| E-NEWSFRIDAY 5TH DECEMBER 2025
Last Saturday we celebrated the beautiful wedding of Ephraim and Ronan at Old St Paul’s in Thorndon. The bells tolled as they made their entrance. Afterwards we enjoyed a lovely reception at the Boatshed. Congratulations to the newlyweds, we wish them every blessing for a long and happy married life together. On Tuesday I was invited once again to speak at the Junior Assembly at Queen Margaret College, sharing with the students about Advent, Christmas, and the reason for the season. The girls were enthusiastic, full of energy and questions, and dear old Snoopy happily settled in among them soaking up all the attention as if he were one of the students himself (see photo).
On Wednesday a group of inner-city ministers gathered at Wellington Central Baptist Church to record a combined Christmas Day service for Radio New Zealand. It was an ecumenical collaboration, featuring two Presbyterian ministers, two Anglican priests, and a Catholic priest. The service will be broadcast on Christmas Day at 7am and again at 11pm on RNZ and Concert, and will also be available on their website. On Thursday afternoon I had the pleasure of sitting in on the rehearsal with Paloma Bruce (world renown soprano), and Janet Martin in the church. We are truly in for a treat this Sunday. It will be Paloma’s first public debut since beginning her health journey of recovery. She will be singing O Holy Night, accompanied by Janet on piano. This Sunday we will also be cutting the ribbon on our new access ramp and celebrating St Andrew’s Day. Hamish Dick will be playing the bagpipes outside the church as we gather for the ribbon-cutting before moving into worship inside the church. It promises to be a memorable morning as we celebrate accessibility, hospitality, communion and the life of our faith community. We have an apology from Jenny Simpson for Sunday. We were looking forward to her cutting the ribbon. Please keep her and Paul in our thoughts and prayers. I hope to visit them later on Sunday afternoon. A reminder to bring a plate of lunch to share perhaps your favourite dish as we are expecting extra guests from the wider Wellington community to join us. Being St Andrew’s Day (delayed by a week) it is our annual special offering Sunday towards the work of our church. Special envelopes will be available. Remember to write your number on the outside of the envelope for tax purposes. If you don’t have a number your name will suffice. A gentle reminder to our parish community: no matter where you live, please remember that I am available as I have always been and so are some members of our Pastoral Care Committee to visit you as needed. It was recently brought to my attention and saddens me to hear that one or two of you feel you haven’t been visited my apologies for this. But please know that we are not mind-readers, and we never want anyone to feel overlooked. We truly are approachable. If you would prefer someone other than the minister to visit you please let us know. This is especially important as we move into the upcoming holiday period. We will make sure you are supported. Enjoy the beautiful summer weather and I look forward to seeing you all on Sunday as we share in music, communion, celebration, food and community together. Ka kite ano. Fei.
You can read the full E-news here: https://mailchi.mp/504048ac5d4c/this-weeks-newsletter-from-st-andrews-on-the-terrace-10137900 |
