This is a week of lasts and firsts. This will be my last Lifestreams' e-news and my last week in the parish. It is also the first week for Mark and Pippa Chamberlain in the vicarage. Mark will be installed as vicar of the Fendalton parish on Friday the 26th November at St Barnabas'. So an exciting time as we welcome them into this community of resurrection faith!
A Last Few Words
Last Sunday I began to explore the importance of work in our life of faith. For some strange reason our work is not often considered to be an integral part of Christian life. Often it is seen by Christians as a way of financially supporting "real" church ministry, i.e. the work of ordained ministers, church workers or missionaries. Nothing could be further from the truth! Jesus, the wisdom of God, took on flesh because our physical world matters. What we do in this world, this blood, sweat and dust world of everyday life, has been blessed by God and called good. Jesus' resurrection holds out the hope for a world in which every work of beauty, goodness, compassion, patience, wisdom, and justice has a permanent and valued place.
The question is though: how can I become the kind of person in whom these Christ-like virtues are a natural part of how I live and work?
The simple answer is we become these kinds of people through our relationship to Jesus Christ. Being with Christ and coming to know him has a positive effect on our character. Through the same power that raised Christ from the dead, the power of the Holy Spirit, we enter into the process of becoming like him.
This Sunday we celebrate the Reign of Christ in New Zealand/Aotearoa. I'd like to celebrate this day by continuing from where I left off last week. Our work is an important dimension of how God intends to transform our world. How then do worship, prayer and other practices of faith connect with and transform our daily work?
A GOOD YARN
Speaking of transformation, Vicki is inviting all knitters to be involved in a transformative Advent art project. To read Vicki's information brochure click on this link: A Good Yarn.pdf
Looking forward to spending my last Sunday with you all.
May the deep peace of Christ be with you, the strong arms of God sustain you, and the power of the Holy Spirit strengthen you in every way. (Benediction by Diane Karay Tripp)
Andrew
Meanwhile this coming Sunday's roster:
Colossians 1:3-14
3 In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. 7 This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, 8 and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit. 9 For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. 11 May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
The Gospel reading: John Caldwell
Mark 4:26-34
26 He also said, "The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, 27 and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.28 The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come." 30He also said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it?31 It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade." 33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; 34 he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.
Kidzone
Bubbles: Charlotte W.
Splash/Xstream:
Angela B., Monica C. and Anthony
GRID: Vicki G.
Morning Tea: Sheena Maxwell
Thanks for helping out with worship. I have really valued the contribution made by everyone over the past two years!