Dunedin Methodist Parish
Finding good in everyone
Finding God in everyone
Presbyters:
Rev. Stuart & Rev. Cornelia Grant
453 6762
Parish Stewards:
Mr Neil Thompson
489 5078
Dr Richard Cannon
464 0564
Mrs Fay Richardson
489 5485
Tongan Steward:
Mr Palanite Taungapeau
Parish Office:
Stuart: parish@dmm.org.nz
Cornelia: scch.grant@xtra.co.nz
Sarah: sarahc@dmm.org.nz
456 3144
466 4600
We are at home on website http://www.dunedinmethodist.org.nz
PARISH BULLETIN
6 t h DECEMBER 2009
WORSHIP FOR SUNDAY13th DECEMBER 2009
9.30am
9.30 am
11.00 am
11.00 am
1.00pm
6.00pm
Mornington
Mosgiel
Glenaven
Wesley
St Kilda
Broad Bay
S Grant
C Grant
S Grant
C Grant
A Ikahihifo
No Service
Advent Two – Peace
Today we look at efforts by CWS partner
Middle East Council of Churches Department
of Service for Palestinian Refugees to re-build
a mother and child health clinic in the heart of
Gaza City. Despite a blockade restricting the transport of building
materials to Gaza, the determination of DSPR to rebuild is inspiring.
Please give the people of Palestine a chance by supporting the CWS
Christmas Appeal 2009.
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HOPE IS OUR SONG
Today, at Knox Presbyterian Church, commencing at
5.30pm, there will take place the Dunedin launch of the
new New Zealand hymnbook Hope is our Song, starting
with a pot luck meal, followed by a celebration and service
with plenty of singing.
This will be your chance to meet Shirley Murray, Colin
Gibson, Cecily Sheehy, Marnie Barrell, Marion Kitchingman and many
more of the hymn-writers whose music and words have inspired and
uplifted us. Copies of the book will be on sale at $30, and you can get
yours autographed on the spot. The University of Otago will have awarded
Shirley an honorary doctorate on the previous day, in recognition of her
remarkable contribution to world hymnody, so we will have the opportunity
to honour her again at this book launch. A not to be missed celebration.
CHRISTMAS AHOY!
A new Christmas play, performed by Y@M and Sunday School. Sunday
13 December, 9.30 am at Mornington.
SUNDAY WALK & BBQ
On 13th December a walk from the Bullring on 3 Mile Hill over Flagstaff
and down the Pineapple Track to the Woodhaugh Gardens is planned for
after the Mornington Christmas production. (weather dependent)
All are invited, specifically the YAM and older Sunday School members. A
BBQ lunch will complete the event at Woodhaugh. Transport from Church
to the Bull Ring will be arranged. Families are to collect their children from
Woodhaugh.
It’s a bring your own BBQ Walking time guessed at 1.5 hrs from Bullring.
Participants will need walking shoes and a water bottle with the attraction
of food as the carrot to reach Woodhaugh asap. Adults will accompany
children on the walk. A decision to proceed will be made at the church at
the end of the Christmas play.
MOSGIEL AFTERNOON SERVICE
The last afternoon service for this year will take place on Wednesday, 9
December at 2pm. Everyone is warmly invited. Bring a friend! There will
be afternoon tea to follow.
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MOSGIEL NOTICES
Carol Singing, late night shopping, Tuesday Dec. 22. Recruitment of
singers, adult and children, is under way. Commitment involves about
20min of carols on the night, with a practice session on Saturday, 19 Dec.
Please advise John Stoddart, 489 6308 ext 720 with contact details of
choir persons.
Food Bank Drive: We need your help in supplying presents for our
families, i.e. buy a little present, wrap and label it, under 5years boy or girl,
5 – 10 year old. Also any special Christmas baking to include in the
Christmas food parcels would be great. Drop it off to the food bank, your
church’s representative, or put it in the Lion’s Club trailer on the 11th.
MORNINGTON CHURCHES CAROL SERVICE
Sunday, 20 December, 7pm in the Presbyterian Church Centre, 16
Maryhill Terrace, with supper to follow.
WESLEY
Combined Caversham Churches Christmas service at Wesley Church,
Tuesday 22 December, 7pm. There will be supper to follow. Please keep
this date free!
UNIVERSITY GRADUATION CHURCH SERVICES
Sat 12 Dec 12.30-1pm Holy Name Church, 420 Great King Street
Wednesday 16 December 12.30-1pm Hunter Cafe, cnr Frederick and
Great King Streets
Sat 19 December 12.30-1pm Holy Name Church, 420 Great Kings St
Polytech Graduation Church Service
Friday 11th December 12 noon- 12.30pm First Presbyterian Church,
Moray Place
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY:
To the following children celebrating birthday’s:
 6th December – Ramone Sarup
 7th December – Evie Freeth
 12th December – Raoul Sarup
Our last Leader's Meeting of the year was Tuesday night where we
enjoyed a sumptuous supper.
Mosgiel M.W.F. Luncheon held at the Mosgiel Railway station on Tuesday
1/12/09
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In good Harts
Last weekend, I attended an event held “to celebrate the magnificence of
the Waitaki River”, on Kurow Island, which is between the bridges that
cross the braids.
Various experiences were offered, from flax-weaving to jet-boat
excursions, and lessons in the biodiversity of the river.
Those gathered got to peer through a telescope-thingee at the blackfronted terns nesting amid the rocks in the middle of the waterway. Like the
rocks, they are a stony grey, so it is hard to spot them without the
telescope-thingee. The man who told us about them explained they have
evolved so that if a flood destroys their nests, they will just start over again.
But if they are disturbed by anglers and are caused to spend more than
about 20 minutes circling their nests, they will not realise their eggs have
either cooked or cooled, and they will return to incubate in vain.
The Kurow locals who were present immediately started to chatter about
putting up signs to alert anglers to this problem, which was heartening. The
terns are endemic to this country and number about 5000. To see their
acrobatic feeding manoeuvres, where they repeatedly plummet only to
graze the surface and pluck a bug from swift water, is to hope for their
conservation.
The audience was also addressed by Colin Patterson, a semi-retired
farmer who you might say has been “converted” to environmentalism. He
farms at Leeston, in Mid Canterbury, and through his property runs Harts
Creek. The banks of this waterway used to be gay with the sucking sound
of cows’ hooves in mud, and Mr Patterson recounted how the milking-shed
floor used to be hosed down directly, and murkily, into the creek.
It’s no good to fertilise a creek like that. It stifles the oxygen, the algae
blooms, the fish die, and so on. One day, a local environment official came
to tell Mr Patterson as much, in as gentle a manner as possible, and asked
him to fence off his section of the creek. The official supplied the fencing
materials. Mr Patterson felt inconvenienced by this, but eventually got
around to fencing off the creek on his property.
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Mr Patterson was subsequently nudged to remove willows from the banks,
and to plant some native grasses and trees instead. More inconvenience,
but he eventually got around to these things – and was quietly surprised at
just how many volunteers materialised to help with the planting.
About 90% of the first lot of plants died, though. This was due to neglect:
“The Yorkshire fog had grown up around them,” Mr Patterson said. And
this seemed to be a turning point where, he said, instead of just “going
through the motions”, he began to become “actively involved” in the
nurturing and regeneration of Harts Creek.
The planting was redone, and Mr Patterson last weekend provided
photographic evidence that today, the native species are in good heart (or
Hart). Moreover, fishermen who had once pleaded with him to stop the
decline of life in his creek now hailed the fatness and abundance of the
trout in the waterway, he said.
The Canterbury Biodiversity website says of Mr Patterson, “Like his
riverside plantings, he has grown into one of Canterbury’s strongest
advocates for biodiversity through sustainable farming.”
He also recited some of his ballads. For years, on his tractor, he would
make up poems in his head, but he never wrote them down until he had a
cancer scare. He is now a published poet and keeps a Wrightson notepad
in his pocket while out in the paddocks, just in case. One of the ballads
was called What A Wonderful World It Is, and was inspired by broad
beans. I could relate to it.
Now, I wouldn’t say I got carried away with optimism after a day spent
celebrating the magnificence of the Waitaki River. I kept in mind that the
Manawatu River had recently been declared the Western world’s most
polluted. But for the terns, and for Harts Creek at least, I did experience a
nagging feeling of hope.
– Anna Chinn
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WORSHIP SERVICES OVER CHRISTMAS AND JANUARY
Please retain this for easy reference over the holiday period.
Christmas Eve at Glenaven Church: Supper 10.30pm, followed by
worship at 11.15pm
Christmas Day:
9.30am – Mornington, joined by Woori Korean congregation
9.30am - Mosgiel
1.00pm - St. Kilda, Tongan Fellowship
Sunday December 27th:
9.30am - Mosgiel,
11.00am - Wesley
11.00am - Glenaven joined by Mornington. Morning tea from 10.30.
1.00pm – St Kilda, Tongan Fellowship
Sunday January 3rd Holy Communion:
9.30am - Mosgiel,
11.00am - Wesley, combined with Tongan Fellowship
11.00am - Glenaven, joined by Mornington. Morning tea from 10.30
Sunday January 10th:
9.30am - Mornington, joined by Mornington Anglicans and Presbyterians
and Glenaven.
9.30am – Mosgiel
1.00pm - Tongan Fellowship
Sunday January 17th:
9.30am - Mornington, combined at St Mary's Anglican Church, Whitby St.
9.30am – Mosgiel
1.00pm - Tongan Fellowship
Sunday January 24th:
9.30am - Mornington joined by Glenaven
9.30am – Mosgiel
1.00pm - Tongan Fellowship
Sunday January 31st: Back to usual times and places.
Wesley and Broad Bay services recommence on 7 February.
PLEASE NOTE: The Parish Office closes on Wednesday 23 December.
The last bulletin for the year will be on Sunday 20 December.
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