This year St Paul’s is the host church for this occasion. There are a few ways you will be able to take part:

• As a singer in the choir for the day – rehearsals begin on Friday 20th January at 1.30pm All are welcome! The final rehearsal is on Sunday 29th at 9.30am. If you cannot make earlier practices and would like the music, please get in touch with Dorothy Finlayson or Sally Carter.
• As a photographer for a slide presentation. The theme is ‘Our Wetlands, Our Treasure”. Please send digital images to stpaulsnapier@gmail.com (around 100kb will make it easier for us!)
• As a baker for morning tea – pikelets, scones, buttered loaves, sandwiches etc. More details later
• And of course as gracious and welcoming hosts to our visitors from the other parishes and from the city.

Thank you.

Happy New Year to you!
There is a strong sense, in New Zealand anyway, that this year must be better than last. It is interesting that opening a new calendar, turning over a new leaf, writing 2012 in the date give us a sense of a new beginning, an opportunity to reflect on what is past and wonder about what is to come. The Bible readings for this time of year reflect that sense of being poised between what was and what is yet to be.

In our readings this Sunday, we hear of the call of Samuel as a young child, and the call of Jesus’ disciples as told by the writer of John’s gospel. Two phrases struck me as I was reading these stories. In the story of Samuel, God says “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle.” What can you imagine that would make both your ears tingle? What would your ears tingle with? Amazement? Fear? Hope? Eagerness? Possibility? Or are we so blase that nothing can surprise us?

In the gospel of John, after Jesus is baptised, two disciples of John the Baptist start to follow him. ‘What are you looking for?’ Jesus asks them. The disciples are not really able to tell him. ‘Rabbi’, they stammer, ‘Where are you staying?’. Jesus answers ‘Come and see.’ When Philip tries to tell Nathanael about Jesus, the only words he is able to say are ‘Come and see.’

A friend of mine has recently discovered the joy of close up photography. A whole new world is revealed to him as he explores the familiar through the eye of his close up lens. And that new world is revealed to us, his friends, through his photos, creating a fresh sense of wonder. He has answered an invitation to come and see’ – to see things which are beyond our power to describe, things which words can touch but never truly explain.

Children, too, ask us to ‘Come and see’ – to leave the comfort of our armchair, to abandon the dishes, the computer, the lawns, to come and see through the fresh eyes of a child the ordinary things of our world.

Like the disciples in the gospel of John, we may find it difficult to articulate what it is about the call to follow Jesus which makes our ears tingle, which makes us get up and ‘Come and see’. But we don’t have to be able to explain it all – just to respond and see where it takes us.

All blessings,

Sally