Pastoral Letter 191
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
Grace and Peace to you all.
Tomorrow we will celebrate our traditional St. Andrew’s Day with a special Service and Luncheon, as well as Christ the King Sunday. We will be reminded of the Christ, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who needs and is looking for followers like Andrew, the faithful disciple and a good example. It is not right just to celebrate a special day or as a matter of fact to prepare during the Advent season to celebrate Christmas and welcome a New Year. It is important to know that Jesus is our Lord and declare Him to be the King, the King of kings. Let us remind ourselves, that we are His faithful servants, who are called and invited to follow Him and serve Him in anyway we can, using all our gifts and talents. Here, at St. Andrew’s, we do our best and put all our abilities into practice, serve the community, provide to the needs of those who are in need and do our utmost for His glory. Let us continue to do all we can and as long as we can, knowing that we will receive our rewards on the day when our Lord comes to give us our rightful place in His Kingdom. Let us be His faithful followers and loyal members of His body, the church!
As I have mentioned in my last week’s Pastoral letter, we welcomed the AMAA Representative in Artsakh, Viktor Karapetyan, who arrived in Sydney to tell his eyewitness stories about the hardships the Artsakh people faced in September, when Azerbaijan launched an attack on the sovereign land of Artsakh, occupied the land and forced the people to leave their homeland with nothing in just few days. We had the first of the planned two gatherings for the Armenian community on Tuesday 21 November at 7:00 pm in the Willoughby Armenian Evangelical Church and the second will be tomorrow Sunday 26 at 6:00 pm here at St. Andrew’s Longueville. Also, Viktor and I made a presentation at the SCCP meeting last Wednesday. We were given 15 minutes to do the presentation. The purpose of the presentation was and is to raise the awareness about the refugee crisis and make an appeal to the Uniting Church to raise funds and support the refugees.
After celebrating St. Andrews’ Day and Christ the King Sunday tomorrow, we commence the Advent Season and as we have done in the previous years. Again, this year we will take each week the themes of Advent, Hope, Peace, Joy and Love and reflect on them as we prepare to celebrate Christmas, the birth of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
If you are not able to join us tomorrow, please light a candle and join us following the attached Order of Service.
Be safe and well, continue to pray, remembering those who need care, support and love.
Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.
Here are some prayer points for this week:
- Pray for the Middle East, the conflict between Israel and Palestine and the suffering of the innocent people and the hostages.
- Pray for the people Artsakh who have been refugees in Armenia facing many challenges.
- Pray for the poor, the sick, the struggling and the stressed.
- Pray for our church and our future plans as we seek God’s guidance.
Best Regards
Krikor
MESSAGE
Andrew! The Follower of Christ the King
Ez. 34:11-16, 20-24 and John 1:35-42
Today we celebrate Christ the King Sunday. It is a day that focuses on the end of history when Christ shall gather all the nations together in his presence. In the presence of Christ our Shepherd-King, there will be an accounting, a judgement of each one of us individually and collectively as nations. This judgement shall have its consequences for everyone. That is one of the central themes running through today’s gospel and first lesson.
In our first passage from Ezekiel today, we have both law and gospel; both condemnation and compassion; both judgement and grace. The prophet Ezekiel likely speaks this prophecy around the time when his people were returning back to the Promised Land, after their Babylonian exile. In the prophecy, Ezekiel states that God will remove the abusive leaders—likely referring both to the Israelite leaders and foreign leaders. God will confront and judge these abusive leaders based on what they have done. According to Ezekiel, they were self-serving and ruthless. They had failed to care for the poor, the weak, and the sick.
In contrast to these abusive leaders, Ezekiel preaches a message of gospel, compassion and grace to his people. The language Ezekiel employs is most gentle and comforting. When we read it and hear it, we’re most likely reminded of the twenty-third Psalm and Jesus’s words in the Gospel of John. The words provide us with a beautiful picture in our mind’s eye—namely, that of Christ as the Good Shepherd, Christ our Shepherd-King.
When I read and hear these words from Ezekiel, I’m reminded of two inspiring pictures. The first picture that comes to my mind is the picture of a shepherd and his sheep. That is an interesting picture, because contrary to what many people might think, the shepherd is not leading his sheep by chasing them from behind. No, rather, he is leading them by going ahead of the flock and they follow him. This picture certainly reveals the great truth of Jesus’ words in the Fourth Gospel where He reminds us that the shepherd knows and loves the sheep, and the sheep know and love the shepherd—therefore they trust and follow their shepherd wherever the shepherd leads them. As Christ’s people, we can trust and follow Him where He leads us—since we know that He wants what is best for us.
The second picture that comes to mind when I read and hear Ezekiel’s prophecy is that famous one depicting Jesus the Good Shepherd tenderly holding a lamb. This picture reminds me of how Ezekiel describes what God our Shepherd-King will do to show His love for His people—Ezekiel, quoting the Lord says: “I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak.” This must have been a very hopeful, joyful, comforting message for those Israelites who first heard it as they returned from exile to their homeland.
Today people, including us, need to hear this message too, because it speaks to so many people in the world. In a world where two-thirds of the population live in great poverty; where they lack most, if not all of the basics of life; such a message can give them hope for a better future. Whether it’s the lost youth on the streets, the ones who have been led astray by such false religions and gods of wealth and fame, the ones who are suffering from injuries due to abusive relationships, the ones who are weakened by illness and disease, or the people who are in the middle of wars and political conflicts and forced to leave their ancestral homeland—Christ our Shepherd-King is seeking and longing to save them all. The incredible thing is that He’s working through us, His people, to be His hands and feet; to share His love and saving, healing presence with everyone—especially those in greatest need like the street children in our cities, the earthquake victims, the Christians in some countries are being killed and oppressed by government-supported militias, and many more in all corners of our troubled world.
In the closing verses of our passage today, the prophet Ezekiel proclaims a prophecy that looks ahead into the future when God’s Messiah will come and reign as the Good Shepherd-King. He states: “I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David.” As Christians reading this passage, we believe that it refers to Christ, and again we think of the words of Jesus in John 10:16, where he says, speaking of “other sheep,” that is, people from every nation gathered by Jesus, who listen to His voice: “So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” The mention of this “one shepherd,” in both Ezekiel and John points to a time of unity, reconciliation and peace among all the peoples of the world. Originally, Ezekiel’s audience likely thought and believed that this referred to their immediate or near future situation—wherein God would unite all of the divided and scattered Israelites from all corners of the then known world to bring them together, to be reconciled with each other and live in peace.
For us Christians today, on Christ the King Sunday, we likely are more inclined to think and believe that this reference to “one shepherd” describes Christ our Good Shepherd-King—whom one day we believe will gather Jews and Gentiles from every corner of the earth together and bring history to its final conclusion. He, as the Ruling Messiah will usher in the age to come, an age of eternal peace, where all evil and hatred, suffering and abuse shall end. An age that we all long for today and hope to inherit in the future, thanks to God’s all-encompassing love and grace. So, take comfort in God our Good Shepherd-King who remains forever the righteous Ruler over us all.
Today, we celebrate ST. Andrew’s Day as well. St. Andrew’s Day is celebrated each year on the 30th of November and is Scotland’s national day. St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland, as well as several other countries including Greece, Romania, Russia and Ukraine.
As we celebrate, it is appropriate to look at the Apostle himself. He is rarely mentioned in the Bible in the order of the disciples. He does not have a primary state in the accounts of the gospels. He has not written a gospel, or an epistle and he has not done any big act in our human standards. He is mentioned as the brother of Peter. Two brothers of totally different personalities and characters. Peter was known as the impulsive and fiery disciple, while Andrew was more practical. Peter was easily tempered, while Andrew was cautious and reserved. Peter was always in a leading act, while Andrew was more of a follower. We don’t see Andrew restless or agitated. He did not step down from the boat and attempt to walk on the water, he did not rebuke his teacher, and he did not cut the ear of the temples guard and did not cause three thousand people to repent with his sermon.
But it is worthwhile to note that every time we hear about him in the gospels, we see that he leads someone to Jesus. First, he brings his brother Simon/Peter to Jesus. Then he brings a young boy to Jesus who had five loaves and two fish, which were the food to be fed to the five thousand, and also with Phillip he leads a group of Greeks to Jesus.
Therefore, Andrew was a great apostle. Without him, we would not have heard about Peter, the first preacher after the Ascension and the Pentecost and the author of epistles. The five thousand would have been left hungry and the group of the Greeks would have never seen Jesus.
Legend tells us that the northern part of the Black Sea had been his missionary field, for that he had been declared to be Russia’s national saint. And as we have said earlier, the patron saint of Scotland.
Andrew did not have any special talent. But within his capacity, he did his duty for the work of God. He worked silently and led people to Christ. He, with a humble, calm and modest spirit, being loyal to his call became an obedient and courageous witness for Christ. Andrew was like the humble preachers who do not serve in luxurious temples with the intention to be glorified, but they preach the salvation gospel to those who are outcasts and to those who are thirsty for the light of the truth and those who need love and care.
One of the most basic duties of a Christian is to present Christ to others. The Apostle Paul in his letter written to the Romans says: “How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:14 and 17).
Who is going to present Christ to the world?
The unbelievers, the followers of cults, the atheist?
Or we, the followers, the church and its members. The Church is the body of Christ, and we are its members. Being the members of His body, we have a holy duty to present Him to the entire world.
We may not be well known theologians, writers and preachers, but we can still silently lead one or few to Christ with a spirit of servanthood, humbleness and with loving words. The church, with all its members should be a follower of Christ and witnessing disciples, knowing their duty and leading people to Christ.
To do the work of God it is not necessary to be talented like Paul or Peter; it is enough to be like Andrew. One who knows his duty well.
Today we need Andrews.
During the centuries many believers faithfully have followed the example of Andrew and they have not considered the Gospel shameful. They have left their comfort zone; their home and have gone out to lead the lost to the glorious light. Paul says: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes”.
Those Andrews have served as preachers, evangelists, teachers, educators and faithful servants of the Lord Jesus.
Come let us testify as faithful disciples!
It is good to celebrate St. Andrew’s Day today with a special service and a luncheon to follow. But it’s not what we only ought to do. We should lift our cross and follow our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and learning from the good example of St. Andrew, let us be like him and do our part for God’s glory.
I pray that we learn from the example of St. Andrew and be ready to serve faithfully our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ with a humble spirit and be His follower.
Amen!