The Seed Disperser - May 2022
The Seed Disperser - May 2022
Recycling friendly Pentecost.
What’s in this month’s Seed Disperser
Featured this month
Introducing Kereru Bundles
Celebrating Matariki
Inspiration this month
Pentecost
Small Kindnesses
Special offers
Kereru Through the Year Bundle
Kereru Through the Seasons Bundle
Kereru Basics Bundle
On a personal note
Autumn photos and Kereru news
Featured this month
Kereru Bundles
We’ve been working on bundling packages of our subscription based resources for some time and this month we’re ready to launch three different bundles. The bundles are for individuals or groups of up to 50 subscribers.
A bundle subscription will reduce the cost for those using multiple Kereru resources across the year as well as making administration easier.
The bundling is to suit the mix of subscriber patterns we’ve seen happening. They’re all listed in more detail in our Special offers section towards the bottom of this email. You can click on the registration buttons to purchase direct from this email.
Here’s a brief description of the three options:
Kereru Through the Year Bundle includes Taking Flight for 4 x subscribers, as well as new and current seasonal subscriptions.
Kereru Through the Seasons Bundle is the same as the above but doesn’t come with Taking Flight.
Kereru Basics Bundle includes Taking Flight and our Advent and Lent and Easter subscriptions.
We’re launching three new one-off worship experiences which are included for FREE in the first two bundles. These are for Matariki, Halloween & All Saints Day and there’s a summer experience called Fun in the Sun.
Information on the bundles and new resources will eventually be available for access on our website, but we’re releasing them this month through The Seed Disperser only. Keep reading towards the bottom of this email to find out more about the bundles and register.
Celebrating Matariki
This year in Aotearoa we celebrate our first Matariki public holiday on Friday 24 June. We’re launching a one-off all age worship experience for the Matariki weekend. If you’re gathering with family or friends we have suggestions you might like to incorporate into your gathering. Parts of the resource will be written in Te Reo and English.
Mātauranga Maori is at the heart of celebrations of the Matariki public holiday. Our all age worship experience will pick up the following key reasons for celebrating Matariki.
Remembrance – Honouring those we have lost since the last rising of Matariki
Celebrating the present – Gathering together to give thanks for what we have
Looking to the future – Looking forward to the promise of a new year
Co-written by: Caroline Bindon and Rebecca Stubbing.
Release date: 20 June 2022
Cost: Groups $25 (NZD) (License to send email to 50 others) or Individuals $10 (NZD) (one email address)
If you are a subscriber to our Kereru Through the Year or Kereru Through the Seasons Bundles you’ll receive this resource for free.
Register your interest by sending an email to caroline@kererupublishing.com and we’ll send you an invoice
Inspiration this month
Recycle-friendly Pentecost
Pentecost is on Sunday 5 June which also happens to be another long weekend in Aotearoa.
There is such wonderful imagery in the story of Pentecost from Acts and as we celebrate the birthday of the church, it’s a great time to try interactive and creative ideas for worship. We’ve got some recycle-friendly ideas in our Seed Disperser this year. These ideas can be used in gathered worship or if you have some extra time over the long weekend you might want to try these ideas at home.
On the day of Pentecost all the Lord's followers were together in one place. Suddenly there was a noise from heaven like the sound of a mighty wind! It filled the house where they were meeting. Then they saw what looked like fiery tongues moving in all directions, and a tongue came and settled on each person there.
Acts 2:1-3 CEV
Winds of hope
Take some time over the long weekend to read the story of Pentecost from Acts 2. Print it out and use a warm coloured highlighter to highlight any words or sentences that convey hope. After you’ve finished reading and highlighting, read again the words or sentences you picked out. Select a word or phrase or sentence and write it on a piece of card recycled from a cereal box or other packaging. Decorate your card using warm coloured felt pens. Place the card somewhere you’ll see and re-read over the following days and be reminded of hope.
Paper bag kites
Chances are someone you know has had to order their groceries online in the last few months due to isolating because of Covid. Online grocery shopping results in an accumulation of a large collection of brown paper bags. If you’re trying this idea as part of your gathered worship, set up trestle tables around your space. Provide crayons or felt-tip pens to decorate the brown paper bag kite as part of your gathering. If there is an open space near your meeting place, gather together to fly your kites.
Paper Balloons
We’ve often used balloons in the colours of red, orange and yellow as part of our Pentecost worship experiences. With an eye to heading towards a more eco-friendly option, ask some keen origami expert volunteers to pre-fold paper balloons using red, orange or yellow paper.
Hand one to each person as a take home gift to use after your gathering. Provide the following as a printed prayer to accompany the paper balloon along with instructions on how to blow it up.
Pentecost Prayer
God of the mighty wind, and of the fiery tongues of fire, we come to you to pray.
God of the people of many cultures speaking many languages, hear our prayer.
Help us to live in hope even on days when hope is hard to find.
Help us to feel you walking beside us on this path of life.
Fill us with gladness and joy and show us the way to help others.
Let us experience your Spirit at work in us this Pentecost.
Amen.
Small kindness
Danusha Laméris is a contemporary American poet. Her poem Small Kindnesses was written in 2019. In April 2022, she worked on a collaborative poem for the New York times compiling a selection of sentences submitted by teenagers about small acts of kindness. It’s called, ‘Small Kindnesses’: A Collaborative Poem by Teenagers From Around the World and is a beautiful reminder of the power of small acts of kindness.
Here’s some ideas to try after reading the poems.
Read both poems and take time to ponder what small kindnesses you’ve been grateful for lately. Perhaps you can turn these thoughts into a prayer.
Start a collaborative prayer about kindness and invite your group to each submit a line.
Make your own prayer poem writing one line per day over the course of a week or fortnight or month
Special Offers
More about our Kereru Bundles
Why we’re offering bundles
As the number of subscription based resources we offer has increased we’ve realised this has put administrative pressure on both us and our subscribers. If subscribers sign up to multiple resources every year, there’s repetitive administration as well as multiple payments to manage and it’s harder to control costs. We wanted to simplify the process for everyone.
You only need to register once. Whether an individual or a group organiser you’ll be automatically added to all the resources in the bundle and can update your own preferences if you want to opt out of any.
If you’re subscribing a group, once you’ve added your group members each person can then manage their own preferences for the year.
At the end of your subscription year there’s an easy renewal process and you don’t have to enter all your details again. You will be able to make changes to your subscription and add or delete group members.
Payment is via invoice with several payment options no matter where you live. We realise many churches or organisations pay for the subscriptions rather than individuals.
The annual subscription process is for 12 months from the date of registration of the group or individual. Group members may have less than 12 months as part of the group registration depending on when in the cycle their name is added.
You can register for a bundle at any time during the year.
If the bundle is paid in a single annual payment you’ll receive a discount.
We now offer the option to pay in 12 monthly installments
How does the sign up process work?
Register for a bundle and you’ll receive a confirmation email with instructions on how to update your preferences. All three bundles are available for you to register as a group or an individual.
Once you’re registered, if you’re organising a group you can start subscribing others straight away, as long as you have their permission.
We’ll send a reminder email just prior to each of the resources launching to both group organisers and individual subscribers. This will include promotion material for group organisers who can then choose whether they want to add additional names to their group list or promote it further in whatever way works best for the group. Individual subscribers might want to promote a particular resource to a friend.
Can I upgrade from my current Taking Flight subscription?
If you are already a subscriber of Taking Flight and want to upgrade to a bundle for yourself or your group, you can upgrade when your subscription is due for renewal or at any time prior. If you subscribe before your subscription is due we’ll work out a price for you to include the new discount and take into account what’s left of your current Taking Flight subscription.
Kereru Through the Year Bundle
This bundle is for ‘the works’ and includes almost everything we offer including Taking Flight.
Kereru Through the Year Bundle Price
Group - Annual - $385 (NZD) one annual payment OR $37.50 (NZD) monthly installments
Individual - Annual - $165 (NZD) one annual payment OR $15.75 (NZD) monthly installments
Here’s the full list of what’s included:
Taking Flight* (A weekly lectionary resource)
Matariki** (A one-off worship experience emailed in June)
Stroll for Your Soul (21 days of emails reflecting on spring sent in September)
Halloween** (A one-off email for all ages)
Counting Down to Christmas (Daily emails throughout Advent)
Twelve Days of Christmas (A PDF book for the season of Christmas)
Fun in the Sun** (A one-off worship experience emailed in January)
Sensory Lent & Easter (5 sensory guides for Lent and Easter)
Autumn Rambles (14 days of a daily visual scrapbook sent in April/May
The Seed Disperser (Monthly e-zine)
* A group subscription includes 4 x Taking Flight subscribers. All individual subscribers will receive Taking Flight.
** Matariki, Halloween & All Saints Day and Fun in the Sun are included as FREE bonus content. All other bundle paid resources listed have a 15% discount applied if paid for in one annual payment.
Cost to you if the above were purchased individually - Group $525 (NZD) Individual $219 (NZD)
Kereru Through the Seasons Bundle
The main difference between our Through the Year Bundle and Through the Seasons is this bundle does not include Taking Flight.
Kereru Through the Seasons Bundle Price
Group - Annual - $270 (NZD) one annual payment OR $25.00 (NZD) monthly installments
Individual - Annual - $100 (NZD) one annual payment OR $9.50 (NZD) monthly installments
Here’s the full list of what’s included:
Matariki** (A one-off worship experience emailed in June)
Stroll for Your Soul (21 days of emails reflecting on spring sent in September)
Halloween** (A one-off email for all ages)
Counting Down to Christmas (Daily emails throughout Advent)
Twelve Days of Christmas (A PDF book for the season of Christmas)
Fun in the Sun** (A one-off worship experience emailed in January)
Sensory Lent & Easter (5 sensory guides for Lent and Easter)
Autumn Rambles (14 days of a daily visual scrapbook sent in April/May
The Seed Disperser (Monthly e-zine)
** Matariki, Halloween & All Saints Day and Fun in the Sun are included as FREE bonus content. All other bundle paid resources listed have a 10% discount applied if paid for in one annual payment.
Cost to you if the above were purchased individually - Group $375 (NZD) Individual $144 (NZD)
Kereru Basics Bundle
Our basic bundle includes Taking Flight and both our Advent and Lent email series but doesn’t include any of the seasonal resources.
Kereru Basic Bundle Price
Group - Annual - $265 (NZD) one annual payment OR $23.33 (NZD) monthly installments
Individual - Annual - $118 (NZD) one annual payment OR $10.42 (NZD) monthly installments
Here’s the full list of what’s included:
Taking Flight* (A weekly lectionary resource)
Counting Down to Christmas (Daily emails throughout Advent)
Sensory Lent & Easter (5 sensory guides for Lent and Easter)
The Seed Disperser (Monthly e-zine)
* A group subscription includes 4 x Taking Flight subscribers. All individual subscribers will receive Taking Flight. All bundle paid resources listed have a 5% discount applied if paid for in one annual payment.
Cost to you if the above were purchased individually - Group $280 (NZD) Individual $125(NZD)
On a personal note
Autumn is always a favourite month to get outside for walks through the local parks and beaches. Andrew enjoys the still days to get out fishing in our bay.
Our second Autumn Rambles started the week after Easter and despite the small group rambling it was well-received. It will be repeated in October for the northern hemisphere. Right now Stroll for Your Soul is having it’s first run for 2022 and will be returning downunder in September. Caroline and Janice have already started work on both next year’s Autumn Rambles and Stroll for Your Soul.
This photo is from underneath a tree in Manly park. It’s a Nyssa Sylvatica and is such a favourite of our daughter’s that we planted one on our own property this autumn. It doesn’t mind wet feet and given we hit water by digging less than 1 metre it should do well.
In Kereru news we are working away on a couple of other Kereru projects which we hope to be able to reveal soon. There’s a new book in the wings but we’re not quite ready to tell you about it yet. If you noticed that our 5 Senses to Prayer subscription wasn’t included with the bundles that’s because we have some different plans for our 5 Senses to Prayer products. More to be revealed in the next few months.
Sales for the physical copy of Who Made God? And Other Tricky Questions have been going really well. There’s a limited print run so be in quick so you don’t miss out on your copy. Several buyers have purchased more than one copy so they can give them as gifts.
Here’s another Autumn photo from Orewa Beach on a still day. It brought the words of Psalm 23 to mind. It’s been such a strange time for everyone with the pandemic. Finding space to rest and refresh seems very necessary.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths
for his name’s sake.Psalm 23:1-3 NRSUV
On the journey
Caroline and Andrew