Peace.
Lifestreams @ Medbury: News and Roster
Dear Lifestreamers,A FEW WORDS
As a congregation we have journeyed through a lot of changes over the past year. At the Lifestreams' team meeting last week we listed about 15 different changes that have taken place in that time. Some changes were simply aesthetic, for example the images on the power-point during worship. Others changes were significantly large. Each of you will be able to name a few; changes in venue, John's departure, Paul's departure, new leadership, new music, new personalities, the departure of familiar faces and the arrival of new people. Change, whether you love it or loathe it, is unsettling. But where is God in the midst of change? What is God's Spirit birthing among us? These are important questions; more important perhaps than the many answers we may find. Nevertheless, I offer my sense that God is inviting us to discover what it means to be community; authentic Christ-centred community.
But what on earth does community really mean? Here's what the Oxford Dictionary offers concerning this slippery noun, community.
community • noun (pl. communities) 1 a group of people living together in one place. 2 (the community) the people of an area or country considered collectively; society. 3 a group of people with a common religion, race, or profession: the scientific community. 4 the holding of certain attitudes and interests in common. 5 a group of interdependent plants or animals growing or living together or occupying a specified habitat.
From a Christian perspective I suspect the final definition, 5 a group of interdependent plants or animals growing or living together or occupying a specified habitat, provides the best definition of community. Interdependent, occupying a specified habitat. Our common habitat is of course the economy of God made available through the presence of the Risen Christ and the activity of the Holy Spirit.Let's be honest with one another - this call to live as authentic Christ-centred community is never going to be a sentimental, feel good, kind of experience. But it is one in which God's grace can truly be discovered. I leave you with the following words of Trappist monk, Thomas Merton. He presented this in a talk shortly before his death in 1968.
"What is tested in community is faith. It is not so much a question of who’s right, but do we believe? I think that is the real issue. Of course there are problems, but you put them all together and work them out on the basis and in the context of faith.
Faith is first, and the only one who is right is God. No one of us knows precisely what God wants. What we have to do is believe in the power of his love. This power is given to us in proportion as we work together to find out what the score is, and then, if we do get together and decide on something – even if it is mistaken – if it is done in good faith, the power of God’s love will be in it. We are going to make mistakes, but it really doesn’t matter that much."
Thomas Merton, Why We Live in Community. p. 27
As we grow in Lifestreams there will be space for us to make mistakes, to be human and extend grace to one another. But ultimately there will be space to encounter God in one another's lives. This God who in Christ moves among us, teaching and guiding us into the fullness, creativity, freedom and relationship for which we were created.
MEANWHILE, THIS SUNDAY:
Readings
First reading: Andrea Caldwell
Galatians 3:23-29
23 Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. 27 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.
Gospel Reading: John Caldwell
Luke 8:26-39
26 Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me"— 29 for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) 30 Jesus then asked him, "What is your name?" He said, "Legion"; for many demons had entered him. 31 They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss. 32 Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. 33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. 34 When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 36 Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. 37 Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. 38 The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.
Welcoming: Lena Doull, Amanda Cairns
Prayers: Corrine Haines
Ministry of Healing: Stephanie Sturge, Charlotte West
Sidespeople: Moka Ritchie
Assistants: Mary Cropp, Corrine Haines
Kidzone
Bubbles: Philippa Aitchison, Penny Corbett
Splash/Xstream: Harriet English, Anthony Fokkens
Grid: Monica Coulson
Morning Tea: Carole Acheson, Moka Ritchie
As always I can be contacted either by email andrew@stbarnabas.org.nz or phone at the office 351 7064. My cell phone is 021 201 4798 and home 351 7392.
May the God of peace be with each and all of you as we continue this journey!
Andrew McDonald