translation so beautifully. It has been carefully and skilfully revised in the contemporary idiom. Particularly if it is a mainly women’s group, they will stop and ‘chat, recounting everything the passage has said and going deeper and applying it to their lives. They are so open about times when they haven’t ‘got it all right’ and excited about how they want to mature in their following of Jesus. In the retreat times with the longer silences, each of us is ‘shut in’ with God alone, prayerfully we reading shorter parts of Scripture. And there are the tears that roll down cheeks, the feelings of loads lifting, or just quiet smiles of delighting in God or gratitude. Sometimes people draw pictures about, or write some words about that encounter, or else they just ‘rest in heart’ and enjoy it.

Coming to see the world more through the eyes of Jesus With a number of groups we read through all the lectionary readings for October and November. I really enjoy the readings for the ‘Sundays in Ordinary Time’. It doesn’t take a lot of living to realize that life is more than simply a series of highs and lows. By and large, existence as we know it is not a display of moments either marked by excitement or despair, by dazzling hope or formidable tragedy. It is basically routine. And so, not surprisingly, is the liturgical year. Yet what I think is extraordinary, is week by week as we read the scriptures set we gradually come to see the world more and more through the eyes of Jesus. It is the time, I think, when the implications of Easter and Christmas become most clear to us.

Visits to congregations or villages Even within my own big village of 4000 people, there are about 16 church congregations each with their own meeting places and style of worship and leadership, some more traditional and some more charismatic or Pentecostal, and some a blend of the two. It is lovely experiencing all the variety of style and theology. What is uplifting is seeing the dedication of the people and the leaders, and the gifted worship-leading and the preaching often filled with lively story, and sometimes the use of mime too. It is also a joy going to other villages for retreat days, or for Sunday church. And there’s always time to sit together and update people about progress e.g. our new Bible has been sent for printing, or talk about what involvement we need at this point now from the congregations, especially more new worship song composition, or more humorous stories or traditional stories for our literacy program.

It’s a privilege to meet new families and overnight with them It is always lovely going to Gial village. The different denominations work together so beautifully. It is Pastor Janet’s village – she was a widow when she came to us in New Zealand and she is now remarried to a very supportive man. She is still on the ball with church and project work. She had arranged for me to stay with an engineer Mr Toa and his wife and family who have a big house. For many Papua New

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Pruning We are all part of God’s vineyard We have inherited the branches that are rooted to the trunk and God is the gardener He prunes us regularly so that we can produce fruit. Fruit that lasts, like strength and power and wisdom. The branches grow in season And are able to cope with change, But Jesus lops off the excess and we build up our faith To conquer the demands of life That put pressure on our day and leave us with a readiness to endure and overcome. The pruning means we develop and mature daily And live according to God’s plan And reap a harvest of Faith, Hope and Love. Amen Another poem by his colleague Fred, contributed by Peter Martin

Guinea people, even if they have advanced education and lots of work experience in their field, still it can be hard to find paid work. The economy is quite slow. But it’s been great this gifted man has been able to put his skills to work and help his village and region with some projects that support young people’s needs.

Uplifted voices in the ‘sanctuary’ I’d been looking forward to going to Marangis village, which is a long way from mine. We weren’t able to get through to anyone there on their mobile to check if they still wanted us to come because of heavy rain. So Pastor Janet, and Aditha and I not wanting to let them down went to actually check. Other team and musicians would follow us later if the rain eased and we hadn’t returned. “Oh yes,” said Suzanne, the lively Lutheran woman leader, “people know and they will come when the rain stops. I’ll take you to my house for a cup of tea and you are going to sleep with me so you can deposit your overnight bags. Then we will beat the garamut drums and people will know it is time to get ready.” I know the routine so well. The roll of the drums means people will perhaps go off to a spring or stream to wash, or light the fire and cook a meal – in an hour or so people will hopefully start to arrive. Having had lovely bread and tea, we went to the church building. After sitting there quite a Continued on page 7

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Waskia project continued from page 6 while, the leaders of

the three village clans braved the rain and came to greet and talk with us, quite old men. They pointed to a wall hanging above the altar; it had the words of Psalms 150 in the Waskia language. “Koras/Sister, do you remember that?” they asked. Before Fay and I left Papua New Guinea in 1985, we’d gone to say good-bye to the people of Marangis and we’d taken them the poster as a gift. “Ever since you left, we’ve been doing like you said to do,” they said smiling, “we’ve been praising God here in his ‘sanctuary’ in our own language – with our uplifted voices, our guitars and cymbals.” It was a poignant moment.

Many sleepy people Out beyond the church building though, the village looked very sleepy – because of the rain. All their work is outside work, so people often enjoy a sleep on rainy days, which they hadn’t had many of for a very long time. Also two people had died the previous day, an unusual happening, and so many people had been up all night staying close with the bodies and the bereaved as is the custom. It was already mid-afternoon when other team members and musicians arrived by vehicle from my village. They’d waited for the rain to ease there. But it was clear we couldn’t proceed with the program. “We need to head for home,” I said. “Aditha and Janet have had a snooze in the church, but I haven’t managed to; anyway we’re all tired now. [I’m more dependent on fewer people milling about and having a thin mattress!] And the people here are tired too because of the two deaths and the rain.”

Vestry – what is it and who are they? Before St Johns AGM in 2013 I hadn’t really thought about Vestry, there was just a group that organized things. Once I had been nominated I thought I had better find out a bit more before I became more involved. Within a parish the Diocese requires the establishment of a group of no less than 12 including the ministers to carry out and monitor the work of the parish. The responsibilities of the Vestry include monitoring and approval of finances and ongoing church maintenance, and along with the Vicar, setting and implementing the vision of the church along with ensuring its ministry and mission is being effectively carried out with appropriate resourcing. The members of the Vestry include the Vicar as Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Assistant Clergy, Vicar’s Warden and People’s Warden and representatives from the congregation. The lay members provide varied talents and experience and are prepared to contribute to the smooth running of the parish. Following the AGM the newly elected Vestry members were asked by Blake for our thoughts on a vision for the coming year and for the following 5 years. From this a strategy for the year was written with a programme developed how it will be achieved and when it will be assessed.

Graciousness modelled

The plans for the year include the intention to:-

Before we actually set off, there were lots of handshakes and backslaps and convivial interchanges between our project team and the Marangis people. Nothing can be done abruptly. We all agreed, “No worries at all! Definitely we’ll come back and have a two- or three-day retreat here with you at a later time. But it’s been great today to be together and talk about so much! Thank you so much.”

• Offer both traditional Anglican and innovative services

Life is unhurried there! When I hear the tick-tick of ‘my internal NZ clock’, I do my best to silence it, pushing down any inward frustration I have about time ‘wasted’ - and just patiently wait as everyone else needs to. I watch the Waskia people and their gracious ways of communicating in body language and speech, even under fatigue or duress.

• Raise St Johns profile in the community.

Our trip home had a hitch too You wouldn’t believe that on the return trip, our heavy vehicle (the community college’s large bus) got bogged deeply in mud on a side road – or maybe you would believe it? We had to get lots of rocks stones and logs under the wheels and to make a solid enough path to get the vehicle out of the bog - with a lot of pushing and shoving. (I say ‘we’, but actually I only cheered the workers on!) Despite this hitch, we could only be glad of the heavy rain. The drought had broken and so it was the end of the daily grind of carrying heavy water pots long distances. And the vital food plants in the gardens needed the rain to sprout up again.

An astounding labour of love My Waskia brother Bangsik has done an amazing job of building a ‘haus win’ (English: Continued on page 8

December 2013

• Nurture youth work • Support overseas mission • Continue to contribute to existing Church groups • Provide current information on local support groups For these commitments to be carried out finances must be on a sound footing and therefore regular contributions and fund raising initiatives are of paramount importance. To become a Vestry member you need to be nominated and seconded, and since the recent Synod, receive over 50% of the votes of those at the AGM. I have found my participation in Vestry to have been very positive. I have met people I didn’t know before, learnt more about the administration of the Parish and feel more involved with the future work of the Church. It has enabled me to feel part of the mission of St Johns which is:St Johns is a place of worship and outreach responding to the needs of the parish along with local and overseas communities by providing comfort, transformation, education and fellowship with Jesus and the teaching of Scripture at the heart of all that it does. Carol Groom

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Waskia project continued from page 7

house wind) for me and the project, all voluntarily. He wanted my house not to be as overrun with people always coming and going from the veranda to talk, and people coming and going from the office to do tasks – or just as spectators! I think that is true consideration and thoughtfulness and I have felt really blessed.

Bangsik is getting older now, and he really put his body on the line to get the building up. Bush materials – heavy logs, huge bundles of sago palm for weaving into roof tiles, heavy bundles of bamboo for the wall panels - have to be borne on shoulders long distances from the bush to the building site. Others assisted at points but he bore the bigger part of the load. He was so determined.

“All I want is for the work to go ahead,” he said While I was back with them, the rush was on to get the building completed and prayed for and dedicated while I was still there. I’d often ask Bangsik, “Koras/Brother, could we do this program or this job in the ‘haus win’, or would it hold up your building work up too much?” Invariably he’d say, “All I want is for the work to go ahead. You tell me what you plan to do and l won’t make any noise that disrupts.” We really enjoyed the coolness and comfort of the building as we ran all the retreats and reading times for our village there, and the team meetings. When all the cane and plastic chairs were occupied, people sat comfortably on the white sand floor. Lapan, Aditha and I worked in the building for three days when we went though 45 of our Waskia-English literacy books to do a final check on the Waskia expression and the page layout so the books would be ready to go for printing. We ran the generator all day for the two computers and into the night too (it’s gets dark at 6pm there) for fluorescent tubes to see by. Other people sat around and read from the computer screens and put in their penny worth’s too. Bangsik was pleased that it was a hive of activity, even though it delayed some of the bits he was trying to finish off. Provided the girls from my family plied Uncle Lapan (not a direct uncle, but still an uncle) with betelnut so “my eyes don’t close and I can’t work” all went well.

CAP Money has come to St John’s! The first course is under way, with about 10 people.

The Mission of CAP We can often think that people are irresponsible for getting themselves into debt with out-of-control spending habits. Yet debt can happen to anyone. All it takes is a change in circumstances such as illness, marriage breakdown or losing a job to turn manageable spending and loan repayments into a financial crisis. We don’t pay people’s debts for them or encourage clients to take out more debt. CAP aims to show God’s love in action by providing sustainable poverty relief through debt counselling, advice and practical help. There are two primary ways in which CAP does this:

Free debt counselling for those struggling with

unmanageable debt.

CAP Money courses which provide money management and budgeting education.

CAP Money is a three session DVD-based course designed to enable people to get to grips with and manage their finances. It is administered by trained volunteers from the church. CAP provides the resources, training and support to enable churches to reach their communities with this valuable tool.

How does it work? Each session consists of a 30 minute DVD with money coaches on hand to facilitate attendees through the course and into financial self-management. CAP Money promises to be a fantastic tool that can be used to help thousands in the local community. Volunteers from the church receive full training from CAP in order to become CAP Money Coaches, able to facilitate and to equip the local church and wider community with vital money management skills.

Bangsik was really honoured at the dedication time

What are the benefits?

On the very last evening before I left, Pastor Tangar came and prayed for and dedicated the building. And many people came and many tributes were spoken to honour the hard work Bangsik and his wife had put in to the building, as ever giving tirelessly of themselves and their time.

In addition to the invaluable budgeting and money management training which participants receive, this course is a proven and relevant outreach tool for churches. It empowers people within the church and the local community to take control of their finances and is an exciting way to enable the church to address one of the biggest issues facing society today.

These two are the acknowledged ‘papa’ and ‘mama’ of the project. As a young couple just married they took Fay and me into their home until the village built us a house of our own just across from theirs. They are concerned for everything that is happening in the project and they are prayerful.

A rich experience and a setback since I’ve been back Lapan has enjoyed leading daily Waskia Bible studies for the Lutheran Circuit Conference over a week. And the circuit leaders have said they have found them really helpful. It’s great he has been able to have these rich studies sharing the Scriptures with lots of other people - after he has toiled so long and hard on the final revisions. Aditha has worked like a Trojan in town going from place to place making the necessary contacts and getting the necessary

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For more information check out - www.capmoney.org Or contact Roy San Garde or the church office. paper work done so that hopefully we will end up with government funding for the printing of our literacy books. We request prayer that funding comes into our hands soon. It’s a priority to get these books which we’ve done at different reading levels into all the schools and as many homes as possible before the new Bible comes about mid-2014. A setback was that Aditha and his good friend Rabei had an attack on them by thugs while walking Continued on page 11

The EAGLE

News from Sarah

Earth Care column God sings

Dear St Johns family

Merry Christmas from Cape Town! In many ways it feels as if I am not ready for Christmas but I am sure that is not an uncommon feeling. The past few months since returning from the Eastern Cape have been full and productive: •

We had our Annual Staff Conference, in which all of our staff gathers for a time of re-connecting, input and hearing from God together as we head into our new year.

• We welcomed back our previous Base Director, Edwin Fillies, from Switzerland and he has stepped back into the Base Director role. This is a great encouragement for us all as he carries so much vision and passion for Cape Town. • We started our new quarter with our largest student intake for many years. We have students from all continents participating in our Discipleship Training School and School of Biblical Studies. •

I represented YWAM Muizenberg at the Southern Africa Base Leaders meetings. It was great to hear what God is doing in the region and connect with other bases.

School of Biblical Foundations and Leadership We are currently pioneering a new programme for Pastors and church leaders called the School of Biblical Foundations and Leadership. Many pastors we work with on a regular basis haven’t had access to any formal training so this programme provides tools to study the biblical in greater depth – looking into the historical background, context and with a focus on leadership. Our participants are coming to Muizenberg on Wednesday and Friday evenings and Saturdays for five weeks. So far we have worked through the books of Titus, 2 Timothy and James. The participants are growing greatly each week and the bible is coming alive for them. It is always encouraging to see when people start to grasp that they can study the bible for themselves and bring it to personal application. We have ten participants but because of their leadership roles in their churches we trust that the investment in their lives will continue to ripple into the lives of people in their churches. New Zealand for Christmas I will back in New Zealand over Christmas and into early February. I am looking forward to catching up with you all while I am home.

December 2013

In The Magician’s Nephew chapters 8 and 9 in The Chronicles of Narnia, we have the allegoric picture of Aslan the lion, singing the universe into creation. This becomes more likely to be the actual creation process as more discoveries in quantum science are revealed. Hebrews 1-3 tells of Christ ‘regulating the universe by the word of his power.’ Quantum physics assures us that our material world is only made of ‘string’ vibrations, each material vibrating at it’s own resonant frequency. What the physicists can’t tell us is what causes the vibrations. Could this be the voice of God “by whom all things consist”? The bible says the voice of God is: Very powerful (Ps29, Isaiah 30 v30-33), Creative (Gen 1), and sings happily (Zeph 3 v18). So we can believe that God spoke or sang the universe into being, and continues to maintain it by his continuing supernatural sound waves until the ‘new heaven and earth’ of the book of Revelation. Attributes of God like non-locality, being outside time and space, fit easily with quantum physics. So science is taking us closer to the nature of God. Miracles by Father, Son and Holy Spirit are also much more understandable. Healings, omnipresence, teleportation (Acts 8 v39), anti-gravity (2Kings 6 v 1-7 and Mark 6 v45-52), the time warps of prophetic knowledge (no ‘before’ or ‘after’ with God), and the ‘other dimensional’ realm of heaven, also fit comfortably with quantum physics. Science has now become more and more unexplainable without the input of God, and has propelled many scientists towards Christianity, or, at least partly there, via mysticism or New Age beliefs. Eric Martin … with help from: Quantum Glory – The science of heaven invading earth by Phil Mason ISBN: 978-0-646-54516-5 Prayer Requests • I need to find a new roommate again! Please pray that I find the right person to move in with me. A good flatmate makes the world of difference to a happy home environment. • We work with people and people are not perfect! Sometimes people I work with make bad choices and the consequences can be difficult. Pray for wisdom to know how to speak wisdom into these situations. •

There is a possibility of a new leadership role on the horizon, pray for wisdom as I make decisions about this.

Thank you so much for all your prayers and support! I couldn’t do it without you all. Blessings Sarah Murphy

Page 9

8:00 am

Holy Communion

9;30 am

All the people of God celebration & Communion service, St John’s Church Teentime, Junior Teens, Kidzone and Crèche

6:00 pm

Evensong (first Sunday of month)

St John’s Church

Monday

7:30 pm

Home group (1st and 3rd Mondays)

Various venues Ursula Scogings – 479 8036

Tuesday

10:00 am Women’s Fellowship (first Tuesday of month)

St John’s – McIsaac Rooms Carol Groom – 479 5899

1:30 pm

Home group

18 Knightsbridge Drive, Forrest Hill Fay Aitken – 410 4819

7:30 pm

Home group

94 Knights Road, Rothesay Bay David & Linda Bromham – 479 8346

Selwyn Centre friendship group

St John’s Church hall Beth Willmott – 476 1591

The Week in View

Sunday

Wednesday 9:30 am

Thursday

Friday

St John’s Church

10:00 am Holy Communion – weekly (1662 service – 4th week)

St John’s Church

7:30 pm

St John’s Church Meriel Johansen – 415 3070

Taizé worship (first Wednesday of month)

10:00 am Creative Kids (preschool group)

St John’s Church hall Shann Craig – 478 5780

10:00 am Young Mum’s group (last Thursday)

Church Lounge Janine Smart – 476 7452

7:30 pm

Ginger spirituality group (2nd Thursday)

56 Weldene Ave, Glenfield Jan Lee – 441 7456

7:30 pm

Vestry (4th Thursday of month)

St John’s Church

10:00 am Friday home group (every 2nd Friday)

Hazel Hipkins – 478 6508

4:00 pm

The Hub – for young people in school years 6, 7 and 8

St John’s – McIsaac Rooms Vanya Burduk – 021 0269 3819

7:00 pm

Youth group

St John’s – McIsaac Rooms Byron Smith – 021 609 956

Parish Directory Vicar

Revd Blake Ramage

478 3575

Priest Assistants

Revd Shann Craig Revd Isabel Mordecai

478 5780 479 8730

Youth Team and The Hub contacts

Youth team contact: Byron Smith The Hub contact: Vanya Burduk

021 609 956 021 0269 3819

People’s Warden

Kath Freeman

478 4958

Privacy Officer

Contact parish office

478 3575

Vicars’ Warden

Gill Barthorpe

488 0329

Parish Secretary

Alison Bargh

410 1606

Parish Treasurer

Roy San-Garde

479 5393

Synod Representatives

Peter Bargh Kath Freeman

410 1606 478 4958

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Home Group Coordinator

Church Office

478 3575

Women’s Fellowship

Carol Groom

479 5899

Food Basket

Shann Craig

478 5780

Envelope Recorder

Beth Willmott

476 1591

Prayer Wheel Coordinator

Felicity Martin

479 1190

Music Convenors

Sandy Latimer Felicity Martin

410 3456 479 1190

Wedding Flowers Coordinator

Irene Sawyer

478 8780

Hall Convenor

Refer to office

478 3575

St John’s Trust Harold McIsaac - wall plaque secretary

410 5540

The EAGLE

Selwyn Centre

Waskia project continued from page 8 down a road at night

in town. There was a bit of a skirmish but Aditha thought quickly and avoided their being hurt by throwing the money he had on him for the attackers. The two of them took to their heels in one direction and the others fortunately in the opposite direction. They were quite shaken up, but thank God, not really hurt. Then a few weeks later when Aditha was again in town on project business, he had a daytime instance when his bag and money was stolen.

What is on our hearts as we look ahead? Lapan is currently in the highlands doing a three-week SIL course for people training to be translation consultants. “Koras/Brother, how are you getting on?” I asked on the phone this morning. “The course is great and I’m learning a lot. But it is all day and then there’s homework at night too - and I’m getting tired. At 46 now, I’m starting to feel ‘older’ “ “I can identify with that too, Koras! But truly you’ve done a huge work this year.” “Koras/Sister, what I really want is for us to be able to train some from the young generation to do translation work. We’ve completed nine Old Testament books and there are still 30 more. We’d need a big team to do that.”

The great weather we are enjoying has put a spring in our steps. We have continued to enjoy an active and varied programme each Wednesday. Over recent weeks we have had a Craft Session making Flax Flowers under the guidance of Gillian Bogan. Kaz from Independent Living Service was very helpful and informative. Several of our members have given Travel Talks about their recent overseas holidays, and we have enjoyed new games – Skittles, Target Ball, Phase 10 and UNO. Our volunteer caterers have provided delicious Morning Teas. Thanks to Lyndal Clark, Alison Bargh, Jenny Manktelow, Sheena Shirley, Nancy Rae and Isabel Mordecai. We all enjoy our monthly sing-a-long with John leading us on the Organ and this month many of our group attended an Irish Musical Morning starring Marion Burns on the violin. Some of our Group had the pleasure of going on our Church’s recent Garden Tour. The Selwyn Friendship group meets every Wednesday from 9.30am to Noon in the Church. Anyone over 65 is most welcome. Beth Willmott -co-ordinator … Phone: 476-1591

Selwyn Centre 327 Beach Road Campbells Bay 0630 Ph: 022 191 2843 Waskia school children at class

“Koras, I feel like you’re summing up our vision really well there. To do everything we can to support, encourage, mentor and train people from the young generation, that’s our priority. Our years are running on, but while we still have life we still have work!”

The Selwyn Foundation in partnership with St Johns parish is setting up a friendship group to care for older people. Do you know any older person:

Thank you so much for sharing in our story and keeping us in your hearts and prayers. May we each experience Christ’s rule in our lives more and more.



who is lonely?



who is living alone?



who is living with a carer?



who has been recently bereaved?



who is new to the area?

Jan Lee

If you think they would benefit from the opportunity for social interaction in a friendly caring environment by attending this group, please contact Revd Isabel Mordecai 479-8730 or [email protected] Selwyn Centre at St Johns Church Hall is held every Wednesday from 9:30am to noon. Cost $4 per person. Please contact the co-ordinator Beth Willmott Children playing at the beach

December 2013

Ph: 022 191 2843 or [email protected]

Page 11

‘Slice of Heaven’ Garden Tour

The ‘Slice of Heaven’ Garden Tour successfully raised in excess of $5,000 for parish projects. Photos: Zen Garden (top two); Ayrlies (middle four); Huntingwood (bottom two photos).