Pastoral Letter 53

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

Grace and peace to you all.

I am sure we are all pleased that our church doors will be reopened tomorrow after a second round of no face-to-face services. We could have reopened our doors earlier, but it was better to keep doing what we were doing during my annual leave of three weeks, and all went well. Thanks to our friend Bob Minton for his willingness to cover for me.

With further easing of restrictions, we are back to our normal services starting this Sunday and onwards, hoping that we will not have another lockdown. I am also glad to let you know that according to the new guidelines we are allowed to sing with masks on. We won’t use hymn books or have Bibles on the pews, but the words will be on the screen. Looking forward to our much-missed music from Mark.

If for any reason you are not able to join us for the service, please join us on Sunday morning for worship, light a candle, following the Order of Service. I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow. We won’t have Morning Tea tomorrow, but we will have it the following Sunday.

We will recommence Pizza/Movie Nights, starting this Tuesday 3 March 6:30 pm and onwards, every first Tuesday of the month. Also, we will resume Time4U, starting on Wednesday 10 March 10:00 am and onwards only on Wednesdays.

This year the World Day of Prayer will be held at St. Aidan’s Anglican Church Longueville, this Friday 6 March 10:00 am. The service has been prepared by the women of Vanuatu on the theme: “Build on a Strong Foundation”. Everyone is encouraged to and pray in solidarity with them on this special day. Unfortunately, I will not be able to join in this year, as I am invited to bring the message of the World Day of Prayer at Willoughby Armenian Evangelical Church at the same time.

Our dear Esther’s Memorial Service was held on Thursday 25 February at Macquarie Park Cemetery and Crematorium, with a loving memorable farewell. The Service was streamed live for those who were not able to attend. Please continue to pray for her husband Alan, sons Timothy, Christopher and Anthony, the daughter in laws and the seven grandchildren, asking for the comfort of the Holy Spirit. May her sweet memory remain with the family and the church community.

Stay well and keep praying.

Krikor

The Covenant Promise

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 and 22:1-10

There was a man who got lost in the desert. After wandering around for a long time his throat became very dry, and at about that time he saw a little shack in the distance.

He made his way over to the shack and found a water pump with a small jug of water and a note.

The note read: “Pour all the water into the top of the pump to prime it, if you do this you will get all the water you need“.

Now the man had a choice to make. If he trusted the note and poured the water in and it worked, he would have all the water he needed. If it didn’t work, he would still be thirsty, and he might die. Or he could choose to drink the water in the jug and get immediate satisfaction, but it might not be enough, and he still might die.

After thinking about it the man decided to risk it. He poured the entire jug into the pump and began to work the handle, at first nothing happened, and he got scared but he kept going and water started coming out. So much water came out that he drank all he wanted, took a shower, and filled all the containers he could find. Because he was willing to give up momentary satisfaction, he got all the water he needed.

Now the note also said: “After you have finished, please refill the jug for the next traveller.” The man refilled the jug and added to the note: “Please prime the pump, believe me it works!”

Sometimes we feel we are in similar situations. We have choices to make, difficult choices. Our lives are full of choices and every day we will find ourselves in a position to make choices. We have to choose wisely and do the right thing.

Have you ever been promised or given something and later have been asked to give it back? I am sure that you have had similar experiences in your life and had to choose to give back what you have received or were given.

That’s the kind of reaction I had when I first read the passage in the scripture, when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. What kind of a God would do that? Promises you something, and after a long wait He gives it to you and somehow later, He asks you to give it back.

Most of us tend to avoid such passages because they are confusing and disturbing. But we often gain a deeper understanding of who God is and of His relationship to us by reading these passages.

As we look at this passage more carefully, I think we will make just such a discovery.

God asked Abram to leave Haran and go to Canaan. Then He made a promise to bless him, make him into a nation and make his name great. Abram waited several years for God to fulfil His promise. Abram was 75 when God made that promise and he left his home and family and moved to a strange place because God had told him to do so. And he waited for God’s promise to come true. And he waited. And he waited.

What joy Abram had when God had made this wonderful promise, that not only would they have a child, but that their descendants would become a great nation.

When God appeared to Abram again, Abram spoke with anguish in his voice and said: “O Sovereign Lord, what can you give me, since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?“

If you have been in Abram’s shoes probably our first instinct would be to question the promise made: “Lord, You promised you would give me: a job or money or success, or such and such blessings … but where is it?”

Abram dared to voice his frustration and his doubt to God. He asked very pointedly: “How can I know that you’re going to fulfil your promise?”

In answer to that question, God told Abram to bring five animals to Him. He took the animals, and cut up the large ones, and laid the halves across from each other with a space in between. Again, Abram waited, and he fell into an exhausted sleep and the Lord revealed the future of Israel – and how Abram’s descendants will be enslaved in Egypt but also how He will free them from bondage and eventually give them the land on which Abram is standing.

Then God repeated His promise to give Abram and his descendants the lands of many of the tribes of Canaan.

And God made a Covenant with Abram (name meaning ‘exalted father) and blessed him and changed his name to Abraham (meaning ‘father of many’).

But strangely after fulfilling His promise to Abram and giving him a son, He asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son. “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about”.

After so many years Abraham was finally blessed with a son and now the same God who gave the son, asked Abraham to make him a sacrifice. Imagine yourself praying and asking God for something for many years and God gives what you have asked and then He wants it back. How will you react to such a request? You will probably get angry and reject Him. But we see that Abraham, the righteous man obeyed God and followed His instructions carefully. In this desperate situation Isaac asked him: “Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” He answered: “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering”.

I remember many years ago when I finished my pastoral visit to our Church in Alexandria, Egypt, the old pastor drove me to the train station to catch the train to Cairo. As we were arriving to the station, I told the pastor: “I hope we can find a parking spot near the station”. He said: “Don’t worry God will provide, as he did on the mountain of Moriah” and he repeated “God will provide”. When we arrived at the entrance of the station there was an empty spot of free parking near the entrance. His words resonated with me and reflected the importance of the passage to our lives.

But the task given to Abraham was a difficult one; it was not just looking for a parking spot or enjoyable sightseeing on the mountaintop, but to sacrifice his only son, who was promised to him after so many years to secure descendants and make a nation. With great pain in his heart, Abraham went through the ordeal and built the altar, arranged the wood, bound his son, laid him on the altar and took the knife to slay him. This was something impossible and unimaginable to do as a father. But he was willing to obey God; the God of love, the God of promise and the God of deliverance; a God who had made a covenant with him.

Because Abraham was willing and ready to sacrifice his son and he obeyed, God blessed him and sealed the Covenant with a solemn word of affirmation.

So, what does all this mean to us? God made a covenant with Abraham that he would have descendants as numerous as the stars, and that he would give those descendants the land of Canaan.

It tells us something of the nature of God. It tells us a great deal about how He views His promises. We can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God keeps His promises.

Every time we do Communion, we remember another covenant – the New Covenant in Jesus’ blood. A New Covenant where He became the sacrifice. His blood is God’s assurance that He keeps His promises. What is this New Covenant?

As the Lord says through Isaiah, “Though your sins were like scarlet, I will wash them as white as snow”.
God has promised us forgiveness and cleansing from sin. The blood of Christ is our assurance that He keeps His promise. We can know beyond that there is no sin we have committed that His blood cannot cleanse. The only unforgivable sin is to refuse His forgiveness.

The New Covenant also promises that those who have put their faith in Him, belong to Him forever. Once you have become God’s son or daughter, you remain His son or daughter. Not because you’re worthy, but because His love never varies, never wavers, never fails. The blood of Christ assures us that we belong to Him and He will never leave or forsake us.

Every time we have Communion, as we eat the bread and drink the cup, we are assured that we are loved, we are forgiven and we belong to God, our King and our Father. As Paul says in Philippians: “Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!”

By the Covenant Promise that God made with Abraham many years ago and was sealed by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we are assured that God is with us always. He looks over us watching with His protective eyes, promises us eternal joy and life, which is possible through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

God has made a promise, has sealed a deal and has made a Covenant with us. He only expects from us to be faithful and keep His commandments to secure our heavenly blessings.

AMEN!