Pastoral Letter 137
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
Grace and peace to you all.
Dee and I were back on 27 October, from my annual leave after attending the Armenian Missionary Association of America’s Annual Meeting and participating in the related programs, as well as visiting friends and relatives in Montreal, Canada, celebrated birthdays and anniversaries with the family, as well as conducted my nephew’s daughter and participated my niece’s son’s baptisms. During the 103rd Annual Banquet of the Armenian Missionary Association of America, AMA Australia was honoured for the last 21 years of service, along with the AMA Canada and Hope for Armenia (France). It was a real blessing and privilege to receive the award on behalf of the AMA Australia Board. In my absence, our friend, Bob Minton, took the services for three Sundays and I am sure all went well. Thanks Bob.
On 30 October we had the special John Flynn Service, as we have done in the last several years. This year we had visiting guest speakers, Howard and Mary Jones. Mary shared with us their experience doing volunteer week for the Frontier Services for eight years in the Outback. Thanks for the Jones for visiting us, sharing and having fellowship with us during Morning Tea.
Next Thursday the Spring Fashion Parade is back after two years, which will commence from 10:15 am. Ladies, please come, encourage and help to raise some funds.
On 27 November will have our much-anticipated St. Andrew’s Day Service and Luncheon with the bag pipes, the Haggis and entertainment. Please reserve your tickets.
If you will not be able to join us at our face-to-face service, you can worship with us at home. Please light a candle, have a small roll of bread, small cup of wine or juice and follow the attached Order of Service. During the service we will have a segment to remember Betty Chapman, who passed away in March 2020. The family of Betty have requested to have few minutes during our service to remember her and celebrate her life.
Be safe and well, continue to pray, remembering those who need care, support and love and let me know if any member of the congregation that you know of needs our help and prayers.
Here are some prayer points for this week:
- Pray for Betty Chapman’s family, as they remember their beloved mother, grandmother and great grandmother.
- Pray for our ministry here at St. Andrew’s, especially as we come closer to the end of the year with special services of Advent and Christmas.
- Pray for the poor, the sick, the vulnerable, the struggling and the stressed.
- Pray for those who are unwell and struggling with different kinds of medical issues.
- Pray for world peace and ask for God’s blessings.
Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.
Best Regards,
Krikor
MESSAGE
I Am with You
Haggai 2:1-9
The book of Haggai is one of the shortest books in the Old Testament; it’s about two pages long. Those two pages are just packed with some real truths that can speak to us today; about how we should “Consider Our Ways”.
The book is about the return of the Judeans to Judah from Babylon in about 536 BC. After the destruction of Jerusalem, seventy years earlier by the Babylonians, the Judeans had been scattered into several countries, including Babylon. In 539 BC, the Persians conquered the Babylonian Empire and the Persian King, Cyrus the Great, issued a decree granting permission for the exiled inhabitants of Judah to return to their homeland and rebuild their city of Jerusalem and the Temple.
King Cyrus, of Persia appointed two men, Zerubbabel and Joshua, to lead about 50,000 people back to Judah. So, as the people came to Jerusalem, they encountered difficult conditions. The enthusiasm to rebuild the city of Jerusalem and its Temple gave way to discouragement and apathy as the struggle to provide the necessities of life became the prime focus of the people. Consequently, work on the Temple ceased and did not resume for sixteen years, in about 520 BC. The reconstruction was renewed in response to the prophetic ministries of Haggai and Zechariah.
In addition to the struggle to provide for daily needs, the inhabitants of Jerusalem faced opposition from the Samaritans. When the exiles returned to Judah, the Samaritans had initially requested to help rebuild the Temple. Although the Samaritans were distantly related to the inhabitants of Judah, the returning exiles regarded the Samaritans as violators of the Mosaic Law. The Samaritans had married people who worshiped gods other than God who had made the covenant with Israel.
So, when the leaders of the exiles rejected the request by the Samaritans to help reconstruct the Temple, the Samaritans were insulted and tried to disrupt and to prevent work on the Temple and the city of Jerusalem.
These two factors of providing for the daily needs and the harassment from the Samaritans discouraged the people and the work on the Temple, came to a stop.
As we come into the story, Haggai is bringing God’s message to the leaders Zerubbabel and Joshua. God sends His message in the form of a question.
“Is it right for you to be living in fancy houses while My Temple is in ruins?”
He was saying: “Why have you built nice homes for yourselves while God’s house is still destroyed?” He is asking them to “Consider their ways”. Had they forgotten the first of the Ten Commandments? You shall have no other Gods before me. God was really asking the people where they were, spiritually. Just like He asked Adam and Eve after they had eaten from the tree of knowledge and were hiding in the garden: “Where are you?” God wasn’t concerned about their physical whereabouts; He knew where they were. He was asking: “Where are you, spiritually…what has happened to your relationship with me…your God?”
God asked the people of Judah to look at their lives and ask themselves where they were spiritually, and to realize and admit to themselves that they had fallen away from Him. The rains were not falling on the vineyards or the grain fields or the olive trees, anymore. Their labour was not being blessed by God, because they had not obeyed and forgotten Him. They had forgotten to consider their ways and put God first in their lives and their prayers.
This can speak to us today. Just like the returning exiles, are we considering our ways? Are we thinking about where God is in our lives? Is He first? Or are our lives occupied by other things? Is there room in our daily life for God? Or just like the Judeans, are we sleeping spiritually?
Satan is always doing his utmost to stop the work of God. He hindered these Jews from building the temple, and today he endeavours to hinder the people of God from spreading the gospel. He is very crafty and knows how to he can hurt the cause of God.
In the case of the Jewish people on their return from captivity he sought to prevent the building of the temple by distracting them with opposition, diverting them with selfishness and discouragement.
Discouragement comes from:
Feebleness, weakness. Our lack of ability to do the things that God deserves at our hands.
Comparing and contrasting our work with others.
The truth is that nothing that we do, or build is worthy of God.
What house could man build for God?
What human work can be worthy of the Lord?
To depreciate the present because of the glories of the past is very dangerous.
We look at the giants of the past who thundered forth the word of God and are succeeded by small or weak people.
Are we looking at the size of the church or the Saviour of the church?
In the first chapter we have a call to build.
In our text today we have the call to “Behold” and watch not being afraid, for God is with us as He had promised. He came to us through His Son, the Emmanuel, Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.
Notice the condition and the situation of the people:
1. The Present (vs 1-3) – Discouraged
2. The Past (vs 4-5) – Promise given
3. The Prospect (vs 6-9) – The Result/Blessing
This will happen, because of:
A. The Lord’s Power
B. The Lord’s Presence
C. The Lord’s Possessions
D. The Lord’s Peace
God is with us no matter what happens and what we face. We need to put our trust in Him alone, for He is with us now and always.
Amen!