First Church of Otago

WORDS FOR THE NEXT GENERATION

Do you ever get a tune in your head and you can’t shake it off? You end up humming or singing the words? I find it is the same with a word, and in recent days the word I kept hearing was “wisdom”. It came up in conversation,; I saw in the morning paper, and heard it on the TV3 News. Everywhere I went that word was used.

For twenty years I was chaplain to a retirement complex in a previous Parish. Once at the end of a seminar on ministry to the aged a participant said to me over the concluding afternoon tea, “I have heard a lot of ideas and suggested strategies for ministry with older persons, but the best preparation one can give is to provide role models of creative aging.” It made me think that     ageing remains a mystery to the young. They are ill-equipped to understand their parents, and their grandparents often fade from the scene long before death. So youth grow up without models of graceful ageing.

So, I went to my concordance and found although there are few references in the book of Proverbs to ageing, for instance, the book is full of the wisdom of elders handed down to the next generations. Although the words of proverbs 4 were meant as a father’s legacy to his son, they also typify the wisdom that the older generation needs to leave for the young generation. Read the rest of this entry »

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH OF OTAGO

 APPEAL FOR DONATIONS FOR FIRST CHURCH SPIRE RESTORATION

The Deacons Court of First Church has agreed to hold a Public Appeal for Funding towards the

Restoration of the First Church Spire. Applications are being made to various trusts.

The total cost of this work is estimated to be in the region of $600,000

TO DONATE TO THIS APPEAL post to First Church Office, PO BOX 374 Dunedin (cheques payable to First  Church of Otago Restoration) —name and address for a receipt please

 For paying into First Church Bank account :

BANK ACCOUNT WESTPAC  03 0905 0933091-00( name for receipt –  please email  your address  to firstchurch@xtra.co.nz)

– Please note all donations are eligible for tax rebates) Read the rest of this entry »

 SUNDAY SERVICE TIMES AT FIRST CHURCH
10am         Morning Worship,
12 noon    Cook Islands Service
2pm           Samoan Service
A space of quiet in the heart of the city….every Tuesday, 12.15-12.45pm– worship, stillness, food for the soul