Sometimes I’d much rather sit at home on the couch and watch a movie. People are hard work. Church is tiring. And it takes effort to rally all the kids and get everyone out the door after a busy week and weekend. Afterwards I’m usually glad I made the effort: challenged by the Word of God; uplifted by the singing; and encouraged by the fellowship. But even if I don’t enjoy Church it’s still important to go along – because going to Church isn’t just about ‘me’ and what I get out of it. Going to Church is actually about ‘us’ – it’s about God’s people gathered. All encouraging each other and working together as a team, as the body of Christ. When one part is missing, the whole body doesn’t function as it should, the whole body suffers for it.
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another– and all the more as you see the Day approaching“. (Heb. 10:24-25)
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On Thursday I took a moment to pray for the 6 children connected with our Church who were experiencing their first day at Kindergarten. Perhaps it would be more pertinent to pray for the parents coping with the anxiety of sending their kids off into ‘the big wide world’. It’s so exciting to see a new generation of young people growing up as representatives of Jesus Christ.
This serves us well as an analogy for our Christian lives. We grow up and mature spiritually as we learn from God’s Word and as God’s Spirit works in us to make us more like Christ. We don’t grow up and mature spiritually so we can hide together in a little ‘holy huddle’, but so we can be sent out into ‘the big wide world’. We bear witness by our lives and words to all that God has done and is doing in our lives and we share the good news of forgiveness of sins through Jesus which is available to all. We don’t do this alone, but we love and support one another and we continue meeting together around God’s Word week-by-week.
Praise God for all he is doing among and through us at Picton and Wilton Anglican Churches!
This weeks newsletter comes to you from the Blue Mountains, where the Boardman family have been attending the Church Missionary Society’s (CMS) annual ‘Summer School’. It has been a huge encouragement to hear from missionaries about their work of proclaiming the gospel around the world, and to hear from the preacher, William Taylor about the universal need for forgiveness and salvation from judgement from the book of Genesis.
This year 18 new missionaries are being sent from CMS NSW and they need our support, both in prayer and in money (https://goo.gl/3Ybuw9).
Although we’re not all going overseas, we’re all part of God’s mission proclaiming the good news of our risen Lord Jesus. Let’s pray that God will be at work in Picton and Wilton and around the world calling people to trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.
Yours in Christ,
Ben
It’s nice over summer to have a few less balls in the air… To slow down and smell the roses. We went hiking down at Kosciusko National Park last week, so it was more like slow down and get bitten by the March flies, but anyway, that’s another story!
January is traditionally a time to reflect on the year that’s been and prepare for the year to come. It’s a time to reconsider our commitments to our workplaces, sporting teams and social clubs, Church ministries and Bible Study groups. These commitments that we make often lock us into and out of certain things. We don’t always realise that saying yes to one thing, means saying no to another. Saying yes to Sunday morning sport, means saying no to Sunday morning Church, and saying yes to teaching scripture means saying no to working an extra shift at McDonalds.
It’s important at this time of year to step back and reflect on the big picture and make some decisions about what our yes’s and no’s will be this year. To be careful to not overcommit ourselves and get a good balance between work and family, Church and community.
But balance is the wrong word. We live all of our lives for Jesus: ‘Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him’ (Col 3:17). The question isn’t have I got enough ‘Church’ stuff to go alongside my ‘other’ stuff, but does everything I do and commit to this year bring glory to Jesus?
So much of our Christmas traditions are designed for the northern hemisphere. Like Christmas lights that we have to keep the kids up way past their bedtime in order to actually see. Or Santa working out alternative entry points for the lack of chimney and wearing a big furry coat in the middle of summer (good thing most malls have air-conditioning). We’re forced to live with or translate these northern hemisphere traditions into our own culture.
The good thing about this process is it forces you to consider what’s really essential and what are just cultural trimmings.
You won’t be surprised to hear me say that Jesus, the Christ, is at the heart of Christmas. And it’s pretty hard to argue when it’s both a celebration of his birth, and it has his name in it. He’s come to bring peace to a messy world – peace with God by forgiveness of sins and then peace and restoration to the world which he’ll bring about on the last day. All across the world, Jesus offer of forgiveness and peace bursts out across cultures to everyone (even ones that don’t traditionally celebrate Christmas). Have you put your trust in Jesus, have you received his forgiveness and peace?
And then do your Christmas trimmings help you celebrate this peace and this Saviour Jesus, or are they just a messy distraction from it. Christmas trimmings are a great chance to celebrate Jesus and have fun. But don’t miss the heart of Christmas – don’t miss Jesus!
As we prepare for Christmas you’ll be madly shopping, wrapping, cooking, cleaning and much much more. But how will you prepare your heart for this wonderful season? Advent is a great time and Christmas is a wonderful celebration – but its easy to get distracted from the real meaning of Christmas – the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ who has come to bring peace with God through forgiveness of our sins. Perhaps you could pick up an advent reading plan and spend some time reading the Bible and praying each morning and/or evening to re-orient your heart and your life towards Jesus Christ.
There are lots of free resources to help us prepare our hearts for Christmas during Advent. Here are three that you can choose from (but there are many more out there):
- CEP Advent Bible readings printable – simplest and easiest to use: https://www.cepstore.com.au/
Content/Images/uploaded/Bible% 20Reading%20Plan_161116.pdf - Common Grace Advent Daily Email Devotional – ‘Being Present’: http://www.commongrace.org.
au/advent - Great to do with kids, this free printable Advent Calendar will take some work, and often refers to the Jesus Storybook Bible, which will be difficult if you don’t own a copy. But it’s great for engaging children:
http://www.faithgateway.com/jesus-storybook-bible-advent- calendar-printable/
We had the great joy and privilege of sharing this good news 
with Wilton Public School SRE students on Wednesday at our Christmas assembly. Our Scripture teachers have done such a great job all year and it was great to be able to finish off with a bang. Pray for a refreshing break from teaching and for the message to sink into the hearts of those who heard it.
Ben
Christmas is coming! Christmas is coming!
You might be delaying the decorations and side-stepping the shops, or perhaps you’re Christmas tree has already been up for a month. Either way, at the heart of Christmas is the good news that ‘a Saviour has been born to you, he is Christ the Lord’.
Christmas is one of the best opportunities all year to share the great news that sins can be forgiven, hope found and eternal life secured by trusting in Jesus Christ as Lord. Please be praying for the opportunity to share the good news of Jesus with your family, neighbours, friends and workmates. Then be brave and take those opportunities as they present themselves.
I just received 5,000 postcard invitations to our Christmas festivities. Starting this Sunday, will you help me pop them into letterboxes and into the hands of those who might join us to celebrate Christmas?
Yours in Christ,
Ben
The Passover was an event of such significance that the Israelite’s reset their lunar calendar and marked time by it (Exodus 12:2). God rescued his people and formed them into a nation and at the same time he showed the Egyptians and the world at large his power and might.
The Passover would continue to define God’s people as they lived in varying levels of trust and obedience to him for 1500 years. They were free to live as God’s people, under his rule and in his promised land – but at the same time they suffered from another kind of slavery. A slavery to their own sinful selfish natures. This required another kind of rescue – a rescue from sin that only Jesus Christ can bring. His sacrifice on the cross of Calvary superseded the Passover and again reset the calendar because of its enormous significance. Have you placed your trust in Jesus Christ to receive the rescue and freedom from sin that he offers?
It’s so encouraging to see how God is at work around this great nation and around the world. We’re going to have a great day this coming Sunday hearing about the 30+ years the Etherington’s have spent in the Northern Territory and I can’t wait!
Lately I’ve read two great Christian biographies, one about taking the gospel to remote cannibalistic tribes in Western Papua New Guinea (‘Peace Child’) and another we’ve been reading to the kids at bed time about Nepal (‘My Seventh Monsoon’).
These Christian biographies can be a great companion to our regular Bible reading and prayer to help us in living our lives for Jesus Christ. Maybe you’d like to borrow a book from me to read, I have plenty to lend and/or suggest.
These Christian biographies can be a great companion to our regular Bible reading and prayer to help us in living our lives for Jesus Christ. Maybe you’d like to borrow a book from me to read, I have plenty to lend and/or suggest.
One of the most encouraging things for me is that I see God at work outside of the pages of books or third party stories. I see God at work in your life. I see you maturing in your faith, I see you stepping up with trepidation to serve in new ways in Church, and I see you sharing your faith with others.
A friend of mine, who doesn’t really care much for Rugby League, once played in a tipping competition by deciding each week which team mascot would beat the other in a fight. He often tipped the Cronulla Sharks and West Tigers to win, but the Eels and Roosters and Rabbitoh’s normally didn’t stand a chance.
In the book of Exodus we find the powerful Pharaoh exerting his power over the Israelites by oppressing them and making them his slaves – but Pharaoh is like a rabbit, or even an ant compared to the almighty God of the universe! Sometimes it can feel like a Pharaoh, or a boss or a relative rules and oppresses and controls our lives – sometimes we feel powerless and helpless and lost and at sea. It’s important in those moments to step back and remember who’s really in control. We can trust that God’s sovereign power is at work in us by his Holy Spirit – that same power that rose the Lord Jesus from the dead (Eph 1:18-21)! Therefore, we never need to fear the powers of this world oppressing or threatening us – even though they might dominate for a time – because we know God’s power, and we know the future he has promised to us who trust in him.
