Pastoral Letter 95
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
Grace and peace to you all.
In this joyous season of Advent and Christmas, I greet you all in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I pray and hope that as we celebrate, we remember that our God is great and good. He loves us, He has been with us in the challenging times and takes care of us. With this understanding, if for any reason you will not be able to come and join us tomorrow, please join our traditional Carols Service at home by following the Order of Service and please light a candle.
Just to remind you that as we are coming to the end of the year and Christmas, we are doing our traditional Exodus Foundation Christmas Appeal. Your last chance to bring your unwrapped gifts and non-perishable food is tomorrow Sunday 12 December or latest Tuesday 14 December morning.
The bimonthly Newsletter is ready for collection, which includes details and dates for the next couple of months.
We are planning to have a fellowship meal on the last Sunday of the year, 26 December. If you don’t have any family commitments, it will be good to sit together and share a meal, thanking God for being with us during the past two years as we faced the most challenging two years with the widespread pandemic. Hoping that Omicron, the new variant of the COVID, will not disrupt our programs, let’s keep on praying and seeking God’s blessing
In the meantime, please continue to pray, remembering those who need our care, support and love.
Here are some prayer points for this week:
- Pray for our Carols Service tomorrow as well as the services during the Advent and Christmas Season.
- Pray for the poor, the sick, the vulnerable, the struggling and the stressed.
- Pray for world peace and ask for God’s blessings.
- Pray that we have a fresh start in the New Year and hope that it will be a good year for all.
Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.
Krikor
MESSAGE
Be Glad and Rejoice
Philippians 4:4-9
We live in stressful times. Evidently the last two years were challenging and tough, as we faced a dangerous world pandemic of the COVID-19 and still the new variants threaten us and the world. But the question is:
How to have joy in challenging times and stressful situations?
In Philippians chapter four Paul returns to his theme about being joyful in life. In verse four he says: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice!”
Is it possible to be continually joyful? Can you “always” be joyful? Most people really don’t enjoy life, as their lives are filled with stress and there’s very little room for joy.
This morning we look at a strategy for dealing with stress.
Paul gives us four very simple and profound statements on how to manage stress in our life:
1. Worry about nothing
Paul tells us in verse six: “Do not be anxious for anything.” Another translation says: “Don’t worry about anything.”
Without a doubt Paul is saying that worry should not be a part of our lives. Worry kills joy and is a major source of stress. We live in times of anxiety.
Research has discovered that:
40% of our worries never happen
30% of our worries concern the past
12% of our worries are needless worries about your health
10% of our worries are insignificant or petty concerns
8% of our worries are really legitimate concerns
Worry is worthless. It cannot change the past or control the future. All it does is mess up the “right now”. It uses up an incredible amount of energy and places a tremendous amount of stress on the individual. When we worry about things, they seem to get bigger and bigger.
This is probably the hardest command to obey. It was such an important subject that Jesus even taught about worry when He said: “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the fields….” Matt. 6:26-34
Jesus tells us we are to rely on God and approach one day at a time. Worry has no place in our lives.
2. Pray about everything
Whenever God tells us to eliminate something He always has something greater for us. He always replaces a negative with a positive. He is the Father who always gives good gifts to His children. Paul says: “In everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
Paul is saying: “don’t worry, pray”. In other words: “don’t panic, praise and pray”. When we stop worrying, we free up a lot of time. What can we do with all that free time? Praise and Pray!
I have heard people say: “I don’t have time to pray.” My question would be: “Do you have time to worry? If you do, you have time to pray.” If we pray – we would have a lot less to worry about.
Some people ask: “What should I pray about?” The answer is simply “everything”. God is interested in everything in our life. He cares about what we are thinking. He cares about what we are feeling. Because He cares about us.
When we are thanking God for what He has done – we are praising God. Prayers don’t have to be long – or elaborate. Someone has told me that the greatest prayer that they ever prayed was – “God help me.”
Peter says: “Humble yourselves under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:6-7
Take our problems to the Lord and pray instead of worry. Prayer is a tremendous way to release pressure.
3. Be thankful
“In everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
God wants us to be thankful. He wants us to have an attitude of gratitude. God’s Word translation says: “In every situation let God know what you need in prayers and requests while giving thanks.”
If you’re depressed, here is a suggestion of something that may help. Make a list of fifty things you are thankful for. When you start going down the list it will help you stop focusing on your problems and help you focus on how God has blessed you. We have so much to be thankful for, but often we take those things for granted.
We need to have a grateful heart and a thankful spirit.
Let’s develop the attitude of gratitude and see how it affects our stress levels. A joyful heart is good medicine for the soul.
4. Change your way of thinking
Paul tells us in verse eight:
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.”
God tells us to meditate on all these good things – things which will give Him glory and honour. The meditation that the Bible talks about is focused on thinking about a passage of scripture. We are to focus our thinking, spend time on it and get to know it completely.
To reduce stress, we must change the way we think. We CAN choose what we think and we CAN think about the right things. That is why the scripture tells us: “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.”
What dominates our thinking? What does our mind think about the most? Are they negative or positive? The Bible tells us to think on those things which give God honour.
What happens if we follow these simple steps? Here is what the Bible says will happen: “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (4:7)
On this third Sunday of Advent, when we are looking at the theme Joy, let us be glad and rejoice with all the Lord has done for us.
Amen!