Dear Parents, Caregivers and Whanau,

Kia ora tatou, Nau mai, haere mai, ko te tumanako kei te ora koutou katoa

Hello everyone, welcome, I hope you are all safe & well!

It has been a long and challenging Term 1 and I’m sure you are all looking forward to the Easter holiday weekend and school holidays. I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a safe and refreshing holiday over the next few weeks and Lord willing we will see all the students back at school on Monday 2 May.

This weekend we all celebrate and remember something special – a moment in time, dating back to approximately 2000 years ago. EASTER. Good Friday, then Easter Sunday in a few days and of course a long weekend and a holiday, which for many in our society today is the main reason for celebrating Easter, as well as the mandatory Easter eggs of course.

This year due to Covid, there is no Easter Camp which I know is a highlight for many of our youth, so how will you / they be spending Easter this year and still make it special and meaningful?

Don’t let this greatest of all weeks pass you by. Join in this journey from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. During these eight days, slow down. Get away from distractions. Quiet your soul and wait patiently upon the Lord. Pray as you read his Word and meditate on his truths that our God would come and meet with you right where you are at.

In John 14: 6 we read: Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Yes – it’s a simple as that. Jesus Christ is the ONLY way.

Then in Romans 10: 9-10 we read:

“Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

Often when we talk about God’s salvation plan, we spend a lot of time thinking and speaking about the death of Jesus. But so often, when we talk about how God has saved us, we stop with Jesus’s death! However, that’s only half the story. The resurrection is just as important as the crucifixion!

The resurrection of Christ brings hope. The late Emil Brunner once said, “What oxygen is for the lungs, such is hope for the meaning of human life.” As the human being is dependent on a supply of oxygen, so humanity is dependent on its supply of hope. Yet today hopelessness and despair are everywhere. Peter, who himself was given to despair during the episode of Calvary, writes in a triumphant note in 1 Peter 1: 3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again into a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

There is hope that mistakes and sins can be forgiven. There is hope that we can have joy, peace, assurance, and security in the midst of the despair of this age. There is hope that Christ is coming soon — this is what is called in Scripture “the blessed hope.” There is hope that there will come someday a new heaven and a new earth, and that the Kingdom of God will reign and triumph.

Our hope is not in our own ability, or in our goodness, or in our physical strength. Our hope is instilled in us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Do you desire the fullness of God’s power in your life?

Make Him your highest priority. Spend time with Him in prayer. Read His Word. Seek Him with your whole heart.

Know that He is with you, ready to unleash His resurrection power. Power with no limits.

“The Lord bless youand keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

Blessings in Christ

Mike Vannoort - Principal / Tumuaki

NB: A wise person once told me that if we do not teach our children, the world surely will.