‘Creating, celebrating Church’ is a good description of Messy Church, a movement that began in the UK and is now 10 years old. In Amberley we started with Messy Church in 2011 and haven’t looked back – it has become a valued link between the parish and wider community and we all enjoy the intergenerational fun. See the Messy Church tab in the menu above for more information.
This Sunday, the creating and celebrating was all about Spring. Continue reading
On Sunday we sadly farewelled our People’s Warden, Mary-Jane (“MJ”) Mumford. She’s returning to Auckland to take up a new and very exciting position. But it’s hard to be sad for long when MJ is around; she has a life-giving energy about her and a wonderful sense of humour. She sees opportunities where others see obstacles, and she has a kind and encouraging word for everyone. She is hospitable and generous.
In the relatively short time she was a member of our parish she instigated our brand of homemade produce — ‘From the Church Gate’ — launched at the A & P Show last spring; and she inspired and helped to organise a variety of social and fundraising events as well as special worship services such as the Pet Blessing service and Flower Power Sunday (to mark ‘Bee Awareness Week’). Also, she has been a great encourager of our foray into social media, here on this blog and on our Facebook page. Mary-Jane is often to be found with her camera in hand, which we are learning is fairly essential if you want to engage in social media!
We will miss her tremendously; but here’s the upside: MJ has family in the district so we know she’ll be back in this part of the world from time to time. We look forward to seeing her again in the coming years. In the meantime, she leaves a legacy of optimism, encouragement and warmth. Bye for now, MJ! Come and see us soon. God bless you.
Come all you questioners
looking for answers,
And searching for reasons
and sense in it all…*
This Sunday is about worshipping God, about experiencing the joy that Pamela spoke of in last week’s sermon, as we lean into the love in the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Sounds like a whole lot of words but when you relax into praising God you find soul peace and joy. Come, try it, 9.30am, Holy Innocents, Church Street, Amberley.
Come all you… as our lively ‘Vagabonds’ intro encourages. God calls You.
Liz, Worship leader this Sunday (6 July).
[*lyrics from Stuart Townend, ‘Vagabonds’]
Oh, and just for fun: 
Kristin, Pamela & Llewellyn
‘There is a lot of a-theism in our church. That is, too much church activity and too many sermons are about us, and too little is about God.’ This striking statement, which could stop us in our tracks, is from Sunday’s sermon at St Paul’s (29 June). Licensed lay reader in the parish, Pamela Criglington, addressed us on the subject of Praise, basing her sermon on Ephesians 1: 3–14 as well as other readings for the day.
A few extracts from the sermon are provided below. [Thank you to Pamela for providing the text of the sermon]. Continue reading
Meeting with the risen Christ on the road to Emmaus is the theme at our All Age Morning Worship service this Sunday (4th May, 9.30am at Holy Innocents’, Amberley).
Get in touch with worship leader Liz Dickson if your children / grandchildren would like to help in the telling of this wonderful story – through reading or acting. If you don’t know Liz, use the Contact Us page on this site.
See you there!
Click here to read the 6th instalment in a thought-provoking series of posts by Rev. Bosco Peters on his blogsite liturgy.co.nz We have been re-blogging the series from the beginning. This one is about well-formed leadership. It would be wonderful to see some comments from followers here.
