Saint Aidan's Anglican Church, Bryndwr, Christchurch

19 February, 2012

admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 04:49:23 +0000

Coming and going from Theology House’s new location in the vicarage I cannot help noticing how busy the St Aidan’s complex is! Between casual hirers, regular non-parish users and regular parish activities a lot happens here. Let’s pray that every person coming through the doors of the church knows that they are entering a building consecrated to the worship and service of the God of Jesus Christ.
Teresa, Alice and I managed a brief visit to the Festival of Salt and Light last weekend at Gore Bay. It was inspiring to see 330 young adults, including St Aidan’s young adults, gathering to explore the meaning of discipleship for today.
I apologise again for absence from the AGM this evening but will be praying that this meeting will remind us of the blessings of the past year and help us face the challenges for the year ahead.
Blessings,
Peter

12 February 2012

admin — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 06:53:04 +0000

Most of our young adults are away this weekend at the Festival of Salt and Light, being held on a farm on the Gore Bay road near Cheviot. This is a new venture in the Diocese’s ministry among young adults. Let’s pray that those participating are drawn close to Christ and more deeply into following him.

I had a great meeting with our pastoral care team during the week. As a result of this meeting we are adding Carol Trotter’s name to the contacts on the back of the newssheet. Pastoral care is an every member responsibility in the church but some situations benefit from being able to ring those with special responsibility for pastoral care. If you would like to be more involved in pastoral ministries such as assisting with services in rest homes (Elmswood, but we would like to restart our work at St Winifred’s, please get in touch with Sue Sinclair in the parish office).

Before accepting the role of being Priest-in-Charge I already had some Sundays booked up in my diary. One of those is this coming Sunday 19 February. As I will be away all day I apologise for absence at the Parish AGM. The meeting will be in good hands under the leadership of our wardens Neville Yeoman and Mark Worner. Let’s pray through this week for the meeting, noting that it will include the usual elections for People’s Warden and Vestry members, as well as the triennial elections for synod representatives for the parish.

Blessings,

Peter

5 February 2012

admin — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 06:50:57 +0000

It has been a welcome surprise to be asked by Bishop Victoria to be part-time Priest in Charge of Bryndwr during the interim period between vicars. As I get to grips with the situation I am reminded of a song a visiting missioner to Blenheim taught us many years ago, “It’s an adventure following Jesus.”

Together we enter a period with a number of unknowns. We do not know how long the interim period will be, or who will be appointed to be the new vicar, or how and when the post-quakes building issues will be sorted out. We also do not know how to fill in all the gaps created by Malcolm’s departure – I can only be “0.2” Priest-in-Charge and I am definitely going to be “0.0” guitarist!

I suggest that the best way to approach this set of unknowns is to think of it as a faith adventure rather than as lots of hard work: the unchangeable fact through these days is that Jesus Christ remains Lord of the church, the Holy Spirit continues to empower the church, and God the Father loves us more than we can ever know. God’s work can continue in changed circumstances, all we are asked to do is to move forward in faith and not to be anxious about what we cannot see.

A couple of practical notes re my role. First, it happens that my main workplace, Theology House, is itself in a period of uncertainty which means we are moving from one temporary location to another. This past week we have moved into the vacant St Aidan’s vicarage which we will rent from the parish. That means that I will often be on site both as Priest-in-Charge and as Director of Theology House.

My third role, Director of Education for the Diocese, however, means I will be often offsite, either in meetings at the Anglican Centre in Upper Riccarton or travelling about the parishes.

Secondly, the two best ways to contact me are by email (prcarrell@gmail.com ) or by my cellphone (0274 772 975, either calling and leaving a message or by texting). Otherwise please leave a message with Sue Sinclair in the St Aidan’s office or with Chris Church in the Theology House office (351 1364).

Blessings,

Peter

Photos taken after the earthquake of February 22, 2011

admin — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 07:18:33 +0000

View Photo Album

We had to take down two chimneys at the vicarage. One we covered with a tarpaulin the other with spare roof tiles from the church. You can see an old playground slide we used as a chute for the bricks. The church shots show that the gap between the buildings has moved about 1 centimetre apart. The old part has a wooden floor the newer part a concrete slab. The wooden floor near the creek has also dropped half a metre while the concrete slab has cracks in it under the vinyl.

I hope that an engineer will be satisfied that the structural integrity remains and give us a green sticker even if the floor surface resembles that of a Wellington flat.

After the February 22 Earthquake

admin — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 19:48:38 +0000

Every day seems to present itself with a new set of challenges. Thanks to the help of Dave Jefferson, Rosemary Fraser and Mark George, we managed to get the vicarage chimneys down without incident (well, one broken window!). I certainly feel a lot more secure now during the after-shocks.

Thanks to those who have returned my email and let me know that you are alright. I have made contact with most of the parish now (but still a number that I would very much like to find time to talk with) and are thankful that you are all safe despite being caught up in the events in so many ways. But I know there is also sadness from those of you who have dear friends trapped in collapsed buildings in the CBD.

I can be reached at anytime on my cell phone (027 651 4931) and I am regularly checking my emails, if you would like to make contact or talk. For me, tomorrow’s task will be to help my mother in law, Sue’s mum. We need to remove furniture etc from her ruined house before it experiences further water damage. She lives in Dallington and her house narrowly avoided damage in September – but not this time! I think the technical term is, kaput.

Sunday will be interesting and different, to say the least! Neville and I had a closer look at the church buildings and have come to the conclusion that they can not be used for public services or meetings – at least until an engineer has made an inspection (we are on the waiting list). So I propose that this Sunday we gather for our Services out on the front lawn of the Church under the old oak tree. It’s forecasted to be a nice day – so bring your picnic blankets and deck chairs (church chairs might sink into the grass). I’m quite happy to run both the 8am and the10am Service outside in the sun.

Mal