Regular Services

Church for Choice! You are invited to join us worshipping God. The Anglican Parish of Pauatahanui has four churches and eleven worshipping communities. Choose which of our congregations best meets your needs, interest, and availability.

Download the roster for May.  Here are the readings for the Second, Third and Fourth quarters of 2013.

The readings for the following week are also on the back page of the News of Pauatahanui Anglicans.

Communion

At the Eucharist in all our churches anyone baptised in a Christian Church is welcome to receive communion and all are invited to come up for a blessing.

You are invited to kneel or stand at the altar rail and receive the bread in your open palm.
You may dip the bread in the wine or grape juice if you prefer, or you may receive the bread alone.
We welcome all baptised children to receive Communion so that they
shall never remember a time when they did not participate in this
sacrament.
People who have not been baptised are welcome to come to the altar
and kneel to receive a blessing. blessing. Cross your arms on your chest as a
sign that you will not receive Communion.

Healing Ministry

Jesus' earthly ministry included healing people. The church continues this today, by intercessory prayer and in the way usually described as ‘prayer ministry'. This follows practice of the early church, recorded in James, by 'praying with laying on of hands and anointing with oil in the name of the Lord'. This is part of the Thursday Communion Service at St Andrew's.

At each Service at St Alban's it will also be offered. Two persons will be available at the end of the Service to pray with people, either for themselves or a loved one. Confidentiality is an important aspect of this, and anointing with oil is an option in this prayer time.

You can talk more about this ministry with any of the priests.

Prayer Times

Our Community Prayer Times all have a slightly different focus!

@ 11.30am on Saturdays at St Philip's where there is prayer especially for Paremata School and families

@ 8.30am on Tuesdays at St Andrew's where there is a time of discussion about the Bible readings
@ 5.00pm on Tuesdays at St Alban's where prayers will be for the community

@ 8.00am on Thursdays at St Mark's where there is shared silence followed by prayer for the youth of Pukerua Bay
@ Noon on Thursdays at St Andrew's where prayers will focus on world peace

In case of emergency: how to worship with others without leaving home!

Our New Zealand Prayer Book offers worship material for morning and evening prayer for each day of the week. If in a pandemic, you are not able or permitted to get out to church, you can join the world-wide church in prayer by using:

Daily Services (from page 54)
There is a service for morning and evening for seven days from Sunday to Saturday. Each service has a similar format derived from the daily services used in the church for centuries.
The service can be read quietly by oneself or aloud by those living or working together. The content varies from day to day.
The other variable is the psalm and readings for either the day / month or for Holy Days. See Preparation below.
Typically these are the services said daily by clergy.

Daily Devotions (from page 104)
There is a devotion for morning and evening for seven days from Sunday to Saturday. Each devotion has a similar format. The devotion is best read quietly by oneself but can be used by those living or working together. The content varies from day to day and each day focuses on one of seven sections from the Lord’s Prayer. The other variable is the psalm and readings for either the day / month or for Holy Days.

Midday Prayer (page 147)
This service has one structure with variations to be selected at various points.

Night Prayer (page 167)
This service is based on the service said (or sung) by religious communities just before retiring for the night. This service is also called Compline. As with Midday Prayer there are variations for psalms, readings, hymn and prayers.

Preparation: finding the psalm, readings and prayers before starting.
Whichever form one uses more will be got from the service if some preparation is carried out before.
Find if today is a Holy Day from the Calendar (page 14) and get the related psalm and readings from page 642 onwards.
If today is not a Holy Day then the psalm and readings are from page 692 onwards using a three year cycle.
Year A was December 2010 to November 2011

Year B is December 2011 to November 2012;
Year C is December 2012 to November 2013; and so on.
Also it is useful to select from amongst the other variations before beginning the service so that the focus is on the service.

When you worship at home, don't forget your children's needs and participation. You might even take up a collection - and add it in next time you go to church!

If you would like a personal tutorial in how to use the Prayer Book, please ask the Vicar. If you don't have your own copy of A New Zealand Prayer Book, please order one through the Parish Office and we will purchase when we have enough orders to get a discount.

http://www.moh.govt.nz/pandemicinfluenza

Bible Readings

The Old Testament and Epistle are read by a Reader from the congregation. The Gospel is read by the Liturgical Assistant.

The readings for the following week are on the front page of the News of Pauatahanui Anglicans or can be found in A New Zealand Prayer Book - He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa from Page 691 onwards. 2012 uses the B series of the Three Year Series. This changes on Advent Sunday (2 December 2012)

For the readings go to the 2012 Lectionary .

For the Children

As the kids say, 'Sunday School is cool'.

At St Andrew's we gather in the church at 9.30am when we say our family prayer then go to the Parish Centre for songs, a story, activity and prayer. We re-join the service for communion and the final hymn.

St Mark’s - Awesome Church – a growing place!

The fourth Sunday at 11.00am is family style worship - in the round, with games, singing, and creativity. The theme is generally taken from the Gospel reading and music is provided by guitarists and singers from the local community. There is a short Eucharist, planting in the garden plots and there is always food after the service.

At Awesome Church in February we harvested the potatoes which were planted in September. Rongopai cooked them for us on the barbecue and they tasted very good.

The Travelling Crib

To help us all learn more about the Christmas story and how we fit into it, we have a special project called the Travelling Crib. It is a tradition common in the Czech Republic, the Philippines and Mexico, and may become out tradition too, with help from the Families network.

Everyone will have the opportunity to take our nativity crib into their home for one night. It will be brought to them by one of their friends. Together they will unpack the basket and set up the crib scene on the special cloth made by the ladies who make the prayer quilts. There is a candle for the adults to light and story books telling the Christmas story. There is an advent calendar, a simple song to sing when the candle is lit and some prayers. The cloth has threads for tying in your own prayers.

The following day the basket will be carefully packed and taken to the next home where the process will be repeated. Finally when the crib has travelled to all the homes on our list it will return to St Andrew's Church on Christmas Eve for the special Children's Service.

Call the Parish Office (233 9781) and leave a message if you would like to share the Travelling Crib in your home.

Confirmation

Each year the Bishop comes to us to confirm people for adult Christian service. Some weeks of preparation are required, usually beginning sometime after Easter.

Seasons of the Church Year

The church's year begins on Advent Sunday, the fourth Sunday before Christmas. Then follow the seasons of Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost and finally the great teaching period of the year, the Sundays after Pentecost, called Ordinary Time. Read more about the church seasons.