Pastoral Letter 228
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.
Tomorrow we are going to celebrate Father’s Day wishing them all the best, God’s blessing and have an extended Morning Tea. Looking forward to seeing you all and especially the fathers.
I will fly to Melbourne on Friday 6 September for one night to be at the screening of the documentary “The Golden Chain of Mercy” during the Armenian Film Festival Melbourne on the Opening Night.
Next Sunday, 8 September, I have to be at the Willoughby Armenian Evangelical Church for the Memorial Service of the AMAA’s Executive Director and CEO, Mr. Zaven Khanjian, who passed away two weeks ago, and his funeral was held in Los Angeles last Saturday early morning Sydney time. The Memorial service is being organised by the Armenian Missionary Association of Australia and the Armenian Evangelical Church. Fortunately, Bob Minton will be able to cover for me. Thanks, Bob, for accepting to take the Service with a very short notice. Much appreciated.
On Sunday 15 September, the Lane Cove Community Chaplain, Liam McKenna, will take the service, while I will be away in Armenia for the screening of the documentary. Thanks, Liam, for being available.
Wednesday, 18 September is our Annual Spring Fashion Parade and for more details please talk to Jan. Everyone is invited, but mainly the women.
On Sunday 22 September, the Presbytery Chairman, Rev. Keith Garner, will visit us and deliver the message. He will stay for Morning Tea to have fellowship with us. Please note and make sure to join us.
I will be on leave 14-23 October to attend the AMAA Annual meeting in Montreal, Canada.
It has become our tradition to have John Flynn Service in October. By the request of Lane Cove Uniting Church this year the Service will be Combined Service with Lane Cove and held on Sundy 27 October at St. Columba’s. We will have with us as guest speaker Mr. Rob Floyd the National Director of Frontier Services. Following the Service, we will have Morning Tea, as well as the Great Outback Fundraiser BBQ at 12 noon. The raised funds plus the plates of the day will be donated to the Frontier Services. Please let me know if you will stay for the BBQ, as we need to give numbers for catering purposes.
Memorial Service for a previous St. Andrew’s member Gail Chritina Isaacs will be held this Tuesday 3 September 2024 at 11:00 am. I hope to see some of our church members to be present and pay our respects.
If you are not able to join us for worship, please light a candle, have a small piece of bread roll and small cup of wine and worship with us following to the attached Order of Service.
Here are some prayer points for this week:
- Pray for the sick, the poor, the homeless, refugees and those who feel lonely.
- Please continue to pray for Virginia and those who have lost loved ones.
- Pray for those who are under the pressure of financial burdens and struggling to make ends meet.
- Pray for world peace, especially for the Middle East, Palestine, Israel and Lebanon.
- Pray for the coming few months, as we welcome some guests to join or lead our Sunday Services.
- Pray for my travel plans and those who are taking the services in my absence.
Best Regards
In Christ
Krikor
MESSAGE
Proverbs 22:1-16
When God created us, He brought a certain structure to mankind, and He did this for our good. God put man into a family, which includes a Father, Mother, and Children. Each one of these is given a role to play in order that the family will function properly. The family is the basic building block of all civilization. If we allow others to destroy the role of family in our society, the future of our civilization will be in danger. We are born into a family and the father is the head of the family.
Some may question the father’s role and ask why? The answer is because God made him the head of the family, and it is his role and his responsibility to lead the family. It is not an easy job! Only Wise and Good Men can do that.
No father is perfect. Humans have not ever produced the perfect father. The best advice about raising children comes from the Bible – The Word of God. It tells us how to be wise and good fathers, if, we would read and apply it.
Here are 10 characteristics of a Good Father.
1. Love your wife
“Husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself”. Eph. 5:28
Children watch how fathers treat their mother. They watch and they learn, forming their concept of marriage. Fathers create a pattern and design for marriage with their children every day. If they see a show of disrespect for wives, they will carry that into their marriage. If they see verbal or physical abuse, daughters will expect that in their marriage. But, if they see a show of love and respect, sons will learn how to be a good father and husband. If their fathers cherish their mother as a valuable part, they will carry that model with them for the rest of their lives.
2. Don’t expect perfect children
“Fathers, do not embitter your children, or that they will become discouraged.” Col. 3:21
Father should not expect children to meet all of their expectations and to fulfil all of their goals. Many fathers try to live out their own lives through their children. They want their sons to be the football star that they never were. They want their daughters to marry and have money and success that they never achieved. Every child is different; they are not copies of the parents. It’s natural for a child to make mistakes, fall into wrong things, not do well in school and get angry. They’re not perfect like we are not perfect, so we have to accept them for who they are and instead of constantly criticizing their imperfections, acknowledge their imperfections and love them. They are not perfect, and they never will be perfect.
3. Enjoy your children
“Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him.” Psalms 127:3
Children are given to us to enjoy, not being a burden, not to avoid and ignore. In order to enjoy them we have to be with them, have fun with them and share our life with them. We should enjoy being a father and make sure they enjoy us being their father and we in turn enjoy them.
4. Listen to your children
“Let the wise listen and add to their learning.” Prov. 1:5
We should give them our undivided attention. When they have a problem, when they are worried, when they are sad and lonely, they need their father. We should get involved with our children and know what is going on in their lives. Listen to them, even when they are not talking. If they come to you with their small problems, then they will come to you with their big problems.
5. Provide for your children
“But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” 1 Tim. 5:8
We can’t be a good father and not take care of our children. I don’t mean they should get everything they want. One very smart man once wrote: “We are living in a generation when we rob our children of Wanting-Working and Waiting for material things. We have spoiled our children by giving them Instant Satisfaction”.
Too many fathers think they can buy off their children with things and thus relieve their conscience for not being the kind of father they ought to be.
6. Train your children
“Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” Eph 6:4
We must teach and train our children to respect authority in the home, or they will not respect authority at school or in the world. We have to teach them that there are boundaries, rules and regulations, a line that they will not cross. They will test us, but if we move the boundaries farther and farther out, eventually we will move them away from God’s Standard. If, we keep enlarging the boundaries they could end up the authority and we will find ourselves in submission.
Train our children to respect authority. Earn their respect, be consistent and discipline them with love or they will never respect the authority of God in their life.
7. Pray for yourself
“Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.” 1 Chron. 16:11
We don’t have all the answers to our questions, and we can’t solve all of their problems. We don’t have all the wisdom, love and patience that we need to be a good father. Without God’s help, we can never be the father that God wants us to be. We need help! We can’t do it by ourselves.
8. Pray for your children
“Evening, and morning, and noon, I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.” Psalms 55:17
We can’t be with our children all the time, but God can. We can’t protect them every place they go. But God can. We can teach them right from wrong, but we might not be there when they are put to the test. But God can.
We should pray for our children! Lift them up to God to do for them the things that we can’t. We all know that as parents that we are not perfect, and we make mistakes. We must ask for God’s help in making our children into a person that will be acceptable to Him.
9. Be a positive role model
“Train a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not turn from it.” Prov. 22:6
We are role models for our children, whether we like it or not. We know there were sometimes that we did not live up to that. They will in one way or another pattern their lives after ours. Whether we realize it or not, we all have inherited characteristics from our fathers, good or bad, and our children are inheriting some of our characteristics.
10. Prepare your children
“The Father of the righteous man has great joy; he who has a wise son delights in him.” Prov. 23:24
We are preparing our children to leave home. They will take what they have learned from us and begin applying in the real world. They say we have approximately 18 years to get them ready. Preparing them for life away from us is only part of the picture. If we have not spent our time preparing them for eternity, we have failed as a father. We can’t choose the path they will take, but we can show them the way to choose for themselves the path they will take, but we can have a Godly influence on their choice.
It’s not easy being a good father and often we will make mistakes, and all we can do is pray for forgiveness and ask God for wisdom and strength to do better. No, it’s not easy to be a wise and good father, but it’s not impossible either. It takes hard work, hard praying, and making hard decisions. We can’t do it alone. God doesn’t expect us to. God doesn’t want us to do it alone.
If, we follow these tips maybe we will receive a letter like the one this father received from his son titled:
“A Letter to Dad”
There are so many things I’d like to tell you face to face
I either like the words or fail to find the time or place.
But in this special letter, Dad, you will find at least in part
the feelings that the passing years have left within my heart.
The memories of childhood days and all that you have done
to make our home a happy place and growing up such fun.
I still recall the walks we took, the games we often played;
those confidential chats we had while resting in shade.
This letter comes to thank you, and, for needed words of praise;
the counsel and the guidance, too, that shaped my grown-up days.
No words of mine can tell you, Dad, the things I really feel;
but you must know my love for you is lasting, warm, and real.
You made my world a better place, and through the coming years;
I’ll keep these memories of you as cherished souvenirs….
What a beautiful letter, full of love, warmth, affection, love and gratitude. Every father wish to receive such a letter from his children, an expression of love, honour and respect. Words that could be cherished for ever.
May God bless all the fathers and help them to be role models for their children, expressing their love, care and support to all the members of their families.
Amen!