St Giles Presbyterian Church - Christchurch, New Zealand

Papanui, Christchurch

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Special Prayers and Other Items

During the year there are sometimes special prayers or items published in the weekly Order of Service that have a lasting benefit for members of the congregation.

Gardening In The Orange Zone - October 2011 (6/11/2011) by Alan Woods
Along with several thousands of others this week we heard we are no longer in the Orange Zone. Now we are Green with a sub-category of blue, which means the house can be repaired, the soil can be remediated and, over time, normal life will return with a minimum of upset.

Gardening: At last a break in the busyness to let me update readers on October gardening in the Christchurch Orange Zone. Our garden soil has undergone quite a change since it was flooded with liquefaction. On its own the silt has the consistency of talcum powder – very fine sand. When mixed with the garden loam, the soil takes on the semblance of sand and to the touch its fine and silky – the silt leaches out of potted plants very readily - quite strange.

Early indications are positive. Seeds are striking and plants are thriving, so maybe the cropping will be excellent also. Among the harvests in October have been a sizeable bowl of new potatoes. They were grown in the glass house through the winter and early spring and they have made a lovely treat. Given we are no longer Orange this will be my final contribution. I hope I have brought new insight and a smile to some. May the rest of the growing season bring you joy.

Alan

(Thanks Alan for your contributions. The gardeners of St Giles have really enjoyed your articles. All the best for the next year as you try and get back to how life was for you before the earthquakes.)

The Great Commandment (25/9/2011)
It starts as the smallest flicker, an imagining inside you, a hint that pulls towards justice, and like a heartbeat it never goes away.
And it grasps you, your whole soul, heaving with the longing, the deep intent for justice and life.
And then the thought, the working out, the decision to choose.
The mind wrestling with the longing, which leads to the movement, the action that turns longing into an event, that pushes you out with strength and makes God into a verb.
And all this is for neighbour, which is the other word for God.
Come now all God’s People, to love with heart and soul, mind and strength, and neighbour as self – and set God loose in the world

O Christ, you are within each of us (28/8/2011)
O Christ, you are within each of us.
It is not just the interior of these walls:
It is our own inner being you have renewed.

We are your temple not made with hands.
We are your body.

If every wall should crumble, and every church decay,
We are your habitation.
Nearer are you than breathing,
Closer than hands and feet.

Ours are the eyes with which you, in the mystery,
Look out with compassion on the world.

Yet we bless you for this place,
For your directing of us, your redeeming of us,
And your indwelling.

Take us outside, O Christ, outside holiness,
Out to where soldiers curse and nations clash
At the crossroads of the world.

So shall this building continue to be justified.
We ask it for your own name’s sake.

AMEN

Gardening In The Orange Zone - September 2011 (28/8/2011) by Alan Woods
“The North wind doth blow and we shall have snow,
And what will poor robin do then, poor thing?
He'll sit in a barn and keep himself warm,
and hide his head under his wing, poor thing.”
(British 16th Century rhyme)

Apart from the absence of snow-bearing north winds, robins and barns in Burwood, everything else is pretty much as the poet would have it. In Lawrence in September the ground is glassy black and frost rock hard for several centimetres, and garden crops that are not in root cellars are impossible to recover. (The things you discover, eh?)

Over the past 10 years in Burwood I have discovered that on average seeds take 6 weeks of germination and seedling development to get to the point where they can be planted out. I have also learned that garden crops take on average 3 months from planting to the point of harvest. And, without a doubt, vegetables you grow at home taste much better than any you can buy in the Supermarket. In a recycled six-pack tray put some seed raising mix and set out a mixed tray of 2 cabbage, 2 cauliflower and 2 broccoli seed. Place the tray on a warm windowsill and plant out when the seedlings are 5-7 cm tall.
(Yates gardening advice)

Preaching is a Highly Audacious Act (31/7/2011)
It is foolish because there are some in the congregation who know more than the preacher, and there are some in the congregation who are not committed to serious listening.
Preaching is dangerous because there are powerful forces in and out of the Church to keep things as they are, but faithful preaching is committed to transformation.
Preaching is risky because what is said inescapably exposes the preacher as a fraud. For preaching must speak truth to which the preacher’s own life does not always attest. Every congregation can spot the slippage between the sayer and what is said.
Paraphrase from ‘The Word Militant – At Risk with the Text’, Walter Brueggemann

Gardening In The Orange Zone - August 2011 (24/7/2011) by Alan Woods
July was the month to Prepare: How did that go?

August is the beginning of the gardening year. Time to engage with the soil. Pick up your fork and hoe and make a start.

Snow and frost have done their part. As weather permits make a start. Turn the soil lightly, dig deep only where necessary. Don't walk on the garden while it’s wet. Remove the weeds and aerate the nearby soil.

What’s Up? - Broad Beans and Garlic. Daffodils, jonquils, hyacinths, and narcissus, and WEEDS!

What’s Going On? - Spray soft fruit trees and roses – alternate Conquer Oil with Copper Sulphate two weeks apart is plenty. Treat the Moss.

What’s Going Down? -Sow a few cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and tomato seed. Keep them watered and warm in a sunny place. Plant a few Asparagus crowns where they will not be disturbed. They are a long-term crop. Plant flower plants that you find in the store. A reliable garden center will know what's ready now.

Getting Ready? - Set out seed potatoes to sprout. Lay down tomato fertilizer where you plan to later set out your plants. Ready the soil for Parsnips and Potatoes.

Gardening In The Orange Zone - July 2011 (10/7/2011)
This came from Alan Woods who would like to contribute a monthly gardening article. If you like it or not, give me your feedback. Phone or email Kathy on 352 6197 or stgiles@xtra.co.nz.
Since February 22nd my gardening calendar has only a few entries.
February 22nd – Earthquake(6.3)! Flooded back yard. Vege garden beneath several inches of silt and sand (liquefaction). Nothing planted from this date forward due to earthquake damage and low mood.
March – desperate times. No interest in gardening. Removing liquefaction almost daily.
April – Little interest in gardening. Time to start putting things right.
May – Thinking about the garden. Preparing a new plot for potatoes next season. Sowed mustard seed in the new space. Planted a few potatoes in the glass house; planted spinach and onions; sowed broad beans. Overall, poor crops this season due garden damage. Broccoli did the best. Feijoa were splendid.
June and another serious earthquake, more liquefaction and time to start the clean up again. Mustard (green crop) planted in May doing well. Decided to sow a row of peas. Eating cabbage, brussels sprouts, silver beet, carrots and turnips.
July is the month to Prepare: Prune: Roses, Grapes, Raspberries and fruit trees.
Plant: Spinach and Strawberries. Sow peas and broad beans (even if you don't like them, they capture nitrogen from the air and enrich the soil. Dig them in later to make space for the things you like to grow.)
August is the beginning of the gardening year and I invite you to join me as I re-engage with my patch of dirt, and pick up my fork and hoe and make a start.
This page may encourage you. I will document the things I do in my garden – it's not advice or a ‘how to’ thing. It's not expert but rather experience built on 12 years of gardening in Burwood.

Rebellious Welcome (12/6/2011)
(This is one of my favourite pieces from Scottish minister Roddy Hamilton)
When our table is open only to members - may we find a new table.
When our community is open only to those who are polite - may we find a new community.
When we sing the songs familiar only to us - may we find a new song.

O that the Gospel were for nice people, the beautiful, the famous, and the clean.

But God
you welcome the lost
you feed the hungry
you honour the prostitute
you kiss with the leper
you eat with the sinner
you break bread with the stranger

It is a hard Gospel for our world
all closed up against what we do not know
protective of what challenges us
avoiding what we do not understand

It is a hard gospel to be open, welcoming, affirming, growing, faithful, redeeming.
But it is the gospel nonetheless

When we use our faith to shift us away from the stranger - may we find a new faith.
When we use the church to avoid what happens on the outside - may we find a new church.
When we use the Bible to divide us into sheep and goats - may we find a new way to read the bible.

So be it.

The Resurrection of Jesus: The Crossan-Wright Dialogue (1/5/2011)
This is the book mentioned by Rev Bathgate in the service on 1 May 2011. It is edited by Robert B Stewart and available in the College House Library, or can be purchased from Epworth Books, Wellington.

Prayer for the People of St Giles (16/1/2011)
God bless the people of St Giles,
Their loving hearts, their friendly smiles.
Recall these people through the years,
In times of sorrow, times of tears,
In times of laughter and of fun,
The love they share with everyone.
God bless these people, like no other,
Who cry and laugh with one another.
We wonder what we have ahead;
God promises we will be led,
And we will have God’s tender care,
God’s loving presence everywhere.
We give God thanks for what has been.
We give God thanks for what will be.

John Hunt, on Retiring, March 2011

Companions on the Road (16/1/2011)
God, we thank you for the companionship of friends,
and for encounters with strangers;
and the discovery that there are other folk –
saints and sinners like ourselves –
willing to follow you. Amen.
Jan Sutch Pickard in Friends and Enemies Ruth Burgess, Published WGRG

Bless to me, O God (02/01/2010)
Bless to me, O God,
the earth beneath my foot.
Bless to me, O God,
the path whereon I go.
Bless to me, O God,
the thing of my desire.

Bless to me the thing,
whereon is set my mind.
Bless to me the thing
whereon is set my love.
Bless to me the thing
whereon is set my hope.

My dearest Lord,
Be Thou a bright flame before me,
Be Thou a guiding star above me,
Be Thou a smooth path beneath me,
Be Thou a kindly shepherd behind me,
Today and evermore

Christmas (19/12/2010)
I see a twinkle in your eye.
So this shall be my Christmas star
And I will travel to your heart:
The manger where the real things are.

And I will find a mother there
Who holds you gently to her breast;
A father to protect your peace;
And by these things you shall be blessed.

And you will always be reborn;
And I will always see the star
And make the journey to your heart;
The manger where the real things are.
- Michael Leunig

God Waits (28/11/2010)
God waits silently in our inner recesses, the chambers of our soul, gazing lovingly on our treasure, awaiting our response.
Yvonne Morland - in Candles and Conifers WGRG publications, 2005

Don’t Hide (21/11/2010)
Don’t hide, don’t run, but rather discover in the midst of fragmentation a new way forward, a different kind of journey marked by its fragility, uncertainty and lack of definition.
And on that path to hold these hands that even in their brokenness create a new tomorrow.
To dance on the margins, and to see the face of Christ where hurt is real and pain a way of life.
To be touched in the eye of the storm, aware that tomorrow may not bring peace.
Impossible, you say; let me retreat and find my rest.
What rest, my friend in these fragmented times?
Peter Millar - in The Surprise of the Sacred - Finding God in unexpected places

The Spirit of new life (7/11/2010)
Here in the heart of God,
here in the heart of love
welcoming all our weakness
- the Spirit of new life.
da Noust

Bread and Peace (17/10/2010)
God of our open futures, help us:
to explore once upon a time moments where stories begin and outrageous hope, outspoken love justice and joy are released;
to see where the nudging angels move amongst people longing for comfort and community, sensing beginnings of friendship, wanting touch and affirmation;
to enable life’s great feast to happen, hearts and hands, baskets and pockets to open,
neighbour to share bread and peace with neighbour, to make place for another;
so that in the most ordinary of miracles all are fed.
Joy Mead in Friends and Enemies Wild Goose Publications

Know someone deeply troubled by the after-shocks? (10/10/2010)
We have some useful material in the office (courtesy of Jean Dodgson).

A Prayer for Earthquake Time (12/9/2010)
- to be offered morning and evening.
After the earthquake, Elijah heard the still, small voice of the Lord. (1 Kings 19:12)
O God, I am shaken.
Let me hear your still, small voice with words of comfort and of reassurance.
Let me dwell in thankfulness and in peace.

Coping with Trauma (12/9/2010)
What to do immediately after the event:
- Make sure that you are with people. Do not go home to an empty house, get a friend or relative to stay with you.
- Talk about the incident with others. Talking will help you get over the reactions.
- Remind yourself that the worst of the event is over and that you are now safe.
- Get some physical exercise to ‘burn off’ tension and anxiety.
- Restrict stimulants (eg, tea, coffee, chocolate, tobacco) – they can make your body even more agitated than it already is.
- Try and eat even if you do not have an appetite.
- If you have difficulty sleeping, get up and do something relaxing until you feel tired.
How to handle the next few days:
- Remind yourself that your reactions are a normal result of trauma and will pass in time.
- Try to get back into your normal routine a.s.a.p. You may need to introduce yourself gradually to tasks that seem difficult.
- If you feel uncomfortable, afraid or anxious, take some long, slow breaths and remind yourself that you are safe and the trauma is over.
- Make sure that you are doing things that are relaxing and enjoyable.
- Continue to talk to your family, friends and colleagues about the trauma, as this will help you get over your feelings. Even if you feel a bit detached from other people, don’t reject their support.
- Work on your general stress levels by ensuring that you have adequate sleep, (It’s quite okay to have a catch-up sleep during the day) a good diet and regular exercise. Practise relaxation to help reduce nervous tension.
- Drive more carefully and be more careful around the home and with machinery. Because accidents are more common after severe stress, take extra care.
- Allow yourself time to deal with memories. There may be some aspects of the experience that will be difficult to forget.

Trades People - Aged Concern (12/9/2010)
Trades People - Aged Concern has a register of tradespersons people to assist elderly persons. The contact number is 366-0903.
Our office has been advised of an internet service that helps find trades people that are available to do repair jobs. People can list their job on Builderscrack.co.nz at http://builderscrack.co.nz and wait for trades people to get back to them. If you haven't got internet access then give us a call and we will register your request for you.

Morning Psalm (1/8/2010)
God, I feel I could wear the day
I feel I could wear the day today like a scarf
(But not because it’s cold ‘cause it’s not)
I feel I could wear the day and the wind would wrap it around and around me
I feel I could wear the day
I feel I could wear the day today like a scarf and dance it yellow with a fringe or two of blue
Neil Paynter