First Church of Otago

WHAT MY FAITH MEANS TO ME

Faith, for me, is about simple trust with no concern for proof. When faith is applied to a belief in God, I frequently experience events and emotions that reinforce my belief. My faith is nurtured in  community as it is cultivated by fellow adventurers and because of that becomes the rock on which I lean when the going gets tough. Amid the trials and tribulations of life faith sustains me and enables me to keep going.

Faith is essentially the choices I make, a willingness to believe that something is true, and to act on that belief. To say one has a private faith is to deny the fact that at some stage someone introduced me to a life of faith – someone made it public. Words like trust, hope, love and obedience, combine as   woven threads that makes the fabric of my faith stronger. My involvement in a church or worshipping community provides encouragement for me to practice my faith – to live out my faith – not just on Sundays, but also during the week as words become associated with deeds, not for self but for others. It is within the Christian community that I am  nourished – and, I hope , flourish.

One of the exciting things about my life of faith is that it is always exploring, expanding, delving deeper, and discovering. Never can I say I have “arrived” and got everything sorted and understood. There are always fresh secrets of faith to unfold in my life. In that sense, I am very much a work in progress. I need to be honest and admit that there are times when my faith oscillates and I am required to dig deep into the wells of wisdom to keep myself afloat. To date, in such times, my faith has never let me down. Read the rest of this entry »

SUNDAY SERVICES AT FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF OTAGO

10am      –  Morning Worship

12 Noon –  Cook Islands Service

2.00pm –  Samoan Service

10.00am Combined Communion first Sunday in each month

 SERVICE ON NOVEMBER 11th at 10am

This will be a special service for Armistice Day marking the end of World War 1.

We have extended an invitation to the Dunedin Royal Male Choir to take part in the service .

The service will  conclude at 11am with two minutes’ silence, and then the First Church  bellringers will join their world wide colleagues with a special ringing of the bells “quarter peal” which will take about 45 minutes in total.   

The service will be led by the Rev John Sinclair