Parish Clerk Allen Little 06 367 5900 Email: vision@inspire.net.nz

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One thing we all respond to is the weather.

Whether the weather is too wet, cold or hot we all have comments to make. As the seasons come and go with all their typicality, life goes on as it has for generations… 1440 minutes of opportunity a day !

We all know the famous words from Ecclesiastes 3 and how it says

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens”.

A number of us have completed our term on Parish Council and a fresh Leadership team will be elected at our upcoming Annual Meeting.

Just as daffodil’s bloom in the spring so it will be with the new Parish Council Team. Whoever is elected, my hope is we all commit to supporting, encouraging and praying for those stepping forward.

Over recent months the Parish has been involved in thinking about our vision and mission going forward.

As I conclude my Parish Clerk’s term it’s time for change and a new way ahead…. My earnest hope is for buds of opportunity, bursting into bright new blooms and a harvest of produce which gives honour in season to our Creator.

CONTACTS: Office Phone/Fax: 368 9392 87 Oxford Street Levin 5510 Email: levinuniting@xtra.co.nz

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Website www.levinuniting.church

Sunday 8 September 10am, Levin Spring Celebration Flower Festival

Mary Mackay will be pulling together a team to help us welcome in spring with a spring celebration service, complete with a church resplendent with God’s creation. If you would like to assist Mary, she will be pleased to hear from you.

Sunday 29 September 10am, Levin

Ladies Sunday – Combined English-Tongan Service & Lunch

Ladies, here’s an opportunity to dress up in your finest ‘glad rags’ – even hat and gloves if you desire (and the men could dust off their suits and ties too). During the service we give thanks for and celebrate our women, who will be given an opportunity to rededicate themselves to God’s service. Following the service there will be a shared lunch – provided for and prepared by the menfolk!

Sunday 6 October 10am, Levin

Whole parish Service and AGM This service of Holy Communion will incorporate our parish’s annual general meeting. We will receive reports and celebrate the year that has been and consider the vision and missional goals for the coming year. As well, we will elect and commission the new Parish Council.

Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. Psalm 141:3 For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks Matthew 12:34b

A wise man’s heart guides his mouth, and his lips promote instruction. Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and the healing to the bones. Proverbs 16: 23-24

FUTURE FOCUS: Praying for God’s Guidance

Until the parish AGM in October, I invite you all to join me in praying for God’s guidance and direction as

we discern the future of our parish:

Wednesdays 5-6pm

In the parish staff room (Sandra’s office)

UPCOMING EVENTS

Minister Rev. Sandra Williams 06 367 9583/ 027 296 8849 Email: rev.sandrawilliams@outlook.com

September 2019

As many of our current

Parish Councillors have served their 2 terms and are due for their ‘at least one year break’ we are seeking from members of our parish, people willing to be part of this leadership team.

OPEN MIC—SATURDAY 24TH AUGUST

An old lady approaches the cashier at the end of her shopping trip. The cashier urged the old lady to bring her own bags to the store because “plastic bags aren’t good for the environment”. The old lady apologised and tried to explain to the young cashier that “We didn’t have this ‘green thing‘ back in my earlier days.” A simple explanation, but instead of acceptance, the cashier continued her rant “That’s our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations.” But the old lady retorted with many surprises to the cashier. The response was powerful and shouldn’t go unnoticed. This old lady decided she wasn’t going to take it anymore. But she wasn’t done just yet, “Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. But, too bad we didn’t do the ‘green thing‘ back then.” “Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house — not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But you’re right; we didn’t have the ‘green thing‘ back then.” “Back then we washed the baby’s diapers because we didn’t have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.” “Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family’s $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the ‘green thing‘.” And in a final sweeping crescendo, she proclaimed “Isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks are just because we didn’t have the ‘green thing‘ back then?” The old lady finished packing her own goods and left the store. I’m pretty sure the cashier will think twice before she goes on the attack with the older generation and their environmental awareness. Sure, sometimes the youth of today know best, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re superior. There are a lot of things the older generations have seen and experienced that give them the upper hand. So talk to them, communication is key and don’t just dismiss people because they are of an age. Because if you don’t, you may just find yourself in a similar situation.

AGM— SUNDAY 6TH

OCTOBER

PARISH COUNCIL AUGUST 2019

Parish Council met as scheduled on 21st August 2019 with a full agenda. At our previous meeting we had refined the ‘Handbook’ for Parish Councillors and now have in place guidelines which give a good functional overview going forward. Recently we have had a Finance Team reviewing and planning matters related to Parish Finances. They are work-ing on Budget planning and related financial issues. We were pleased to receive a grant of $1000 from the Method-ist Media & Communication Fund toward our new AV System. Our Women’s Fellowship has written to us concerning the Annual Fair 2019 with suggestions going forward. A major issue affecting Churches and the Voluntary Sector generally is the need for wellbeing and safety assurance concerning Children, Youth and Vulnerable people. We were pleased to have Nancy Jones and Rona Cooper report on their work with the Health and Safety Policies for LUCY. This is a very important task and we are grateful to Rona and Nancy for their work on our Draft Document. Everyone needs to know this is an issue impacting all groups and organisations throughout the country, not just our local Church community. One group which works diligently and hard on our behalf is the Building Team. There are many tasks this team undertake which require skill and detail. We never want to take them for granted. An issue of concern is our need for a Church Cleaner. We recently advertised and received three applications of which 2 removed themselves before an interview and the remaining person was unsuitable for the position. This is an urgent situation which we must resolve because of other users of our premises who have a right to expect cleanliness and tidiness when they hire the Hall and meeting rooms. Its well-known we are a Parish with multiple places of Worship. We value all congregations for the diversity they represent and present to the Parish. The work at Waitarere and special fellowship of the Sunday evening meal ministry is evidence of the Holy Spirit at work throughout our Horowhenua community. Our Tongan Congregation brings a special presence to the Parish and we enjoy having them gathering with us. At ground level people may not have noticed, our cross atop the tower has been missing having been damaged for some time. We recently commissioned a local firm Winiata and Anderson to re build and install a new cross on the tower and this will happen in the near future. Levin Uniting Parish was recently represented at Synod by Doug Bolitho, Sandra and myself where it was good to mingle with folk from a variety of Parishes from around the Lower North Island. It is to be at the next Synod on 16th November that our Sandra will be officially received into ‘Full Connexion’ of the Methodist Church. As new Parish Councillors are elected and commissioned please can I ask just one thing of our Parishioners generally… Do commit yourself to support the Parish Council by continuously remembering them in your prayers.

Parish Clerk

Written By: Mark Ridley Date: 19 August 2019 Promise Keepers was held in Christchurch on 2 & 3 August 2019, Wellington 16 & 17 August 2019; and Auckland 30 & 31 August 2019. This year I went to both the Christchurch and Wellington Promise Keepers. They were similar but different because of the people and the venues. I went with friends to both.

In Wellington I was with the choir again, which included rehearsals beforehand. The choir members come from all different churches mainly around Wellington. This year the choir t-shirts were more outstanding than in previous years. Previous years they were black writing on dark grey t-shirts – this year the writing was black and white big words on a fawn t-shirt. See my photo for the words. Over the whole conference there were hundreds of men there at the Wellington one and about 150 men got saved, (from all walks of life). Then they were lead out of the hall, they were prayed over and then helped with what to do next. They weren’t just dropped after coming up the front – they never have

been, its organised. There’s another team praying constantly through and every seats gets a blessing first. So you have the leadership, the prayer teams, the band, the choir, the lighting and sound guys, plus representatives from various organisations and Christian Charity stalls. This year the women did not cater. The various teams brought lots of “bring of share” food. There was a good enactment. This (1st) guy came out angry swinging a baseball bat, and shouting that he is “going to teach him a lesson for the way he has treated you”. 2nd man shouts, “STOP! STOP!! That’s not the way to deal with it”. 1st man angrily said “I need to teach him a lesson!” 2nd man “he needs another chance.” 1st man, “NO! He has treated you bad many times.” 2nd man, “He needs to be forgiven and shown the right way to act. Beating him is not going to show him the right way to act but it will show him violence! There is another way to do this.” The speakers are always good. The study groups, called “Electives”, are well planned and are on totally different topics for individual choice, for example planning retirement to dealing with suicide, and lots of others. You can only choose 3 to go to. Also it was great to hear the whole conference singing the National Anthem – the Maori verses and all the original verses. Very moving. So watch this space next year. I will be going again. I hope some of you men will come too! The earlier the regis-tration the cheaper the cost. For that information phone 0800PROMISE or go online for Promise Keepers.

PROMISE KEEPERS 2019—COURAGEOUS

Date Time What Where

Sunday 1st 10am Communion Church

Thursday 5th 10am Women’s Fellowship Gilmour Lounge

Saturday 7th 8am-11.30am Monthly Market Hall complex

Tuesday 10th 1.30pm Women's Fellowship Gilmour Lounge

Tuesday 17th By 2pm Newsletter material Due Into the Office

Wed 18th 7.30pm Parish Council Gilmour Lounge

Sunday 22nd AGM report out All services

Tuesday 24th 12.30pm Women’s Fellowship The Masonic Café

Friday 7th 9am Newsletter Team Staff Room

Sunday 6th 10am AGM Whole Parish service with

Communion & AGM

Church

Levin Uniting Parish What’s coming up

Morning Tea Roster —would you like to help? be part of your church community— contact Helen Hutchings 368 8169

September DOOR DUTY: This is a great way of meeting people and giving them a wonderful welcome to our church. Training provided, talk to Sandra or Allen if interested.

Cuppa Time after Worship for September: Sept 1st Margaret Challies/Gwyneth Harris Sept 8th Cynthia Evans/Helen Hutching Sept 15th Murray Easton/ David Emmott Sept 22nd Helen Hutchings + Helper Sept 29th TONGAN MEN FOLK Shared lunch Oct 6th AGM

REMINDER- With the wetter weather,

please remember NOT to PARK on the GRASS

This month we have 5 Sundays. Please come along and support those who have offered their time to lead us in worship. The first Sunday is always Communion.

September 2019

WOMEN’S FELLOWSHIP NOTICES FOR SEPTEMBER

T.C.F Morning group: Thursday 5th @ 10am in the Gilmour Lounge . Afternoon group: Tuesday 10th, 1.30pm in the Wesley Lounge Evening Group: Tuesday 24th—lunch at The Masonic café.

Can you spare 1/2 hour on Sunday Evenings? From 5.45pm the community evening meal is served and we need people to help to do this. Talk to Jack Gibson (368 9570).Thankyou This is EVERY SUNDAY we would love to see you.

Every

Sunday

10am Worship

6pm Community

Meal

7pm Service

Levin &

Waitarere

Hall

Hall

Every

Tuesday

12pm Prayer with

Jack

Wesley

Lounge

Every

Thursday

7.30pm Choir

Practice

Gilmour

Lounge

If you know of someone who is not well, PLEASE let the office know! I will get someone to get in contact

Prayer Chain: If you would like someone to be added to

the Prayer chain, please let Elizabeth in the office know.

Would you like to be part of the Prayer Chain? Contact the office for more info. Sunday 15th September at 11.30am

In the Gilmour Lounge

Come and hear the outcomes from the two Parish Conversations, the Questionnaire and the Parish

Council Planning day. After church and your cuppa, you are all invited to

stay (And it gives time for the Waitarere Congregation to come into town)

Craft & Chatter

All Welcome Thursday 19th September

9.30am in the Gilmour Lounge SERVICES FOR

Saturday 12th October ‘formerly our Church Fair’

This year we are trying something different. We need people who can do baking & preserves

We will have fresh vegetables & plants We will offer a sausage sizzle & maybe some other food

options. It will start a bit later in the morning.

If you can help, please talk to Rosemary, Beth or Betty

FUTURE FOCUS FEEDBACK