| |
 |
 |
|
| Comment on this report, or find other reports. |
|
| Our Mystery Worshippers are volunteers who warm church pews for us around the world. If you'd like to become a Mystery Worshipper, start here. |
|
| Find out how to reproduce this report in your church magazine or website. |
|
|
| 2487: Holy
Trinity, Picton, New Zealand |
|
 |
|
Mystery
Worshipper: Galadriel.
The church:
Holy Trinity, Picton, New Zealand
Denomination:
Anglican
Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, Diocese
of Nelson.
The building:
A simple stone building, with a tower to one side, shaded by
a large oak tree. There’s been a church in Picton since 1863
when on 31st May the Bishop of Nelson opened the first Holy
Trinity building. It could seat no more than 150 people. The
present building was dedicated on 25th August 1962. The facing
stone was quarried from a stream running through a property
further south along the coast.
The church:
The church serves Anglicans with both traditional liturgy and
family communion each Sunday. There's a daughter church in a
more remote community further north.
The neighbourhood:
Picton is a small town on South Island, and is in fact the main
link between South and North Island via its ferry service and
a rail line that runs to Christchurch. The church is located
in a typical New Zealand residential area, with single storey
buildings, faced with wood or stone.
The cast:
The service was led by Geoff Bedward, who, when we met him before
the service, described himself as "verger and general dogsbody."
Three members of the congregation read the lessons and gospel.
A fourth, David Brown, gave the address. When the time came
for communion, a lay minister called Ruth stepped forward to
administer it.
The date & time:
27 January 2013, 9.00am.
What was the name of the service?
Eucharist (Holy Communion) Using Traditional Liturgy.
How full was the building?
Not very full; six or seven pews occupied by about 20 people
in total.
Did anyone welcome you personally?
I was the first there! But the next people to arrive all came over to offer a greeting.
Was your pew comfortable?
Nothing special but not uncomfortable.
How would you describe the pre-service
atmosphere?
Reverent but not entirely quiet; people greeted each other as they spotted friends.
What were the exact opening words of the
service?
"Good morning and welcome to all! A particular welcome
to any visitors to our church."
What books did the congregation use during the
service?
New Zealand Prayer Book, Hymns for Today’s Church,
The Holy Bible, New International Version.
What musical instruments were played?
Organ.
Did anything distract you?
No.
Was the worship stiff-upper-lip,
happy clappy, or what?
Traditional Anglican worship using the New Zealand Prayer
Book, which included a few phrases in the Maori language.
Geoff Bedward led the worship well, consistently giving page
numbers in the service book so strangers could easily find their
way about.
Exactly how long was the
sermon?
9 minutes.
On a scale of 1-10, how
good was the preacher?
6 – David Brown was generous with his quotations from scripture.
In a nutshell, what was
the sermon about?
It being January, the theme was "new beginnings."
A new beginning happened 2000 years ago when Christ was born.
Even today there are many newcomers to Christ. Are we excited
about Jesus? How do we maintain the excitement of Christianity?
We have the Holy Spirit to guide and care for us. We need to
be "plugged into God." Age is no barrier: older people
can still hold the torch to light others. Every new beginning
comes from the end of a previous beginning.
Which part of the service was like being in
heaven?
The warmth and welcome of the community. Impossible not to rejoice in their friendliness to each other and to me.
And which part was like being in... er... the other place?
Mildly disorientating rather than infernal: I struggled with
the hymns. They were all words I knew and tunes I knew, but
the pairing of the two were unfamiliar. I found it particularly
difficult to manage the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic
to poetry of a metre that just did not quite fit.
What happened when you hung around after the service looking lost?
I wondered briefly if I would be ignored as I left the church,
but after greeting each other many members of the congregation
approached me in turn, asking where I was from, where I had
been, where I was going, and how was I enjoying New Zealand.
How would you describe the after-service
coffee?
No coffee, though the weekly news sheet made it clear that refreshment
are offered after the mid-morning family service.
How would you feel about making this church your regular (where 10 = ecstatic, 0 = terminal)?
6 – Too far from home to be practicable (I live in the
UK), but one could feel welcome here. The presence of a drum
kit alongside the organ console suggests that other services
may be more upbeat, offering a good range of worship to meet
the needs of different age groups.
Did the service make you feel glad to be a
Christian?
Yes.
What one thing will you remember about all this in seven days' time?
The friendly welcome. |
|
|
|
 |
|
| We rely on voluntary donations to stay online. If you're a regular visitor to Ship of Fools, please consider supporting us. |
|
 |
|
| The Mystery Pilgrim |
|
| One of our most seasoned reporters makes the Camino pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Read here. |
|
 |
|
| London churches |
|
| Read reports from 70 London churches, visited by a small army of Mystery Worshippers on one single Sunday. Read here. |
| |
|
|
|
|
