Weekly musings (Page 4)

Hi Everyone It’s nearly the end of August – and so lovely to see the usual signs of a Christchurch Spring coming into full swing – the daffodils in Hagley Park, the early flowering trees and rhododendrons. Colour is bursting out around us! There are some trees around the offices here at 51 Ilam Road which have become a bit like “friends” over the last 4 years since I arrived at Ilam – it’s great to see their bursts of…

COVID-19 Update Hi everyone The weeks seem to be rolling around very quickly, don’t they?! Already it is over a week since the change in alert levels. It’s reassuring, though, to know that the team of 5 million is pulling its weight and so we find ourselves still at Alert Level 2. In relation to this coming Sunday, August 23: The first thing to mention is that we will be doing a Service Sheet and setting up a Zoom church…

COVID-19 Update Hi folks It seems that we have moved back into that familiar territory of uncertainty with this virus, meaning that we need to be fluid in our planning as we navigate the changing environment. As far as church is concerned, the Governance Team and staff are monitoring all developments and government guidelines and will ensure that how we operate as church will take account of the changing situation. As at today (Thursday), we are operating under Alert Level 2 (as you…

STOP PRESSWe are holding our breath to see if there’s going to be an announcement of a move to Alert Level 1 early next week. In case there is, we are already putting in place plans for a return to Ilam School from next Sunday, June 14. We’ll let you know once we can confirm what’s planned. Watch this space!! +          +          +          +          +          +          + What a year this is turning out to be! The global pandemic has exposed our…

Greetings fellow Ilamites!  How are you going? How is life opening up for you as the lockdown restrictions ease? Experiences will be very different for each of us, I appreciate. (For my part, I’ve found it’s been taking a while to feel at ease away from the “security” of home! I’ve been really surprised by that.) We have been praying for you all, though, especially that you will feel a sense of progress, and encouragement – even if the bigger…

Greetings fellow Ilamites!  How has your first full week of Level 2 been? New routines /new priorities / new ways of working, I guess. It feels like we are always in transit – from one “normal” to the next “normal” – no one stage, though, actually in the least bit normal! I found when I was out (at Bush Inn) for the first time this week that everything looked familiar, but it didn’t feel familiar – everywhere there were notices…

Greetings fellow Ilamites!  I imagine we’ve all expended quite a lot mental energy this week working out what the Level 2 lockdown requirements mean to us, our families and our workplaces! It’s hard to switch off from it all, isn’t it? I wrote last week about the importance of the arts in this season – and, for myself, I have been trying to find space to listen to music as a way of allowing my mind to find a more…

Deborah has put together our service for this coming Sunday. We will be sharing communion together – fantastic! You may have seen Deborah’s Facebook post about this, but in case you haven’t, this is what she wrote: “Hello everyone, just a heads up that we’re going to be sharing virtual communion together this Sunday 🙂 It’s not too hard to have bread or rice crackers on hand, and maybe a candle, and something to drink to symbolise the blood of Christ, but…

Welcome to Week 5:  Greetings, fellow Ilamites – it’s Level 3, Day 3 as I’m writing this! How are you doing? What differences has the switch to Level 3 made to you, and to those with you in your bubble? Have you taken advantage of the opportunity to enlarge your bubble? There seems to be signs of light at the end of the tunnel – maybe we will notch down to Alert Level 2 sooner rather than later. It’s tempting to…

Video message from Peter