Greetings, friends, members and supporters of our church at Clevedon, Kawakawa Bay, Orere Point, Conifer Grove, Takanini, and in the southern part of Auckland – and beyond. The Peace of Christ be with you! Let us Pray God of Creation, We give thanks today, for all those who work to bring food to our tables: For seed merchants, farmers, truck drivers, and those who work in warehouses, grocery stores and supermarkets. We thank you for those who cook and prepare food, and for the enjoyment we gain from eating together. You, Lord, showed your grace and love in the meals that you shared. We give you thanks for your welcome and grace to us. In your precious name, we pray, AMEN   Food One of the great pleasures of any travel is the different food that you get to try – and, mostly, enjoy. The wonderful markets we visited in Mexico always included massive food stalls selling almost every food imaginable – fruit, vegetables, meat and fish. The markets also included many food stalls cooking every variant of Mexican food. Along with all the different types of tacos, we enjoyed corn, covered in a kind of cottage cheese and sprinkled liberally with spices and ants. (dead ones, red and dried) Yummy. This stallholder invited us to try dried crickets and small caterpillars. They were pleasantly salty with a good ‘crunch’. He had some dried large spiders and other bigger insects, as well as lengths of chicken entrails – all of which were a bit too much of a reach for me.   Food in Scripture In Biblical times, and now, orthodox Jews hold to the dietary prohibitions detailed in the Book of Deuteronomy. We can read from Deuteronomy 14: Yet of those that chew the cud or have the hoof cloven you shall not eat these: the camel, the hare, and the rock-badger, because they chew the cud but do not divide the hoof; they are unclean for you. 8 And the pig, because it divides the hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. You shall not eat their meat, and you shall not touch their carcasses. 9 Of all that live in water you may eat these: whatever has fins and scales you may eat. 10 And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you. It seems that scholars cannot come up with any simple answer to why some foods were included and others not. We find a significant shift in the view of food in the New Testament.   Jesus, when discussing things that defile a person, “declared all foods clean” (Mark 7:19). God gave Peter a vision of all kinds of animals (Acts 10:10-14) and told him to “kill and eat”. But Peter refused the Lord’s directive, saying, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean” But the divine reply came to Peter, saying, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy” (Acts 10:15). The primary reason for the vision was to teach Peter that he was now to accept the Gentiles as equal in the body of Christ and that he “should not call anyone unholy or unclean” (Acts 10:28)  In Paul's Letter to the Colossians, we find these encouraging words: 16 Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths. 17 These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking, 19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God.   Let us pray Dear Lord, In this world of abundance, we pray for those who are hungry today. We pray for those working in food programmes, and for all who go to dangerous places to bring food to those most in need. We pray for those working in food banks and those providing school lunches. Strengthen the work of all who seek to nourish those who are most vulnerable. Help us to hear your call to feed the hungry and to share from our abundance. In Christ’s name. AMEN   Our Notices A Gift for Greg.  Our wonderful and very long-serving Operations Manager, Greg Shaw, finishes his work with us on September the 13th.  (Though Greg and Marina will continue to be present in our congregation till their departure to Australia at the end of December). If you would like to contribute to a farewell gift for Greg, then please donate to the church account number:   12-3031-0057396-00. Please use ‘Greg’ in the reference   Community Daffodil Dinner. Friday 23rd August, 6 pm. Kawakawa Bay Community Hall. Orere School are providing the dessert. Please leave a message at the church Cottage 2922241 if you’d like to come. All welcome. No charge. Community Lunch. Thursday 5th of September. 12 noon, Clevedon Church Lounge. If you can, bring some food to share - a good time to catch up. Martin will be giving a short presentation on his recent trip to Mexico. All welcome.   Foodbank—The call for food parcels continues from families in need.  Thank you for your donations. Our pantry would benefit from tinned tomatoes, ricies, cornflakes, tinned tuna, pasta sauces, coffee, drinking chocolate, self-raising flour, 1kg plastic bags sugar (to foil the ants), 1kg rice, dried pasta, tinned sweetcorn, body wash, muesli bars and biscuits. Alternatively, we also like to include a Supermarket voucher in the parcels to allow people to purchase fresh items like cheese, butter, meat.   HATCH – our community dinner and church on Sunday at 5 pm.  All welcome. Please let Mathilde know if you are coming. mathilde@clevedonpresy.co.nz   Tuesday Morning Home Group. Meeting in Ardmore. Please contact Bev Sutton 0273 107 421 for directions. Tuesday Evening Ladies Bible Study meets during the school term in locations in Ardmore and Conifer Grove. 7.00 pm to 8.30 pm. If you would like to find out more, please give Geraldine Oosterbeek a call on 027-2704-904 Men’s Group meets Wednesday evening 7.30pm in Clevedon Church Lounge Come along for fellowship, discussion and prayer.  Prayer Circle Requests. For anyone who is seeking prayer for any concern or situation: prayercircle.clevedonpresy@gmail.com or text: Cath at 021 349 417, Elaine 022 071 7201, or Nikki 021 973 799  AA - every Thursday at 7.30 pm at the Clevedon Church lounge. Friendly and supportive. For anyone with alcohol or drug problems.  https://aa.org.nz/ Sunday Services and activities: Clevedon Church Sunday morning service at 10 am. Join us in person or watch the live stream on our YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxBzxjBb3xU8ra2NHwvD_9A(The service can also be viewed at any time afterwards.) Prayer before the Service. Join us at 9:15 am every Sunday in Martin's office to pray for the church and community.  St Aidan’s Takanini (23 Walter Stevens Drive, Conifer Grove,) Sunday morning service at 10 am Playgroup - Every Monday and Tuesday morning in the school term.  Contact Brenda at 021 657 178. Wednesday Communion service 9.30 am. All welcome Women's friendship and study group. Evening group, Tuesday, 7 pm.  Day group, Friday 10 am. Contact Lorraine Richmond at 027 476 1169 Know your Bible Women’s study group. Thursday 12.30-2.30 pm. Contact Susanna Ph. 027 450 1926 Men’s group. Thursdays at 7 pm in the St Aidan’s Church lounge. A time of sharing, fellowship, prayer and study together. Kawakawa Bay The service is held in the Community Hall each Sunday at 9.30 am.   Playgroup each Wednesday from 8 am in the Community Hall (during the school term) Thank you for your prayers and generous support of our church and its mission. Martin   Forthcoming musical events: Open Performers’ Group at Clevedon Presbyterian: Saturday 31st August 3.45 - 5.15pm. open to all musicians, actors, dancers who wish to “air their creativity” before a friendly audience. No age limits. Gold coin donation to take part, audience free! Sunday Serenades at St Andrew’s 8th Sept 1.30pm: - Plans, Projects and Promises Celebrating the remarkable abilities of over 80 children and youth musicians with the added attraction of young visual artists.  Puhinui School Choir, Tuakau College Choir, CAMA Youth Choir and soprano Grace McCarthy-Sinclair. Bach Musica orchestra and choir present Mendelssohn’s beautiful Lobgesang Sun 15 Sept with soprano Gina Sanders - Auckland Town Hall 5pm.   CVMFT Scholarships Sun 13 Oct. Applications open next week for these excellent awards in 3 age-groups across all musical disciplines.  Resources Right Now, Media. We have recently purchased a church subscription for this extensive library of video resources suitable for small groups, teaching and education. Please use this link to take a look at the library for your personal or group use: https://app.rightnowmedia.org/join/clevedonpresbyterian . We are trialling this subscription to find out how many people might benefit. If you do make use of it could you let Martin know?  (martin@clevedonpresy.co.nz)

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