Pastoral Letter 36
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
We should be grateful that our prayers have been answered and God willing soon we will be able to reopen our church doors for worship. Having some more relief with the COVID restrictions easing, the Church Elders and the Council met last Wednesday for an exceptionally long meeting and finalised the details to recommence our Sunday Services. Sunday 22 November will be our first service after several months as a trial just for us, the members of our congregation, and the following Sunday, 29 November, we will formally start worshiping together, inviting our neighbours to join us to celebrate St. Andrew’s Day. The Church Elders and Council will work on the COVID-safety plan in the next two weeks and make all the necessary arrangements and precautions. These two services will be followed through December during Advent season taking us to Christmas and New Year. Sunday 22 November being our first Sunday Service in the church after long months, we have agreed to include COVID safe Communion in the Order of Service and resume our Communion Services (COVID safe), as usual on the first Sunday of each month from December onwards. Please be aware and come prepared to share the Lord’s Table in prayer. We will prepare a roster to implement all the COVID safety requirements. Unfortunately, we will not have Morning Tea following our Sunday Service on 22 November, but 29November, being St. Andrew’s Day, we will have COVID-safe Morning Tea and we will let you know if we will have Morning Tea in the following Sundays. If not, most probably we will make Christmas Service/Services exception. We will keep you posted. Let’s look ahead at 22 November with great anticipation. In the meantime, please join the other members tomorrow morning in worship, following the Order of Service, please light a candle.
In the absence of the AGM, last week you received the four reports: Council’s, Elders’, Treasurer’s and mine. These reports were for your information and approval. Brian moved to accept all the reports and it was seconded by Virginia. We are sure that all agree to accept them.
Last week I shared with you the good news that our application to the Lane Cove Council’s Sustainability Small Grant Program for installing new 16.5 KW Solar Panels on the Hall roof, was approved. Two weeks have passed from the brief period given for public comments and we hope there will be no objections and then the funds will be released to implement the project. You can find this on Lane Cove Council’s website, Notice section. Interestingly the local council has approved two applications only. Yep!
The situation is still intense in Artsakh/Armenia and fierce fighting continues, as the Azeri military backed by Turkey and hired mercenaries continue their aggression, launching attacks but facing strong resistance. The numbers of the casualties on both sides are going up and heavy artillery bombardment continues. Thousands of Armenians have fled their homes, crossed the border into Armenia and found refuge there, where humanitarian aid from all over the world is being provided. We hope and pray that soon peace be established and the people of Artsakh return to their home.
The AMAA is doing everything possible to raise funds. You can help by donating to the Artsakh Appeal. We will be grateful if you donate and help us to provide much needed assistance. Or you can purchase one or more Raffle tickets, and as a reward to have the chance to win a diamond ring in the value of $10,000. Each ticket costs $100. Please consider it as a donation and all the proceeds will go to the appeal. Also, as Christmas is in the corner, this year again you can remember the children of Armenia and Artsakh and take part in the Christmas Joy Package program with your donations. Despite the ongoing war in Artsakh and Armenia, AMAA’s dedicated volunteers have begun preparation to bring ‘Christmas Joy’ to the children of Armenia and Artsakh. For more information see the attached flyer.
Continue to pray and remember the following points in your prayers:
- Pray as we prepare to reopen our doors for worship on 22 November.
- Pray for the week, the poor, the needy and the seek.
- Pray for Armenia and Artsakh and the suffering people.
4. Pray for world peace and ask for God’s blessings.
Krikor
We Will Serve the Lord!
Joshua 24:14-24:15
“If serving the Lord is undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord!” (Jos. 24:15)
This is a decision and beautiful affirmation of faith by Joshua. A decision, which puts God first. In other words, it clearly affirms first and foremost to love the Lord and worship Him. This verse expresses the heart desiring of a great spiritual leader.
These simple and clear words mean if everything goes down the stream, you decide to go up the stream. Or doing the right thing, when everyone is doing the wrong. The church should do the right thing, when everyone else is doing the wrong thing. If everyone keeps silent, the church should speak the truth. When crimes are committed, people are abused, persecuted and killed, a nation aggressively attacking another, using illegal weapons and bombing places of worship, schools and hospitals, the church should stand with the victims and condemn those who do evil acts.
Serving God means to be faithful to Him and do the right thing. Serving requires determination; it is giving, not losing, it is caring and loving and not being indifferent. Naturally, there are many challenges when we decide to serve the Lord wholeheartedly.
When the children of Israel moved into the Promised Land, they were getting ready to set up their homes as permanent places rather than living in tents that would be taken down and moved every few days or weeks. Their leader, Joshua, issued a strong challenge to them. As he prepared the children of Israel for the land of Canaan, he made it very clear his priority and said unto all the people:
“Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve; … as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD!”
Here is the story of a man, who made a decision that not only changed his life, but it changed the life of a nation and it changed the destiny of a people. From the beginning of his leadership Joshua was willing to stand by his faith to serve God. It is clear that he took the lead in his life and household.
There are many choices that we can make; however, one that is absolutely vital is to serve the Lord. We can choose to have our false gods, or we can choose to walk with the Almighty God.
Life is a series of choices. We make choices every day. We chose, when to wake up, what to wear, where to go, how to act, how to respond, whom to love, whom to hate, what to say and what not to say. The list goes on. Almost every day and even every hour and every minute, we make choices. It is important always to make the right choice to accomplish our task and do the right thing.
We know some decisions have consequences and others very positive outcomes. But our choices determine the character, direction, fate and eternity of our life. God has given us the power of choice. Thus, learning what to choose, and how to choose, may be the most important knowledge we will ever receive.
Of all the choices we face in our lives, there is one that is of eternal consequence. It is a choice to know God or ignore God. And the writer of Proverbs warns us over and over about depending upon man’s wisdom rather than seeking God’s wisdom when making decisions. Proverbs 28:26 says: “He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe.”
Our life isn’t an accident, as some say and believe. They are convinced that it is not their choice to be in this life. Actually, it was the choice of their parents. Though it seems that it was by the choice of others that we exist, but we should know that we have a destiny, one that only we can complete. We all were born for a purpose and with a purpose. Everyone on this planet was born to fulfil a God given purpose. When we discover God’s purpose for our lives, we can be confident and persuaded that we will succeed. Therefore, anyone who chooses to ignore God, has made the wrong choice and hence he is not wise.
To decide not to choose is a choice. In other words— to decide not to choose good is always a choice to choose evil. We have within us the power to choose how we will react to any given situation.
Some people today do not wish to accept the responsibility for their actions. They blame society. They blame the environment. They blame the government. They blame circumstances. We can’t blame it all on somebody else. We must accept the blame ourselves for our part. Society is made up of individuals. If we have social injustice, we’re the ones who are wrong; we’re part of it.
Let’s accept our responsibility to do something about it. Let’s do what is right and choose the good instead of the bad. Let’s do good for others and help. We, as the church are called to do good, love God and love our neighbour as ourselves.
One of the most beautiful things about life is that we can make our lives better and influential by our right choices.
No matter what situation we are in, we have a choice.
No matter how bad things are, we have a choice.
No matter what we think we can or cannot do, we have a choice.
No matter what happens around us, we can do the right thing on all aspects of life.
Albert Einstein said: “God did not create evil. Just as darkness is the absence of light, evil is the absence of God.”
The end result of our lives here on earth will always be the total sum of the choices we make while we are here. When God commanded Adam not to take from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, He was showing him what choice he should make. God wanted him to choose life, not death.
Much later, when God brought Israel out of Egypt, He gave them a similar choice: “I have set before you, life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.” (Deut. 30:19).
If we look closely at the passage in Joshua 24, we can summarise as follows:
1. What God did
– Brought His people out of the land of slavery.
– Performed great signs and miracles.
– Protected the people during the journey and He kept His presence with them all the time.
– Drove out all the nations and the gave the promised land, the land of milk and honey.
2. If we do not serve the Lord
– The result will be a disaster.
– We will be left out and miss to enjoy His blessings.
– We will not be His people and He will not be our God.
– We will not have the chance to enjoy eternity with Him.
– We will lose hope and perspective about life
3. We will serve the Lord
– We keep His commandments and obey to His rule.
– We be His people, people who love and do His will.
– We do our part and be His witnesses.
– We put all we have for His service.
4. How we can do this?
– By throwing away foreign gods and yield to the Lord.
– By serving the Lord and doing what He says.
– By make the right choice and making the right decisions.
– By obeying His commands and following the example of our great Lord, the Good Shepherd, Jesu.
That day Joshua and the people of Israel made a decision. A decision that changed their lives, even if that was for a brief time. They decided to serve the Lord and do the right thing.
A decision to serve the Lord demands integrity, dedication and discipline.
Joshua said to people: “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods that your forefathers served beyond the River and in Egypt and serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:14).
A decision to follow God means a decision formed with a commitment of “sincerity and truth.”
This means to serve the Lord wholeheartedly, to serve with faithfulness. We need to be aware that our decisions have consequences, good or bad, not only upon ourselves, but also upon other people. A selfish decision affects our families in negative ways.
Likewise, a decision to serve God influences our families positively. Just like Joshua had provided a good example for his family to follow God, every believer ought to make a similar statement to the family the Lord has given him. Though Joshua could set the example, he could not make the choice for the people. The people had to choose for themselves. “As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD!” Jesus said …., “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6).
Without spiritual enlightenment into the divine truth of Christ, all other knowledge ultimately means nothing.
“It is never too late to do the right thing.”
“It is our decisions, and not our position, that determine our destiny.”
Jesus said: “He who is not with me is against me, and he who is not gather with me scatters.” (Matt. 12:30).
If we do not crown Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we crucify Him. There is no middle ground. And the little decisions that we make determine our destiny.
It’s choice – not chance – that determines our destiny.
We are invited and even challenged as individuals, as believers and most importantly as a church to make the right decision. We have to decide to be loving and caring, especially to those who are in pain and suffering; because of a disaster, broken family, job loss, loss of a dear family member, being under constant threat, being robed from freedom of religion, freedom of living in peace and act with a conscience.
Joshua makes a choice, a great choice for himself and his family. He chose to serve God and challenged his people to do the same.
We have the same challenge, to chose wisely, chose the Lord and serve Him with all our heart, mind and soul. We are challenged to be the agents of God, who do and act as God would have done. After all we are created in His image and we are His children.
Let us make our minds and let us say with Joshua:
If serving the Lord is undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD!” (Jos. 24:15)
What will be our decision?
What are we going to do?
What path are we going to choose?
Are we willing to accept the challenge put before us?
Are we willing to serve the Lord and be a faithful people of God?
Are willing to choose Christ, as our Lord, Saviour, the chief and the commander?
We should answer to all these questions.
The choice is ours’, no anyone else’s.
Let us choose for ourselves this day whom we will serve.
Let each on of say today: “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord!“
Amen!