Pastoral Letter 221
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
Grace and peace to you all in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
The UCA 17th Assembly, officially was opened on Thursday 11 July at 7:30 pm at St. Stephen’s Uniting Church in the City by the Opening Worship Service and Installation of the new President Rev. Charissa Suli. I was asked to take part in the Service and to do one of the Readings in Armenian. I was one of the more than 25 people who took part in the service, beside the big choirs, bands and musicians. The church was fully packed, and the overflow gathered in the Ferguson Hall to watch live on the screen. The theme of the 17th Assembly is “Threads of Love, Weaving Christ’s Love Across Cultures and Boundaries“. Inspired by the honoured Tongan tradition of weaving the fala (mat), the theme speaks to our God-given call to weave Christ’s love into the world by building bridges across social and cultural divides. The message of Rev. Suli was based on Paul’s Letter to the Colossians (3:14) spotlighting the transformative power of Christ’s love as it overcomes cultural boundaries and unites us in God’s service. She was also inspired by the story of the Samaritan woman’s encounter with Jesus at the well in which Jesus traverses cultural and religious divides to engage in deep theological dialogue with the woman, who in turn is transformed by and becomes a beacon of Christ’s love. Carissa’s hope is that the theme inspires us to acknowledge and honour our shared humanity in God our creator, and to act upon our common duty to shape a world that mirrors the love and unity Christ has for us all.
Now, the final count down! We are just three weeks away from our traditional annual Market Morning, which will be held on Saturday 3 August 2023, from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm. It’s time to bring in our donations if we have more and let people around us know that we are happy to receive goods for Market Morning. Please be available the week commencing on Monday 29 July for setting up the hall. Our aim this year is “everything should go!”.
Please save and put in your diaries two important dates in August. The Documentary “The Golden Chain of Mercy” will be World Premiered in Sydney, in Event Cinemas, Top Ryde, on the Opening Gala Night of the Armenian Film Festival, Friday 16 August 2024 6:30 pm. Then it will be rescreened, again in Top Ryde, on Sunday 25 August 2024 3:00 pm (time to be confirmed).
Please continue to pray for those who are going through difficult and tough times, seeking God’s presence, help and healing and let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points. Especially remember in your prayers Virginia, Frank and the family.
If you are not able to join us tomorrow for worship, please light a candle and worship with us following to the attached Order of Service.
Here are some prayer points for this week:
- Pray for the UCA 17th Assembly as the decision-making body to act with the wisdom of God.
- Pray the new President Rev. Charissa Suli.
- Pray for the sick, the poor, the refugees and those who feel lonely.
- Pray for world peace, especially for the Middle East, Palestine and Israel.
- Pray for the days ahead and the guidance of the Presbytery leaders for the future of our church.
Best Regards
In Christ
Krikor
MESSAGE
Praises, to the King of Glory
Psalm 24
Psalm 24 is a Psalm celebrating the return of the Ark to Jerusalem after 50 years. It is a praise song of David sang at this occasion, David even danced and worshiped God.
We come to church every Sunday morning to worship God, and we refer to our services as “Sunday Morning Worship Service“. But sadly, to most people worship and going to church is the same thing.
Going to church is very important and there are many who love to go to church, and they go. Some years ago, I heard the NRL commentator Ray Warren talking about an important Sunday Footy game and encouraging people to go early as there will be big crowds. He said if you are going to mow your lawn, mow early and if you are going to church go early and don’t miss the game. For Ray going to church is something people do as a habit, but not necessarily worshiping God.
Church is a safe place from the outside world where we can put away all our troubles and focus on something more pleasant for a little while and enjoy some good fellowship with people who share a similar belief. There we can laugh, sing, cry, and enjoy each other’s company during Morning Tea. There we can find comfort, encouragement and feel good about ourselves. There we can pray for those who need God’s care.
But worship is more than going to church as a habit or even to say a prayer, as some do hope that God listens and responds according to their wish. Worship is the act of coming into the presence of God the Lord Almighty for the main reason of exalting Him and praising His name. Sadly, many times those who go to church leave the same way as when they entered. Nothing changes. They sit on the pews unmoved and unemotional because for them attendance and worship are the same thing. Real worship happens when people stand in God’s presence to express humility, respect, adoration, gratitude and love for Him.
To worship God, we must:
1. Focus on God
In the first few lines of this Psalm, we see that David’s focus was God and only God. It was very clear for him that everything in the world belongs to God – the earth, everything in it, everyone who lives in it. God made the world, and He preserves and sustains it. Knowing that it all belongs to God should help us to see life from a different perspective. If we focus on praising God as the Creator of everything then our worship will be different. We will have the same excitement that David had. David acted like a little boy trying to please God the Father.
David understood the glorious majesty of Almighty God. He had respect for God, and he loved his God.
God must be the focus of our worship.
2. Be prepared
We must be prepared to worship God. To stand before God and worship, we should be spiritually prepared. We should be right with God; our attitudes and actions should be acceptable to God. We should have clean hands and pure hearts as David says. We should be willing to accept His authority, obey His commands, respect Him and respect our fellow man. This is clearly outlined in the words of Jesus, when He said, “Love your God and your neighbour”.
We cannot worship the Lord if we aren’t right with Him; our sins should be confessed and dealt with. We should be pure in heart, body and soul. We must prepare ourselves spiritually every day. We must read and study God’s word daily. We must set aside time daily to be alone with the Lord in prayer.
We must be prepared spiritually to worship, and we must focus on God when we worship.
3. Desire to worship
We should have the desire to worship Him. Without the desire there is no worship. Worshiping God should not be out of duty, but rather we should have the longing and the want to worship. Without this factor we cannot focus on God and cannot be truly prepared. We should open the doors of our hearts. With shut doors it is not possible to worship God. David’s reference to the gates makes this clear. Here we see a reference to the gates of the Temple which were beautifully decorated, sculptured and designed to provide protection. David here suggests that there was a desire to open these gates so that the great and mighty King of Glory could come in. In the letter to Corinthians Paul said: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 6:19)
To worship God, we must have a desire for Christ, the King of Glory, to dwell within us. We must have a desire to open the door to our heart and allow Him to enter in and fill us. We must desire to worship the King of Glory.
We have plenty of reasons to worship God.
The most important of all of them is that we love Him.
If we love Him, He will be the focus of our worship, we will prepare ourselves spiritually to worship Him and the desire of our hearts will be to worship Him.
We need to understand that worship is not just going to church, but it is experiencing God through a personal relationship with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Worship is important to God, so much so that out of the 10 commandments, the very first one deals with the subject of worship. Exodus 20:3 says: “You shall have no other gods before me”. In the Old Testament, we see the importance of worship in the lives of the people of God. Abraham worshipped (Gen. 22:5), Jacob worshipped (Heb. 11:21), Moses worshipped (Ex. 34:8), Joshua worshipped (Joshua 5:14), and of course David the king worshipped (2 Sam. 12:20). Worship was an integral part of the lives of God’s people throughout the Old Testament.
We find in the NT that worship is still important. Jesus told the woman at the well that God is seeking for worshippers. John 4:23 say: “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks”. The Greek word used here for seek is desire, or to demand. God is looking for and demanding true, sincere worship. The disciples and the early church worshipped the Lord. And the same we should do as the people of God.
Worship must begin with a right relationship with God.
Worship must include a respectful reverence to God.
Worship must offer a relevant response.
Let us worship the Lord Almighty the King of Glory.
Amen!