Weekly Bulletin: Staying connected as a church - Easter 2025
Kia ora St John’s whānau,
This weekend we find ourselves in the most special part of God’s story, as we again enter the experience of God’s love in Jesus Christ interrupting evil, hatred …and even death.
Good Friday Service at 10am
After our worship we share Hot Cross buns in the St John’s Centre.
Easter Sunday Service at 10am
There is a special Easter Breakfast before the service at 8:30am. And after our worship we have Morning Tea in the St John’s Centre.
Many of our young people will be away at Easter Camp this weekend. Therefore, there will be no peer groups on Good Friday, and there WILL be a peer group time for children on Easter Sunday – with great Easter-themed fun!
If you can’t gather in the city, and you want to join the worship service via Zoom, here are the details to access the live-stream:
Zoom Meeting ID: 370 260 759
Passcode: worship
The link to join the Zoom worship service is below.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/370260759?pwd=b2ZkajZ5d28rTy9EN1VKZDJUM3N4dz09
If using your phone: dial 04 886 0026 (Meeting ID: 370 260 759#, Passcode: 1560107#)
This is the link to the printable Service Sheets:
OTHER THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT…
YOUTH EASTER CAMP
We pray for all our young people at the Easter Camp this weekend. May they encounter God and come to a fresh understanding of the love given for them, hearing the call to follow Jesus.
SONRISE SERVICE
Mt Victoria Lookout on Easter Sunday 20 April 6.45 - 7.15am.
This year, the service will be led by leaders from Abundant Life Centre on behalf of the Council of Wellington Churches.
PRAYER CHAIN
An important commitment to our regular life of prayer as a Church is our regular Prayer Chain. You are invited to be part of this by receiving the list of prayer requests each month, to include in your personal prayer time. Occasionally there will also be an urgent prayer request sent.
Please contact our Prayer Chain coordinator, Gail Higgs-West for any questions, and the St John’s Office to be added to the recipients of the Prayer Chain.
MISSIONERS VISIT HOME
Please take these opportunities to hear from A&J.
In April
Sunday 27 April – After the morning service and over coffee
Monday 28 April 7:30- 9 pm – Talk and Q & A at the Monday night housegroup, 11 Lewer St, Karori
In May
Tuesday 27 May at 11 am - Talk and Q & A at the Fellowship group
ANZAC DAY CONCERT
'The Spirit of ANZAC' is at St Mary of the Angels Church in Wellington on Friday April 25th at 2.00 pm and entry is free.
EVERTON HALL THANKSGIVING
Everton Hall was founded by members of the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches with the aim of providing students with secure, affordable accommodation within a supportive community offering the independence and freedom of flat life.
Formally opened in 1976, it was the first hall of residence in New Zealand to be built as self-catering, student flats.
As the governance of Everton Hall passes into the care of Victoria University, we will give thanks for the enduring legacy of Everton Hall in the service on Sunday 4th May.
We are inviting past and present residents, Board members, friends, and supporters to come together in thanksgiving and fellowship. Please pass on the invitation to others who may be interested.
DCM PANTRY RAID - SATURDAY 17 MAY
On Saturday 17 May 2025, we're organising a big “Pantry Raid” around Wellington. Several cars of children (and adults driving!) will go around Wellington collecting non-perishable food and other items from households. We'd love lots of our St John's whānau taking part - feel free to encourage your friends and neighbours also.
To participate, please sign up using the form below - you can sign up to be a donor household contributing items, or join a collection team that picks up donations around Wellington on 17 May. Or even better, do both! Registration is required for all participants (more details about the event can be found in the sign up form):
FREE PUBLIC LECTURE
How the Reformation Era (Indirectly) Led Us into Our Global Environmental Predicament
Brad S. Gregory
Thursday 22nd May, 6:30pm
St John’s in the City, Corner of Dixon & Willis Streets
How can events that happened four or five centuries ago still be influencing us today?
How did a religious tradition in which avarice is a deadly sin give rise to the most acquisitive societies in the history of the world?
Brad S. Gregory is Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame.
He has taught at Stanford University, was a Junior Fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows and earned his Ph.D. from Princeton.
He also has two degrees in philosophy from the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium.
PARTICIPATING TOGETHER – CAN YOU HELP?
PHOTOS: We want more photos of all we do together as a Church, for use online and in print. Could you help coordinate a collection of photos?
Part of what needs to be organised is permissions for sharing from anyone who is identifiable in the image, and an on-line folder for receiving digital images.
If you’re interested in this opportunity please let Allister or an elder know.
FLOWERS: Do you enjoy flowers in church? The flowers are currently done by a team of 2 - Vicky Wood and Judi Ferguson.
We would like to welcome anyone else who has any interest in flowers in the church to join us. Arrangements do not have to be complicated, and can be supplemented by a huge variety of lovely artificial flowers.
If you have flowers in your garden you are willing to share, or if you would like to contribute to us buying flowers (necessary in winter), please contact Judi or Vicky
Rose Luxford, the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, encourages us to connect with the deep meaning of Easter…
That Christ rose from the dead opens up the world for those who follow him. Through his death on the cross, Jesus brings us into deeper relationship with the living God. A relationship that is covenantal in its nature, that has an expansiveness about it that takes us into eternity. The empty cross speaks to us of resurrection life. It talks to us of the outstretched arms of Jesus who gathers us to himself through his sacrificial love.
The cross also speaks back to the perceived power and status of the world. The structures and posturing of those who believe they are in control, that they call the shots. Against unimaginable odds, faith wins out. And as followers of Christ, we can live with the posture of hope, love, goodness, for we believe in the power of the Risen Christ, that all things are possible in Christ.
I pray in whatever circumstance you find yourself, that Easter will be a time of renewal and nurture for you, and also a time that re-energises us all in the Church. A time we proclaim with conviction, “Christ is risen – he is risen indeed!”.
Right Rev Rose Luxford
The Peace of the Risen Christ be with you
Allister