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General News Knox Life Service / Notices Sermons
January 17, 2021. Sermon Practice
The link for Sermon Practice (17 January) will go live at 10:00am, Sunday 17th. Go to: https://youtu.be/eI5d2DYy-W0
January 10, 2021. Sermon Practice
The link for this week's "Sermon Practice" is: https://youtu.be/bJmK1NMRYOQ
and will go live at 10:00am on Sunday 10 January, 2021
January 03, 2021. Sermon Practice - first Sunday of 2021
The link to this Sunday's Sermon Practice will go live at 10:00am, Sunday 3 January. Go to: https://youtu.be/FX7R57J-qfE
December 27, 2020. Sermon Practice - last Sunday of 2020
The sermon practice for the last service of 2020 has been practised, and has been uploaded to Youtube. The link, going live at 10:30am on Sunday 27 December, can be found at: https://youtu.be/XeCZoVuJD3A
December 25, 2020. Sermon Practice - Christmas Day
The reflection for Christmas Day will go live at 10:30am on 25 December 2020. Here is the link: https://youtu.be/J2j5Ibnq0Tc
December 24, 2020. Sermon Practice - Christmas Eve
The Christmas Eve reflection will go live at 11:15pm on Thursday. Click this link. https://youtu.be/lRSVyPPnau8
December 18, 2020. CHRISTMAS SERVICES 2020
20 December - 10:00am - Nine Lessons and Carols
24 December - 11:15pm - A Christmas Eve service of candles, carols and communion
25 December - 10:00am - A simple service for Christmas Day
27 December - 10:00am - A service of farewell to 2020
December 13, 2020. This week's Sermon Practice
This week's sermon practice video has been uploaded to Youtube, and will be available from 10:00am, Sunday 13 December. Follow the link: https://youtu.be/Bmmj2wdTcSg
December 06, 2020. Sermon Practice - Knox Church
During the Covid-19 lockdown of 2020, when we couldn't meet physically in the church, we went online with home-produced video services.
Since we came out of lockdown, some people (particularly those not living in Otautahi / Christchurch) have said they miss the online services. In response, Knox is offering this.
Generally, when I've written a sermon for a Sunday service, I have a "read through" some time on Friday or Saturday. It's "sermon practice". I do this at home, without any of the sanctuary props that featured in the lockdown services. Those props are back at church, where they're needed for Sunday morning. These sermon-only recordings are very low-tech, and the delivery isn't perfect. They are, after all, practice runs.
Within the constraints of time, they're offered with love, to those who are missing Knox.
The first one goes live at 10:00am, Sunday 6 December, and the link is:
https://youtu.be/AuvJZDooZm8
Matthew.
December 03, 2020. A Quake Milestone
Although the 1960s Knox Centre building, next to Knox Otautahi / Christchurch, proved to be robust, withstanding many quakes and shakes, so had a bit of a fan base among those who felt it was strong, it nevertheless was categorized as a "quake prone structure". As such, it needed to be strengthened. We didn't exactly welcome this, but had to accept it as an operational necessity. (It was also good to know that by the end of the strengthening, we genuinely could offer our space to the community as "safe" space.) Money was found, contracts were signed, permission was given. Lots of hard work was done by good people. Yesterday, after serving sandwiches, fries and sauces to the construction team, and some heartfelt "thank you on project completion" speeches, some of us raced out to the windows in which we'd displayed our "quake prone" notices and ripped them down. I had imagined doing that in a more ceremonial way, but it just kind of happened in the moment. There is a welcome sense of the last of the quake damage having been fixed. The damage to the people isn't quite over yet, but it's liberating to have the building signed off. There has been a great "breathing out".
Also, when you have to move everything from one place to another place in order to do strengthening work, it's a great opportunity to look at what is being moved and ask "do we need this?" With a jumbo bin in the carpark, and construction workers available to jettison heavy objects, Knox now feels several tonnes lighter.
We come out of this project lightened, grateful, stepping away from trauma, and really keenly focused on what maybe now we can do with the spaces we lost for a while.
At some time in the New Year we'll have some kind of walk-through with prayer, where we can give an in-house thanks to the Knox people who worked really hard to make the strengthening happen.
November 19, 2020. A wonderful new composition at Knox
Under the provision of John and Dame Ann Hercus, funding has been provided recently for the development of the music programme at Knox. While, initially, plans for 2020 included a number of live concerts, Covid put a spanner in the works for public gatherings. Unperturbed by this, Daniel Cooper commissioned a work by local musician Gabriel Baird, and video-reocorded its premier performance at Knox. It has been posted on Youtube, and the link is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwQH1oeM0IE&feature=youtu.be
Congratulations to Gabriel, Daniel and all the other musicians. And many thanks to the Hercuses for their support of the arts at Knox.