You Are Special

 We heard the story of Punchinello, the wooden toy - who believes he isn't good enough because of the things people say to him. Finally, he meets someone who has a very special message for him.

It was very much like the special message God has for us. God sees beyond all mistakes, all past, all dots and stars, and sees the child God made. God says You are beautiful. You are special. You are loved.

Find the book in your local library and read the story for yourself, it's You Are Special by Max Lucado. You can also watch the service on our church Facebook page and hear me reading the story there. Facebook page (fast forward to 13:27).

Afterwards, Lukas and Isabella had fun creating some handprint art for our gallery. I forgot to take photos of the finished work, so you'll just have to go and check it out in person at the Chapel Street Centre!

At the Well!

 Here's a video from last Sunday, where our Awesome Kids experimented with their own version of drawing water from a 'well' after hearing Carol tell the story about Jesus and the Woman at the Well.

It was a great day for ice blocks!

Into the Wilderness

This morning, we read 'The Dark' by Lemony Snicket. 

We all have places that scare us, challenge us and tempt us. We might do everything to avoid these places, but sometimes we have to face the wilderness and walk through it.  Laszlo learns this, in The Dark. 

His 'wilderness' is the basement of his house. He is afraid of the dark and when the nightlight in his room goes out he has to venture into the dark basement. There he finds a drawer full of lights. After he finds the much needed light bulb, the dark is always still there, but does not bother him.

Like Laszlo, when we venture into our wilderness we find what we need to make it through as well as God’s reassuring presence. 

In our bible story today, Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness. We wondered what scary things he had to deal with. Maybe spiders? (Lukas didn't like the spider in my box very much!) Perhaps there were snakes? (There were a few people who shuddered when Lizzy pulled the wriggly, rubber snake from my bag!) Almost certainly Jesus had to cope with wild animals, being totally alone, and the deep darkness of the nights. After all of that, he must have grown fearless and ready to face whatever truly scary stuff came his way!

Sometimes, for us it can be tempting to take the easy road, to not push ourselves out of our comfort zone, or put our hand up to help others. Perhaps doing something that scares us (like speaking to someone we don't know, standing up for someone who’s being bullied would be a great challenge for Lent.

Let us pray:

Loving God,

Thank you for always being with us, everywhere we go.

Help us to remember that, and that even in the dark and scary, wild places in our lives, you are right there loving us.

Amen.

Check out our artwork, inspired by 'The Dark'. 

'With God's help, we can face our fears.'

'God is with me in the dark.'

This one was a father-son collaboration between Eric and Lukas. I love the ghost and spider! 

'With God's help, we can face our fears.'

'God is with me when I'm scared.'

Lukas has created his own artwork here, complete with a scary, green ghost!

Lizzy and Beth got creative with theirs.

'God is always with me.'

'God's love shines through me.'

The shading on this one is very clever. This poor guy looks like he's truly been in the wilderness!

Proud artists!

Get Well Soon!

Last Sunday, our Awesome Kids made 'get well soon' cards for Anne. Thanks Carol, for sharing these. 

Sending lots of love and hugs to Anne!

 

Picnic pic!

We had a fabulous time at the park on our Parish Picnic last weekend. Here's an action shot of the lolly scramble!

 

CHYPS Youth 2023

Our first CHYPS Youth for 2023 kicked off with games at St James' Park. Such a beautiful night!

 

Awesome Time in action

 Check out these photos from Awesome Time last week... and the amazing bird feeders we made!

Parish Picnic!

 Join us after church on Sunday for a picnic at St James Park. See you there!

Chapel Street Youth is back for 2023!

 We're kicking off Youth Group with a walk to the park this Saturday night. 

Meet at the Chapel Street Centre at 6.30pm. Make sure you have shoes suitable for walking / running around. We'll head to the park for some games of frisbee and ball tag, and return to the hall for supper and devotion time.

If you know of anyone in school years 7 to 13 who might like to come, please invite them to join us!

See you there!

Blessing of the Backpacks

Last Sunday, we had our Blessing of the Backpacks. 

As is our tradition at Christchurch North Methodist, our young people brought along their schoolbags and gathered at the front for a special blessing to mark the beginning of the school year. 

Liam was presented with a bible as a reminder that the love of his church family at the Chapel Street Centre, and the love of God goes with him as he starts secondary school.

We invited our congregation to write a short note of encouragement, support, bible verse or snippet of advice for our young people. We photocopied them all and made little 'books of encouragement' for each young person to take home with them. 

Thank you to our congregation for being so supportive of our youth, we really appreciate you!

Awesome Time Sundays 10am!

 

Join us on Sunday mornings at 10am

at the Chapel Street Centre!

Dates for your calendar:
Sunday 5 Feb - Awesome Time 10am with Dave & Heather
Sat 11 Feb - CHYPS Youth 6.30pm (Years 7-13)
Sunday 12 Feb - Awesome Time 10am with Richard & Jillian
Sunday 12 Feb - Parish Picnic after church at St James' Park
Sunday 19 Feb - Awesome Time 10am with Carol & Maureen
Sunday 26 Feb - Awesome Time 10am with Mel & Izak

Blessing of the Backpacks

 Join us on Sunday 29 January, 10am at the Chapel Street Centre for our Blessing of the Backpacks. Bring your schoolbag, kindy or preschool bag and we'll have a special blessing to mark the beginning of the school year for 2023.

Joy!

 I think this photo sums it up.

Happy Christmas, everyone!

Youth Christmas Service

 

On 11 December, the children and youth from Christchurch North Methodist Parish led a Christmas service at the Chapel Street Centre. 

The theme was ‘Joyful Giving’ and we explored how we can give joyfully; spreading love and hope this Christmas. 

We focussed on the Christian World Service appeal, raising awareness and support for climate action and access to clean water. We were also grateful for donations towards our Support A Family appeal and the child our parish sponsors through World Vision. 

Our young people were generous in sharing their time, gifts and talents to spread the joy of Christmas too. Highlights were our brass ensemble, a sister act singing ‘Silent Night’, and some talented young poets. We’re fairly sure we’re the only church in Aotearoa to have a resident ventriloquist-donkey act! 

We also had the premiere of our 2022 Christmas short-film, which you can watch on YouTube at: 

https://youtu.be/G0JG3pvKuSY

Here is a link to the service:

https://youtu.be/0hYev_VAy4g

or you can watch the full service on our Facebook page:

Christchurch North Methodist Facebook

Massive THANK YOU to all our young people!

Christmas Movie 2022

This year's Christmas movie is brought to you by the young people of Christchurch North Methodist Parish. Thank you to our Awesome Kids and our Chapel Street Youth (CHYPS). Big thanks to our intrepid leader Angie, and to Izak for all his filming and editing!

Enjoy!

Click HERE to watch the Christmas 2022 Movie

Christmas crafts

 We've been getting Christmassy over the past couple of Sundays, making Christmas gifts for our family and friends.

Candy cane & chocolate Santa sleighs last week with Jill & Richard, and hot chocolate jars and herb & spice seasoning jars with Carol this morning. 

Youth CHRISTMAS Service coming soon...

Join us on Sunday 11 December

10am

at the Chapel Street Centre

for a wonderfully joyful Christmas celebration!

All welcome!

 

Courage

 

This week, we read the wonderful story JABARI JUMPS by Gaia Cornwall. 

We talked about what it means to have courage. We agreed that courage doesn't mean not being afraid... it's about stepping up and doing stuff even if we are feeling scared, anxious or nervous.

God says, have courage, for I am with you.

Livvie said, it's a bit like someone cheering you on saying, 'You've got this!' I think that's a pretty good explanation, and as Livvie said, we can help others find courage by saying, 'hey, you've got this!' and being a cheerleader for them too.

God's our biggest cheerleader. God's always with us, loving us. God's got us!

We created some pictures of scared faces to remind everyone that it's ok to feel afraid, and to just remember that God is with us, giving us courage and strength to do hard stuff.

A big thank you to Ella for leading our prayer this morning!

Chalk Artists

Last week, Carol got our Awesome Kids outdoors enjoying the sunshine to do some fabulous chalk art on the footpaths and carpark outside church. I love 'Zaccheus' in the tree and the heart art too!