Many months of meticulous behind-the-scenes planning and preparation came to fruition when the Methodist Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, Te Hāhi Weteriana, Online Conference 2021 opened on Wednesday, 17 November.

Tara and I might have been the face of Conference 2021, however there was a sense of inevitability about this, as an online Conference tends to hide all that is done in the background.

As 2021 draws to a close, I am looking forward to the Christmas season, albeit different to any I have experienced before. Travel plans will be curtailed this summer, however I look forward to getting together with family and friends and taking a break from what has been a somewhat tumultuous year.

On 1 December a group of concerned citizens joined church and aid agency leaders at the Bridge of Remembrance in Christchurch to peacefully protest the occupation of West Papua by Indonesia.

The Oxford District Union Parish will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its inauguration on Sunday, 30 January 2022.

Despite Covid interruptions, Wesley College students achieved excellent results this year.

Mystery, transcendence . . . where would Christmas be without them? But how do they fit within a 21st century world whose basic understanding is scientific and secular?

Methodist Church of NZ leaders President Andrew Doubleday, Vice-President ‘Etuini (Edwin) Talakai and General Secretary Tara Tautari recently released the MCNZ statement of position on the church response to Covid-19.

Readers respond.

Applications are called for the position of Executive Officer for UCANZ (Uniting Congregations of Aotearoa New Zealand).

In early December Shirley Rivers, Ngāi Takoto, Ngāpuhi and Waikato iwi, will take on the role as Head of Methodist Mission Northern.

From his office window on the first floor of the Aldersgate Centre, Murray Overton can view the Christchurch city skyline in one direction and the port hills in the other. It is an outlook he is enjoying given that his first few weeks in his new role as National Director of CWS were spent working from home communicating with his new colleagues and associates via Zoom, email and phone as a nationwide lockdown prevented him from going to the office.

I begin this article with a quote from Sonja Klinsky, an Associate Professor and Senior Global Futures Scientist at Arizona State University, “Climate change has hit home around the world in 2021 with record heat waves, drought, wildfires and extreme storms. Often, the people suffering most from the effects of climate change are those who have done the least to cause it.” (NZ Herald, 9 November, 2021)

Tuituivao (Tui) Salevao, the new NZMWF President for 2021 to 2023 introduces herself and her team.

Rev Canon Jenny Chalmers, UCANZ co-chair and Canon Precentor at Waiapu Cathedral of St John, Napier, Rev Peter Taylor and Rev Dr Susan Thompson reflect on life, loss and the miracle of Christmas.

Aotearoa moved to the traffic light settings at midnight on 2 December 2021. The new Covid-19 approach introduces more freedoms for vaccinated New Zealanders. It is important to understand the requirements for the new vaccine certificate in the traffic light system.

Kia ū ki te Kaupapa o te Tiriti o Waitangi Tōna pūtake ki tēnei whenua o Aotearoa Kia mau ki te Kupu I roto i a Ihu Karaiti Kia ita ki te Whakapono I roto i ngā mahi i waihotia e ō tātou tupuna Ka Ora ai mātou

With the approach of Advent, we remember Joseph and a very pregnant Mary left their hometown and arrived in Bethlehem with no place to live, and Mary ready to give birth. They struggled to find a home just like many young families today.

Last year CWS marked the 75th anniversary of the first Christmas Appeal. With your assistance, CWS can continue their work responding to those who urgently need food, water and justice.

Aunty welcomes your queries. No concern is too small, whether it is an opinion, advice or information that you are seeking, Aunty responds.

Christmas Activities. Book Review

After a 12-year silence, New Zealand director, Jane Campion, delivers a new film The Power of the Dog.

Author: Matthew Wright. Publisher: Oratia Books, Auckland, 2020. 216 pages.

Silvia Purdie’s love of the psalms is obvious. Rather than simply paraphrasing the original words, she has interpreted each of the 150 psalms in terms of contemporary experience, infusing them with everyday images and presenting them in poetic form.

Facilitators report on thematic workshop discussions.

The Council of Elders report on the Conference delivery and Rev Ian Faulkner comments on the Wesley Historical Society Lecture.

Conference 2021 provided an opportunity for young people to be heavily involved, display their competency, and tell stories in engaging ways.

Meeting via Zoom presented some unexpected advantages for lay preachers throughout Aotearoa.

An encounter with the enemy

Leslie Bourneman Neale 1886 -1959

O lo’o ua fa’apopo nei a’o ni aso ua. O ni aso folau fo’i ae le tu’ua. Ua aga’iga’i atu nei fo’i ina tau-fa’aifoifo le la i le faitauga o masina, o vaiaso ae fa’apea fo’i aso o le malaga fai mai a le Sinoti Samoa, i lenei tausaga atoa 2021, lea o le a tali mavae. Ua toe nei o le masina ma nai vaiaso la tatou faiga-malaga, ona tatou fa’amavae atu fo’i lea i lenei tausaga e pei ona mua’i ta’ua.

Lesoni: Aisea11:1 – 10; Maciu1:18 – 23

“Ko e Misinale Ko e Ma’u’anga Mo’ui E Siasi” Tau ngāue fakataha ke malu’i ‘etau mo’ui⸍ & Reflections