Paddington Anglican

Feb 14th – Something New

SOMETHING NEW – FEBRUARY 14th
We kick Something New off for the year on Valentine’s Day thinking about LOVE – it’s in the air but does it make the world go round? Love, relationships, friendship, community are some of the best things in life, but loneliness, abuse and heartache are among the worst! We will be reflecting on LOVE and what Jesus has to teach us as we watch him wash his friends’  feet the night before his death and over hear how he understands love (from John 13). There’ll be edible hearts, speed dating, friendship bracelet making and a youth excursion. All welcome. Sunday 14th February at 3pm.
This is a COVID safe event and requires an RSVP to attend. Book your spot by writing to info@paddington.church letting us know how many people you’ll be coming with.

If you’re going to come, we’d love you to:

– bring some pre-packaged food to share eg. packs of biscuits, poppers/canned drink, individually wrapped packs of things

– follow the COVID safe rules:

  • do not come if you are have a sore throat, cough, fever, runny nose, diarrhea, vomiting,
  • provide your contact details on arrival (a legal requirement under the new regulations to aid contract tracing in the event of any further outbreak),
  • sit in designated places at least 1.5m from others from outside your family group.
  • if you are older than 12 it is now mandatory to wear a mask in church.

About SOMETHING NEW:

SOMETHING NEW is a monthly gathering of adults & children together exploring what it means to live the good life in God’s beautiful broken world. We’d love you to come along and be part of our monthly community. This is an intergenerational community and any one is welcome whatever your age, we regularly have a group that encompasses 4 year olds and  80 year olds.
Talk to Jaimie our Children’s and Families Pastor  or Jess our Community Pastor if you’d like to know more: (jaimie[AT]paddington.church)

Future dates for 2021: Feb 14, March 14, April 4 EASTER, May 9, June 20 WINTER STORYTELLING, Aug 8, Sept 12, Oct 31 HALLOWEEN, Nov 14, Dec 5 GINGERBREAD, Dec 24/25 CHRISTMAS SERVICES. In 2021 we’re planning to use the themes from this Book called ‘Broken Signposts’ by NTWright as our topics for the year – love, justice, spirituality, beauty, freedom, truth and power (not necessarily in that order). 

 

 

Something New in 2020:

Somethign New was quite disrupted in 2020 due to the COVID Pandemic, but we did enjoy a couple of weeks of meeting together. You can see the summary of our meetings below –

In 2020 we began looking at the biography of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of Luke and will focus on different key moments in Jesus’ life.
For February we reflected on the story of Jesus at age 12 in the temple from Luke 2. Hearing how Jesus understood his own identity – as a Child of God, belonging in the temple, and so we reflected on our own sense of identity and belonging, asking ‘Who am I? Where Do I belong?’. And we heard the wonderful news, that in Jesus we are welcomed into God’s family and we can answer: ‘I’m God’s child and I belong in God’s family’. With –
  • hunting for lost figurines across the church site
  • a conga line (bring your maraccas!)
  • a community storytelling drama
  • silhouette poster making
Mid-Winter Storytelling: Tales from Lockdown
Sharing inspiring COVID19 stories from round the world, bible stories of lockdown and your own, so come with stories to tell!

In September we met post-COVID to discuss the mysteriousness of living in God’s beautiful and broken world.We explored some of God’s wisdom literature – Ecclesiastes 3 – “For everything there is a season”. We reflected on the Season of COVID, the wisdom of God’s word and the mysteriousness of living in God’s beautiful and broken world. The afternoon was based around table groups in the hall with games (like bingo, creative tower building and trivia), and there was story telling, discussion, prayer and craft; and compete with other table groups, re-connect with friends and consider what a strange & wonderful world we live in.

All Hallows Day Something NewThe Something New community gathered on All Hallows Day (November 1st) to remember the faithful departed and that God’s love is stronger than death! The afternoon involved Halloween games – mummy racing, pumpkin patch pop and feed the monster – creative Storytelling, lighting candles as we remember those who have died, craft and discussion on the big themes of life, death and the renewal of all things. We spent time looking at some of the Apostle John’s visions from Revelation chapters 7 and 21.

 

On Sunday 29th November (the first Sunday of Advent) we began the Christmas season and celebrated the amazing coming of Jesus into the world with carols, craft, guessing competitions, Christmas present making, poetry & prayer.

 

 

 

 

You can see the summary of our gathering in 2019 here.

 

Photos from previous Something New gatherings: