Pastoral Letter 41

Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,

Grace and peace to you all.

For the last three Sundays we have enjoyed our much-missed services. Tomorrow we will have our third Advent Service as well our traditional Carols Service. We have been looking forward to this time of Christmas celebrations and fellowship in the spirit of Christmas. On Christmas Day, the service will be at 9:00 am and no Morning Tea.

Upon arrival, the door rosters will check your temperature and register your name and details, as required by the government. Hymn Books will not be handed to you and you are required to sit on the allocated seats. The seats that are marked by stickers are the ones not to be used. You will not find Bibles on the pews. Now we are allowed to sing, but wearing masks is mandatory. There is no better time to have this good news. So, we will enjoy singing, starting this week during the Carols Service.

The Church Council has decided to have a COVID-safe Morning Tea following our Sunday Services. Please be aware that we are having a Christmas Eve Service at 7:30 pm, hopefully on the lawn if weather permits, followed by supper (coffee, tea, juice, mince pies and biscuits). The church premises will continue to be cleaned and sanitised weekly on Saturdays, ready for use on Sundays. After Morning Tea Each individual will be responsible for cleaning his/her seat and surrounds after morning tea. Those serving morning tea, using disposable cups, will serve tea/coffee and individually wrapped biscuits to seated members. Those rostered for Morning Tea will also clean the kitchen and washrooms afterwards. No tablecloths will be used.

All these are positive signs that we are nearing the end of the dark tunnel of the pandemic. We hope and pray that soon the vaccine will be available and life slowly goes back to normal. 

The Exodus Foundation gift and food donations will be collected this Monday 14 December, which means tomorrow will be the last chance to bring gifts and food for the traditional Christmas food and gift collection. If you can, please bring some more and make this Christmas special for the less fortunate.

Also, you can make a donation to the AMAA’s Christmas Joy Package with much needed Christmas gifts for the children of Armenian and Artsakh.

In the meantime, please continue to pray, remembering those who need our care, support and love.

Here are some prayer points for this week:

1. Pray for our Service tomorrow as well as the services during the Advent and Christmas Season.

2. Pray for Armenia and Artsakh. Though the conflict is stopped, there are many unresolved issues.

3. Pray for world peace and ask for God’s blessings.

Krikor

JOY

Rejoice, Sing and Praise

Luke 1:46-55  1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Joy is talked about widely in scripture. It is found in nearly every book of the Bible. Sometimes it occurs as a noun referring to one’s state of being. Sometimes it’s a verb referring to joy’s action, namely rejoicing.

Joy is listed as one of the fruits of the Spirit.

Joy is felt in a memory from the past. It is referred to in the present tense as Apostle Paul expresses his Joy in the writing of the epistles. And also, in the future tense in the context of fullness of Joy when we get to heaven.

The Bible tells us that Joy can be created by material pleasures and drinking, but that it is a false joy.

Joy comes through faithfulness and obedience, trials and sadness.

CS Lewis has said of Joy that “It is the serious business of Heaven” and “It is a necessity not a luxury“. And Robert Louis Stevenson has said: “To miss Joy is to miss all“.

Joy manifests in us in 3 ways.

1. When good things happen (Natural Joy). For example, a child waiting for Christmas.

2. When you have done the right thing (Moral Joy). Most people have experienced both natural Joy and Moral Joy. But Joy was intended by God to be a much deeper experience.

When one comes to Christ as saviour, we are no longer limited to experiencing merely natural and moral Joy.

3. Spiritual Joy is something the world cannot give nor understand, because it comes in the form of an embrace from God.

When we are going through dark times. He is there.

When we cannot feel him. He is there.

When we least expect Him. He is there.

When we feel we are all alone. He is there.

When we feel like giving up, he is there, ready to embrace us so that we are able to experience Joy.

Consider Mary.

A virgin engaged to an older man named Joseph. She is from a culture not like ours. It was a big shame for a young righteous girl to be found pregnant.

What would people think? The parents would be put to shame. Joseph would be put to shame. So, she is sent away to be with Elizabeth, where she could be hidden in isolation. Imagine Mary’s turmoil as she goes to Elizabeth. She must have little joy at the thought of having to defend herself. But the meeting was not an embarrassing or a devastating event. Rather the Holy Spirit came down and filled Elizabeth. The Baby in Elizabeth’s womb leaped with Joy. God embraced them and brought Joy in a way that only He can do.

The birth of Jesus is, no doubt, the most joyous and celebrated of all holidays in our culture. Families get together, gifts are exchanged, and a good time is usually had by all. Even people who know or believe little or nothing about Jesus celebrate His birth. Most people think of Christmas as a singular event.

Jesus’ coming has deep roots in the religious and cultural tradition. He had been expected for a long time. As a nation the Jews had been hoping and praying for His appearance for hundreds of years. The expectation was always there, but crises came and went and no Messiah. We should also note that false messiahs came and went and still will come.

There were many widely divergent concepts of what the Messiah would be like when He came. For the most part their hopes and dreams tended toward a political and religious “strong man,” a warrior-like messiah who would destroy the enemies of Israel, over through the ruling empires and restore Israel to the power and splendour of the reign of David. Only the prophet Isaiah came close with his “suffering servant” who would be a light to all nations (Isaiah 53).

As we read today in the scriptures that an angel appeared to a teenage girl named Mary and informed her that she would bear a son, who was to be called “Jesus.” The same angel informed Mary of the pregnancy of Elizabeth, her kin. So, in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, Mary went to visit Elizabeth. When Mary greeted Elizabeth, the baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. The unborn baby was prophetically aware of the unborn Messiah. The future mother of the forerunner then recognized the future mother of the Messiah and said to Mary: “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” This was a joyous occasion and a time to glorify God. These two women shared a secret that the world has waited long to know. As they celebrated in what they have come to know, Mary spoke a song of praise that has more to do with her unborn son than herself.

It is Mary’s song. We call it “The Magnificat”, from its Latin name. The song thanks and praises God for including her in this unfolding divine drama. As Mary sings of the power of God, we can read what she says to be the power to be exercised by her unborn son. It is the statement of liberation theology in the Bible:

He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant; He has done great things for her; shown mercy; He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, He has lifted up the lowly; He has filled the hungry with good things; He has sent the rich away empty and has helped His servant in remembrance of His mercy, according to the promise He made to their ancestors, to Abraham and to His descendants forever.

All these He has done and now declares that He is doing more for the salvation of His people.

He is coming to them as promised, through the Son, the Christ, and the Saviour.

How many of us need to experience that kind of Joy in our life today?

We may be struggling through a difficult situation.

We are uncertain of the future.

We are troubled in spirit.

We have been struggling in life.

We or members of our family are going through a difficult time.

May be facing family crisis, sickness, depression, etc.

My message today is simple.

Let’s open up our hearts and let God embrace us and bring Spiritual Joy.

A joy like no other.

A joy not from things that happen to us.

Nor from our sense of well-being.

But from a God who wants to carry us and let us know He is in control.

This joy becomes the reason for our praises and singing to glorify God for who He is.

Amen.