March A

pril 2009

St Alban’s Taueru

St Matthew’sSt Matthew’s Parish NewsParish News

www.stmatthewsparish.org.nz

St Andrew’s Upper Plain

St Mat thew’s Master ton

St Francis’ Bide fo rd

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Editors Note Ever wondered why the dates for Easter change every year. Easter Sunday can fall anywhere be-tween March 22 and April 25. And Eastern Ortho-dox churches celebrate Easter on a different day to Western churches.

To help explain, in Western Christianity, Easter is always celebrated on the Sunday immediately fol-lowing the Paschal Full Moon date of the year, de-

termined from historical tables. As Astronomers were able to determine the dates of all full moons in future years, the Western Christian Church used these calcula-tions to establish a table of Ecclesiastical Full Moon dates.

Though modified from its original form (on the first equinox date of 325 AD when the First Ecumenical Council of Nicea met), by 1583 AD the table for determining the dates was permanently established and has been used ever since. According to the Ecclesiastical tables, the Paschal Full Moon is the first Ecclesiastical Full Moon date after March 20.

The Paschal Full Moon can vary as much as two days from the date of the actual full moon, with dates ranging from March 21 to April 18. As a result, Easter dates can range from March 22 through April 25 in Western Christianity. Also Western churches use the current (Gregorian) Calendar to calculate the date of Easter and Eastern Orthodox churches use the old style (Julian) calendar. This is why the dates are seldom the same. To complicate it even more, due to the inaccuracy of the Julian calendar and the 13 days that have accrued since 325 AD, in order to stay in line with the originally established equinox, Orthodox Easter cannot be cele-brated before April 3, which was March 21 in 325 AD.

Also according to the Orthodox Church, Easter must always fall after the Jewish Passover, since the death, burial and Resurrection of Christ happened after the celebration of Passover. Eventually the Orthodox Church came up with an alterna-tive to calculating Easter based on Passover, and developed a 19-year cycle, as op-posed to the Western Church 84-year cycle.

Since the days of early church history, determining the precise date of Easter has been a matter for continued argument. Because the followers of Christ neglected to record the exact date of Jesus' resurrection, the matter has grown increasingly complex.

WHEW!!! - pleased that’s clear. Thankfully Christ’s Easter message is much simpler.

Rev. Merv Jones, Editor

From our own Bishop Tom “I couldn’t give a stuff”. … was the reply from a young teenager interviewed in South Auckland as to whether he was at all concerned about the damage he was doing to people’s property by tagging. His response came after the fatal stabbing of a tagger in South Auckland and the wounding of a young man trying to stop a tagger here in Wellington.

Tagging is anarchy out of a spray can. But at last it looks as if ‘the writing is on the wall’ with the Prime Minister catching the mood of the coun-try by imposing an overdue ban on spray paint cans to under 18’s and heavier penalties including taggers having to clean up their own vandalism. That those

The Vicar’s Soapbox Occasionally the Wellington Airport gets closed because of fog, despite it’s reputation for being windy. Usually it’s during October – November when the fog rolls in form Cook Strait. What is amazing is what fog is made up from. The sort of fog that can cover all of the Airport, across the harbour and on through to Upper Hutt is formed from less than two litres of water. That amount of wa-ter is divided into billions of tiny droplets. Yet when those minute particles set-tle over the city they can almost plot out everything from our sight. And cer-tainly make it unsafe for the pilots trying to land. And that’s what it can feel like for the leadership and vestry as they try and see how a Parish like ours meets the challenge to be more true to God’s leading, more relevant to the Community it lives in and more willing to understand it’s own strengths and weaknesses. What is Gods specific call for this Parish - what emphasis or direc-tion should we be taking? How do we discern the real needs of the community - how do we share the Good News of Christ in the 21st century? How healthy is our Parish after nearly 150 years - spiritually physi-cally ethically and financially/ It is said, “Every Challenge is an Opportunity to Prove God’s Faithfulness, every Mistake is a Gift and an Opportunity to Grow if we Learned from it.” Some wonderful things are happening in the Parish. • St Matthews:- is getting some much needed attention with repairs and pur-chases. Grants are allowing an upgrade for the Sidedoor Caf, the start of the Mainly Music Group and the “Give it a Grow Gardening Project.” The 8.00am ser-vice now finishes with an opportunity for a chat and cuppa. Shortly the Narthex (back of the Church) will be open for a place to pray during the week from 8.30am till 5.00pm. The monthly Evensong Choir continues to provide a popular service and the bimonthly Healing Service continues to grow as miracles occur. Sidedoor has already begin meeting three times a week with study groups, lead-ership training and a Friday program with the intentional focus of serving others and also exploring a short term mission in 2010 The Ark and All Aboard chil-dren’s ministry are faithfully readying for greater numbers in the future. • St Andrews: - continues to grow as the Good Shepherd Children’s ministry expands with two groups now formed. This presents the congregation with good problem. More facilities. The Upper plain is a future growing sub-divisional part for Masterton, so what are the longer term building needs for St Andrews? A good challenge to pray about reminding ourselves of our forebears who always developed for the future generation .

• St. Albans: This vibrant congregation continues to glow. Last month the vestry has given the go ahead to repaint the exterior. • St Francis: Like St Albans and St Andrews, this church and congregation provide more than a regular service for some. Christmas services have been substantial community events and together with weddings and baptisms, meets a very real spiritual covering to those communities. The Parish “Fresh Perspective” training has been completed for about 16 pa-rishioner who are now ready to help others in the wider community as men-tors – to be sort term encouragers and friends for those seeking a hand up through the new Open Home Foundation Progam. With financial year coming to a close and the AGM, there is much to be thankful for and much to pray about. The three part Parish NCD survey will have begun. I believe this will be a great tool for our future parish development. It will enable us to see through the fog of the future and give us the tools to make God given deci-sions over the next few years and incorporate all the quality characteristics for a “healthy” parish . One of the sayings from the recent Fresh Perspectives Mentor training ses-sions is worth noting as a Parish as much as it is for each of us individually, if we want to face the future with renewed hope and enthusiasm. “If something is worth doing ,it’s worth doing badly until we/I get better.” The Conciliation/Celebration Gathering planning for September 27th is well under way, with invites already sent to previous vicars, assistants, curates and youth leaders. This will be a great opportunity for each congre-gation to share their stories and as a parish, celebrate our unity in diversity, our uniqueness and strength of character as a church facing the future with the confidence we have in Christ our cornerstone against which nothing can prevail.. Finally, in reaching out to “the world” with new technology, check out the new website one of our younger parishioner’s is developing, which will be very user friendly. http://www.stmatthewsparish.org.nz/Joomla/index.php (He would welcome further ideas or suggestions. I am looking forward to an exciting year, believing as we connect with the wider community we live in as an outreaching Church, it will result in many new people finding Jesus as their friend and saviour – which is one of the reasons we exist as a Church. Steve.☺

What’s happening at St Matthews? AGM

Sunday 22nd March at 11.45am - If you wish to be able to stand for election or vote at the meeting you must be on the Parish Electoral Roll. Check with Patti in the Parish office to see if your name is on the roll.

Healing Service Sunday 5th April at 7pm - These Services have been held every two month over the past year and the Prayer Ministry Team have been encouraged by the wonderful support of those from throughout the town (and beyond) who have attended and especially by God’s wonderful healing in His Love. If anyone feels as though they need physical, emotional or spiritual healing, please take a step in faith and allow God to restore.

Easter Services (see Services Schedule later in this magazine)

Alpha Dinner The next Alpha dinner is scheduled for 23rd April

He Is Risen

Music @ St Matthew’s

It was going to be an early start for the 2009 organ concert season with “Music @ St Matthew’s” here in Masterton Carlo Curley was to open in his inimitable style in late February. Sadly, because of a setback to Carlo’s health, that didn’t eventuate, but the good news is that Carlo is on the mend and negotiations are proceeding for him to come later in 2010. My apologies if you came for the non -existent concert. Advertising, once started is sometimes hard to undo! Coming up Anzac Concerts The sights and sounds of Anzac , musically and visually. The featured soldier this year is Lt Thomas A. Clark. Antonia Anisy will appear to give her impressions of travelling to Belgium following winning an essay prize. April 23rd at 1.30 pm - Matinee April 24th at 7 pm - Concert. Tea and Anzac biscuits to follow. Admission to both concerts is by gold coin donation – the proceeds will go to the RSA May 26th 1.30 pm - A variety organ concert. Admission by gold coin. July 26th 2 pm - Christopher Herrick. UK. Admission $15. Students $5. Please note change of date and time. September 2nd at 2 pm - Dr Ronald Newton. Oamaru. “Victorian Matinee”. Admission $10 Details for the later concerts will appear in the next magazine. If you are coming to a concert, you might like to ask a friend to come too — a joy shared is a joy doubled! April Bamford Convenor “Music @ St Matthew’s” An email list exists for notifying future “Music” events. If you’d like to sub-scribe to this contact the Convenor, April Bamford abamford@paradise.net.nz

Children as Buttons. It is hard for a kid to imagine how big a million is. Usually it is just a one, with a lot of zeroes. But sometimes the numbers have to make sense.

When the Moriah School children went to school on Holocaust Day, May 1st last year they talked about a project they could do to help remember the holocaust and the number of people that died in it. Moriah School is attached to the Synagogue in Wellington.

There were 6 million victims, and 1.5 million of those were children. For the stu-dents 1.5 million is a huge number to try and comprehend. Its very hard to pic-ture in your mind how many 1.5 million children really is. So they decided to col-lect one button for every child who died in the holocaust. Why buttons? There are many reasons: each button is unique – like each person; Buttons are round and symbolize the cycle of life; Buttons were a part of all the clothes left behind at the gates of the concentration camps, ghettos, and slave camps. Prisoners had to give buttons to support the Nazi war effort – in some ways you could say that this is reclaiming what was lost.

The congregation at St. Andrew’s began collecting buttons soon afterward, and then early in November Eleanor Newland and Liz Greville took to the school a large suitcase of buttons. They have received a thank you letter from the school saying that our contribution numbered 32,895!!!!! No wonder we were all a bit choked up when seeing the number in the suitcase and imaging that each was a child.

The count is now heading towards 300,000 and all are welcome to collect and for-ward to the school any buttons you have.

The members of St Andrew’s have been invited to go to the school to view the collection, see the artwork growing out of it, visit the Holocaust Museum they have there and we also hope to tour the Synagogue and see the environment that Jesus was familiar with.

For any further information – Liz Greville, greville@xtra.co.nz or 3708274

Christmas Parcels 2008 ‘Christmas Fare from those who Care’

57 Hamper Deliveries — THANK YOU!!! Again families or people who had been identified as in need of some practical help over the often lonely and finically difficult Christmas time were blessed by our wider St Matthews community who responded gener-ously with contributions of money, food and time. Well done to the St Alban’s congregation with nearly 50% of regular parishioners donating towards the hampers!!! The reaction from people receiving the hampers was a delight to those who were fortunate enough to help deliver them. Each contained a brief message – “This hamper is given to you with Christmas greetings and love from the Anglican Parish of St Matthews”. Many Parishioners contributed food and money and we have again been financially supported by Trust House, Wairarapa Building Society, JNL & Masterton Rotary Club, along with food contributions from Breadcraft, Anderson Meats, Henergy Eggs & Premier Bacon. We extend our thanks to all the contributors towards these hampers”. The physical assembly of the hampers looked to be a daunting task with about 2500 item to spread over the 92 boxes. Each hamper filled two large cartons. The church pews were again filled with an unusual congregation – a con-gregation of hamper boxes ready for distribution to the community of Masterton. Our thanks to the co-ordinating team and all those who assisted on the day with the assembly of the hampers and the delivery to the community. Our thanks also to the business community who joined in with the spirit of ‘Christmas Fare from those who Care’. One example of how we touched one family : “On behalf of myself and my great grandchildren, we would like to humbly and dearly express our sincere thanks for the wonderful food parcel. It will greatly go down as an appreciated Christmas luncheon. Our many, many thanks and may the blessing of God be upon you all for doing such a wonderful thing.”

Georgia works with Jesus’ Presentation at the Temple.

Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Our new year began once schools had resumed in early February. There is a pre-school group meeting now before the Level II, 5 – 9 group each Thurs-day. We moved all the school age children up to the next level where each will experience Christian Formation as, in Maria Montessori terms, the moral child. This will cover a deeper understanding of the Eucharist, the moral par-ables, an understanding of the time line from creation, through redemption to parousia, silence and deeper prayer, more specific geography of the Holy Land and beginning to develop liturgy for themselves. There are now a few spaces available for 3 to 5 year olds on Thursdays during term time, from

2.15 until 3.15pm – ring Liz 3708274 or email greville@xtra.co.nz The photos show some of the work undertaken last year at Level One.

Hanna very proudly showing off her loaf of bread – the result of working with the Parable of the Leaven

Edward concentrates on setting up the altar.

Ruby polishing the silver

St. Andrew’s - Upper Plain This year, on the western frontier of the parish, is al-ready looking pretty exciting. The congregation decided last year to have services extended to cover the 5th Sun-days when they occur in addition to the 2nd , 4th and spe-cial high days and Holy days. We will be able to celebrate together those great feasts of Easter and Christmas plus our Patronal Festival etc.

The building of a hall is at the forefront of our efforts this year as we continue to increase in attendance and our childrens’ programme flourishes – all a wonderful problem

caused by the spreading of the open hearted love of our faith.

Our Garden Tour in Novemeber last year was a great success and we will be repeating that ‘with a twist’ this year – so keep 14th November free.

In the immediate future we have of course the NCD (Natural Church Develop-ment) survey to complete, Mothering Sunday and our parish AGM on 22nd March.

March will also have our Lenten Studies each Tuesday @ 7pm – all welcome! We are going to look at the Creed and our own affirmations of faith, culminating with a candlelit 7pm Maundy Thursday service. Easter Sunday will be a cele-bration of the resurrection and the digging up of the Alleluias that the chil-dren buried at the beginning of Lent.

We look forward to a blessed quarter year.

Humour THE POWER OF SCRIPTURE A woman had just returned to her home from a church services, when she was startled by an intruder. She caught the man in the act of robbing her home of its valuables and yelled: 'Stop! Acts 2:38!' (Repent and be Bap-tized, in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins may be forgiven.) The burglar stopped in his tracks. The woman calmly called the police and ex-plained what she had done. As the officer cuffed the man to take him in, he asked the burglar: 'Why did you just stand there? All the old lady did was yell a scripture to you.' 'Scripture?' replied the burglar. 'She said she had an Axe and Two 38s!'

FLORIDA COURT SETS ATHEIST HOLY DAY In Florida, an atheist created a case against the upcoming Easter and Passover holy days. He hired an attorney to bring a discrimination case against Chris-tians, Jews and observances of their holy days. The argument was that it was unfair that atheists had no such recognized days. The case was brought before a judge. After listening to the passionate presentation by the lawyer, the judge banged his gavel declaring, "Case dismissed!" The lawyer immediately stood objecting to the ruling saying, "Your Honour, how can you possibly dismiss this case? The Christians have Christmas, Easter and others. The Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur and Hanukkah, yet my client and all other atheists have no such holidays." The judge leaned forward in his chair saying, "But you do. Your client, counsel, is woefully ignorant." The lawyer said, "Your Honour, we are unaware of any special observance or holiday for atheists." The judge said, "The calendar says April 1st is April Fools Day. Psalm 14:1 states, 'The fool says in his heart, there is no God.' Thus, it is the opinion of this court, that if your client says there is no God, then he is a fool. Therefore, April 1st is his day. Court is adjourned!! MY COMPUTER SWALLOWED JESUS The computer swallowed Jesus. Yes, honestly its true. I pressed 'control' and 'enter' And He disappeared from view. I've searched the recycle bin And files of every kind; I've even used the Internet, But nothing did I find. In desperation, I prayed aloud My searches to refine. The reply was always negative, Not a thing was found 'online.' So, if inside your 'Inbox,' My Jesus you should see, Please 'Copy', 'Scan' and 'Paste' And send Him back to me!

Easter Services in April Sunday 5th St Matthews, Masterton Palm Sunday 8:00am & 10am St Alban’s, Taueru Palm Sunday 9.30am

Monday 6th, Tuesday 7th & Wednesday 8th

St Matthews, Masterton Holy Week Reflections 12:10pm

Thursday 9th St Matthews, Masterton Maundy Thursday 10.30am (followed by Seniors Lunch 12 noon) St Matthews, Masterton Maundy Thursday 12.10pm St Matthews, Masterton Maundy Thursday 7:00pm

St Andrew’s, Upper Plain Maundy Thursday 7:00pm Friday 10th

St Matthews, Masterton Good Friday 9:00am

Sunday 12th

St Matthews, Masterton Easter Eucharist 8:00am & 10am

St Alban’s, Taueru Easter Eucharist 9:30am (Followed by a Country Fair in the Taueru Hall & Church grounds)

St Andrew’s, Upper Plain Easter Eucharist 10:00am

Other Regular Services St Matthews: Midweek Service Every Thursday 10am Hall (Youth SideDoor) Every Friday 6:30pm Hall (Children’s Ark) Every Sunday 10am Evensong Each 3rd Sunday 5pm Country Taueru (St Alban’s) Each 1st Sunday 9:30am Upper Plain (St Andrew’s) Each 2nd, 4th & 5th Sunday 10am Bideford (St Francis’) Each 3rd Sunday 9am

Resthomes Lansdowne Court Each 3rd Friday 10:30am Kandahar Each 3rd Saturday 10:30am MetLife Each 3rd Wednesday 10:45am

The Anglican Parish of St Matthew Office Hours: Mon—Fri, 9am-1pm

35 Church Street, PO Box 588, Masterton Phone 370 8589 Fax 370 8587 email: st.matt@xtra.co.nz

Website: www.stmatthewsparish.org.nz Parish Priest: Rev. Steve Kimberley Ph. 377 3020

Church Wardens: Edwin O’Hara 377 4625, John Whitehead 377 1464 Vocational Deacon: Rev. Christine Ellis 377 5089

Priest Assistant: Rev. Merv Jones 377 4709 Priest Assistant: Rev. Liz Greville 370 8274

Office & Reception: Patti Robertson Children’s Congregation—The Ark: Lesley Martel 378 7707

Youth Congregation—SideDoor:: Youth leader: Fern Hamilton 378 8353 or 027 369 4501

Telephone Prayer Line: April Bamford 377 5026 Prayer Ministry: Christine Ellis 377 5089

Priest Associates Rev. Ted Dashfield Rev Pam Mildenhall Rev. Michael Burt

Lay Ministers Dan Rodda, Dave Burton,

Lorraine Jones, Barbara Udy, Anne Kershaw, David Lacey, April Bamford, Yvonne Esau

Verger Dan Rodda

Vestry Members June Whitehead, Ros Murdoch,

Edwin O‘Hara, David Lacey Doug Whitcombe,

Home Communion Rev. Michael Burt, Mary Perkins,

Ros Murdoch

Rest Homes Mary Perkins, Rev Liz Greville

Alpha David Lacey

For baptisms, weddings, funerals and special services at: St Alban’s Taueru Contact: Rev Merv & Lorraine Jones, Anne Deans

St Andrew’s Upper Plain Contact: Rev Liz Greville, Mike LeCren St Francis’ Bideford Contact: Rev Liz Greville, Barney Woollard

Editor Rev Merv Jones: phone 377 4709 email: talltiny@xtra.co.nz