Aug 29 2010
Pastor’s notes
It has really been great to have Chris Walker to speak with us about being a relevant church this weekend. I trust that you have been inspired and invigorated about your part in the Bride of Christ. And I pray that we as a congregation of God’s people will become truly relevant in our community and within the wider communion of the Church. Thank you, Chris, and thank you also for the word which you will bring this morning on the faithfulness of God.
At the prayer meeting on Wednesday we were praying about yesterday’s Seminar and about revival in God’s church. During that time, I had a picture form in my mind about the present state of the Lord’s Church—undoubtedly inspired from Dr Paul Brand’s book, “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made”. If we are theBride of Christ, how must we look to Him now—wounded, downtrodden, sidelined, unclean? Why would He still care about us? Well, the truth is that God is faithful to His promise (haven’t I been saying that for the past few weeks!) and He does still care, and He still has an expectation for us to continue to be who we are meant to be. And the Church being relevant in our time is about how we do this—we are still the Body of Christ, Jesus still has expectations of us and at the core of those expectations are that we love God with all our heart and soul and spirit and that we love others (including our enemies!) as Jesus has loved us. We serve a faithful God who honours His promises, as His Bride we must be faithful to Him.
Speaking of brides and husbands, George and Val Tengvall will be celebrating 60 years of marriage on Tuesday—that’s a really good innings! Well done both of you. In an age where faithfulness in relationships is taken far too lightly, you have set an example for all of us. Thank you for doing that. Your faithfulness toGod, to your family, to your friends and to each other has been amazing. I (and no doubt others) have been privileged to glimpse into your life through photographs and personal observation. Yes, life has no always been easy and as the years pass so we do tend to overlook the troubled times, but you havepressed on regardless through your unwavering faith in God and trust in His provision for you. May the Lord continue to bless you and your family. (Here’s a tip … never stop telling your stories to your family. Only now am I beginning to appreciate the wonderful stories which my grandfather shared with me when I was still a very young boy. And I am beginning to really appreciate my heritage.)
There are a couple of new and exciting events on the “What’s Up” page of the newsletter. First the Merredin congregation BBQ and Bonfire at the Higgins’ on Sunday evening September 12th. We do sometimes tend to forget that Christians can also have fun (and lots of it!). Love to see you there! Next is the Merredin Congregation Garage Sale on October 9th at the church. The men are going to be running the Garage Sale and the ladies will be doing …. Well, whatever it is that ladies do. I’m sure that whatever it is, it will be beautiful and tasty. Margie and I are really excited about Tegan and Quinten joining us. They will arrive on October 1st and spend some time in Merredin before Tegan starts her Midwifery Bridging Course in Perth. Quinten already has one temporary volunteer job lined up to rewire a car in Merredin. Anyone else needing autoelectric work? He’s was trained at Mercedes Benz so he should be OK(and, of course, he was allowed to marry our daughter!!!)
Love you
David
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