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Blog

Pentecost 2026 Part Three: Simon Peter’s Pentecost

Wind and fire and tongues, these were prophesied hundreds of years before. This miracle is a demonstration of God’s power and his longing for people to be a caring community. It shows that being a temple of the Spirit is no longer a geographical or architectural space; it’s a sanctuary made out of each one of us, a tangible sign of God’s love through our presence in the community. The new temple is an overlap of heaven and earth, not on a mountain or in a cathedral,  but made up of the daily lives of thousands of men and women who follow Jesus.

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29 June 2026
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Pentecost 2026 Part Two: John Wesley’s Pentecost

One night in 1738 after a time of prayer at St Paul’s Cathedral, he went to a Moravian Bible study in nearby Aldersgate Street. During the meeting – at a quarter to nine – John experienced what is sometimes called his conversion:
“I felt my heart was strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ alone for my salvation.”
He felt assured his sins were forgiven and stood up and testified to the change in his spirit. From then on, he began preaching an evangelical message to all who would listen. Just like the disciples whose hearts burned on the Emmaus Road, he had at last grasped the real meaning of the Easter Story.

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22 June 2026
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Pentecost 2026 Part One: When Pentecost gets Personal

One night at St. Paul’s Chapel on Symonds Street, I asked my cell group leader to pray that I might be filled to overflowing with the Spirit. I didn’t shake, laugh, or cry like others I knew; I simply felt peaceful. My leader reminded me of Luke 11: “Our heavenly Father gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” I received that by faith.

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19 June 2026
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Anzac Remembrance

On April 25 2026,  my siblings and I gathered at Onetangi Beach (Waiheke Island) to honour our late parents. We endeavour to do this every Anzac season.

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11 May 2026
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New Blog: Tasmania- Ten Days of Magic

“Tasmania is bigger than it looks on a map,” said the tour guide. “We plan routes, accommodation, and daily pacing so your trip feels smooth and manageable from day one. We offer logical routing with realistic driving distances and no backtracking. Good-value inclusions are clearly explained, and local support is available during your trip.”
And that is exactly what we got, in ten days that took us around Tasmania to six quite different destinations, a variety of accommodation styles, and a wealth of options of things to do…..

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12 April 2026
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Holy Days and Holidays 8 -The Mystery of Rituals

From handshakes to hazings, parades to prayers, coronations to christenings, every society practices rituals, many of which predate agriculture. Archaeologists often consider ritual to be one of the core defining features of modern humans, because it is related to the capacity for symbolic thought….

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12 April 2026
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Holy Days and Holidays 5 – Adventure: Exploring New Places

Journeys and travel are themes which return regularly throughout the Bible. Many individuals in the story of the people of God are called to move out of a place which is comfortable and familiar and go to a new place…..Whether you go to new places as visitors, or settlers, there is much to be learned from engaging with strangers and thoughtfully adopting new practices as we learn how to seek the peace and prosperity of our own cities.

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1 July 2025
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Holy Days and Holidays 4 – Creation: Enjoying God’s Handiwork

We each have our own unique criteria for what makes the perfect holiday destination, but most of us would choose a place that we find beautiful in some way. In our everyday lives, we often dwell in environments that are more functional than beautiful. Taking a holiday can be a refreshing escape from this routine.

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26 June 2025
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Holy Days and Holidays 3: Connection – The Joy of Food

If we notice the stories about food we find in the Bible, we find plenty of them; Abraham, Elijah, David, Isaiah, feasts like Passover, parables, loaves and fishes and of course the Lord’s Supper…a shared meal is an encounter with grace, a way to build community and caring, not just with family and friends, but at times also with strangers. That’s why we talk about ‘eating together’ rather than feeding.

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5 March 2025
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Holy Days and Holidays 2 – Rest: Catching our Breath

For millennia, religions have regarded ritual rest as a spiritual necessity. More recently though, faith leaders are arguing that this practice, whether in a secular or religious context, can help redirect the world’s societies away from catastrophic climate change. They suggest a shared day of rest might slow the pace of consumption, curb emissions or ease the burden people working weary weekends.

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24 February 2025
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Holy Days and Holidays 1 – Sabbath: A Time to Recalibrate

The notion of Sabbath, a principle deeply embedded in Biblical history and still observed by Jews today, is passed down to us from the time of Moses, and his encounter with God on the mountain at Sinai/Horeb. On that day the Lord gave him Ten Commandments to govern the life of the People of Israel, not just in the wilderness, but in their community life over thousands of years to come.

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7 February 2025
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Summer Reflections: introducing a new blog series

“There is something unique and special about the experience of taking a holiday, whether that is an extended stay in some exotic clime, a couple of days away just a few miles down the road, or even a true ‘staycation’, time carved out at home which includes days out either locally or slightly further afield.” (Louise Davis, writer)….This new series of posts will pick up on that idea, and consider whether there is more that is holy about our holidays than we might realise.

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20 January 2025