From Matt

Dear brothers and sisters,

"A Long Obedience in the Same Direction" is the title of a book by one of my favourite Christian authors, Eugene Peterson. Wally Behan retired as vicar of St John's Latimer Square last Sunday, and that title describes Wally's ministry well. After serving his curacy in this parish, Wally spent 20 years at St John's, faithfully teaching the Bible and discipling new Christians. After a slow start, St John's has grown to become one of the largest parishes in Christchurch—so much so that the Sunday morning service has outgrown the church building. Wally's long obedience in the same direction has brought much fruit.

Someone once told me that parishes overestimate what can be achieved in one year but underestimate what can be achieved in 5 years. If that is true, how much more could be achieved in 20 years! At our recent vestry retreat, we had an opportunity to dream some dreams about the future of our parish and our links with the local community, and at our upcoming vestry meetings we will be working out which of those can be turned into practical reality. All of this is to put into practice the 3 parts of the parish vision statement, that God calls us to be:

• United in Christ
• Outward-Looking for Christ
• Training to be like Christ

Let's be praying that God would be leading us one step at a time in the direction he wants to take us!

In his service, Matt

For Lectionary Readings for the week click here