Someone once said,
“Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened!”
I like that attitude….
We can smile today, because many wonderful and memorable things have happened in the last 9 years, and now this chapter of our lives has come to an end.
The theme of todays service is “What a Ride!”
For me it’s been a great, if not sometimes ‘wild’ ride, over the last 9 years.
I was installed as Priest-in-Charge at CPAC on 17th Dec 2000.
That means I have been sermonizing to you for 9 years, so if you haven’t got my drift by now, then good luck to you.
So I’m not going to give you a sermon as such this morning
but let’s go for a brief walk down memory lane.
I have many treasured memories of our time together over the last 9 years.
I remember early on in my time here, after each Sunday morning service young Matthew Osborne always asked if there was any Communion pita bread left over! I was beginning to wonder if his parents fed him breakfast, or perhaps they made him “fast” before church every Sunday morning!!
At a Church Camp we had at Kiwi Ranch I have lasting memories of watching Elmar and Rob Lake “skip” in one of our mini-Olympic games – it didn’t quite look like it was coming naturally to them. And then they decided to give horse riding a go! Well! What’s the definition of “relief”??! They had that huge look of relief on their faces as they dismounted their horses after a hard afternoon’s ride!
I thank all my golfing mates, present and past, for allowing
“me to be me” on the golf course. I regarded that time on the golf course as a gift, and I am very grateful. However, I am still working on the issue of forgiveness for the times they beat me!
I thank many, if not all of you, for the bottles of wine we have drunk, some of which became very useful as water bottles at our CPAC social events!
We’ve done very well at turning wine into water!
And then of course there’s the whiskey-drinkers who too easily led me down the garden path, or should that be the distillery path!
Home groups have always been a source of great fun and fellowship as well as learning. I thank all my fellow Home Group members, past and present.
I recall one Homegroup at the McDermott’s home, we had a post-Lent chocolate party & we played a game involving a chocolate peanut sitting on a well groomed cake of flour. The game was to cut the cake without upsetting the chocolate peanut. Guess who upset the chocolate peanut & then had to eat it from the middle of the pile of flour – not egg on my face but FLOUR on my face! You ever seen a white-faced black Maori?!
For the past 9 years speed cameras in the northern suburbs have done me no favours! I am still annoyed with myself when one day not too long after we had arrived Julian and Fiona Thomson very kindly lent me their little red car to use for church business. I thought, what generous Parishioners we have!
Then the first morning I drove it I got a speeding ticket along Middleton Rd!
Where would we be without our IT systems, our Sunday service sound teams, music teams, set-up and pack-down teams, morning tea brigade, and so on…
Many, many thanks to those of you who work tirelessly, diligently, and very loyally behind the scenes to prepare things for our Sunday morning services…..
Thank you to the Elmar and James and the technical support team that has kept me on-line for 9 years. I can remember feeling very embarrassed one day - I crashed Elmar’s computer system when I sent him an email of Jessica’s school assignment for printing!...
Putting up an artificial Christmas tree?
No worries, I was a former Civil Engineer who once designed buildings and railway bridges! However… couldn’t work out how the Christmas tree stand fitted together. Tania saw me having trouble and proceeded to show me how it fitted together. When I travel around the country, I now make a point of looking at the buildings I once designed, to see if they are still standing!
Trina’s 21st birthday - dressed up as Bob Marley and Linda was dressed similarly as my white girlfriend with back dreadlocks. Anyway when we left the party venue a cop saw us get into our car and as soon as I turned on the ignition key he pulled up & breath tested me. Then Linda and I went to church the next day still dressed as Mr and Mrs Bob Marley and for a little while we were not recognized! What was going on there?
A BBQ at the Riceman’s home - having a few quiet beers, minding my business, when suddenly James comes up to me and shoves a video camera in my face and Tania says, “Danny can you tell me what you think ‘hell’ is?”
Note that I am being recorded on camera. So what am meant to say? “Is this Candid Camera?” Now, I usually take several days to think about topics such as hell! But I only have several seconds to come up with an answer and in addition I am slightly inebriated.
So I blurt out, “Well, sometimes my wife gives me hell!”
Oops! That has just been recorded….
> John 15….Bear much fruit - hand out small cards….
So thank you, thank you, thank you, to each one of you who in your own special and caring way has impacted, for good,
the lives of Linda and I and our family…. We do not leave the same people as when we arrived – we are much the wiser and learned thanks to you…
Thank you to my family…. without whom I could not do what I believe God is calling me to do….
Thank you to those in the CPAC leadership team and my Church Wardens who have journeyed with me over the years. We have had our highs and lows but the important thing is we stuck together > unity > we were committed and faithful, not only to each other, but most importantly to our Lord.
I leave you now in very, very capable hands > Wayne and John, our CPAC Wardens, our CPAC Council led by Elmar, and the others in our CPAC leadership team… their hearts are aligned to God’s heart… a sure recipe for success and significance in God for CPAC as it moves ahead now….
Thank you to all of you who have prayerfully journeyed with us over these past years…. prayer > the absolute, vital ground of our being…
“Goodbyes are not forever.
Goodbyes are not the end.
They simply mean I'll miss you
Until we meet again!”
20 Now may the God of peace—
who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ,
the great Shepherd of the sheep,
and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood—
21 may He equip you with all you need
for doing his will.
May he produce in you,[a]
through the power of Jesus Christ,
every good thing that is pleasing to him.
All glory to him forever and ever! (Hebrews 13:20-21)
Amen.
Irish BLESSING:
May the road rise up to meet you,
may the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of his hand.
And the blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…
