Pastoral Letter 82

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

Grace and peace to you all.

Good News! The rays of sunshine on the horizon are getting brighter by the day, as the NSW government drew the roadmap of getting out of the current lockdown. Those who have been fully vaccinated, will get out of the lockdown and move around with some restrictions, once we hit 70% of the people fully vaccinated, most probably in mid-October, which is not far away. This is promising and gives us hope to regather to have our church services, though without singing and wearing masks. I believe that we are ready to accept all the restrictions to be put in place, as long as we can have our services and fellowship, that we have missed. God willing, we will be able to emerge out of this stressful time and slowly enjoy normal life, with the hope that we will have the possibility of traveling interstate and hopefully overseas in early 2022. Let us keep praying with a positive mind and look for the good to come.

Please let us know if you have been fully vaccinated or if you have an exemption not to be vaccinated for our records

Sadly, this weekend marks the 20^th anniversary of the September 11 (9-11) tragic terror attack on the United States, when 3,000 people were killed and over 6,000 injured. All the world was shocked and terrified on that day as we followed the developments, live on TV. After twenty years, people still bear the scars and are in pain, mourning the lives of their beloved that were lost. Let us pray for those who are still suffering from that terrible tragedy.

Unfortunately, we were not able to celebrate Father’s Day last Sunday and share some time together, but all the fathers in our congregation received on Saturday the goodies that we usually have on every Father’s Day with an encouraging and congratulatory note. The Lucky Father of the year, Brian Cartwright, received a special gift to celebrate with Jan. Thanks to Penny and Chris, who came over to the office on Saturday morning, fully masked, to do the draw with me, before the gifts were delivered to each and every father of our congregation.

On Friday afternoon, 10 September, at the Northern Suburbs Memorial Gardens and Crematorium, I conducted Funeral Service for Leonard John Foster, the brother of our dear late Shirley Feather, who passed away on 20 August 2021 in Shellharbour hospital. Please remember the Foster and Feather families in your prayers.

As the lockdown goes on, maybe for another five or six weeks, 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 Bible Readings and the Message. Thanks to Mark for faithfully suggesting appropriate hymns for Sunday Services. The majority of the hymns this week are from his suggestions.

Continue to pray. Here are some prayer points for this week:

1. Pray for tomorrow’s service and join in prayer with all the churches, as we praise and worship our good, caring and loving God.

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

3. Pray with hope that soon we will be able to get out of the lockdown and enjoy some relief with easing of restrictions for those who are fully vaccinated.

4. Pray for Lebanon as people are in desperation and have lost all hope and don’t know how they will emerge out of this catastrophic financial and political situation.

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

Krikor

MESSAGE

A Cross to Bear

Mark 8:27-38

There’s the story of a soldier madly digging in during battle as shells fall all around him. Suddenly his hand feels something metal, and he grabs it. It’s a silver cross. Another shell explodes and he buries his head in his arms. He feels someone jump in the trench with him and he looks over and sees an army chaplain. The soldier thrusts the cross in the chaplain’s face and says:

“I sure am glad to see you. How do you work this thing?”

In today’s second Bible reading Jesus talks about bearing our cross, we could ask the same question:

“How do you work this thing?”

Peter didn’t know how to work or deal with the cross either. As on some other occasions, here too, at Caesarea Philippi, outside of Galilee, where Caesar was a god, Peter discovered that a wandering teacher from Nazareth, who was heading for a cross, was the Son of God.

There is hardly anything in the entire gospel story, which shows the sheer force of the personality of Jesus, as does this incident. It comes in the very middle of Mark’s Gospel and that’s intentional, because this is the peak moment for Mark. The cross is the very heart of the gospel.

In one way, this moment was a crisis for Jesus. Whatever the disciples might be thinking, He knew for certain that an inescapable cross lay ahead. The problem confronting Jesus was this:

With the cross approaching, had He had any effect at all?

Had he achieved anything?

Had anyone discovered who He really was?

If He had lived, taught and moved amongst these men for three years and no one had glimpsed the spirit of God upon Him, then all His work had gone for nothing, and it was in vain. There was only one way He could leave a message with people and that was to write it on someone’s heart.

In that moment, Jesus put all things to the test. He asked His disciples what people were saying about Him, and they shared with Him the popular rumours and reports. Then came a breathless silence and He put forth the question that meant so much:

“Who do you say that I am?”

Suddenly, Peter realized what he had always known deep down in his heart. This was the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One, and the Son of God. And with that answer, Jesus knew that He had affected people and made clear who He was.

But there is another question we must answer, for no sooner had Peter made this incredible proclamation than Jesus told him he must tell no one. Why? Why could they tell no one who Jesus was? First and foremost, Jesus had to teach Peter and the others what Messiahship really meant, because Jesus’ role as Messiah stood in contrast to the first century Jewish ideas of Messiah.

Throughout their existence the Jews never lost sight of the fact that they were God’s chosen people. They always regarded the greatest days in their history as the days of King David, and they dreamed of a day when there would arise another king of David’s line, a king who would once again make them great in righteousness and in power.

As time went on, it became clear that this dreamed-of greatness would never come about naturally through the passage of time, for they came under Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman rules. They began to believe that it wasn’t likely that someone would simply emerge politically. More and more they began to dream of a day when God would intervene in history and unveil the Messiah. They had dreams of a Messiah being ushered in by God in a nationalistic, conquering style, in which the perfect reign of God would come about through a great military struggle.

This was the Jewish belief. This was the disciples’ belief. So, the idea that Jesus would be a suffering Messiah was the complete opposite of what they expected. It would be like my announcing on a Sunday morning that we’re no longer a Uniting Church (or Presbyterian as we were previously), but now will be a Jewish synagogue. Jesus as a suffering Messiah was that foreign to them.

With this as our backdrop, Peter starts with the right idea: “You are the Messiah,” but when Jesus explains how that translates into everyday life, how that translates into a suffering Messiah and not a military ruler, Peter took Jesus aside and rebukes Him. “No way will our great Messiah die.” This is why Jesus looked at His good friend, His star pupil, who had just announced Jesus’ Messiahship and said sharply: “Get behind me, Satan.”

The Messiah that Jesus was prepared to be, was not what they were expecting. How many of us have had the same experience, where at some point during our faith journey, we didn’t meet the Messiah we expected? I dare say there are probably not too many people who have not at one time, or another have said: “This is not what I signed up for. This is not what I expected from my Lord and Saviour.” That’s exactly why Jesus laid it out as plainly as He could: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it”.

The more I read, the more I study, the more I try to deepen my relationship with God, the more I realize how free we really are; how completely and unashamedly God leaves it up to us, never manipulating us. He leaves to us if we want to follow in the steps of our Lord and be ready to sacrifice and give our best. God never forces us to do anything. He just leaves it to us to decide.

This is also true in the matter of giving, giving of our time, our wealth and possessions. It is up to us to decide freely how much time we are willing to give, time for God and His work; how much we will contribute to the ministry of the church. I presume that every time people bring their offerings to God, God looks at them with pity. After all He has done for them and after all He has given to them, what they bring to Him. If we are ready to take our cross and follow Him, we should think about these matters seriously and do something.

When we accept the graceful forgiveness of our Lord and Saviour, and He welcomes us with open arms, we are accepting the burden of the cross. Take note of Jesus’ first description of what it means to follow Him: “Deny yourself.”

Perhaps you’ve heard the story of two young brothers who came downstairs for breakfast on a Saturday morning, and their mother was cooking pancakes. She was starting to pull them off when the boys started arguing about who was going to eat first. Their mother seized this teachable moment and said: “Now boys, what would Jesus say if He were here?” They stopped, looked a little confused, and then their mother said: “Jesus would say, ‘My brother, you have the first pancake. I’ll wait’.” The older brother looked at the younger brother and said: “Hey John, today you be Jesus.”

Self-denial and giving is not easy. We all have things we want. We all have goals, but Christ is clear that when we choose to freely follow Him, we must first deny ourselves. That means we can’t always do what we want to do, what our natural tendency is. This means that we will face tough, life-changing decisions that need to be made in the shadow of the cross, and not the desires of the heart. This doesn’t mean that we will be deprived of joy and happiness; rather it means that we find fulfilment and joy and happiness through dedication to Jesus Christ. Denial of self is placing ourselves in the hands of God at all times, no matter where His hands might lead us.

Jesus also said: “Take up your cross.” In other words, pick it up yourself. He didn’t say: “Grab hold of a cross to provide protection.” He didn’t say: “Wear this cross as a fashion statement.” He said: “Pick it up.” This means that there is a choice. Christ had a choice as to whether He was going to pick up His cross. He could’ve said: “No,” and we have a choice whether to pick ours up and bear our cross.

But what does it mean to bear your cross? Let’s first consider what bearing our cross is not.

When facing difficult circumstance, people often say: “I guess that’s a cross I have to bear.” That is not bearing our cross. When people speak about bearing a cross in this manner, they are speaking about circumstances and situations that, given the choice, they wouldn’t choose it. What they should say is they understand their situation and will now deal with it. I don’t say this to make light of the unfortunate and tragic situations we find ourselves in, but it’s just not bearing a cross. When we suffer from sickness, disease and mental anguish, it’s terrible, but it’s not bearing a cross.

Bearing the cross is a choice. It is a voluntary form of sacrificial obedience that identifies us completely with Jesus Christ. Bearing our cross is not making the best of a situation or circumstance. It is something we deliberately take up and bear. We don’t usually like that, for we would rather wear a cross than bear a cross.

Rene Lacoste was the world’s top tennis player in the late 1920s. He won seven major singles titles during his career, including multiple victories at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the French Open. His friends called him “Le Crocodile”, a right term for his determined play on the tennis court.

Lacoste accepted the nickname and had a tiny crocodile embroidered on his tennis blazers. When he added it to a line of shirts he designed, the symbol caught on. While thousands of people around the world wore “alligator shirts”, the emblem always had a deeper significance for Lacoste’s friends, who knew of its origin and meaning.

The cross is an emblem of Christianity that holds special meaning for every one of us who identify with Jesus Christ. Whenever we see a cross, it speaks to us of Christ’s steadfast determination to do His Father’s will by dying for us on the cross of Calvary. The cross is all about making a choice. The cross is about discipline, hard work, obedience, commitment and giving. It isn’t easy, but it draws us closer to Christ and makes us more Christ-like, for never has a symbol of such pain and torture been resurrected into a symbol of ending love and hope.

In this passage Jesus talks about us denying ourselves and taking up and bearing our cross and following Him. Jesus is honest and lets us know that the life He offers to us is promised to be full of blessings and His presence, but at the same time it is not an easy life.

Many missionaries have come to understand what Jesus meant when He said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me”. It’s not an easy road! It is a road full of challenges and difficult paths. We know and learn this from our own experience.

Jesus never calls upon us to do anything that He was not prepared to do Himself. What He asks us to face, He has already faced. And when He calls upon us to take up a cross, He, Himself, has already carried one for us.

This perspective seems to go against what the world teaches us. The world teaches us that anything that bothers us or becomes difficult, we should avoid. Sadly, some churches seem to have adopted that attitude, too.

And yet, the words of Jesus are still there: “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

If anyone wants to be a follower of Jesus Christ, let them deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him. Amen!