Opoho Presbyterian Church
Welcome
Opoho Presbyterian Church is a friendly, multigenerational church, in the suburb of Opoho above the Botanic Gardens in Dunedin, New Zealand.
We welcome all people interested in living an abundant life in God, through following Jesus Christ.
We embrace and enjoy a diversity of views, always seeking answers and welcoming questions.
We meet on Sundays at 10 and at other times. Come and join us!
Our mission
The God we gather to worship calls us to share the good news Jesus Christ brought us, and to help each other become part of what God is doing around us, being actively involved in the life of our community and nurturing each other in a fellowship of accepting love.
What's on in May and June
2 May ~ Sunday 10 a.m.: Worship, the Rev. Graeme Munro, Communion
6 May ~ Thursday 7.30 p.m.: Bible Book of the Month: 1 John, 129 Signal
Hill Road
8 May ~ Saturday 3-4 p.m.: ‘Meet and Greet’ with the Rev. Clare Lind and
her husband, Don, Morrison Lounge (and/or hall and/or lawn,
depending on numbers and weather)
9 May ~ Sunday 10 a.m.: Worship, the Rev. Clare Lind
13 May ~ Thursday 2 p.m.: Fellowship Group, Morrison Lounge
15 May ~ Saturday 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Church Fair
16 May ~ Sunday 10 a.m.: Worship, the Rev. Silvia Purdie, followed by
Congregational Meeting
18 May ~ Tuesday 7.30 p.m.: Christian Development Committee,
Morrison Lounge
20 May ~ Thursday 7.30 p.m.: Parish Council, Morrison Lounge
23 May ~ Sunday 10 a.m.: Worship, the Rev. Anne Thomson
30 May ~ Sunday 10 a.m.: Worship, the Rev. Russell Thew
6 June ~ Sunday 10 a.m.: Worship, the Rev. Graeme Munro, Communion
7 June ~ Monday Public holiday – Queen’s Birthday
10 June ~ Thursday 2 p.m.: Fellowship Group, Morrison Lounge
7.30 p.m.: Bible Books of the Month: 2 and 3 John, 129 Signal Hill Road
13 June ~ Sunday 10 a.m.: Worship, the Rev. Olivia Dawson
17 June ~ Thursday 7.30 p.m.: Parish Council, Morrison Lounge
20 June ~ Sunday 10 a.m.: Worship, Marian Weaver
27 June ~ Sunday 10 a.m.: Worship, the Rev. Anne Thomson
'In the world but not of the world'
a sermon by Silvia Purdie
Download Silvia's sermon from our 16 May service here
Visit us
50 Signal Hill Road
Opoho
Dunedin 9010
New Zealand
Monthly newsletter
Psalm writing at Opoho
Up to 2020 a small group of us met every two or three months to encourage each other with our with our psalm writing.
Available for download are a collection of psalms from the first two years, and psalms and other writings from around the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown.
'We Survived Lockdown'
Thanksgiving and Celebration Display
Read about some of the things Opoho parishioners did during the 2020 lockdown, which we shared in our 'We Survived Lockdown' thanksgiving and celebration display in the church hall.
A 56-page booklet in PDF download.
Prayer from 15 May Service, by Andrew Smith
Ah, dear Lord, we come to prayer, and we cry out what audacity you claim!
Jesus in the Father, and the Father in Jesus, and we belong to the Father and his testimony is in our hearts, and we have the promise of eternal life through Jesus the Son.
How outrageous! Lord, your mathmatics, your accounting bothers us.
Because you include us into this relationship, this whanaungatanga, and make us one, the people of God called through Jesus the Son.
What audacity! We outweigh the world. You have us in the attention of your love.
You are not false, your word and your testimony are true. They come from you.
You give us time – time and eternity.
That is a relief because we feel that we have been busy at the moment.
In one moment we are counting the coins and the dollars, the accounts from another successful fair, the rush of people looking after a bargain, the offerings of a wider community of which we are a part, our relations with others.
We celebrate what we have accomplished.
In another moment we will be counting votes in anticipation of a call to our parish.
You are speaking to us and we are listening for your voice.
Be part of us in our words and in our thoughts and in our silences.
We pray a blessing for the Muslim community in our city, those who live among us and those whom we live among;
We pray a blessing on the breaking of the Ramadan fast, its purification and its self-discipline on the soul, the sharing of food and of gifts, the celebration of a pivotal observance.
We mourn with them as we observe the desolation of Gaza, that city which you love.
We pray with your grieving heart for an end of conflict between the children of Israel and the children of Islam, and for a just peace between two people;
And we fear that we will not see it!
Save us from witnessing the slaughter of children, a new holocaust, the vision of an engineered apocalypse.
We pray for your return into this world as the God of Eternal Life, and not as the god of the dead hand of our own oppression.
We pray for this world, and we pray for a world renewed and held in your hand.
We pray for the recognition of each other human being – young and old, men and women, and diverse identity.
We pray for the renewal of the earth, the provision of land and ecology and clean water for every living creature.
We pray for sustinance, for shelter, for refuge, and for the hope that each other human being will know the freedoms in speech, and movement, and opportunity, that we can take for granted.
We pray for the end of pestilence and pandemics, for the opportunity to be free from the veiling of faces to save others, and a distribution of vaccines to all.
Send us out to be witnesses and proclaimers of the eternal life you offer to all the world.
Amen.