Greetings from Canon Mark

I am so grateful for the beautiful weather of the last few days. Pip and I went for a walk last night and it was so beautiful walking through Mona Vale! The constant overlay however has been the creep south of Covid 19 and our preparations as a parish for the Traffic Light System.

Highlights of the Week

On Tuesday night I chaired the In-betweens AGM and we went on to celebrate communion together. Under the very able leadership of Judy Dodwell In-betweens is in good heart with new members and a vibrant group life.

On Wednesday I attended a special afternoon tea at Ngaio Marsh Retirement Village with a large group of parishioners. What an encouraging time to meet newer folk as well as reconnect with long standing parishioners. Later in the afternoon we had our last Garden Tour planning meeting. Ticket sales continue to be very strong and with a great weather forecast for tomorrow I anticipate a very successful fundraiser! Both planning group and Vestry agreed that 10% of the profits should be donated to The Youth Hub - a very worthy cause with Anglican links. Our monthly Vestry meeting took place in the evening. Vestry is such a professional and enthusiastic group whose members offer tremendous wisdom and guidance to the life and development of our parish. We enjoy wonderful camaraderie and there's always lots of laughter.

On Thursday I worked on the Christmas edition of the Mooring Post for a good portion of the day and sent through the images and copy to Rebecca Haines who lays out the magazine for us. Thank you, Rebecca! We are due to receive a new photocopier soon so the print quality of our magazine may improve!

Friday was spent writing material, writing Sunday's sermon and attending the Synod service in the evening. Professional photographer Mandy Caldwell has graciously agreed to take photos of the tour and hopefully these will appear in the Mooring Post. Have a great Garden Tour tomorrow!

Traffic Light System

As has been articulated by the government the country will be moving to the new Traffic Light system shortly after 29 November. Under both orange and green, there will be gathering limits for those venues not requiring vaccination passes. This poses a real problem for our parish as we move toward Advent and Christmas when we have a large number of services that will exceed 100 people. As a result Vestry have agreed in principle to support the vaccine pass entry but make provisions for those who are not vaccinated. We will of course follow the Bishop’s guidelines on the matter when this is published during the coming week. In preparation for this you can access your Vaccine Pass here.

Welcome to the Family of Christ!

It will be a tremendous joy to welcome into the Christian family Jemimah Klingenberg and Nadia and Alydia Roberts on Sunday morning. Rev Jenny will baptise Nadia and Alydia and Bishop Peter Carrell will baptise Jemimah. When a person is baptised they are initiated into the Christian faith, are bound to Christ spiritually and made a member of the Church. Such a lot is happening when water is applied to a candidate in the name of the Holy Trinity! Whenever we are present at a baptism we’re reminded of our own baptism and the faithfulness of God in our lives.

Staff Roles

During the week Vestry established the new position of Communications Specialist. This is a 5 hour a week role undertaking such tasks as the Mooring Post, St Barnabas Connect email, website and social media postings. We have also been advertising for a Children and Family Worker and have received one applicant who will be interviewed soon. We received no applicants for the Young Adults Worker so please continue praying about this.

Arohanui, Canon Mark