New Year's Greeting

St Barnabas Anglican Church Warrington/Waitati, New Year 2020

We welcome you warmly to St. Barnabas Church Warrington/Waitati. Our service is at 9.30 am every Sunday including an Eucharist followed by a cup of tea in the Church Lounge.

Now a little about our ourselves and the history of the church.

Jeremy Nicoll, our priest-in charge, gratefully acknowledges the support of Roger Barker in recent years. Roger came out of retirement for a third time, in order to take at least one service a month and more on some occasions. His deep theological understanding, scholarship and humour have contributed to many memorable sermons.

Music continues to be a strong feature of St Barnabas with two regular organists, Alistair Wright and Rowena Park, and several enthusiastic singers amongst the congregation.

For over 145 years we have continued to hold services every Sunday. In recent years our worship has been followed by fellowship over morning tea. Each year we welcome back friends who join us for the holiday seasons.

St Barnabas has an Historic Place Category 2 listing and is considered to be of “architectural, historical and spiritual significance.”  We have been extremely grateful to the Paterson family trust and the Callis family trust in recent years for enabling the addition of the new toilet and the carpark steps.

St Barnabas church has a small, loyal congregation which hopes to continue to maintain the building, the graveyard and the service it offers the community. We contribute regularly to the food bank and other charitable organizations such as the Christmas special hamper initiative and Anglican Family Care.  

We wish you and your families a peaceful Christmas season and happiness in the New Year.

December 2019

Church contacts  Priest-in-Charge:  Rev Dr Jeremy Nicoll  4821182

Church Blog:  http://st-barnabas.blogspot.co.nz   

St Francis of Assisi. (1181 to 1226)

 

Francis of Assisi was the privileged son of a wealthy merchant and knew how to enjoy life, especially a good party.  As a young man he went to fight for his country, was captured and held prisoner for many months.  His father paid to bring him home but he soon became seriously ill.  Francis recovered but was left dissatisfied with himself and his life.

He started praying more and kept giving stuff away.  His father, who had seen him through all these wild parties, ransomed him from prison, and got him through his illness, started to get upset.  His Dad would give him a warm cloak, or a good pair of shoes and Francis would just pass them on to the next beggar he met.  And basically Francis spent the rest of his life doing that:  pissing everybody off by giving stuff away.  In his lifetime everybody knew, and liked, him.  He was charming and travelled everywhere.  He went west to Spain, then through Eastern Europe and south to Egypt during the Crusade being present at the capture of Dametietta.  He made friends with not just the Roman clergy that he met, but the Orthodox churchmen in the east, with Moors, and mainly with ordinary folk.  The Pope, priests, imams, and even his own monks, loved him but couldn’t cope with his complete disinterest in every material thing.

Francis’ generosity, his simple and unaffected faith, his passionate devotion to God and man, his love of nature and his deep humility have made him one of the most cherished saints of modern times.

At St. Barnabas in Warrington we like, every year, to remember St Francis and his love of animals, by bringing our pets to church on the Sunday afternoon after his saints day.  Well, maybe we just like to thank God for a world that’s made much richer and much more fun by our animal friends.

If you’d like to join us, bring you pet along at 2pm on Sunday 6^th October.

Jeremy Nicoll,  St Barnabas Church Warrington

Good Friday at St Barnabas Church 2019

Easter

It is the Christian belief that God created everything, including us. Humans however find it easier to make bad, usually selfish, choices, rather than living a good life.  To help us see that we can live a perfect, fulfilling life, God sent His son Jesus to live amongst us as a human being.  A wholly good person naturally stood out, so attracted the attentions of those who enjoyed positions of authority in a corrupt society, and Jesus was put to death.  However, He had already shown us an example of how we can live a life that is good for us, good for others, good for the earth, and which prepares us to meet God when our life ends.

Easter is the great event of the church year.  It is bitter sweet.  We remember darkness and light, happy and sad, death and new life:  This is because Jesus overcame death and returned to His friends to tell them of God’s love for us.

At St Barnabas, Coast Rd Warrington, on Maundy Thursday (18^th April) we will gather in the evening (7pm) to remember Jesus’ last earthly meal with His friends (The Last Supper).

On Good Friday (19^th, 10 am) we will gather again to remember Jesus’ death.  This is our most solemn occasion.

On Easter Day (Sunday 21^st, 9.30 am) our Easter service is the high point when we gather in joy to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection.  We sing with joy because Jesus, whom man had killed, returned alive to show us that love, especially God’s love, beats hate, any day of the week.

Jeremy Nicoll

St Barnabas, Anglican parish of Warrington-Waitati.