Pastoral Letter 148
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
Grace, Peace and blessing to you all in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
As I have informed earlier, this Sunday I will be worshiping with the Willoughby Armenian Evangelical Church, to preach and to be present at the long overdue appreciation that the church has decided to do for Dee’s Mum, Manoushag (Violet) Sarmazian, as she retired from her role as one of the Deaconesses of the church for health reasons. We are glad that our friend Bob Minton is taking the service here at Longueville. Our thanks and appreciation to Bob for his kind service and always being ready to provide his services, whenever we need. Thanks Bob and God bless.
From the first week of February, we will back to our normal programs and activities, starting with Time4You on Wednesday 1 February and every Wednesday, followed by Movie Night on Tuesday 7 February 7 and every first Tuesday of the month. Chris and Penny have already prepared the list of the Movies that we are going to screen in 2023. Come, join us, enjoy delicious Pizza and a good movie. The next Movie will be the 101st Movie, a very good movie, as usual, titled “I am Sam”.
On Sunday 12 February, after the Church Service, we will convene to have our AGM meeting. Please put it in your diaries and join us. Naturally we will nor have Morning Tea that Sunday morning.
Sadly, it has been almost 40 days that Artsakh and its 120,00 Armenian inhabitants have been under siege and the only access road to Armenia, which we have called it “The Road of Life” has been blocked under strange pretences since 12 December 2022. During the week some appeals has been made to the dictator of Azerbaijan to end the blockade and the genocidal attempts, causing major humanitarian crisis for the people, including children and elderly people. Please pray for the suffering people, support if you can and say “Artsakh – Stay Strong!”, as the Armenian Tennis player, Karen Khacahnov, from Russia, with a great courage and commendably wrote on the camera yesterday after a win in the Australia Open Tournament as all winners do. I hope that the raised voices will have hearing ears, including our Australian Government and the Foreign Affairs Minister, the honourable Senator, Penny Wong.
May God protect the people and precious children in Artsakh and grant them an everlasting peace.
If you will not be able to join us for worship tomorrow, please light a candle and worship with us from home following the attached Order of Christmas Service that Bob has prepared.
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 our church services and activities, as we go back to our normal programs.
- Pray for the people of Artsakh, men, women, young, old and children, as they face humanitarian crisis with the blockade continuing for the 5th consecutive week by Azerbaijan, while the International Community keeps silent, including the Australia and the sadly the Uniting Church in Australia.
- 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
A Fishing Story
Discipleship
As a young person growing up, I never understood what the big deal was about Peter, Andrew, James and John leaving their fishing to go with Jesus. It wasn’t until years later that I understood what following Jesus must have meant for Peter and the others.
The fishing they did was not a Saturday outing with their mates. Fishing was what they had been trained to do, what they did for a living, it was their life.
So, when the man from Nazareth came walking by the lakeside that day and said to them: “Follow me and I will show you how to fish for people,” why did they go with Him? The Bible doesn’t tell us. It provides no clues about why they went with Him.
So, let’s ask some questions.
Had the fishing been really lousy that day for Peter and Andrew, for James and John?
We all have our bad days at work; maybe on this day the nets kept coming up empty, maybe the net-mending was especially tedious and monotonous, maybe the heat and humidity were all but unbearable.
Were James and John desperate to get away from their father?
Maybe old Zebedee was a tyrant, constantly belittling his sons, telling them they were lazy and stupid.
Maybe when Jesus gave His invitation, they jumped at the chance to leave their dysfunctional family.
Were they looking for a good excuse to stop being fishermen?
Maybe they figured fishing was a dead-end job with little chance for advancement.
Had the four fisherman heard reports about Jesus, about His powerful preaching?
Maybe they had even heard Him themselves, and the thought of knowing Him, being one of His disciples, was irresistible.
Did the words, “I will show you how to fish for people,” sound intriguing?
Maybe they wanted to find out what He meant by that strange expression.
Maybe it held just the right combination of novelty and intensity to pull them away from their nets, their boat, and fall in behind Him.
Was the presence of Jesus so compelling, was the sound of His voice so commanding, that they were drawn to him like flecks of iron drawn to a magnet?
Questions, questions.
Why did Andrew and Peter, why did John and James, follow Jesus that day?
Did they have any idea that following Him would mean a radical change in their lives?
Maybe they thought “follow me” simply meant “you deserve a break today.”
Maybe they figured they deserved a holiday and tomorrow they’d be back to fishing again.
Surely, they couldn’t have guessed what lay ahead for them — the excitement, the fun, the joy of it and of course the grief.
We simply don’t know why the fishermen followed Jesus. The gospels don’t tell us.
All Matthew’s gospel says about Peter and Andrew is this: “Immediately they left their nets and followed him.”
All Matthew’s gospel says about James and John is this: “Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.”
“Left the boat and their father.”
I’m sure the boat didn’t care that they left, but what about the father?
Imagine for a moment what a reporter’s interview with Zebedee might have sounded like.
“So, Zebedee, what did you think when your sons walked off the job that day?”
“I was furious. ‘Hey,’ I yelled at them when they took off after him.
‘Hey, we’re not even halfway through mending these nets.
Where do you think you’re going?
Do you think I can do all this work myself?’
Oh, I cussed and fussed, all right. We fishermen are known for our colourful language, you know.”
“Did you have any idea your sons would never come back?”
“Of course not. If I’d known that, I’d have run after them and dragged them back to the boat.
I still can’t believe it really happened.
I thought I’d done a good job of raising them, of teaching them what it means to be responsible, to honour their parents and to live up to their family obligations.
But it’s plain that I failed. I mean, what kind of men would just walk out on their jobs, their families?
I was counting on my sons to carry on the fishing when I get too old. What will happen to me and my wife?”
“What’s your opinion of the teacher from Nazareth?”
“Hmph. I’ve heard He left His father’s carpenter shop the same way my boys left my fishing boat.
I guess that fits.
This Jesus obviously wants as His followers irresponsible, spoiled brats who just up and take off, with no idea about what they’re getting into.”
Of course, all this is pure speculation.
What Zebedee really thought about his sons’ going with Jesus doesn’t appear anywhere in the Bible. But our imaginary interview with Zebedee does raise some provocative issues.
Following Jesus always means leaving something behind. And sometimes our friends, our families, will have a hard time approving of or even understanding our decision.
To follow Jesus also means that we cannot predict what that decision will lead to.
Would the four fishermen have followed Jesus if they had known all that lay ahead?
Maybe.
Maybe not.
The point is that they didn’t and couldn’t know, any more than you and I can know all that following Jesus will mean for us.
There is always risk involved.
Is Jesus calling you?
“Now hold it,” you may say, “I’ve been baptized.
I’ve been a member of the church for a long time.
What do you mean, is Jesus calling me?”
The call of Jesus comes not just once in your life, but many times.
There are calls to a vocation, or to change vocations.
There are calls to a particular place, to a specific faith community.
There are calls to a task, and there are calls to stop what you are doing and find refreshment for your tired spirit.
There are calls into and out of relationships.
There are calls to regret what you have done, to repent and make amends for your wrongdoing.
And there are calls to stop regretting, to accept the fact that you are forgiven and get on with your life.
Is Jesus calling you to leave your nets?
Is Jesus calling you?
Sometimes the call of Jesus is as loud and clear as a siren on an emergency vehicle.
Sometimes, many times, His call is more like a still, small voice.
But we are not meant to hear the call all by ourselves.
It is part of God’s plan to incorporate us as one body, so that our ears have other ears, other eyes, minds, hearts and voices to help us interpret what we have heard.
Together we can hear our calls, and together we can answer them, if only we will listen for the voice that continues to speak to us in the language of our lives.
I said a few moments ago that there is always risk involved in answering the call of Jesus to follow Him.
We cannot know where the call to follow will take us.
But ours is not the only risk.
Jesus also took a risk on the disciples.
For reasons known only to heaven, God is constantly taking risks on all kinds of people —
people who fish for a living,
people who are too young to have jobs,
people who have retired.
Every day God takes risks on the human race, takes risks on people like you and me.
One thing the Bible makes clear about the call of Christ is that the One who calls us is the same One who gives us the strength, the resources, to follow.
Maybe, after all, that was the decisive factor for the four fishermen who left their nets and their boats and their family to follow Jesus.
Maybe they sensed at some deep, unconscious level, that here was Someone who could be trusted; Jesus is calling you.
How will you answer?
AMEN!
Bob Minton