Easter Services 2024

CHURCH SERVICES GUIDE 2024

EASTER WORSHIP

Easter

reflections from

Han, Isaac, Aisling, Lucy, & Coby

Reverend Mannie Marara, the Chaplain at Hadlow Preparatory School says, “Easter is a hard topic to teach because someone dies, but the focus is on that person coming back to life. Christianity as a religion only exists because of the Easter story.”

The Wairarapa Times-Age sat down with students from Hadlow to talk about what Easter means to them. Han [year 4], Coby [year 5], Lucy [year 5], Aisling [year 7], and Isaac [year 8], together with their Chaplain, shared their insights. Hadlow is one of the Anglican Trinity family of schools in Wairarapa.

The students re ect a range of ethnicities and come from di erent towns across the Wairarapa. Rev Mannie was born in Zimbabwe, worked in the UK for a time, and then came to New Zealand with his kiwi wife.

“Easter is a special time,” Lucy says. “Jesus, who is really God, came to earth in the form of a man. He died for us and so our

sins were forgiven.”

“God had only one son. On earth, he was in human shape,” Han agrees.

Coby says, “two thousand years ago, people were doing bad things and so God came down to show people what is right. He sacri ced his only son, who was cruci ed on the cross, to save people from their bad things.” He thinks awhile and then says, “we don’t have punishments like the cross in New Zealand today, but we do have taxes.”

“People were sinning and doing bad things,” Aisling says. “We are so grateful to Jesus for dying on the cross for us.” She envisages God as a ame of light who “hears us.”

Isaac envisages God as a pair of hands, for many reasons: “God’s hands created the world. When we pray, we put our hands together. We also stretch out our arms and our hands to help people in need.”

Aisling and Isaac both talk about being close to God and

From back left: Han, Isaac, Aisling, Lucy, and Coby. Photo supplied. the use of prayer.

“I pray if I’m worried or if someone else needs help,” Aisling says.

“We can be closer to God because now we don’t need a priest to mediate between us and God,” Isaac says. “We can have a personal relationship with God through Jesus.”

All the students talk about how Easter is also a special family time.

Lucy and Coby both said that Easter is a time to spend with family and, also, to think about any family members who have died. Han talked excitedly about how Easter is a time when he gets to see family from all over New Zealand and even from Malaysia. Isaac enjoys reading the Bible and

doing devotions with his grandma.

The giving and receiving of chocolate eggs at Easter comes up.

“Eggs have an ancient meaning,” Rev Mannie says.

“They were given and received long before chocolate became popular.”

“They represent new life and the miracle of Jesus,” Coby says.

“He rose again and gave us all new life.”

“And the hollow chocolate eggs represent the empty tomb once Jesus rose,” says Lucy.

Isaac adds that, “God gave us the ability to have our sins forgiven, which is sweet like chocolate.”

Anglican Maori Pastorate Te Hepara Pai

Easter Sunday 31 March @ 9.30 am

Rev Mannie talks about the emphasis in Christianity on free will.

“We are promised grace when we make mistakes - and Easter is the biggest reminder of that grace - but we must ask for it. There is the need for action on our part.”

The concept of serving is important. “If we serve, we remind people they are all worthy.”

He encourages all the students at Hadlow to re ect Christian values through their lived experience and how they treat others. “We are all important and we are all loved. Jesus stressed that point the night before he died. We respect everyone and all other religions.”

Reformed Congregation of Carterton

Good Friday: 10:00 AM

Easter

CHURCH SERVICES

There is no getting around the fact that Easter is pivotal to the Christian faith.

This was confirmed to the Wairarapa Times-Age by Pastor Pete Hampson and layperson Debbie Hunt from the Masterton Community Church, Pastor Arnoud Vergunst and layperson Johan van Rijn from the Reformed Congregation of Carterton, and Reverend Hennie Nothnagel from St Mark’s Anglican Church also in Carterton.

Reflections on the meaning of Easter from our pulpits and our pews AT WAIRARAPA

Debbie runs the intermediate youth group (for years seven to nine) at the Masterton Community Church and has been with this church for more than four years.

When she and her family moved to Wairarapa, they wanted to be part of a church with a congregation that represented all age groups; and one in which their son would feel he belonged.

For both Debbie and Pastor Pete, Easter is “the fulfilment of the Old Testament and the promise of the New. It represents the greatest act of love the world has ever seen.

Debbie says that “everything starts and ends with Easter. Without Easter, Christianity wouldn’t exist. It is the foundation of what we believe and how to live.”

Many people will give up their lives for others (in war,

for example) but Jesus gave up his for individuals and for millions of people at the same time, and at a point in time when people were all sinners. But whether we accept this salvation or not is our free choice.”

Masterton Community Church is one of 70 New Life churches which have the freedom to express themselves in their own community, as appropriate. Its mission statement, Pete says, is “serve to build.” By this he means that we can each learn to be a servant just as Jesus was a servant, so that we can build families and communities that feel joy and peace. “There’s something for everyone here,” Pete says. “We are an inclusive church.”

Hennie, the Reverend at St Mark’s Anglican Church, says that Easter is the best time of the year.

“It really starts on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent,” he says, “which is 40 days prior to Easter itself. Lent is a time to prepare for what Christ will go through at Easter, and to reflect on whether there is anything in our life we need to change.”

For him, Easter is about new beginnings. “Down through the Old Testament

and the New,” he says, “new beginnings seem to occur on the same day of the year, only decades and centuries apart, such as when the Israelities left Egypt and the day Jesus was resurrected.”

Hennie moved from South Africa to New Zealand in 2005 with his wife. They’ve been in Wairarapa for five years, but Hennie has only recently come to St Mark’s.

He also runs the coffee cart set up outside St Mark’s Church, called The Holy Grounds. It specialises in Common Good Coffee with the slogan “drink gooder, feel gooder, and do gooder”.

Services 2024

MONDAY 25 MARCH-THURSDAY 28 MARCH

8.30AM Morning Prayer in the Library

TUESDAY 26 MARCH

7.00PM Diocesan Chrism Service (preceded by installation of Revd Wendy Scott, 6.00PM)

WEDNESDAY 27 MARCH

8.30AM Holy Communion

THURSDAY 28 MARCH

5.30PM Maundy Thursday Eucharist

GOOD FRIDAY 29 MARCH

9.00AM Re ective Service @ St Matthews

SATURDAY 30 MARCH

5.00PM Re ective Service @ St Josephs, Riversdale

7.00PM Re ective Service @ St Peters, Castlepoint

EASTER SUNDAY 31 MARCH

8.00AM Easter Eucharist @ St Matthews

9.30AM Easter Eucharist @ St Albans, Taueru

10.00AM Easter Eucharist @ St Matthews

Te Hepara Pai Maori Pastorate, Cole Street MASTERTON

EASTER SUNDAY 31 MARCH

9.30AM Easter Eucharist

Parish of South Wairarapa

GOOD FRIDAY 29 MARCH

10.00AM Walking the Cross from Union Church, 64 Fox Street, Featherston

10:30AM Combined service @ Assembly of God Church, 22 Birdwood Street, Featherston

St Marks Church CARTERTON

THURSDAY 28 MARCH

10.00AM Eucharist 7.00PM Eucharist with Foot Washing

GOOD FRIDAY 29 MARCH 1.00PM Combined Good Friday Service, beginning at St Davids Union Church, 164 High Street South

SATURDAY 30 MARCH

7.00PM Great Vigil of Easter

10.00AM Easter Eucharist @ St Andrews, Upper Plain

EASTER SUNDAY 31 MARCH

8.30AM Easter Eucharist @ All Saints Church, Waiorongomai

10.00AM Easter Eucharist @ St Andrews, Martinborough

St Lukes Church GREYTOWN

GOOD FRIDAY 29 MARCH

10.00AM Re ective Service

EASTER SUNDAY 31 MARCH

10.00AM Family Eucharist

EASTER SUNDAY 31 MARCH

9.30AM Easter Family Eucharist

Parish of the Epiphany MASTERTON

MAUNDY THURSDAY 28 MARCH

7.00PM Maundy Thursday Service

GOOD FRIDAY 29 MARCH

2.00PM Good Friday Re ection

EASTER SUNDAY 31 MARCH 9.00AM Easter Celebration

EASTER WORSHIP GUIDE 2024

From the Reformed Congregation of Carterton, Johan says that Easter can be a special time with family and a time of great hope.

“Easter is linked to Christmas,” he says, “in that Jesus was born into this world of suffering and hurt and was born for a reason. That reason was to give us life and hope and joy. He gave his life willingly when he could have escaped. He wants to save the world and heal us and give us new life and a new start.”

Johan has lived in New Zealand for 18 years, coming from the Netherlands originally. He was brought up in the church, but says it wasn’t until 2006 that he began to know Jesus Christ in his heart not just his mind. It was at this point that he vowed to make a new start and improve his life.

“I was missing something. Jesus invites people to come to him and he has already made the payment for our sins.”

Jesus is, according to Christianity, both human and

God. Thinking about who or what Jesus really was or is, Pastor Arnoud from the Reformed Congregation of Carterton says that “Jesus Christ was a real man with one difference - he was sinless, while we are not. His body was affected by the sin of others and limited by his humanity while he lived, but he remained sinless. He was also united with God.”

The Reformed Congregation of Carterton is primarily composed of descendants of Dutch immigrants. Pastor Arnoud from the Church, like Johan, was born in the Netherlands. He moved to America at age 21, and then moved to New Zealand in 2000. At some point he was called back to the US for a few years but returned in 2020.

Pastor Pete says that “Jesus put aside his ‘godness’ to experience humanity with all its pain and sorrow so that he could walk the same path as us and relate to us.” “He could have called on his deity at any time to avoid the human experience,” Debbie adds, “but he chose not to.” Hennie also points out that Jesus said he was a “God of grace and mercy.”

One of the key messages of Easter is that of hope for a new beginning.

“Easter is an incredibly sacred celebration,” Debbie says. “The resurrection on the Easter Sunday brings new life.”

Easter is also time to reflect, according to Pastor Pete.

“In a symbolic sense, Easter happens every day in my life. The Easter event took away horrible stuff in life and through Jesus’s resurrection I’ve got hope and a future.”

“Our hope lies in Christ’s resurrection,” says Pastor Arnoud. “He died for his church and so paid for their sins and transgressions. When he was on the cross, Jesus Christ said words which can be translated as “it is done” or “paid in full.”

Jesus came as a messenger and then became the message.

Pastor Arnoud goes on to say: “the resurrection is all about hope and the power of new life. We can have a personal relationship with Jesus and get to know him through the scripture and the Holy Spirit.”

The resurrection makes Christianity unique. “No other spiritual leader makes the claim that its leader has been resurrected and is alive.”

Johan says, “Jesus Christ offers us a new heaven and a new earth. People who trust in Jesus will be part of that: all our tears will be wiped from our faces and all our bodies will be re-created. This will happen when Jesus comes back, but no one knows when that will happen.”

“The resurrection is not the

last step of his work,” the Pastor says. “Our saviour is committed to finishing the work he started.”

All those who spoke to the Wairarapa Times-Age believe in the authenticity of the Bible as an inspired but also historical and accurate scripture. Pastor Arnoud and Rev Hennie both also mentioned the work of Lee Strobel, an American investigative journalist and self-proclaimed atheist who set out to disprove the existence of God after his wife became Christian. His book The Case for Christ ends up proving the very things he had set out to disprove.

All the representatives of the three churches spoken to –both those from the pulpits and those in the pews – said that “Jesus shows us the way. We belong, are worthy and are lovable. And so is everyone. Come to Him just as you are.”

•

• Sunday 8.30am St Patrick’s, Mstn

• Sunday 10.30am St Teresa of Avila, Fstn 27th March Chrism Mass – 7.30pm

• St Teresa Pro-Cathedral, Karori 28th March – Holy Thursday

• St Teresa of Avila Church, Fstn 7.00pm Mass

• St Patrick’s Church, Mstn 7.00pm Word & Communion

29th March – Good Friday

• St Teresa of Avila Church, Fstn 3.00pm Service

• St Patrick’s Church, Mstn - 3.00pm Service

30th March – Easter Sunday

• St Patrick’s Church, Mstn 7.30pm Vigil Mass

31st March – Easter Sunday

• St Patrick’s Church, Mstn 8.30am Easter Mass

• St Teresa of Avila Church, Fstn 10.30am Easter Mass