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Learning to read 'cross-eyed'

I suspect that if I told you to read your Bible ‘Cross-Eyed,’ you might be thinking that self-isolation was affecting my brain.However, that is exactly what I am suggesting that you try and do.Obviously, I’m not talking about ‘Convergent Strabismus!’That is the fancy name for when a person’s eyes don’t properly align with each other when looking at an object. {Some of you might recall comedian Marty Feldman, whose ‘Convergent Strabismus’ made some of his skits even more hilario...

Communion

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Midday check-in with Jo and Jono!

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Not my will but yours be done

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Lord, make me channel of Thy Peace - Evening prayer

Lord, make me a channel of Thy peacethat where there is hatred, I may bring love;that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness;that where there is discord, I may bring harmony;that where there is error, I may bring truth;that where there is doubt, I may bring faith;that where there is despair, I may bring hope;that where there are shadows, I may bring light;that where there is sadness, I may bring joy.  Lord, grant that I may seek ratherto comfort than to be comforte...

Midday Check-In with Reuben!

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The Olive Grove

‘.. He was crushed for our iniquities’ Isaiah 53:5Please swipe for the reflection 🙂🌿...

His love never quits - Evening prayer

Thank God! He deserves our thanks. His love never quits.You God display your love in creation, in the world we see around us.As we stop our going outs show us your love in the sky above, the sun and moon and stars. Still our hearts to see your love all around us. You God display your love in political rescue and leadership. Look at what you did for Israel and look at what you do for New Zealand now.Thank you for the wisdom, dedication and honesty of our leaders. Particularly our Prime Minis...

Midday Check-in with Karen!

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And God saw it was good

‘The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it’ Genesis 2:15We have been created to nurture our gardens, our lands, our families and neighbours, and our souls 🌿...

Evening Prayer

As this day of yours draws to a closeWe offer ourselves once more into your embrace,This day that has had its share of good and not so good.Holy Spirit, prompt us to remember the good and to give thanks, even in the smallest of joys. We hand over to you any concerns that are overtaking us,And loads that are yours to bear,And we come Holy Spirit..  help us to trust.Help us to release all to Our Rock Solid Dependable God who never forgets us or leaves us behind. May our hearts and m...

Midday check-in with Anna!

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This is my story, this is my song

A Monday reflection in the garden 🌿 Our spaces with God will look different for everyone, depending on our circumstances. We pray you will be able to covet and embrace your time, be it minutes here & there, or a solid hour.We are pausing on our Daniel study for this week of Easter.Easter Friday evening we will be having an online time together as we contemplate what our Lord did for us at Calvary.May you know His peace today....

In the Garden - Easter at Gateway

Hey Whānau!We have chosen the theme of being ‘in the garden’ for this season of Easter. It is something that has come up again and again as we journeyed in the comms/creative team over the last twelve months and even though our Easter this year will look different to our anticipated gatherings & camps, we can see how God is indeed meeting us in the outside and inside spaces of our lives right now. The garden was a significant place for Jesus to sit with His Father when He lived here on eart...

Evening Prayer

Help me to journey beyond the familiarAnd into the unknown.Give me the faith to leave old waysAnd break fresh ground with You. Christ of the mysteries, I trust YouTo be stronger than each storm within me.I will trust in the darkness and knowThat my times, even now, are in Your hand.Tune my spirit to the music of heaven,And somehow, make my obedience count for You. (A prayer of Saint Brendan)...

Midday Check-in with Matt and Andrea!

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Daniel Daily Reading

Daily Reading: Daniel 1:8-21There comes a point where cooperation can turn into compromise. Daniel’s resolve in verse 8, is accompanied by the action Daniel takes in verses 11-14. In this strange land, Daniel is determined to stand in firm obedience to God. Throughout the book of Daniel we see these exiles under constant pressure to break or compromise on God’s word....

Evening Prayer - Watch and Wait

We watch for you and wait. Teach us how to weep while we wait,and how to hope while we weep,and how to care while we hope.  Teach us in these strange days to watch for you. (Adapted from Walter Bruggermann - Teach us how to weep) ...

Midday Check-In from Chris and Hope!

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Daniel Daily Reading

Daily Reading: Daniel 1:1-7The situation these exiles find themselves in is similar to ours. Empires, like Babylon, sought to subjugate weaker nations using a variety of tactics. Sometimes these are through the power and violence of the military, but often this goes hand-in-hand with colonial strategies designed to transform the language, economics and cultural imaginations of the conquered people. The book of Daniel is a vivid account of Babylon’s culture-eradication campaign and how some exi...

Hope Always - Evening Prayer

O God I’m not concerning myself with the management of the spread of Covid19. I’m keeping my feet on the ground, at my home, doing my small part to contain the virus.I’m calming myself down, thinking of you God in isolation with me and my family, and with each of us in our Gateway whanau, and in our nation.We are not isolated, physically or socially from you.Each one of us is like a toddler with Mum, content and happy when Mum is around. Wait, Gateway church, for GOD. Wait in hope.Hop...

Midday Check-in from Jan!

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Daniel Daily Reading

Daily Reading: 2 Kings 24:10-17, Jeremiah 29:1-7Today we set the scene for where Daniel and his friends find themselves. Israel has been continually disobedient to God and so Babylon (the superpower of the day) comes in and takes the best and the brightest from Israel and Judah back to Babylon. This generation is now growing up in Babylon. In this passage of Jeremiah we find his letters and instructions to the exiles on how to live whilst they are in exile....

Daniel Blog #1

The Book of Daniel has 12 chapters and neatly divides into 2 sections with 6 chapters in each section. Chapters 1-6 are mostly historical. Chapters 7-12 are mostly composed of prophetic material. In the first 6 chapters we follow the life and times of Daniel and his three friends as they work out their faith while in the civil service in Babylon. We learn of their capture and deportation to Babylon in the first few verses of chapter one.We follow them as they are trained in Babylonian culture an...

Midday Check-in from Don!

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