Pastoral Letter 77

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

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

This passing week was meant to be a busy week for St. Andrew’s, as we were supposed to set up the Memorial Hall and our premises for our Annual Market Morning, under the guidance of our diligent and hardworking organiser, Virginia. Sadly, the hall is empty, no cake stall, no jam and pickle stall, no White Elephant stall, no toys and games stall, no good quality corner, no book stall, no, plant stall, no sausage rolls, no smell of the sausage sizzle or the Armenian kebab. This is the second year in a row that we are missing the fun and the joy of raising record breaking money. Hopefully we will have a Mini Market Morning towards the end of the year or have the best ever Market Morning in 2022. Let’s pray and hope.

With patience and persistence, we continue to pray to God for each other and for all those who need our prayers in these challenging times, as the lockdown goes on till the end of the month. We are not sure that, even if we have some easing in the restrictions, we will be able reopen our doors for Sunday Services and weekly activities. Oh, how we miss our Services, get togethers and our fellowship. All the churches and the people are challenged with a strange feeling of stress at the moment, which I believe is the result of being able to open our doors and recommence our activities at the start of the year hoping that we were back to normal. But sadly, it was not the case. But be rest assured that we will come over this with God’s help and by supporting each other at this difficult time.

We will have two more sessions for the Lower North Shore Uniting Churches Study Series on Zoom, based on Dr. Kenneth Bailey’s book “The Good Shepherd – A Thousand Year Journey from Psalm 23 to the New Testament”, on Wednesdays 11 and 25 August. The short one-hour sessions include a 30-minute video followed by a 30-minute discussion.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://uca-nswact.zoom.us/j/94813548762

Meeting ID: 948 1354 8762

Ivy is much better this week, and she is home now. She needs to go to the hospital daily for physiotherapy.

I am glad to let you know that we have received a Thank You Letter from the sponsored Demirchian family in Artsakh (attached you will find the letter in Armenian, with English translation). A big thank you to those who have contributed to sponsor them. With a few more donations we will be able to achieve our goal.

On a sad note, Rev. Annette Hawken, who served as a Minister of the Word at Gladesville-Boronia Park in our Presbytery from 2008 to 2013 and then in Keiraview from 2014 to 2020, died on Thursday 5 August surrounded by her family in her family home. She is survived by her husband, Rev. Nigel Hawken, their four children, a daughter in law and mother. Rev. Nigel Hawken (Young Nigel as Bette Graham used to call him), was one of the regular casual preachers here at St. Andrew’s 2009-2013.

As the restrictions go on, please pray and join the rest of the members on Sunday morning for worship from home following the attached Order of Service, light a candle, sing along to the hymns chosen, and read the Message.

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 and hope soon to return to our face-to-face services and weekly activities.

2. Pray for those who are under stress because of the COVID-19 restrictions and are struggling financially.

5. Pray for Rev. Nigel Hawken and the family as they mourn the loss of their beloved.

Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.

Krikor

MESSAGE

Everlasting Life for the Children of Light

Ephesians 4:17 – 5:2 – John 6:35-59

The theme or the topic of our message today, suggest a category or a certain group of people, in this case the people of God, who are supposed to be Children of Light, as Paul presents what the real identity should be of the one who believes in Christ. And the reward of being in that group or category.

But we should be careful not to confuse these two, with the concept of just having a name or some clothing we put on. Here are two illustrations that shed light on what I just said.

Naturally a good set of clothes makes all the difference to our appearance. But it is just some clothing that becomes an external change and nothing to do with the inner change we need to be totally transformed. This is similar to a story about a Methodist church trying to get a man to attend Church services on Sundays, but he never did. “Why don’t you come?” the minister asked, and the man finally admitted it was because he didn’t have proper clothes. So, a member of the congregation took him to a clothing store and got him a nice suit, shirt, tie and shoes. But on the following Sunday, he still did not show up. So, the minister visited him again and asked him why he didn’t come. “When I got dressed up in my new suit,” the man explained, “I looked so good, I decided to go to the Episcopal church.”

Sometimes people think, to believe in God and to commit themselves to Him through Jesus Christ, is like putting on a set of clothes to be presentable and acceptable by others. Sadly, they miss the real meaning of becoming followers of Christ and accepting Him as their personal Lord and Saviour.

Also, we should note that being a Christian is not just changing our name, because the name is not just an expression by which we are called, but it is our real identity.

Several centuries before Christ, Alexander the Great came out of Macedonia and Greece to conquer the Mediterranean world. On one of his campaigns, Alexander received a message that one of his soldiers had been continually, and seriously, misbehaving and thereby shedding a bad light on the character of all the Greek troops. And what made it even worse was that this soldier’s name was also Alexander. When the commander learned this, he sent word that he wanted to talk to the misbehaving soldier in person. When the young man arrived at the tent of Alexander the Great, the commander asked him: “What is your name?” The reply came back: “Alexander, sir.” The great conqueror looked him straight in the eye and said forcefully: “Soldier, either change your behaviour or change your name.”

I don’t know which one he changed, but this story has a lesson for each of us. When we call ourselves Christians, we are identifying with Jesus Christ, and we become Children of Light. When we wear a cross, or Christian t-shirts, or put ICTHUS (ɪkθəs – an image of a fish used as a symbol of Christianity) on our cars, we are being a witness for Him. We are being identified with the name of Christ.

If we are the Children of Light, those who believe in God and accept Jesus as the Heavenly Bread, who came down to give us life and bring us out of the darkness to the light, the light of God and make us His own people and promised us to give not just a new set of clothing, but Eternal Life or Everlasting Life. As we continue reading in the gospel of John chapter six, where Jesus proclaims that He is the Bread of life, which gives security, changes our destiny and gives us a new identity.

The Word of God reminds us of the fallen nature of humans. As we read in the Old Testament, God liberated the people of Israel from slavery in the fields and swamps and deserts of Egypt. Moses and Aaron led them out after God worked multiple signs and wonders to convince Pharaoh of the injustice of their slavery. And in the face of Egyptian attack, God parted the waters and led them without wetting their feet across the sea to a new land. And when they complained of hunger, He sent a flock of quail one evening, and a gift of some kind of ‘bread’ – ‘mana’ every morning they were journeying. But was that enough? Again and again, they complained, and after they were reminded of the divine law by the gift of the ten commandments, they violated it again and again. Gift or punishment–it didn’t seem to matter. They continually went their own way and disregarded the will of God. The Old Testament is full of these stories.

When Jesus, the ultimate gift of the Father to us humans, appeared, did the human response change?

No. Not at all.

We read in the gospel of Luke chapter four that on the Sabbath day Jesus went into the synagogue in His hometown, and after they heard Him preach on the kingdom of God and after reading from the prophet Isaiah said: “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”, they drove Him out of the synagogue up to a cliff and tried to throw Him off it. It didn’t take very long for opposition to God’s Son to join with the Sadducees and Pharisees. Ultimately, despite all His wonders, and the clear signs that He was the promised Messiah, they plotted with the Roman ruler to have Him executed.

The questions we ask today are:

“Are we now the people God intended in the beginning, a priestly people, a holy people, a light on the mountain that attracts unbelievers to faith in Christ?”

“Is the church really representing the body of Christ; one body with one mind and one heart?”

“Are the ‘Christians’ the Children of Light who have received everlasting life?

Not quite!

Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus: “Put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:22-24). In Paul’s time, he had to battle conflicts in many of his congregations and remind his churches to keep the commandments–especially the ones that strengthen families.

The ancient Greek city of Ephesus was a corrupt city. The apostle Paul urged the Ephesians to change. Christianity was not compatible with the Ephesians’ current lifestyle. Believers have to forget about their old ways of doing things, but they can’t do it alone. God can and does change the lives of believers. We can help the process by following the spiritual disciplines of prayer, Bible study, service, ministry and missions.

Paul spoke about the behaviour of the followers of Christ, he said their uniqueness in the world had to be made apparent by their mood, morality, money, mouth and manners. They needed to control their anger, encourage and exhort each other, and show grace. He warns them against corruption in both words and deeds.

Believers have been sanctified or made holy, but that does not mean that personal morality can be ignored. On the contrary, because they have been justified or made right with God, they have been made new creatures who have to move out of the control or power of the world. This means that their personal morality must also be pure and holy because they have been saved by Christ from the sins of the world. Christ has freed them to be a new creation.

Have we made progress in the twenty centuries since then?

Let’s see, and, if necessary, repent and change.

As a new creature, we have the power of words. Words can harm and help at the same time. People who are hurting, who are without hope or who need encouragement can be helped by encouraging words. They can also be hurt by words spoken in anger. Using the acronym T.H.I.N.K. will help us to control what we say and how we say it. Before we speak, we need to ask ourselves if the words we will speak are:

T: True?

H: Helpful?

I: Inspiring?

N: Necessary?

K: Kind?

We must ask ourselves how we think others will rate us on the amount of praise and encouragement we give them.

Are we a force for encouragement in their lives or are we discouraging as we interact with them?

What if we only said things that could build other people up or encourage them even when we have to talk about difficult things?

Being careful with our words does not mean that we as Christians are not to get angry at all. There are times and situations where anger is justified or called for such as a crime or injustice. How we express our anger, and how our anger affects others determines the Christian attitude.

We have to make a conscious, minute-by-minute choice to depend on the Holy Spirit to change us if we want to be like Christ. Our good work and service will not save us. God saved us so that we can be like Him and do the works that He would do. These works have to be motivated by service. In other words, we are to serve others and not call attention to ourselves.

The most important quality we need to be Christ-like is the ability to forgive others. We are to be merciful just as Christ is merciful. We have to forgive others as we have been forgiven. Forgiving is not the same as forgetting. If we refuse to forgive others, we are hooked to them and the past, and that means that the pain continues for us.

The Holy Spirit is grieved when we do not act in a Christ-like manner. Our bad conduct tarnishes His name. We become ignorant to God’s truth. We become morally insensitive. We have to lay aside this evil nature when we become believers. When we become believers, our minds are renewed and furnished with the light of God’s mind, and we can see things as God sees them and make godly decisions.

And if we do what Paul said, change our life, our attitude, take off the old self and put on a new self, which is full of godly qualities, we become His children, not anymore the children of darkness, but Children of Light. We become a new creation, not just putting on a new set of clothes or given a new name, but rather His children with new hope and new life because of the Bread of Heaven, who gives new life, not just a life to be lived on this world, but a life for ever more; an Everlasting Life.

Amen!