The Messenger The Messenger
PARISH OF SAINT MARK REMUERA OF SAINT MARK May PARISH 2019 Parish website: www.stmarks.org.nz Editor: Debra Hall REMUERA Christ is risen, Alleluia! He is risen indeed, Alleluia! This Easter greeting is used in every service of the seven-week Easter season. It reminds us of one of the central convictions of our faith, namely, that Christ rose from the dead on the third day – Easter Sunday - ‘the first fruits’ (1 Cor 15:20) of those who have died. This is a joyous time of the year. Bouquets of white and yellow flowers decorate the church which was without such decoration over the season of Lent, and the sanctuary curtains are now white too – altogether much more vibrant than the violet curtains that were there over Lent.
Lenten Study Sombre as the colours of Lent were, however, there was plenty of evidence of life and growth in the parish during the preparation for Easter this year. One of these signs was the good attendance at the Parish’s Lenten Study which looked at ways that scholars have portrayed Jesus as a figure of history.
Painting of the Last Supper by Juan de Juanes (1523-1579) modified to advertise the 2019 Lenten Study ‘Jesus: who’s he? Whose Jesus?’
The course was led by the Reverend Dr Derek Tovey and began on the first Monday of Lent. It grew from an initial class size of 12 or 13 to a peak of about 16 – which is a very respectable number for a parish study group over Lent. It demonstrated to me that there is a real willingness amongst parishioners to meet and reflect together on aspects of our faith in a way that can’t easily be done in a Sunday service.
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The 15 March Tragedy The shootings in Christchurch on 15 March, which killed 51 worshippers in the Al Noor and Linwood Mosques, were a heinous expression of evil. They have made us aware that New Zealand is far from immune from the violent consequences of ideological extremism. Our Prime Minister responded to the massacre with remarkable grace, channelling the compassion that the vast majority of New Zealanders have towards the victims of this act of terrorism. One of many memorials held around the country in the weeks following this attack was organised by the Newmarket Business Association (NBA). The Vicar and a number of parishioners of St Mark’s Church were in attendance. The service was held on the corner of Khyber Pass Road and Broadway on the Friday following the shooting, and began with brief words of welcome from the chair of the NBA, Mark Knoff-Thomas. A somber two minutes of silence was followed by the call to prayer, intoned via broadcast from Friday Prayers held on Hagley Park outside the Al Noor Mosque. At the end of the Newmarket memorial, people were invited to place flowers on the lawn in the shape of a heart.
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At St Mark’s we collected supermarket vouchers which were despatched to Christchurch for distribution to victims’ families in need of immediate assistance as they reel from loss of loved ones who in many cases were primary breadwinners. Over $4200 of vouchers were sent from St Mark’s to help meet this need. The campaign was spearheaded by our Parish Administrator, Diana Swarbrick, who has many years of professional experience working with new immigrants to this country.
Parish Annual General Meeting On Sunday 24 March we held the Parish AGM in the Hall, following the 9.30am Choral Eucharist. We had two people retire from Vestry at the AGM – Clive and Annabelle Couldwell. Both will be sorely missed. They carried three significant portfolios between them. It is comforting to know that their intention is to return to vestry in a couple of years, and very heartening that three new vestry members were elected at the AGM to fill the breach. Our new Vestry members are Holly Perry, Liam Vink and Michael Fia, who join re-elected members Christine Koefoed (People’s Warden); Maggie Hames, Sylvia Rosevear and Jan Hames (Vestry Members); Nicky Christie and Elizabeth Driver (Synod Representatives). Vestry members who remain in office without the need for re-election are Des Laery (Treasurer) and Jenny Green (Secretary); and last, but by no means least, the Vestry member who has been reappointed is Peter Allen (Vicar’s Warden). I am very pleased that the vast majority of 2018 vestry members were willing to seek re-election, continue in their office or seek reappointment. That gives continuity to the parish at the governance level. Having three new vestry members, however, ensures that new ideas will be brought to the table, and that is also a very welcome situation. Tony Surman, Vicar of St Mark’s
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Extracts from the Vicar’s AGM report Baptisms, Marriages and Funerals at St Mark’s Church Baptisms: In total there were twenty people baptised here over the course of 2018. The vast majority of these baptisms were of infants and children, but one was of an adult who has continued to worship at St Mark’s. Marriages: There were eight marriages here in 2018. These are always joyful occasions, and they afford us an opportunity to ‘speak’ into the broader community, through what we say at the services, but just as much through the way we interact with couples and their families and friends as the service is booked, planned and finally executed. It’s our opportunity to show the hospitality of Christ to people who might never have expected that sort of treatment from a church or any other organisation, and that hospitality can help us grow as a community. Funerals: St Mark’s continues to be a popular place for people to farewell their loved ones. Twenty-six funerals were held at St Mark’s over 2018. Most of these services involved an individual with a connection to the church, and a number were parishioners of long standing. Funerals, like marriages, necessarily involve us reaching out to people from all walks of life and allow us to demonstrate that faith is still alive and well in the world, and has something very relevant to offer, even at the most traumatic times of life.
Attendance Statistics The opportunities that baptisms, weddings and funerals affords us to engage with the wider Auckland community are ones that we need to take up ‘with both hands,’ just as we do any other opportunity to grow our parish, because the reality is that the size of our parish is trending downwards. Consider the following graph which shows the way in which total attendances at church (not counting funerals and weddings) has varied since 2010.
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Total attendance at regular services has decreased by roughly 30% over the course of eight years. It is pleasing to see that the downward trend has been resisted in the 2018 figures but it is really too early to say if the trend itself has been arrested, let alone reversed. Reversing this trend will be my challenge – and yours – over the coming years.
Development of 1 St Marks Road The costs of running our parish, however, remains the same – or rises so it was a wise move on the part of this parish’s last Vicar, Anne Mills, and the Vestry to develop the land at 1 St Marks Road. The income from the lease is a welcome addition to the income streams that we currently have as parish. It will enable us to maintain the vibrancy of ministry here, as well as maintain the quality of the plant. One area of considerable expense that we need to budget for (and save for over a number of years) is the replacement of the Church Roof.
The Church Roof Early last year – and probably for many months prior - there were buckets stationed at the front of the church to catch the water that fell near the altar rail in the chancel when it rained. Around May last year another leak emerged in the chancel, near the organ side door, and I became aware of other leaks in the church that emerged when the rain was driving from one particular direction or another.
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We engaged a roofing specialist to look at the chancel leaks. He fixed these successfully. He turned his attention to the other problem areas, remedying these too, before discovering that another area of the roof, on the south side of the building, had significant corrosion damage in the valley, and a considerable amount of rotten timber beneath it. His recommendation to us was to strip back all the valleys of the church, given that the material from which they were made was all of the same age and likely to fail soon (if it hadn’t already) with the potential to create significant consequential damage to the frame of the church. Vestry agreed to his proposal, and over the course of November and December last year, the old valleys were removed and replaced with aluminium valleys. Given that the aluminium should last for several decades, and that the main body of the roof, away from the valleys, continues to resist water ingress very effectively, it is reasonable to expect that this repair should extend the life of the current roof by 10 years. That gives us time to save up for a new roof. To be sure, we should expect to be able to get some considerable contribution to reroofing from the wider community, but we need to South side of the church roof, west budget for at least half of the valley of south transept. Replacing roof costs that will be involved in valleys on an historic building in a safe way is a complicated business! reroofing.
Personnel We have an energetic and efficient staff team at St Mark’s. Brian Millar, Director of Music is the longest serving member of the team, with some eight years in his role. Diana Swarbrick, Parish Administrator has been in her role around two years and, like Brian when it comes to music, brings considerable experience and aptitude to her work. In the latter part of last year Diana had a hip operation which caused her to be away from the office for a few weeks. 7
While she was away. Annette and Liberty Kaitapu volunteered in the office and did a very good job helping me keep the administrative side of the parish ‘rolling along.’ Anne Driver, the Children and Families Minister has been in her role just over a year, and similarly brings years of experience, creativity and understanding to her work leading Mainly Music, Sunday School and the activities in All Age Worship. Trevor Brooker, as Pastoral Minister, maintains a vital connection between the parish and parishioners who are unwell or unable to come to church on a regular basis, and leads the charge when it comes to coordinating prayer for individual needs. My priestly colleague, The Rev’d James Withers, has also been on hand during 2018 to take the occasional weekday service when I haven’t been available. The newest member of our staff team is Latisha Fia, who commenced in February as Liturgical Verger. This role involves the setting up and tidying away of the material used in Sunday worship. Latisha is doing a great job in this role, and one of the key benefits of her work is that it frees me up after a service to spend time with parishioners.
Youth at St Mark’s Latisha, Annette and Liberty are among a group of up to 11 or 12 young people who meet each month in the vicarage for a shared meal and a time of fellowship/theological reflection together. This is one sign that the parish has real ‘growing edges’ and a good future ahead of it.
The Future Another sign of hope is the arrival of couples and young families who, one hopes and prayers, will take up the baton of Christian service that has been laid down by parishioners who have moved on to join the Communion of Saints in heaven. I am convinced that if we each continue to do the work God has called us to in this church, and remain mindful of why it is that we are doing it – that is to say, to the glory of God and the building up on God’s reign of justice and love on earth – then we have a bright future as a parish, despite the trends that I have highlighted in church attendance. Our Lord never shied away from any challenge – even when the odds, humanly speaking, were stacked against him. We are his people, the 8
recipients of his Holy Spirit, and we can be sure that in every challenge that assails us, our Lord is at our side, urging us on, and creating opportunities for growth, if we only have eyes to see. To him be the glory, now and forever. Tony Surman, Vicar of St Mark’s
Youth and Sunday School Our Sunday School group fluctuates from week to week, but whether few or many, the children always have a wonderful learning experience with our Children and Families Minister, Anne Driver. The third Sunday of the month is always a special time, when we celebrate an All Ages Worship service, often with plenty of participation from our young people. Thank you, Anne, for all that you do for our children and young people, to help them grow in faith.
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Choir Corner Brian Millar, Director of Music
Millar’s meandering medley of musical matters for May’s Messenger….. Easter is now over, with our choir taking part singing in four different services within the space of just eight days - Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Day. But it was very much worth while, being able to contribute to the worship when we all, in word and music, followed Jesus into Jerusalem, to the Upper Room, to the garden of Gethsemane, to the cross, the tomb, and – finally! – celebrated his resurrection. The choir gets a brief well-earned respite, no rehearsal before (or attendance at) the service on Queen’s Birthday long weekend.
Our DoM in fine form leading the choir procession on Palm Sunday.
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On to the next challenge! To select appropriate hymns and choir pieces for – wait for it – eleven (!) specific themed services from May to early August. Starting with Harvest; then our Patronal service; then Pentecost; Trinity; Te Pouhere; Refugee Sunday; Sea Sunday; Bible Sunday; Mary Magdalene (Evensong in July); Social Services Sunday; and Transfiguration Sunday. And our hymn book doesn’t contain much of a range of subject content for all of these…. But I assure you it will all be very worth while; and you will just have to attend to discover some of these hidden musical gems! (And the tunes will not be unfamiliar – promise). Spare a thought too for our hard-working Administrator Diana, as she juggles to fit the words of these rather ‘non-standard’ hymns into our pew sheets. Fortunately the music for the next few months, including the anthems, will not be as challenging for the choir as was some of the Easter music (one piece in particular took quite a few weeks to master satisfactorily) but they will still be putting the work in – please uphold us all in your prayers as we continue in what is essentially a servant ministry.
Choir ready for the procession on Palm Sunday.
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More photos from our Palm Sunday Procession
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Our Parish Community Welcome to our newest Parish member
Proud parents, Juli Meiklejohn and Robert Morgan with their beautiful baby daughter Catherine (born 30 April), pictured after the 10am Eucharist on 15 May 2019. This was the first Eucharist that Catherine has attended. We look forward to her becoming an integral part of St Mark’s community.
Harvest Festival On Sunday, 5 May we celebrated Harvest Festival. A station-wagon load of fresh and processed produced was donated from parishioners. It was displayed in front of the Lectern during the Sunday Services and then gathered into boxes and taken to the Auckland City Mission’s Distribution Centre on Grafton on Monday morning. They were very happy to receive our eclectic offering on behalf of the people they serve in our city. 13
Making our Church more accessible to all St Mark’s now has a collapsible, threewheeled walker for parishioners who need a bit of extra support moving around the church, or to and from their car. The walker is stored at the rear of the church by the Welcomers’ bench. You are welcome to use it to make your visit to St Marks more comfortable!
Anglican Trust for Women & Children Our parish has a long, strong connection with the trust and we whole-heartedly support their excellent work with families in need. We have received an invitation to their Open Day (opposite). You can also drop any donations, winter pyjamas and beanies for children at St Mark’s office and Diana will arrange for them to be sent to ATWC. ATWC have a second-hand shop called "nearlyNew" at 124 Apirana Ave, Glen Innes. They are always interested in receiving household items in excellent condition that they can resell to raise money for women and children in need and your support for this venture would be greatly appreciated. Their contact details are - Phone 09 218 9693. Hours: Tuesday to Friday 8.30am-3pm. Saturdays 9am-3pm. Closed Sundays. If you are unable to visit the shop itself, you may drop off your items at the church office during business hours. You can follow nearlyNew on Facebook and Instagram 14
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Upcoming Services & Dates for your Diary! We have some major services coming up in the next few weeks and months. Please find a summary of these special services below. SPECIAL NOTE: In the last edition of Messenger it was advertised that the annual Patronal Lunch would take place on Sunday, 26 May. Unfortunately, that date did not work well for a number of parishioners. A new date has been set – Sunday 11 August at 11.30am. Please mark this date in your diary now.
Pentecost Sunday, 9 June, 8.00am and 9.30am. A feast, often referred to as the Church’s Birthday, which celebrates the enabling power of the Holy Spirit in the corporate life of the church.
Trinity Sunday, 16 June, 8.00am, 9.30am and 5pm (Evensong). Developed doctrines of the Trinity can be confusing, and some are more helpful than others, but the key thing we celebrate on this day is the reality that when we encounter Christ or experience the power of the Holy Spirit, we are encountering or experiencing God to the highest extent that is possible for human beings.
Te Pouhere Sunday, 23 June, 8.00am and 9.30am. It is apt that this celebration, which bids us give thanks to God for the Constitutional amendments that created the Three Tikanga Church, directly follows Trinity Sunday. Since 1992 the Anglican Church in these islands of the South Pacific has been constituted by three cultural strands (Tikanga) – Maori, Pakeha and Pasefika. Each Tikanga has considerable autonomy in the way it plans its church life, but all three are meant to work cooperatively, with an active interchange of ideas, personnel and resources.
Refugee Sunday, 7 July, 8.00am and 9.30am. Millions of human beings have been made refugees over the last decade. This Sunday is an opportunity to remember them and reflect on the how we might help ease their plight.
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Sea Sunday, 14 July, 8.00am and 9.30am. The sea is an incredibly important resource and treasure for our island nation. Come and celebrate this gift and pray for the people whose lives are most closely connected with the sea.
National Bible Sunday, 21 July, 8.00am, 9.30am & 5.00pm (Evensong). The importance of the Bible within Christianity almost goes without saying, but we need to pause on a regular basis to give thanks to God for those who gave (and continue to give) their lives – sometimes even to death – so that everyone might have ready access to the transformative texts of scripture.
Social Service Sunday, 28 July, 8.00am and 9.30am. New Zealand is blessed with a comprehensive social welfare system run by the state. Its efforts to meet human need are supplemented by a variety of charitable organisation, many of which are church-based. The Auckland City Mission and the Anglican Trust for Women and Children are two of the Anglican Church’s major social service providers. This day we pray for them and ask ourselves how we might support them in practical ways.
Transfiguration Sunday, 4 August, 8.00am and 9.30am. Before his crucifixion Jesus took his closest disciples to a mountaintop where his divinity was revealed to them in a special way. Hundreds of years earlier, Moses, again on a mountaintop, had received the law directly from God. Dazzling light accompanied both incidents. The parallels suggest that Jesus, in some way, was the new law – the teaching and truth of God, in person. Now, there’s something to reflect on!
Two major events in our Parish Social Life! Patronal Lunch
Sunday 11th August from 11.30am
Parish Quiz Night Friday 27th September from 7.30pm
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Celebrating our history Coming soon! A reprinted and expanded volume of Hilary Reid’s history of St Mark’s Church, 1847-1981. Due to its enduring popularity, we have sold out of the last printing of this highly informative book. It is about to be reissued with an expanded addendum, comprised of reminiscences from long-time parishioners and a transcript of the burial details recorded on the Memorial Wall in the Church. The new printing should be available in the church office from early June 2019, and will have a RRP of only $15. You are welcome to place your order in advance with Diana Swarbrick, the Parish Administrator, by emailing her (office@stmarks.org.nz), calling the office (09 520 2258) or dropping by during the week (95 Remuera Road) – we always love to see you!
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From the Registers Baptised Milah Violet Dewell-Argent 13 January 2019 Sophia Catherine McGovern 24 February 2019 Emily Rose Laskarzewska 24 March 2019 Joined in Holy Matrimony Vanita Dube & Wayne Walker 9 February 2019 Hashani Ganegoda & Timothy Elliffe 23 March 2019 Cindy Ng & David Lowndes 6 April 2019 Committed to God’s Care Des Philip 1 March 2019 Rosemary Elizabeth Lyon 23 March 2019
Sophia Catherine McGovern on the verge of being baptised with water in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. 19
Parish Contact Details Vicar:
The Reverend Dr Tony Surman
Parish Administrator: Diana Swarbrick Director of Music:
021 074 1138 020 413 04668
Brian Millar
021 253 1437
Children & Families Minister Anne Driver
09 849 3538
Lay Minister:
021 614 227
Trevor Brooker
The Anglican Parish of Saint Mark, Remuera. Email: office@stmarks.org.nz Website: www.stmarks.org.nz @StMarksRemuera
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