eNews for May

Aotearoa New Zealand will be at Alert Level 2 from 14th May. We’ll continue to keep you updated with news of when we will be welcoming visitors and guests back to our beautiful space and place. Hopefully very soon. We’ve missed you! Please email any enquiries you may have to reception@vaughanpark.org.nz.

Wherever you live in the world, take good and gentle care of one another. Stay safe, be kind and be well. Kia kaha.

We invited Linda Gow, a Christian and Clinical Psychologist to facilitate a retreat, Mindfulness and Christianity on 28th May. Her retreat has had to be postponed because of COVID 19 restrictions and we hope to offer it later in the year.

So we asked Linda and Hilary Oxford Smith to share their insights and reflections in a series of three video conversations which they hope will give meaning, awareness and some practical ways to help us respond to the ongoing emotional impact of the Covid 19 pandemic – as people of faith or of no faith, and as those who care for and support others in a professional or personal capacity.

Join Hilary and Linda here.

Our Chaplain, the Rev. Sapati Tima has recently created an awesome Instagram page with lots of lovely videos, images and regular devotions. Visit the Chapel and follow the page @ instagram.com/vaughanparkchapel

Dr. Bex Lewis our Scholar for March and April returned home safely on 2nd May after travelling on a repatriation flight to the UK. She’s been a beautiful blessing to all of us at Vaughan Park. When the lockdown happened, her loving family bubble included Sapati, his wife Meiolandre and their children.

Our Scholars usually offer a workshop, seminar or lecture while they’re at Vaughan Park. So after the lockdown, Bex and Sapati got creative! They’ve recorded a series of six short videos, Getting To Know Bex which you can watch on the Vaughan Park Chapel Instagram page. Enjoy! And here’s the link to the first one.

Pat Marsh, former Vaughan Park Scholar, Christian writer and retreat leader has responded to the current crisis by developing some simple prayerful meditations which she’s uploaded onto You Tube, Facebook and her website. Her hope is that these will provide opportunities for us to find peace in our anxieties and to calm and strengthen us with prayer. Here’s the link to Pat’s website and the first of these beautiful meditations, Meeting Jesus In Lockdown. 

Vaughan Park Retreat Facilitator, regular contributor to our Moments page, and poet, Ana Lisa de Jong is offering a new poetry collection, Medicine for the Soul - Poetry for a Pandemic, as a free gift to you, your churches and your communities. With over 75 pages of inspiring poetry, it’s available as a PDF download. If you’d like to receive a copy of this collection, please email Lisa.

We regularly post poetry, stories, reflections, meditations and liturgies from contributors in Aotearoa New Zealand and across the world onto our Moments page. The creative work of our poets and writers reflects the richness of Christian and multi-faith spirituality, ecumenical inclusivity and a deepening encounter with the world and its people. Be inspired, comforted, encouraged. Take a look.

Like us:
facebook.com/longbay1043

Follow us:
twitter.com/vaughanpark

Follow us:
instagram.com/vaughanparkchapel

Ma Io koutou e manaaki, e tiaki, i nga wa katoa.
May your God bless you each and every day.