Pastoral Letter 55

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

Warm greetings to you all in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

This Sunday marks the “Anniversary” since we had our last Service in 2020 before locking down our premises on Sunday 15 March 2020. I remember it was a difficult decision that we made as a congregation, without knowing what we should expect in the rest of the year. Beside the few Sundays from Mid-November to Mid-December 2020, we worshiped at home following the Order of Service sent to us via email or hard copies, enjoyed the music, the singing and read the message. I am sure you agree with me that all worked well. But we missed the fellowship with each other.

This Sunday will be the third week since we have reopened our church doors for Sunday Worship Service for the second time (and hopefully we will not be forced to lock again) and resumed our midweek programs. Time4U on Wednesdays and Movie/Pizza Night once a month on the first Tuesday of each month. I am glad that we welcomed some of our regulars at Time4U and we had new familiar faces. We enjoyed the morning tea and the company and shared a few things, before watching two episodes of Back Roads. Similarly, we had more numbers than what we expected for our first Movie Night since the last one we had in February 2020. If you are free, please join the Time4U weekly gathering, as well as the monthly Movie Night. The next Movie Night will be on Tuesday 6 April and we are going to watch “Beneath the Hill 60”. All our programs run within the restrictions of our COVID-safe plans.

This Sunday, I will be at the Willoughby Armenian Evangelical Uniting Church as the Armenian Missionary Association of Australia Celebrates its 20^th Anniversary with a special AMAA Sunday Worship Service. As the President and the CEO of the Association, I will present the Report and preach. Thanks to the Church Council and Elders for allowing me to join the Armenian congregation on this special day. Many thanks to our dear friend Bob Minton, who will be covering for me, leading our service here at Longueville.

If for any reason you are not able to join us for the service tomorrow, please join us on Sunday morning for worship, light a candle, following the Order of Service.

God willing, we will have our next Congregational Meeting on Sunday 28 March after the Service. Please note that we will not have Morning Tea. Please plan to join us to receive the reports and discuss matters concerning our future plans, which will include progress on the Vital Ministry Consultation Report and the next steps.

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 for the services during the Lent season.

2. Pray for the Armenia Missionary Association of Australia as they celebrate their 20^th Anniversary and continue to support those sisters and brothers in Christ, who need support and assistance.

3. Pray for church programs, as we go back to our weekly programs.

4. Pray for those who are vulnerable and going through difficult and turbulent times.
3. Pray for world peace and ask for God’s blessings.

Please let me know if you have any prayer requests and we will pray together.

Krikor

Message

“I Love You” (God)

John 3: 14-21

Let us pray.

O Lord, we pray, speak in the calming of our minds and in the longings of our heart. Speak, O Lord, for Your servants listen.  Amen.

Have you ever complained about something – and suddenly realised you have so much to be thankful for?

Whingeing is a human trait that sucks life from relationships.

It’s no fun being around people who can only see the negative.

Are you a person who sees the world as a “glass half empty or glass half full”?

Our Old Testament reading for today (Numbers 21:4-9) tells of the Israelites – many in number – whingeing to Moses about food and water – and being lost in the heat and dust of the desert.

We are reminded that they had been following Moses around in the wilderness searching for the Promised Land for years since they fled from the Pharaoh’s army in Egypt. They were tired and hungry and thirsty and grumpy.  They were fed up! So, they grumbled about God and Moses.

The passage tells us God responds to their whingeing and unfaithfulness by sending poisonous snakes among them. Apparently, snakes are common in this region –

So, you might ask – Did God really do this?

Or did they find themselves in snake city and concluded that God must have sent them as punishment?

Guilt has a way of making us think like that.

However, we might look at it – they stopped complaining and pleaded for Moses to pray to God for protection (from the snakes). Well God hears Moses’ prayers and tells him to make a bronze serpent on a stick – and to hold it high so that all who gazed on it were healed of snake bite. 

They were saved from certain death. They had no way of knowing that generations later the Son of God would also be raised up – on a rough timber cross – for all the people to see – so that humankind would be saved. 

This is what the writer of John’s Gospel has in mind in today’s Gospel reading when we read how God lifted up Jesus the Son of Man so that ‘whoever who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life’ [John 3:14-15].

We also hear probably the best-known verse from the Bible – John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life’.

But let’s dig deeper for the rest of the story.

Over many hundreds of years that bronze serpent on a stick so fascinated the Israelites that it became an idol – an object of pagan worship kept as a sacred relic in the Great Temple of Jerusalem.

They gave it a name – ‘Nehushtan’ – and if you wanted to be healed of anything – all you had to do was go and worship the snake on a pole.

How ironic that an object that was originally intended to heal the people – and remind them of God’s faithfulness – and to stop complaining about small things – and to be grateful for blessings and the things that really matter – like freedom from slavery – that such an object became an idol to be worshipped – instead of worshipping God Himself.

Hundreds of years later – the Nehushtan was absorbed into Greek mythology – and became known as the Rod of Asclepius – a god associated with healing and medicine.

Today the single snake on a pole remains a symbol of modern medicine and health care and is featured on the logo for Australian Medical Association.

But back in 2 Kings 18:4 we read how King Hezekiah – around 680 BC – cleansed the Temple – and smashed the sacred relics – including the bronze serpent pole that Moses made – and ordered the people to stop messing around with idols – and to worship the true God.

It reminds us today to be clear about who God really is – where our priorities should be – to not set up idols to be worshipped – such as heroes or personalities or religious rituals and church traditions. We must keep our focus on God – not on things that don’t really matter.

Even that classic verse John 3:16 needs to be carefully examined.  For many Christians, this verse has become an end in itself. Read it – believe it and you will be saved – done and dusted. Martin Luther called John 3:16 “the Gospel in a verse” – but as amazing as it is – that verse itself isn’t enough to save – it isn’t enough on its own to show that we have a mature grasp of the Christian life.

God can’t be reduced to a formula. 

The verse in itself won’t bring healing or salvation.

We need a real and personal encounter with our loving Creator – through the person of Jesus – to make our faith come alive. And our response to that encounter must be one of loving God in return – and striving to please God – to obey His commands – and to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

A cross on a necklace or on a wall – or on an altar in a beautiful church – can only ever be a symbol – a reminder of Jesus’ sacrifice.

As wonderful and priceless as that gift of salvation is – earned through Jesus’ death is – there’s much more to the Jesus story.

Jesus said, [Mark 8:34].  “Take up your cross and follow me”.

Jesus isn’t a statue – or a static icon in a church!

Jesus is alive! 

It’s only when we too live in the Spirit of Jesus – that we can be Jesus’ hands and feet in the world.

It’s in our relationships that we can reveal the face and the heart of Jesus to others.

When we take up our cross – we are sharing in the work of Jesus.  And yes – it is a costly decision – It must be made every day – every moment – over and over again – it is not a once only decision.

A favourite guiding verse of scripture that speaks to me is from the Old Testament – Micah 6:8 which asks: “What is good? And what does the Lord require of you – but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” 

As a verse for Christian daily life – Micah 6:8 is right up there.

Another powerful passage is (Mark 12:28-31) Jesus’ summary of the 10 Commandments: 

‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The Second is this. You shall love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other commandments greater than these’

May these passages never become for us empty words to be recited blandly on a Sunday – or idols to be worshipped only with our lips.

It’s not enough to believe only with our minds and lips that salvation comes from doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with God — and from loving God and our neighbour.

We must live these words every day – with conviction and passion – as though our life depends on it.

The snake on a stick is a powerful reminder that even good things—and good people—can become idols in our lives.

Our praise, worship, and adoration are to be directed only to God. Nothing else is good enough.

The letters P.S. at the end of a letter or email stand for postscript – meaning an afterthought – something in additional to a letter.

When God gave us the 10 Commandments – I like to think that at the end of those 10 instructions for living – carved in stone – delivered to Moses on Mt. Sinai – there was a P.S.

“I love you” –

Just like in that classic 1967 Beatles hit. “All you need is love”.

“There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done.

Nothing you can sing that can’t be sung.

Nothing you can say, but you can learn how to play the game.

It’s easy.

Nothing you can make that can’t be made.

No one you can save that can’t be saved.

Nothing you can do, but you can learn how to be you in time.

It’s easy.

All you need is love.

All you need is love.

All you need is love, love. Love is all you need”.

May the cross always be for us a reminder that points us to God – a symbol of God’s unending love for us – and the great price Jesus paid so that we might have life and healing.

For God so loved the world….

AMEN!

Bob Minton