Parish News Hub
St Mark’s Church | St Anne’s Chapel | St Mark’s School
Te Whare Karakia ō Hato Māka ki Opawaho
Opawa - St Martins Parish
Anglican Diocese of Christchurch
Te Hāhi Mihinare ō Ōtautahi
What's happening in the parish
Nightly Online Prayer is a great way to connect with our parish during this season of Lent
Community Fair bringing affordable toys, books, china, vintage clothes and more from the Opawa - St Martins Parish.
In early medieval times it was called the “Annunciation of the Lord” or the “Conception of Christ,” indicating its focus as a festival of the Lord.
The church has at its core offered a daily cycle of prayer what is known as the daily office.
If in Christ we have been tempted, in him we overcome the devil. Do you think only of Christ's temptations and fail to think of his victory?
It is to Christ, the focus of our faith and worship, we direct our silence. Therefore an important part of our services is to be silent, as we open ourselves for Christs revelation.
“May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen” (NZPB p52).
Will we make the choice to live as those who love the way of God and therefore find the depth, refreshment from the true source of life? Or do we choose a life of being blown around in the breeze avoiding the true source of life that provides us with rootedness, security and life?
Isaiah has been called by God to bring the people to account for their actions. They had turned away from God and that was being shown in how they were treating their brothers and sisters. Isaiah recognises his own faults and he is forgiven by God.
Light is a powerful symbol that represents everything that is in opposition to the darkness that we experience as humans. Light is a symbol of the presence of Christ, the hope (trust) that we have in Jesus and the Good News, that which he both proclaims and embodies in human form.
Creation, law and heart are made perfect and united through God in which we are to be active participants.
In the Middle Ages Mary's Song inspired the Feast of Fools celebrated after Christmas usually around New year. This feast was a literal acting out of the Magnificat as a rather strange way of witnessing to God’s kingdom that inverts human power structures and raises up the oppressed to places of honour.
We are to give up our insatiable desire to consume and replace it with the expectation of the coming of Jesus.
Advent is a time of reflection and preparation for when time will end and Jesus will come in power and glory bringing our waiting to completion.
What we look to is the theological virtue of Hope. A virtue that helps us grow our relationship with God.
The Kingship of Christ holds the place of ultimate authority over all aspects of human life.
God is portrayed throughout the psalter as being the protector, in a way that no human is able.
Casting a shadow over a lot of religious thought is the concept of judgement.
We live in a society that has in many ways abandoned its traditional patterns of mourning.
A time to relax and to reflect on the efforts made by trade unions to get this balance.
God gives us shelter from both rain and sun and picks us up when we stumble
We are held in God’s loving embrace in life and in death
“We have to teach our children to follow Christ as the world will teach them not to.”
Please pray for peace and justice
Music brings us closer to God both because of the way it moves our spirits, and because of the words we sing to it
Staying relevant and responsive to what is going on in the world
There is a role for each of us to take as we live out our baptismal promises
Our worship and our witness continues
Prayer is the best response
Head for the Promised Land
Working for the health of our faith community through using the gifts that we have been given
Send down upon your disciples the Holy Spirit who enlightens, strengthens, and saves our souls.
Beginning the year, with an excerpt of a letter from Corraine Haines, from the City Mission, in regards to the Back To School programme
Regular Summer Sunday Services
The Rev Simon Green has been appointed as a longterm Priest-in-Charge
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Confirming their faith with Bishop Peter
The new Dean of Christ Church Cathedral will be the Reverend Canon Ben Truman
Prepare for the fair
Prepare for the fair
Prepare for the fair
Crochet & Knitters wanted for a Gap Filler project
Join the flower arrangers bringing creativity and beauty to our church
The grocery hamper was won by Neroli and the bonus prize by Gail.
Order your Coupland's Hot Cross Buns now, collect them on Sunday 2nd April.
All proceeds go to the Anglican Missions Cyclone Gabrielle Appeal.
Journey together in faith after Easter for a new bible study series with the Anabasis group.
If you would like to be involved with this ministry, or to find out more, please contact Barb
It is very easy to give online. Contact the Treasurer if you need any assistance.
Coupland's Hot Cross Buns are returning soon
Falling asleep while reading scripture might risk eternal damnation, so medieval monks took distraction very seriously.
Approaching painful inner darkness as a help rather than a hindrance for personal growth.
Was biculturalism merely an artifact of 1980s activism? That question shapes haunts the story of his John Bluck's life's work.
The deliberate roughness and immediacy of the evangelists will shock you awake from the many sleep-inducing modern translations.
The spiritual writings of Henri Nouwen compiled into prayers and spiritual exercises for each of the canonical hours.
"a sweeping and informative portrait of a faith that has shaped the western world and beyond”
“Do you ever find yourself worried about what others think of you? … Maybe those thoughts occupy a lot of your waking (and dreaming) time and when they rear their heads, chase any other more positive thoughts out of your mind?”
From the words of Job , to the teen favourites in the Song of Songs, and to the words of Ecclesiastes, the poetic light shines in the first literary translation of the Hebrew Bible since the King James Version.
“I believe … for millennia, aspiring believers like me have found solace amidst their struggle by reciting these words together, Sunday after doubt-filled Sunday, century after sin-ridden century, always hoping for redemption and always hoping that the words might be true."
“By light we do our work. By that same light others behold it. And all of the light is borrowed from God.”
The first church in Aotearoa-New Zealand was a missionary church. It still survives to this day.
Can an ancient document settling religious wars and controversies help us navigate our fragmented and over-opinionated times?
In our affluenza, we all live like Kings nowadays, and all need to be challenged by prophetic ministry to bring us back to God.
The devastating stories of Hagar in Genesis 16:1 and Genesis 21:9-21 contain not only the first annunciation in the bible but also the first experience of God in the wilderness - experiences that many identify with to this day.