To my mind one of the most beautiful churches in New Zealand is St John's, Hororata, about 45 minutes drive from Christchurch. A church I was privileged to worship in as a young child. On occasional return visits its beauty, both as a building, and in its extraordinary setting in a field surrounded by trees and graves, takes my breathe away. But in this footage, about 28 seconds in, you can see the damage to the church as part of its tower has fallen away. Please pray for the Parish of Hororata and its vicar, the Reverend Jenni Carter, as they absorb this news, along with, no doubt, much other damage to homes and farm buildings. Hororata is close to the epicentre of the quake.
Meanwhile some churches are having no services today due to concerns about safety. Others will meet in alternative venues.
LATER: interesting to be in church, held in a hall 'cause the church has cracks in it, and during the service experience two further tremors ... but what is now concerning is the emerging picture that roughly half of Christchurch is fine-ish (the west has water, power, minimal damage to houses) and roughly half (plus a northerly satellite town, Kaiapoi) is not so fine (some houses in the east have no water, nor power, and some houses are significantly damaged, some even write-offs). So a challenge is to co-ordinate the blessings of the western half and share them with the eastern half. Then there are those in the country, especially around the epicentre near the small country town of Darfield, who have losts lots ...
Film of this is now on titusonenine, so people in the wider Anglican church may learn of this. Praying with and for you every day.
ReplyDeleteAl M.
Does anyone know how the Rugby Street Methodist Church in Merivale held up in the Earthquake?
ReplyDelete