SUNDAY 24th October, 2010
Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost
Our Celebrant today is Rev’d Dr. Warren Huffa
Welcome to Eloise and her family for Baptism
WELCOME
Please join us for breakfast in the hall after the 8am service or for morning tea after the 10am service. At 10am you will find all the service and hymns projected onto the sanctuary walls.
There is Sunday School at the 10 am service as usual during Term time.
COLLECT FOR THE DAY
O God, Who alone can probe the depths of the heart, You hear the prayer of the humble and justify the repentant sinner: grant us the gift of humility that, seeing our faults clearly, we may refrain from judging our neighbour and rely solely in Your saving grace. We make this prayer through Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen
From Ron Blog – today’s Gospel
In today’s Gospel there is an interesting connection between little ones – children – and the ‘certain ruler.’ The Gospel writers will often present contrasts in situations or in people to get a clear message across. The first part of this contrast is not all that difficult to follow: but note the difference between child-like and childish!
That cameo of the ‘certain ruler’ needs some explanation, it seems to me. There was a person who was a product of Judaism of the time, all self-righteous and rigid, keeping to the Law. Sadly, such approach in any field of human endeavour seems to produce an inflexibility that soon becomes a self-justification and a refusal to accept anyone not likeminded.
There lies part of Jesus’ reason to challenge the ‘Good’ epithet. That man was probably being somewhat snide in calling Jesus ‘Good.’ If it was not a put-down, it would have been a signal that ‘we are both on the same wave-length.’ If so, that would be why Jesus refused the tag, simply because the assumption of that man was quite false. The measure of goodness is not you or me; it is the Father and no other. As the debate went on, Jesus made it clear, in His challenge, that if that man was to mature as a believer, then he had to let go his self-styled position of importance, and give himself (let alone his wealth) away. It was a challenge for him to be ‘fair dinkum,’ and to turn his back on legalism in his religion. As it turned out, it was a challenge too far for that man, as it was shaping up so to be even for the Twelve disciples.
***************************************************************************************
TODAY’S READINGS
Joel 2: 23—32 & 2 Timothy 4: 6—8 & 16—18 read by Max A
GOSPEL Luke 18: 15—30
PRAYERS FOR THE PEOPLE
We pray for those in need: Warren and Thea, Ron Teague, Phyllis Morecroft and Peter Little.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Julie Hislop, Ron Keynes, James & Laurence Mussolino, Dominic Vialles, Deholm Hale, Alan Pressley
HAPPY WEDDING ANNIVERSARY –
YEAR’S MIND: Colin Cook (2007)
PREPARATION FOR NEXT SUNDAY – 23rd Sunday after Pentecost
Readings: Habakkuk 1:1-4 & 2:2-4 and 2 Thess :1 —4 & 11 –12
GOSPEL Luke 19: 1—10
Refer Fr Ron’s Notes available at http://www.anglican-belair.blogspot.com/
POWERPOINT ROSTER –
This Week Araki Family or Don Caddy
Next Week Ron Keynes or Barb Capon
READER- AND INTERCESSOR ROSTER
Next Sunday Reader Araki family Intercessor Baptism
Sunday after Reader Clare Bruce Intercessor Marg P
REGULAR GROUPS AND BOOKINGS
PRAYER CIRCLE meets noon on the 2nd Tuesday each month at 36 Penno Parade North
THURSDAY 9.30am Traditional Communion
7.00m Meditation 7.30pm Study Group
BIBLE STUDY 10am every Wednesday at 378 Main Road Coromandel Valley
COMING EVENTS
Baptism on 31st October William Garnett
12th November Another Danny Hodgson Swing at Sunset evening of jazz. 7.00pm for 7.30pm. There are flyers available to distribute to people you know. Adults $10; Children free. Sparkling wine, fruit juice or coffee refreshments ($2 donation)
Friday, Nov 19 St John's strings concert
Saturday, Nov 20 private booking of hall and outside area 12pm - 5pm.
Friday December 3 St John's Year 6 end of year party in hall 5pm-7pm.
St. John’s College will be using the Hall for exams—details on the foyer board
HELPLINE
Part of being a Christian community is the support offered to each other in times of need. We offer short-term delivery of food where needed, local transport, phone calls, visits and other types of assistance. Call Christie Hodgson on 8370 3260 or Caroline Sweet on 8278 3058
Warren invites members of the Sanctuary Guild to meet at the rectory to talk about how their ministry is going and to look ahead to 2011. Come to either tomorrow evening or November 1 @ 7:45pm. The address of the rectory is 12 Gulfview Rd, Blackwood. (Gulfview Rd meets Main Rd at Hungry Jack's.) There will be a light supper at around 9:00pm and we will finish by 9:30pm. each night."
Diocesan Synod is being held over this weekend. Synod is the governing body of the Church in this Diocese, and while there may be times of ennui, it can be a time of great fellowship as well.
Robyn Keynes wishes to remind folk that recyclable bottles, cartons and cans can be brought to raise funds for Children’s Ministry. Thank you.
Items for the Newsletter need to be sent to Fr. Ron at 8298 7160 or ronpkeynes@internode.on.net or 8298 7160
60a Davenport Terrace, Seacliff Park SA 5049 by Tuesday nights, please
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
RonBlog
Sunday 17th October, 2010 Twenty first Sunday after Pentecost
Sentence
Will God not grant justice to those who cry to Him day and night? Will He delay long in helping them?
Luke 18:7-8
Collect
Lord, tireless guardian of Your people, teach us to rely, day and night, on Your care. Drive us to seek Your justice and Your help and support our prayer lest we grow weary, for in You alone is our strength. We make our prayer through Your Son Jesus Christ, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen
Old Testament Lesson Jeremiah 31: 27 – 34
The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals. And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the LORD. In those days they shall no longer say: "The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge.
The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt--a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the LORD," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
Psalm 119: 97 – 104
Lord how I love Your law: it is my meditation all the day long
Your commandments have made me wiser than my enemies: for they remain with me for ever
I have more understanding than all my teachers: for I study Your commands.
I am wiser than the aged: because I have kept Your precepts.
I have held back my feet from every evil path: that I might keep Your word
I have not turned aside from Your judgements: for You Yourself are my teacher
How sweet are Your words to my tongue: sweeter than honey to my mouth
Through Your precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate all lying ways.
Epistle 2 Timothy 3: 10 – 4:5
Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and suffering the things that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.
Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But wicked people and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.
GOSPEL Luke 18: 1 – 14
Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, 'Grant me justice against my opponent.' For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, 'Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'"
And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted."
NOTES ON THE READINGS
Old Testament
It almost beggars imagination as to how one might comment on this most significant of passages. It is important for modern readers to realize how steep the learning curve was for those worthy ancients, and a learning curve that left previous experiences for dead. Modern readers need to be aware of the enormous evolution of the faith that took place over centuries and millennia, from Abraham to the time of Jeremiah. Please realize that this was a period of close to 2,500 years. From search for truth, to settledness of law, to – in this passage – the awareness of responsibility of each person and the availability of conscience in the making of moral and other choices. I doubt if there is any other religion or ism that contains anything like the breadth of exploration of life and God than that reflected in Judaism over that time.
Responsibility and conscience. As Paul put it, the Law was the ‘school-teacher’ to bring us to Christ. As with our own children, we begin by telling them what to do and how to do it, but as they grew and matured, we parents stepped back allowing mistakes because young people need to see that being human equals being responsible. My own eldest daughter thrilled me to pieces when, late in her teens, she thanked me for allowing her to make her mistakes. That she saw that was great enough; that she was grateful was enough to bring tears to my eyes.
Psalm
Had you asked me to comment on this psalm when I was young, my response would have been caustic. Baloney, I would have said. But when one realizes that the genius of the Hebrew faith was – as mentioned above – then one’s view changes radically. Justice and truth and integrity is, even in this day and age, the only sensible way to go. And the old psalmist was spot on.
Epistle
As one comes to expect it, the Epistle stands on the shoulders of the earlier readings, underlining what has been said heretofore, but adding the factor that such an approach of faith and integrity in the real world is most likely to encounter strong and constant resistance. We do not live in an ideal world; we live in a rough-as-guts world where the old verities are despised and rejected. Small wonder that the Lord of life was similarly despised and rejected. Do not be surprised that there will be strong and sometime violent resistance to the Gospel, even to the Gospel properly understood and preached and lived. (I am not talking ‘religion,’ which word I dislike intensely because Christianity is not about ‘religion.’
GOSPEL
In fact, today’s Gospel reflects the difference between religion and Christian reality. That second cameo reflects ‘religion,’ which misses the point and looks only at boosting the ego of the participant. The Faith has nothing to do with ego-boosting. It has everything to do with persisting in the direction one knows one needs to head, and getting on with the job, regardless of contrary resistance. This fact certainly does tend to show the difference, may I express it as, between the men and the boys. (Ladies, I imagine that the same distinction obtains for you also. Maturity is a necessary reality.)
NOTES FOR A SERMON
I seem to manage great discussions with quite some of my friends from decades past, whenever the subject of evolution comes into focus. Part of the reason for the debates tends to arise because I was once right where they were, and I have to add that that situation arose largely out of ignorance. Science and evolution, in the ‘40s and early ‘50s where I lived, were mortal enemies to faith. As I look back to then, and to my Biblical ignorance, I wonder at my gall at taking such a position. (Since I have seen little disagreement between real science and Scripture (properly – which means Jewishly) – understood, I am amazed that such old battles continue, even though the grounds are rebutted.
What is more to the point in this context, is that a close look at Hebrew/Christian Faith reveals exactly the same process of development and growth, over a period of millennia. The Old Testament Lesson for today underlines that process, and – as the notes above indicate – that underlining continues through the rest of those readings. One of the remarkable things about the Hebrew Faith is, that as far as I can see, it emerged over that long period because Hebrew Faith developed as those ancients pondered life as they lived and experienced it. This means that as experience grew and outlooks widened, people’s move from the last gasps of superstitious paganism to a far more mature outlook emerged. Perhaps the best and clearest example of that progress is one that has long been the tool of antagonists of these faiths.
I have memories going way back of arguments against the Faith, because of the bloodthirsty view of God held by those in early Old Testament times. The punitive, retributive God Who is said to have demanded the deaths of Achan and his family, and other perpetrators of such periods, was really the hangover from the ancient fear of the unknown that translated to the fear of God. (Are you aware of the extent to which the first Creation Story in Genes 1:1 – 2:4a changed perception radically. There was only one God to worry about, not multitudes! That was an enormous leap forward. It was such a leap forward that millennia afterwards, the very discoveries of science were rendered possible. If there is one God, then one can expect to find order in the universe!)
Back to Jeremiah. “The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” It is a rather common, present furphy that our bad points come to us through our genes, or through our environment. In Jeremiah’s day, it was common to blame your parents. (You have heard that one yourself surely!) It is interesting to note, while on the subject, that in the Ten Commandments, those who disobey can, so to speak, blame their parents to the third and fourth generation. This is a limitation of impact, please note, not an excuse for me to blame Mum and Dad. On the other hand, those who are faithful have the comfort of thousands (of generations) of beneficial effect.
The real issue that Jeremiah was raising was the business of personal responsibility. As one of my Bishops once commented to a vastly erring young man at our Rectory after a night fleeing from police, ‘Bill, you are human; ergo you are responsible.’ Bill did all he could to refute the charge, but +Bruce left him no room to move. It is an important point: without personal responsibility, our humanness is reduced to penury. With it, the sky is surely the limit.
As if to underline the direction of this development pointed to by the prophet, he went on to promise what, I suspect, has always been true. Deep within our psyche, Christian or otherwise, we are aware of what is just and true, honourable and compassionate, regardless of our background, genes or parents. In fact one of our late departed Archdeacons of decades past used to pontificate on how, in his early years, whenever someone did wrong and erred from the straight and narrow, they knew it, and expected the repercussions. Those outcomes may result from Court action, but mostly they stemmed from bent consciences, traumatised by their sins. Nowadays, I wonder whether our almost innate dishonesty and failure or refusal to face our responsibilities is one of the factors that lead to breakdown and disintegration. (I am always grateful for the confession and absolution in our Anglican formularies; they are not there to drive us into breast-beating, for heaven’s sake. They are there to free me up to be able to face my errors and glitches, and learn from them. If I do not need to hide them from God, then I do not need to hide from them myself. If you cannot handle my failures, then I still know Someone Who can!
Sentence
Will God not grant justice to those who cry to Him day and night? Will He delay long in helping them?
Luke 18:7-8
Collect
Lord, tireless guardian of Your people, teach us to rely, day and night, on Your care. Drive us to seek Your justice and Your help and support our prayer lest we grow weary, for in You alone is our strength. We make our prayer through Your Son Jesus Christ, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen
Old Testament Lesson Jeremiah 31: 27 – 34
The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals. And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the LORD. In those days they shall no longer say: "The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge.
The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt--a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the LORD," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
Psalm 119: 97 – 104
Lord how I love Your law: it is my meditation all the day long
Your commandments have made me wiser than my enemies: for they remain with me for ever
I have more understanding than all my teachers: for I study Your commands.
I am wiser than the aged: because I have kept Your precepts.
I have held back my feet from every evil path: that I might keep Your word
I have not turned aside from Your judgements: for You Yourself are my teacher
How sweet are Your words to my tongue: sweeter than honey to my mouth
Through Your precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate all lying ways.
Epistle 2 Timothy 3: 10 – 4:5
Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and suffering the things that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.
Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But wicked people and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.
GOSPEL Luke 18: 1 – 14
Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, 'Grant me justice against my opponent.' For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, 'Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'"
And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted."
NOTES ON THE READINGS
Old Testament
It almost beggars imagination as to how one might comment on this most significant of passages. It is important for modern readers to realize how steep the learning curve was for those worthy ancients, and a learning curve that left previous experiences for dead. Modern readers need to be aware of the enormous evolution of the faith that took place over centuries and millennia, from Abraham to the time of Jeremiah. Please realize that this was a period of close to 2,500 years. From search for truth, to settledness of law, to – in this passage – the awareness of responsibility of each person and the availability of conscience in the making of moral and other choices. I doubt if there is any other religion or ism that contains anything like the breadth of exploration of life and God than that reflected in Judaism over that time.
Responsibility and conscience. As Paul put it, the Law was the ‘school-teacher’ to bring us to Christ. As with our own children, we begin by telling them what to do and how to do it, but as they grew and matured, we parents stepped back allowing mistakes because young people need to see that being human equals being responsible. My own eldest daughter thrilled me to pieces when, late in her teens, she thanked me for allowing her to make her mistakes. That she saw that was great enough; that she was grateful was enough to bring tears to my eyes.
Psalm
Had you asked me to comment on this psalm when I was young, my response would have been caustic. Baloney, I would have said. But when one realizes that the genius of the Hebrew faith was – as mentioned above – then one’s view changes radically. Justice and truth and integrity is, even in this day and age, the only sensible way to go. And the old psalmist was spot on.
Epistle
As one comes to expect it, the Epistle stands on the shoulders of the earlier readings, underlining what has been said heretofore, but adding the factor that such an approach of faith and integrity in the real world is most likely to encounter strong and constant resistance. We do not live in an ideal world; we live in a rough-as-guts world where the old verities are despised and rejected. Small wonder that the Lord of life was similarly despised and rejected. Do not be surprised that there will be strong and sometime violent resistance to the Gospel, even to the Gospel properly understood and preached and lived. (I am not talking ‘religion,’ which word I dislike intensely because Christianity is not about ‘religion.’
GOSPEL
In fact, today’s Gospel reflects the difference between religion and Christian reality. That second cameo reflects ‘religion,’ which misses the point and looks only at boosting the ego of the participant. The Faith has nothing to do with ego-boosting. It has everything to do with persisting in the direction one knows one needs to head, and getting on with the job, regardless of contrary resistance. This fact certainly does tend to show the difference, may I express it as, between the men and the boys. (Ladies, I imagine that the same distinction obtains for you also. Maturity is a necessary reality.)
NOTES FOR A SERMON
I seem to manage great discussions with quite some of my friends from decades past, whenever the subject of evolution comes into focus. Part of the reason for the debates tends to arise because I was once right where they were, and I have to add that that situation arose largely out of ignorance. Science and evolution, in the ‘40s and early ‘50s where I lived, were mortal enemies to faith. As I look back to then, and to my Biblical ignorance, I wonder at my gall at taking such a position. (Since I have seen little disagreement between real science and Scripture (properly – which means Jewishly) – understood, I am amazed that such old battles continue, even though the grounds are rebutted.
What is more to the point in this context, is that a close look at Hebrew/Christian Faith reveals exactly the same process of development and growth, over a period of millennia. The Old Testament Lesson for today underlines that process, and – as the notes above indicate – that underlining continues through the rest of those readings. One of the remarkable things about the Hebrew Faith is, that as far as I can see, it emerged over that long period because Hebrew Faith developed as those ancients pondered life as they lived and experienced it. This means that as experience grew and outlooks widened, people’s move from the last gasps of superstitious paganism to a far more mature outlook emerged. Perhaps the best and clearest example of that progress is one that has long been the tool of antagonists of these faiths.
I have memories going way back of arguments against the Faith, because of the bloodthirsty view of God held by those in early Old Testament times. The punitive, retributive God Who is said to have demanded the deaths of Achan and his family, and other perpetrators of such periods, was really the hangover from the ancient fear of the unknown that translated to the fear of God. (Are you aware of the extent to which the first Creation Story in Genes 1:1 – 2:4a changed perception radically. There was only one God to worry about, not multitudes! That was an enormous leap forward. It was such a leap forward that millennia afterwards, the very discoveries of science were rendered possible. If there is one God, then one can expect to find order in the universe!)
Back to Jeremiah. “The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” It is a rather common, present furphy that our bad points come to us through our genes, or through our environment. In Jeremiah’s day, it was common to blame your parents. (You have heard that one yourself surely!) It is interesting to note, while on the subject, that in the Ten Commandments, those who disobey can, so to speak, blame their parents to the third and fourth generation. This is a limitation of impact, please note, not an excuse for me to blame Mum and Dad. On the other hand, those who are faithful have the comfort of thousands (of generations) of beneficial effect.
The real issue that Jeremiah was raising was the business of personal responsibility. As one of my Bishops once commented to a vastly erring young man at our Rectory after a night fleeing from police, ‘Bill, you are human; ergo you are responsible.’ Bill did all he could to refute the charge, but +Bruce left him no room to move. It is an important point: without personal responsibility, our humanness is reduced to penury. With it, the sky is surely the limit.
As if to underline the direction of this development pointed to by the prophet, he went on to promise what, I suspect, has always been true. Deep within our psyche, Christian or otherwise, we are aware of what is just and true, honourable and compassionate, regardless of our background, genes or parents. In fact one of our late departed Archdeacons of decades past used to pontificate on how, in his early years, whenever someone did wrong and erred from the straight and narrow, they knew it, and expected the repercussions. Those outcomes may result from Court action, but mostly they stemmed from bent consciences, traumatised by their sins. Nowadays, I wonder whether our almost innate dishonesty and failure or refusal to face our responsibilities is one of the factors that lead to breakdown and disintegration. (I am always grateful for the confession and absolution in our Anglican formularies; they are not there to drive us into breast-beating, for heaven’s sake. They are there to free me up to be able to face my errors and glitches, and learn from them. If I do not need to hide them from God, then I do not need to hide from them myself. If you cannot handle my failures, then I still know Someone Who can!
Newsletter
SUNDAY 17th October, 2010
Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
Our Celebrant today is Rev’d Dr. Matthew Anstey
Our Preacher today is Rev’d Dr. Warren Huffa
WELCOME
Please join us for breakfast in the hall after the 8am service or for morning tea after the 10am service. At 10am you will find all the service and hymns projected onto the sanctuary walls.
There is Sunday School at the 10 am service and today we start again.
COLLECT FOR THE DAY
Lord, tireless guardian of Your people, teach us to rely, day and night, on Your care; drive us to seek Your justice and Your help and support our prayer lest we grow weary, for in You alone is our strength. We make our prayer through Your Son Jesus Christ, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen
From Ron Blog
It almost beggars imagination as to how one might comment on this most significant of passages. It is important for modern readers to realize how steep the learning curve was for those worthy ancients, and a learning curve that left previous experiences for dead. Modern readers need to be aware of the enormous evolution of the faith that took place over centuries and millennia, from Abraham to the time of Jeremiah. Please realize that this was a period of close to 1,500 years. From search for truth, to settledness of law, to – in this passage – the awareness of responsibility of each person and the availability of conscience in the making of moral and other choices. I doubt if there is any other religion or ism that contains anything like the breadth of exploration of life and God than that reflected in Judaism over that time.
Responsibility and conscience. As Paul put it, the Law was the ‘school-teacher’ to bring us to Christ. As with our own children, we begin by telling them what to do and how to do it, but as they grew and matured, we parents stepped back allowing mistakes because young people need to see that being human equals being responsible. My own eldest daughter thrilled me to pieces when, late in her teens, she thanked me for allowing her to make her mistakes. That she saw that was great enough; that she was grateful was enough to bring tears to my eyes.
“The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” It is a rather common, present furphy that our bad points come to us through our genes, or through our environment. In Jeremiah’s day, it was common to blame your parents.(You have heard that one yourself surely!)
The real issue that Jeremiah was raising was the business of personal responsibility. As one of my Bishops once commented to a vastly erring young man at our Rectory after a night fleeing from police, ‘Bill, you are human; ergo you are responsible.’ Bill did all he could to refute the charge, but +Bruce left him no room to move. It is an important point: without personal responsibility, our humanness is reduced to penury. With it, the sky is surely the limit.
***************************************************************************************
TODAY’S READINGS read by Trevor T
Jeremiah 29:1. 4– 7 and 2 Timothy 2: 8—15
GOSPEL Luke 17: 11 0 19
PRAYERS FOR THE PEOPLE led by Sue D-T
We pray for those in need: Warren and Thea, Ron Teague, Michael Boere, Sue Lloyd and Peter Little; and don’t forget Stephen with his gammy yet thankfully improving leg.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: James Raymond, Yvonne Myers, Lily Conlon
HAPPY WEDDING ANNIVERSARY –
YEAR’S MIND: Maurice Paternoster (1999), Doris Caddy (2000) Stan Shepherd (2001)
PREPARATION FOR NEXT SUNDAY – 21st Sunday after Pentecost
Readings: Jeremiah 31: 27—34 & 2 Timothy 3:10—4:5
GOSPEL Luke 18: 1—14
Refer Fr Ron’s Notes available at http://www.anglican-belair.blogspot.com/
POWERPOINT ROSTER –
This Week Trevor Tregenza or Ron Keynes
Next Week Araki Family or Don Caddy
READER- AND INTERCESSOR ROSTER
Next Sunday Reader Warren Intercessor Mary V
Sunday after Reader Max A Intercessor Baptism
REGULAR GROUPS AND BOOKINGS
PRAYER CIRCLE meets noon on the 2nd Tuesday each month at 36 Penno Parade North
THURSDAY 9.30am Traditional Communion
7.00m Meditation 7.30pm Study Group
BIBLE STUDY 10am every Wednesday at 378 Main Road Coromandel
Valley
COMING EVENTS
Baptism on 24th October Eloise Spofforth
Baptism on 31st October William Garnett
12th November Another Danny Hodgson evening of jazz. Mark diaries now!
St. John’s will be using the Hall for exams—details on the foyer board
HELPLINE
Part of being a Christian community is the support offered to each other in times of need. We offer short-term delivery of food where needed, local transport, phone calls, visits and other types of assistance. Call Christie Hodgson on 8370 3260 or Caroline Sweet on 8278 3058
Rev’d Dr. Matthew Anstey is holding a series of lectures at St. Elizabeth’s Church, Oaklands Park on Tuesday evenings from 7.30pm. Titled Living well in a complex age cost is $10 per lecture—a little less from pensioners. Contact Rev;d Marian Giles on 8377 2204 for more detail.
The Annual General Meeting of the Mitcham Hills Community Housing Association is being held at 5.30 pm on Wednesday 20th October 2010, in Holy Innocents’ Hall so please come and join us and catch up on the very worthwhile work of this association in providing safe and affordable housing for young people in need. The guest speaker at our AGM will be Stephen Daughtry who is talking about our Ethiopian Library project. A light meal will be served at the conclusion of the meeting. .
OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD. SHOE BOXES.
Today is definitely the last day for these to be brought to Church. Thank you for your support. Marlene Dixon 8278 8568
What Steve Daughtry doesn‘t tell you—The Adelaide Guardian received a Gold Award for the most improved publication recently With Steve as Editor now you know why, don‘t you!!!!!! Congrats, our man at the Guardian.
There will be a meeting of those interested in Children’s Ministry outside of Church—bike riding in particular—at the Rectory 12a Gulfview Street tomor-row night at 7.30pm. Hope to see you there.
Warren invites members of the Sanctuary Guild to meet at the rectory to talk about how their ministry is going and to look ahead to 2011. Come to either Monday, October 25 or November 1 @ 7:45pm. The address of the rectory is 12a Gulfview Rd, Blackwood. (Gulfview Rd meets Main Rd at Hungry Jack's.) There will be a light supper at around 9:00pm and we will finish by 9:30pm. each night."
LATE NEWS ….. Question Time
is on the go again, at 7.30pm TONIGHT. The matter under review is ‘Who is your God?’ with some surprising speakers. On top of that, Danny Hodgson is providing the music.
Items for the Newsletter need to be sent to Fr. Ron at 8298 7160 or ronpkeynes@internode.on.net or 8298 7160
60a Davenport Terrace, Seacliff Park SA 5049 by Tuesday nights, please
Items for the Newsletter need to be sent to Fr. Ron at 8298 7160 or ronpkeynes@internode.on.net by Tuesday night
Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
Our Celebrant today is Rev’d Dr. Matthew Anstey
Our Preacher today is Rev’d Dr. Warren Huffa
WELCOME
Please join us for breakfast in the hall after the 8am service or for morning tea after the 10am service. At 10am you will find all the service and hymns projected onto the sanctuary walls.
There is Sunday School at the 10 am service and today we start again.
COLLECT FOR THE DAY
Lord, tireless guardian of Your people, teach us to rely, day and night, on Your care; drive us to seek Your justice and Your help and support our prayer lest we grow weary, for in You alone is our strength. We make our prayer through Your Son Jesus Christ, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen
From Ron Blog
It almost beggars imagination as to how one might comment on this most significant of passages. It is important for modern readers to realize how steep the learning curve was for those worthy ancients, and a learning curve that left previous experiences for dead. Modern readers need to be aware of the enormous evolution of the faith that took place over centuries and millennia, from Abraham to the time of Jeremiah. Please realize that this was a period of close to 1,500 years. From search for truth, to settledness of law, to – in this passage – the awareness of responsibility of each person and the availability of conscience in the making of moral and other choices. I doubt if there is any other religion or ism that contains anything like the breadth of exploration of life and God than that reflected in Judaism over that time.
Responsibility and conscience. As Paul put it, the Law was the ‘school-teacher’ to bring us to Christ. As with our own children, we begin by telling them what to do and how to do it, but as they grew and matured, we parents stepped back allowing mistakes because young people need to see that being human equals being responsible. My own eldest daughter thrilled me to pieces when, late in her teens, she thanked me for allowing her to make her mistakes. That she saw that was great enough; that she was grateful was enough to bring tears to my eyes.
“The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” It is a rather common, present furphy that our bad points come to us through our genes, or through our environment. In Jeremiah’s day, it was common to blame your parents.(You have heard that one yourself surely!)
The real issue that Jeremiah was raising was the business of personal responsibility. As one of my Bishops once commented to a vastly erring young man at our Rectory after a night fleeing from police, ‘Bill, you are human; ergo you are responsible.’ Bill did all he could to refute the charge, but +Bruce left him no room to move. It is an important point: without personal responsibility, our humanness is reduced to penury. With it, the sky is surely the limit.
***************************************************************************************
TODAY’S READINGS read by Trevor T
Jeremiah 29:1. 4– 7 and 2 Timothy 2: 8—15
GOSPEL Luke 17: 11 0 19
PRAYERS FOR THE PEOPLE led by Sue D-T
We pray for those in need: Warren and Thea, Ron Teague, Michael Boere, Sue Lloyd and Peter Little; and don’t forget Stephen with his gammy yet thankfully improving leg.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: James Raymond, Yvonne Myers, Lily Conlon
HAPPY WEDDING ANNIVERSARY –
YEAR’S MIND: Maurice Paternoster (1999), Doris Caddy (2000) Stan Shepherd (2001)
PREPARATION FOR NEXT SUNDAY – 21st Sunday after Pentecost
Readings: Jeremiah 31: 27—34 & 2 Timothy 3:10—4:5
GOSPEL Luke 18: 1—14
Refer Fr Ron’s Notes available at http://www.anglican-belair.blogspot.com/
POWERPOINT ROSTER –
This Week Trevor Tregenza or Ron Keynes
Next Week Araki Family or Don Caddy
READER- AND INTERCESSOR ROSTER
Next Sunday Reader Warren Intercessor Mary V
Sunday after Reader Max A Intercessor Baptism
REGULAR GROUPS AND BOOKINGS
PRAYER CIRCLE meets noon on the 2nd Tuesday each month at 36 Penno Parade North
THURSDAY 9.30am Traditional Communion
7.00m Meditation 7.30pm Study Group
BIBLE STUDY 10am every Wednesday at 378 Main Road Coromandel
Valley
COMING EVENTS
Baptism on 24th October Eloise Spofforth
Baptism on 31st October William Garnett
12th November Another Danny Hodgson evening of jazz. Mark diaries now!
St. John’s will be using the Hall for exams—details on the foyer board
HELPLINE
Part of being a Christian community is the support offered to each other in times of need. We offer short-term delivery of food where needed, local transport, phone calls, visits and other types of assistance. Call Christie Hodgson on 8370 3260 or Caroline Sweet on 8278 3058
Rev’d Dr. Matthew Anstey is holding a series of lectures at St. Elizabeth’s Church, Oaklands Park on Tuesday evenings from 7.30pm. Titled Living well in a complex age cost is $10 per lecture—a little less from pensioners. Contact Rev;d Marian Giles on 8377 2204 for more detail.
The Annual General Meeting of the Mitcham Hills Community Housing Association is being held at 5.30 pm on Wednesday 20th October 2010, in Holy Innocents’ Hall so please come and join us and catch up on the very worthwhile work of this association in providing safe and affordable housing for young people in need. The guest speaker at our AGM will be Stephen Daughtry who is talking about our Ethiopian Library project. A light meal will be served at the conclusion of the meeting. .
OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD. SHOE BOXES.
Today is definitely the last day for these to be brought to Church. Thank you for your support. Marlene Dixon 8278 8568
What Steve Daughtry doesn‘t tell you—The Adelaide Guardian received a Gold Award for the most improved publication recently With Steve as Editor now you know why, don‘t you!!!!!! Congrats, our man at the Guardian.
There will be a meeting of those interested in Children’s Ministry outside of Church—bike riding in particular—at the Rectory 12a Gulfview Street tomor-row night at 7.30pm. Hope to see you there.
Warren invites members of the Sanctuary Guild to meet at the rectory to talk about how their ministry is going and to look ahead to 2011. Come to either Monday, October 25 or November 1 @ 7:45pm. The address of the rectory is 12a Gulfview Rd, Blackwood. (Gulfview Rd meets Main Rd at Hungry Jack's.) There will be a light supper at around 9:00pm and we will finish by 9:30pm. each night."
LATE NEWS ….. Question Time
is on the go again, at 7.30pm TONIGHT. The matter under review is ‘Who is your God?’ with some surprising speakers. On top of that, Danny Hodgson is providing the music.
Items for the Newsletter need to be sent to Fr. Ron at 8298 7160 or ronpkeynes@internode.on.net or 8298 7160
60a Davenport Terrace, Seacliff Park SA 5049 by Tuesday nights, please
Items for the Newsletter need to be sent to Fr. Ron at 8298 7160 or ronpkeynes@internode.on.net by Tuesday night
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Newsletter
SUNDAY 17th October, 2010
Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
Our Celebrant and Preacher today is Rev’d Dr. Warren Huffa
WELCOME
Please join us for breakfast in the hall after the 8am service or for morning tea after the 10am service. At 10am you will find all the service and hymns projected onto the sanctuary walls.
There is Sunday School at the 10 am service during School terms
COLLECT FOR THE DAY
Lord, tireless guardian of Your people, teach us to rely, day and night, on Your care; drive us to seek Your justice and Your help and support our prayer lest we grow weary, for in You alone is our strength. We make our prayer through Your Son Jesus Christ, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen
From Ron Blog
It almost beggars imagination as to how one might comment on this most significant of passages. It is important for modern readers to realize how steep the learning curve was for those worthy ancients, and a learning curve that left previous experiences for dead. Modern readers need to be aware of the enormous evolution of the faith that took place over centuries and millennia, from Abraham to the time of Jeremiah. Please realize that this was a period of close to 1,500 years. From search for truth, to settledness of law, to – in this passage – the awareness of responsibility of each person and the availability of conscience in the making of moral and other choices. I doubt if there is any other religion or ism that contains anything like the breadth of exploration of life and God than that reflected in Judaism over that time.
Responsibility and conscience. As Paul put it, the Law was the ‘school-teacher’ to bring us to Christ. As with our own children, we begin by telling them what to do and how to do it, but as they grew and matured, we parents stepped back allowing mistakes because young people need to see that being human equals being responsible. My own eldest daughter thrilled me to pieces when, late in her teens, she thanked me for allowing her to make her mistakes. That she saw that was great enough; that she was grateful was enough to bring tears to my eyes.
“The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” It is a rather common, present furphy that our bad points come to us through our genes, or through our environment. In Jeremiah’s day, it was common to blame your parents.(You have heard that one yourself surely!)
The real issue that Jeremiah was raising was the business of personal responsibility. As one of my Bishops once commented to a vastly erring young man at our Rectory after a night fleeing from police, ‘Bill, you are human; ergo you are responsible.’ Bill did all he could to refute the charge, but +Bruce left him no room to move. It is an important point: without personal responsibility, our humanness is reduced to penury. With it, the sky is surely the limit.
***************************************************************************************
TODAY’S READINGS read by Trevor T
Jeremiah 29:1. 4– 7 and 2 Timothy 2: 8—15
GOSPEL Luke 17: 11 0 19
PRAYERS FOR THE PEOPLE led by Sue D-T
We pray for those in need: Warren and Thea, Ron Teague, Michael Boere, Sue Lloyd and Peter Little; and don’t forget Stephen with his gammy yet thankfully improving leg.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: James Raymond, Yvonne Myers, Lily Conlon
HAPPY WEDDING ANNIVERSARY –
YEAR’S MIND: Maurice Paternoster (1999), Doris Caddy (2000) Stan Shepherd (2001)
PREPARATION FOR NEXT SUNDAY – 21st Sunday after Pentecost
Readings: Jeremiah 31: 27—34 & 2 Timothy 3:10—4:5
GOSPEL Luke 18: 1—14
Refer Fr Ron’s Notes available at http://www.anglican-belair.blogspot.com/
POWERPOINT ROSTER –
This Week Ron Keynes or Araki Family
Next Week Trevor Tregenza or Ron Keynes
READER- AND INTERCESSOR ROSTER
Next Sunday Reader Warren Intercessor Mary V
Sunday after Reader Max A Intercessor Baptism
REGULAR GROUPS AND BOOKINGS
PRAYER CIRCLE meets noon on the 2nd Tuesday each month at 36 Penno Parade North
THURSDAY 9.30am Traditional Communion
7.00m Meditation 7.30pm Study Group
BIBLE STUDY 10am every Wednesday at 378 Main Road Coromandel
Valley
COMING EVENTS
Baptism on 24th October Eloise Spofforth
Baptism on 31st October William Garnett
12th November Another Danny Hodgson evening of jazz. Mark diaries now!
St. John’s will be using the Hall for exams—details on the foyer board
HELPLINE
Part of being a Christian community is the support offered to each other in times of need. We offer short-term delivery of food where needed, local transport, phone calls, visits and other types of assistance. Call Christie Hodgson on 8370 3260 or Caroline Sweet on 8278 3058
Rev’d Dr. Matthew Anstey is holding a series of lectures at St. Elizabeth’s Church, Oaklands Park on Tuesday evenings from 7.30pm. Titled Living well in a complex age cost is $10 per lecture—a little less from pensioners. Contact Rev;d Marian Giles on 8377 2204 for more detail.
The Annual General Meeting of the Mitcham Hills Community Housing Association is being held at 5.30 pm on Wednesday 20th October 2010, in Holy Innocents’ Hall so please come and join us and catch up on the very worthwhile work of this association in providing safe and affordable housing for young people in need. The guest speaker at our AGM will be Stephen Daughtry who is talking about our Ethiopian Library project. A light meal will be served at the conclusion of the meeting. .
OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD. SHOE BOXES.
Next Sunday l7th October is definitely the last day for these to be brought to Church. Thank you for your support. Marlene Dixon 8278 8568
Items for the Newsletter need to be sent to Fr. Ron at 8298 7160 or ronpkeynes@internode.on.net
Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
Our Celebrant and Preacher today is Rev’d Dr. Warren Huffa
WELCOME
Please join us for breakfast in the hall after the 8am service or for morning tea after the 10am service. At 10am you will find all the service and hymns projected onto the sanctuary walls.
There is Sunday School at the 10 am service during School terms
COLLECT FOR THE DAY
Lord, tireless guardian of Your people, teach us to rely, day and night, on Your care; drive us to seek Your justice and Your help and support our prayer lest we grow weary, for in You alone is our strength. We make our prayer through Your Son Jesus Christ, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen
From Ron Blog
It almost beggars imagination as to how one might comment on this most significant of passages. It is important for modern readers to realize how steep the learning curve was for those worthy ancients, and a learning curve that left previous experiences for dead. Modern readers need to be aware of the enormous evolution of the faith that took place over centuries and millennia, from Abraham to the time of Jeremiah. Please realize that this was a period of close to 1,500 years. From search for truth, to settledness of law, to – in this passage – the awareness of responsibility of each person and the availability of conscience in the making of moral and other choices. I doubt if there is any other religion or ism that contains anything like the breadth of exploration of life and God than that reflected in Judaism over that time.
Responsibility and conscience. As Paul put it, the Law was the ‘school-teacher’ to bring us to Christ. As with our own children, we begin by telling them what to do and how to do it, but as they grew and matured, we parents stepped back allowing mistakes because young people need to see that being human equals being responsible. My own eldest daughter thrilled me to pieces when, late in her teens, she thanked me for allowing her to make her mistakes. That she saw that was great enough; that she was grateful was enough to bring tears to my eyes.
“The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” It is a rather common, present furphy that our bad points come to us through our genes, or through our environment. In Jeremiah’s day, it was common to blame your parents.(You have heard that one yourself surely!)
The real issue that Jeremiah was raising was the business of personal responsibility. As one of my Bishops once commented to a vastly erring young man at our Rectory after a night fleeing from police, ‘Bill, you are human; ergo you are responsible.’ Bill did all he could to refute the charge, but +Bruce left him no room to move. It is an important point: without personal responsibility, our humanness is reduced to penury. With it, the sky is surely the limit.
***************************************************************************************
TODAY’S READINGS read by Trevor T
Jeremiah 29:1. 4– 7 and 2 Timothy 2: 8—15
GOSPEL Luke 17: 11 0 19
PRAYERS FOR THE PEOPLE led by Sue D-T
We pray for those in need: Warren and Thea, Ron Teague, Michael Boere, Sue Lloyd and Peter Little; and don’t forget Stephen with his gammy yet thankfully improving leg.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: James Raymond, Yvonne Myers, Lily Conlon
HAPPY WEDDING ANNIVERSARY –
YEAR’S MIND: Maurice Paternoster (1999), Doris Caddy (2000) Stan Shepherd (2001)
PREPARATION FOR NEXT SUNDAY – 21st Sunday after Pentecost
Readings: Jeremiah 31: 27—34 & 2 Timothy 3:10—4:5
GOSPEL Luke 18: 1—14
Refer Fr Ron’s Notes available at http://www.anglican-belair.blogspot.com/
POWERPOINT ROSTER –
This Week Ron Keynes or Araki Family
Next Week Trevor Tregenza or Ron Keynes
READER- AND INTERCESSOR ROSTER
Next Sunday Reader Warren Intercessor Mary V
Sunday after Reader Max A Intercessor Baptism
REGULAR GROUPS AND BOOKINGS
PRAYER CIRCLE meets noon on the 2nd Tuesday each month at 36 Penno Parade North
THURSDAY 9.30am Traditional Communion
7.00m Meditation 7.30pm Study Group
BIBLE STUDY 10am every Wednesday at 378 Main Road Coromandel
Valley
COMING EVENTS
Baptism on 24th October Eloise Spofforth
Baptism on 31st October William Garnett
12th November Another Danny Hodgson evening of jazz. Mark diaries now!
St. John’s will be using the Hall for exams—details on the foyer board
HELPLINE
Part of being a Christian community is the support offered to each other in times of need. We offer short-term delivery of food where needed, local transport, phone calls, visits and other types of assistance. Call Christie Hodgson on 8370 3260 or Caroline Sweet on 8278 3058
Rev’d Dr. Matthew Anstey is holding a series of lectures at St. Elizabeth’s Church, Oaklands Park on Tuesday evenings from 7.30pm. Titled Living well in a complex age cost is $10 per lecture—a little less from pensioners. Contact Rev;d Marian Giles on 8377 2204 for more detail.
The Annual General Meeting of the Mitcham Hills Community Housing Association is being held at 5.30 pm on Wednesday 20th October 2010, in Holy Innocents’ Hall so please come and join us and catch up on the very worthwhile work of this association in providing safe and affordable housing for young people in need. The guest speaker at our AGM will be Stephen Daughtry who is talking about our Ethiopian Library project. A light meal will be served at the conclusion of the meeting. .
OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD. SHOE BOXES.
Next Sunday l7th October is definitely the last day for these to be brought to Church. Thank you for your support. Marlene Dixon 8278 8568
Items for the Newsletter need to be sent to Fr. Ron at 8298 7160 or ronpkeynes@internode.on.net
RonBlog
Sunday 10th October, 2010 Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
Sentence
What shall I return to the Lord for all His bounty to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation, and call on the Name of the Lord; I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people. Psalm 116:12-14
Collect
Almighty God, You have so ordered our earthly life that we must walk by faith and not by sight; give us such trust in Your Fatherly care that, in the face of all perplexities, we may give proof of our faith by the courage of our lives, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Old Testament Lesson Jeremiah 29: 1, 4 – 7
These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. [This was after King Jeconiah, and the queen mother, the court officials, the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the artisans, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem. The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah sent to Babylon to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. It said:]
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let the prophets and the diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, says the LORD.
Psalm 66: 1 – 11
O shout with joy to God all the earth: sing to the honour of His name, and give Him glory as His praise
Say to God, ‘How fearful are Your works: because of Your great might, Your enemies shall cower before You.
All the earth shall worship You: and sing to You, and sing praises to Your name
Come and see what God has done: how terrible are His dealings with the children of Adam
He turned the sea into dry land: they crossed the river on foot: then were we joyful because of Him.
By His power He rules for ever, His eyes keep watch on the nations, and rebels shall never rise against Him
O bless our God, you peoples: and cause His praises to resound
Who has held our souls in life: Who has not suffered our feet to slip.
For You have proved us, O God: You have tried us as silver is tried.
You brought us into the net: You laid sharp torment on our loins.
You let our enemies ride over our heads, we went through fire and water: but You brought us into a place of liberty.
Epistle 2 Timothy 1: 8 – 14
Do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him. Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.
GOSPEL Luke 17: 11 – 19
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean.
Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."
NOTES ON THE READINGS
Old Testament
That attitude of Jeremiah must surely be a poke in the eye at the modern expectation that everything happens at the push of a button. Put yourself in the prophet’s position (without the wisdom of hindsight!) Surely everyone else at that point in time would have bemoaned the drastic situation for Israel and especially for its important ones. City and country gone; exiles in a foreign (and hated) country. No future; no hope; and despair at the heart of everything. How would you feel, eh?
And then comes the prophet, whose word from the Lord is, basically, get on with it. Take the long-range view. It is a stunning and comforting word, with enormous challenge at the same time. This is where you are; stop looking back or over your shoulder. Respond to the present. And respond positively. We Westerners find great hardship in that, and most of it is of our own making, is it not? LONG RANGE VIEW, do you see!
Psalm
If one steps on the shoulders of the OT reading, there is more of the same to come. Much of our problem stems from failure to ponder where God is leading His people. Whilst we tend to expect peace and tranquillity, it rarely comes, now does it. But when you look back, which is why we have the Bible unvarnished, one has to see that the times of real progress and the times of great struggle. One of my convictions, for many years now, is that when Israel was pilgrimming, all manner of lessons were learnt. When settled, lessons were forgotten with amazing speed.
Epistle
And there you have it. This is precisely what the Epistle for today is underlining!
GOSPEL
Funny, is it not? Those with the expectation of support and healing seem to be without gratitude almost completely. It is the outsider who really values the help when it comes. This – like the rest of today’s readings – are a challenge to those of us who have been faithful (and possibly quite blind in some respects!)
NOTES FOR A SERMON
Perhaps it is because that cameo of a Gospel passage is so well known, that is goes right over our heads, and does not remain long enough to have its important impact. It is because we expect Jesus to heal the leper, that we miss the point when He does. We would make great Jews in that situation, would we not? This is what God is supposed to do for His people and we get our knickers in a knot when He doesn’t fulfill our expectations. So the point of such exercises, surely, is not to twist our underthings, but spend a bit of time wondering what He is on about.
I really do love that Jeremiah passage: it is a boot in the backside of all conventional Christians – and Jews, too, come to that. Jeremiah lived in a critical period for Israel, for the Babylonian exile looked for all the world like the end of things for Israel, nation and religion. How would you feel if more than half of your congregation suddenly ceased to exist? How do you feel when, in lots of places to this day, you see your congregation ageing and failing? What does the future hold?
Jeremiah knew the answer to such questions, and responded to it with a great Australianism. Just get on with it. It was the word of the Lord through Isaiah, and when locals heard it, I bet they derided the prophet. ‘What do you know about things anyhow?’ they would have asked and challenged. In fact Jeremiah found himself imprisoned and threatened a number of times during his life. It was a most uncomfortable path for the poor man. But the prophet had, quite obviously, pondered, as all good prophets did, what God was saying to His people in this most horrific of circumstances.
And there lies the message for today. Stop complaining, and begin listening to God if there are issues in front of you. First of all, be glad that He trusts you with such a position, and then ponder. Listen. Pray. Think. And look back to see what our ancient worthies did to handle such crises.
Crises are there for very good reason. (Did you know that in the New Testament, the Greek word krisis is translated judgement? And that judgement is not some sort of punishment from God. It is a moment of choice, of decision, of picking the right path forward from that point on. And the choice you make is a clear illustration of who you are and what is important for you. Choose wisely, and it will be of great benefit to you and those around you. Choose foolishly, and you will find yourself in the pooh of your own making.
So the challenge that Jeremiah has for us is to take the long-range view of life – for God does not react like or to a press-button world. Nor does anyone else with any sense. ‘What are you saying to us in this, Lord?’ is the question that will provide significant answers if you stop long enough to listen and to see. And more often than not, the answers may well be evident from the time you ask such a question. The Lord does not much around with you and treat you with cotton wool. He treats you like an adult so that you will become more adult. And thank God that He does.
Sentence
What shall I return to the Lord for all His bounty to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation, and call on the Name of the Lord; I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people. Psalm 116:12-14
Collect
Almighty God, You have so ordered our earthly life that we must walk by faith and not by sight; give us such trust in Your Fatherly care that, in the face of all perplexities, we may give proof of our faith by the courage of our lives, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Old Testament Lesson Jeremiah 29: 1, 4 – 7
These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. [This was after King Jeconiah, and the queen mother, the court officials, the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the artisans, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem. The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah sent to Babylon to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. It said:]
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let the prophets and the diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, says the LORD.
Psalm 66: 1 – 11
O shout with joy to God all the earth: sing to the honour of His name, and give Him glory as His praise
Say to God, ‘How fearful are Your works: because of Your great might, Your enemies shall cower before You.
All the earth shall worship You: and sing to You, and sing praises to Your name
Come and see what God has done: how terrible are His dealings with the children of Adam
He turned the sea into dry land: they crossed the river on foot: then were we joyful because of Him.
By His power He rules for ever, His eyes keep watch on the nations, and rebels shall never rise against Him
O bless our God, you peoples: and cause His praises to resound
Who has held our souls in life: Who has not suffered our feet to slip.
For You have proved us, O God: You have tried us as silver is tried.
You brought us into the net: You laid sharp torment on our loins.
You let our enemies ride over our heads, we went through fire and water: but You brought us into a place of liberty.
Epistle 2 Timothy 1: 8 – 14
Do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him. Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.
GOSPEL Luke 17: 11 – 19
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean.
Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."
NOTES ON THE READINGS
Old Testament
That attitude of Jeremiah must surely be a poke in the eye at the modern expectation that everything happens at the push of a button. Put yourself in the prophet’s position (without the wisdom of hindsight!) Surely everyone else at that point in time would have bemoaned the drastic situation for Israel and especially for its important ones. City and country gone; exiles in a foreign (and hated) country. No future; no hope; and despair at the heart of everything. How would you feel, eh?
And then comes the prophet, whose word from the Lord is, basically, get on with it. Take the long-range view. It is a stunning and comforting word, with enormous challenge at the same time. This is where you are; stop looking back or over your shoulder. Respond to the present. And respond positively. We Westerners find great hardship in that, and most of it is of our own making, is it not? LONG RANGE VIEW, do you see!
Psalm
If one steps on the shoulders of the OT reading, there is more of the same to come. Much of our problem stems from failure to ponder where God is leading His people. Whilst we tend to expect peace and tranquillity, it rarely comes, now does it. But when you look back, which is why we have the Bible unvarnished, one has to see that the times of real progress and the times of great struggle. One of my convictions, for many years now, is that when Israel was pilgrimming, all manner of lessons were learnt. When settled, lessons were forgotten with amazing speed.
Epistle
And there you have it. This is precisely what the Epistle for today is underlining!
GOSPEL
Funny, is it not? Those with the expectation of support and healing seem to be without gratitude almost completely. It is the outsider who really values the help when it comes. This – like the rest of today’s readings – are a challenge to those of us who have been faithful (and possibly quite blind in some respects!)
NOTES FOR A SERMON
Perhaps it is because that cameo of a Gospel passage is so well known, that is goes right over our heads, and does not remain long enough to have its important impact. It is because we expect Jesus to heal the leper, that we miss the point when He does. We would make great Jews in that situation, would we not? This is what God is supposed to do for His people and we get our knickers in a knot when He doesn’t fulfill our expectations. So the point of such exercises, surely, is not to twist our underthings, but spend a bit of time wondering what He is on about.
I really do love that Jeremiah passage: it is a boot in the backside of all conventional Christians – and Jews, too, come to that. Jeremiah lived in a critical period for Israel, for the Babylonian exile looked for all the world like the end of things for Israel, nation and religion. How would you feel if more than half of your congregation suddenly ceased to exist? How do you feel when, in lots of places to this day, you see your congregation ageing and failing? What does the future hold?
Jeremiah knew the answer to such questions, and responded to it with a great Australianism. Just get on with it. It was the word of the Lord through Isaiah, and when locals heard it, I bet they derided the prophet. ‘What do you know about things anyhow?’ they would have asked and challenged. In fact Jeremiah found himself imprisoned and threatened a number of times during his life. It was a most uncomfortable path for the poor man. But the prophet had, quite obviously, pondered, as all good prophets did, what God was saying to His people in this most horrific of circumstances.
And there lies the message for today. Stop complaining, and begin listening to God if there are issues in front of you. First of all, be glad that He trusts you with such a position, and then ponder. Listen. Pray. Think. And look back to see what our ancient worthies did to handle such crises.
Crises are there for very good reason. (Did you know that in the New Testament, the Greek word krisis is translated judgement? And that judgement is not some sort of punishment from God. It is a moment of choice, of decision, of picking the right path forward from that point on. And the choice you make is a clear illustration of who you are and what is important for you. Choose wisely, and it will be of great benefit to you and those around you. Choose foolishly, and you will find yourself in the pooh of your own making.
So the challenge that Jeremiah has for us is to take the long-range view of life – for God does not react like or to a press-button world. Nor does anyone else with any sense. ‘What are you saying to us in this, Lord?’ is the question that will provide significant answers if you stop long enough to listen and to see. And more often than not, the answers may well be evident from the time you ask such a question. The Lord does not much around with you and treat you with cotton wool. He treats you like an adult so that you will become more adult. And thank God that He does.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
RonBlog
Sunday 3rd October, 2010 Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Sentence
‘Who is greater, the one who is at table, or the one who serves? But I am among you as one who serves,’ says the Lord Luke 22:27
Collect
Faithful God, have mercy on us Your unworthy servants, and increase our faith that, trusting in Your Spirit’s power to work in us and through us, we may never be ashamed to witness to our Lord, and may obediently serve Him all our days, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
OLD TESTAMENT LESSON Lamentations 1: 1 – 6
How deserted lies the city, once thronging with people! Once great among nations, now become a widow; once queen among provinces, now put to forced labour! She weeps bitterly in the night; tears run down her cheeks. Among all who loved her she has no one to bring her comfort. Her friends have all betrayed her; they have become her enemies. Judah has wasted away through affliction and endless servitude. Living among the nations, she has found no resting-place; her persecutors all fell on her in her sore distress. The approaches to Zion mourn, for no pilgrims attend her sacred feasts; all her gates are desolate. Her priests groan, her maidens are made to suffer. How bitter is her fate! Her adversaries have become her masters, her enemies take their ease, for the Lord has made her suffer because of her countless sins. Her young children are gone, taken captive by an adversary. All splendour has vanished from the daughter of Zion. Her princes have become like deer that can find no pasture. They run on, their strength spent, pursued by the hunter.
Psalm 37: 1 – 9
Do not vie with the wicked: or envy those that do wrong
For they will soon wither like the grass: and fade away like the green leaf.
Trust in the Lord and do good: and you shall dwell in the land and feed in safe pastures
Let the Lord be your delight: and He will grant you your heart’s desire
Commit your way to the Lord: trust Him and He will act
He will make your righteousness shine as clear as the light: and your innocence as the noonday
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him: do not be vexed when someone prospers, when they put their evil purposes to work
Let go of anger and abandon wrath: let not envy move you to do evil
For the wicked shall be cut down: but those who wait for the Lord shall possess the land
EPISTLE 2 Timothy 1: 1 – 14
From Paul, apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, whose promise of life is fulfilled in Christ Jesus, to Timothy his dear son. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
I give thanks to the God of my forefathers, whom I worship with a clear conscience, when I mention you in my prayers as I do constantly night and day; when I remember the tears you shed, I long to see you again and so make my happiness complete. I am reminded of the sincerity of your faith, a faith which was alive in Lois your grandmother and Eunice your mother before you, and which, I am confident, now lives in you. That is why I remind you to stir into flame the gift from God which is yours through the laying on of my hands. For the spirit that God gave us is no cowardly spirit, but one to inspire power, love, and self-discipline.
So never be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me imprisoned for his sake, but through the power that comes from God accept your share of suffering for the sake of the gospel. It is he who has brought us salvation and called us to a dedicated life, not for any merit of ours but for his own purpose and of his own grace, granted to us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, and now at length disclosed by the appearance on earth of our Saviour Jesus Christ. He has broken the power of death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Of this gospel I have been appointed herald, apostle, and teacher. That is the reason for my present plight; but I am not ashamed of it, because I know whom I have trusted, and am confident of his power to keep safe what he has put into my charge until the great day. Hold to the outline of sound teaching which you heard from me, living by the faith and love which are ours in Christ Jesus. Keep safe the treasure put into our charge, with the help of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.
GOSPEL Luke 17: 5 – 10
The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith'; and the Lord replied, "If you had faith no bigger than a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, "Be rooted up and planted in the sea"; and it would obey you.
Suppose one of you has a servant ploughing or minding sheep. When he comes in from the fields, will the master say, "Come and sit down straight away"? Will he not rather say, "Prepare my supper; hitch up your robe, and wait on me while I have my meal. You can have yours afterwards?” Is he grateful to the servant for carrying out his orders? So with you: when you have carried out all you have been ordered to do, you should say, "We are servants and deserve no credit; we have only done our duty."
NOTES ON THE READINGS
Old Testament Lesson
It would not be possible for us, at this distance in time, to know what it felt like to have had Jerusalem destroyed and people exiled. Small wonder that the book is titled ‘Lamentations,’ eh! But it underlines something that needs to be wider known. So often the assumption is that God is there to provide protection for the believer, Jew or Christian. The reality is very much otherwise. Please spend some time checking the extent to which the ordinary vicissitudes of life impact on the People of God, who need to come to terms with and adapt to all the rigours involved. Were that not the case, then the said People of God would be wimps beyond belief!!!!! Struggle is what produces maturity; protection produces little more than shadows of humans. And this is true in all of life.
Psalm
As I was typing in the Psalm for today, the thought struck me how unacceptable the sentiments would be in much of today’s world. Blow you, Jack, I am all right is the general sentiment, and a recent test on TV of people’s honesty underlines the extent to which dishonesty reigns. Small wonder, then, that the world is in turmoil. It is strange to me, that these ancient verities are ignored to a large extent, when if that were not the case, life would be so much fairer and safer ... and the wide disparity between haves and haves not would be very much reduced.
Epistle
Here we go again, with the same or similar views to the earlier readings expressed, as Paul encouraged Timothy in his life and ministry. It is not as if the Faith is about something exotic or esoteric; it is all quite simple and straightforward, even if it does run so contrary to the spirit of the present age and time.
Gospel
And talk about contrary! There is not likely to be a lot of people who would agree with the views and attitudes expressed in this passage, now is there? We are far more likely to have people demanding that their presence be noted and their status well on view. Servant? Bah! Hogwash!!!!!
Here is one of the principle reasons for rejection of the Faith by many of those in today’s world – or at least our part of it. Power and position are the ultimate goals for rather too many. And the result of that way of life shows up in the dysfunction of what passes for community and even family.
There is no way in which the Christian position is ‘different’ just for the hell of it. It is different because this is the time-honoured way of finding a peaceful and beneficial way of living. When I look out for you, and you for me, and each of us for the rest of us, then all of us are safe and life can be lived peacefully if not profitably. Love is the real factor that makes life tick, and while this may not be rocket science, it is reality (and not in the television sense, let me tell you.)
NOTES FOR A SERMON
I have commented before of the way in which so many people have departed from faith on the grounds that they expected this from God or that, and were disappointed. If God is Almighty, why does He not interfere and stop such things as wars, as hatreds, as disasters, and such? It has to be said that much of the perceived problem comes from .... making God in our own image, if I may dare to say so.
Even quite recently (as I write this) a most serious issue has arisen within our own wider family, a matter of possibly terminal illness, with one who has long been convinced that God would look after that part of the family because they are Charismatics. Even when contrary evidence and experience had damaged their family quite some years back, there remains the expectation of miracle. Time will tell, of course, but it is the expectation that concerns me.
Over the decades I have been involved in discussions and debates with people involved in both World Wars, whose faith was destroyed, they tell me, because of the totally horrific things that they witnessed. There is no way I would ever to dare to debate their experiences, for although I have been immune from such things, there is no way anyone could, for instance, be a Holocaust denier with any veracity. So the fact of those horrific things is not for debate: their assessment of God, I suggest, could well be.
There is so often and so easily that assumption that if God is Almighty, then He could, were He real, put a stop to such horrors. It is a simple, and sadly simplistic theory that does not stand up to examination, not only for God, but for a generation or two of parents may I dare say. How often I have heard the complaint that parents had little or no influence on their demanding and unresponsive children. ‘What could I do?’ has been the catch-cry, and I have been rude enough to suggest that they have taken the easy way out, surrendering responsibility to their children. There have been others who have gone the other way and demanded total obedience from their kids, often with results more disastrous than those who surrendered. Either way has resulted in great heart-searching and sometimes heart burn, for there is little in life harder to cope with than deliberately wayward children.
The real reason for taking up this issue is dual: one, to offer an alternative, and the other, to point to something that may be of great surprise to a lot of people. The cause of that surprise is found in Scripture, and particularly in the Old Testament. It is not necessary to read the whole lot of that rather large volume, but to check out some parts of it. What may be more surprising still is that the reason we have this document lies in the fact that it constitutes the Hebrew answer to the life question – why is there all this stuff-up in life anyhow?
I wonder if that got you sitting up and thinking?
Part of the answer is to be found in that most remarkable (and even more totally misunderstood) Chapter 3 of Genesis. The story of the fall. It is story, parable, not history – myth or legend if you like. It was and remains an attempt to understand where all this trouble stems and stemmed from. I am not talking ‘original sin,’ for that is a rather gross misunderstanding of what the tale conveys. But it is about cause and responsibility. It is a tale to help me begin to understand me. And you. It is the age-old demand to be boss, and you my vassal. Reason? I know best, of course, and you do not. Ego! Self. Very damaging.
And how does one respond? The normal human reaction is one of force. Father knows best, and don’t argue, or you are dead. The Cain and Abel response.
And the rest of the Bible, or the latter part of the Old Testament, shows that such an approach only aggravates the problem; it does not solve it. Read some of the prophets, and see how different an approach they offered, and anticipated a divine involvement in the whole business, the Suffering Servant approach being one of them. Or read Ezekiel who talks about real shepherds. Serving not controlling. Love not force, persistence not power. Now it all sounds so terribly easy, and it is nothing of the sort, but any good parent worth their salt will not demand, but offer a better way.
Oddly, many of those who oppose Christianity consider it to be mere superstition, and I have the hide to wonder why. The Faith has all to do with operating with justice, truth and integrity, and being a persistent parent as the prophets see God as evidencing. It was no easy business for the Loving Father to watch His own people acting like foolish and recalcitrant idiots. His reaction was not to step in and stop their stupidity – for the simple reason that such a course of action would reduce people to something far less than human. Like any parent, He would offer correction, until His next path was (and remains!) to step back and allow them to follow their own direction, in the hope and longing that they would see the disaster in front of them, and turn back to a more sensible path. This is described in Scripture as the ‘wrath of God,’ which was no belting over the head, but a waiting for a more reasoned response from them.
When it comes to World War I or II, or wars subsequent or before, who was responsible? TRULY! And the answer is us! Humans, foolish, selfish, ego-centric humans. And yes, quite a lot of them were Christian ... who either were not aware of their apostasy, or did not care a damn. Germany was Christian in both major conflicts. And so were their enemies. That first Scrap was, remember, the War to end Wars! And who remembered and for how long?
So before you go and call God for everything, or decide He no longer exists (if ever He did!) then stop and remember how He operates, and see just who is responsible for all the issues and problems, and see where He is perhaps longing over you to change direction, and return to truth and justice and integrity. Or, if you have no room left for God, then simply stop and see just who is responsible and then you change direction, and return to truth and justice and integrity.
Sentence
‘Who is greater, the one who is at table, or the one who serves? But I am among you as one who serves,’ says the Lord Luke 22:27
Collect
Faithful God, have mercy on us Your unworthy servants, and increase our faith that, trusting in Your Spirit’s power to work in us and through us, we may never be ashamed to witness to our Lord, and may obediently serve Him all our days, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
OLD TESTAMENT LESSON Lamentations 1: 1 – 6
How deserted lies the city, once thronging with people! Once great among nations, now become a widow; once queen among provinces, now put to forced labour! She weeps bitterly in the night; tears run down her cheeks. Among all who loved her she has no one to bring her comfort. Her friends have all betrayed her; they have become her enemies. Judah has wasted away through affliction and endless servitude. Living among the nations, she has found no resting-place; her persecutors all fell on her in her sore distress. The approaches to Zion mourn, for no pilgrims attend her sacred feasts; all her gates are desolate. Her priests groan, her maidens are made to suffer. How bitter is her fate! Her adversaries have become her masters, her enemies take their ease, for the Lord has made her suffer because of her countless sins. Her young children are gone, taken captive by an adversary. All splendour has vanished from the daughter of Zion. Her princes have become like deer that can find no pasture. They run on, their strength spent, pursued by the hunter.
Psalm 37: 1 – 9
Do not vie with the wicked: or envy those that do wrong
For they will soon wither like the grass: and fade away like the green leaf.
Trust in the Lord and do good: and you shall dwell in the land and feed in safe pastures
Let the Lord be your delight: and He will grant you your heart’s desire
Commit your way to the Lord: trust Him and He will act
He will make your righteousness shine as clear as the light: and your innocence as the noonday
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him: do not be vexed when someone prospers, when they put their evil purposes to work
Let go of anger and abandon wrath: let not envy move you to do evil
For the wicked shall be cut down: but those who wait for the Lord shall possess the land
EPISTLE 2 Timothy 1: 1 – 14
From Paul, apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, whose promise of life is fulfilled in Christ Jesus, to Timothy his dear son. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
I give thanks to the God of my forefathers, whom I worship with a clear conscience, when I mention you in my prayers as I do constantly night and day; when I remember the tears you shed, I long to see you again and so make my happiness complete. I am reminded of the sincerity of your faith, a faith which was alive in Lois your grandmother and Eunice your mother before you, and which, I am confident, now lives in you. That is why I remind you to stir into flame the gift from God which is yours through the laying on of my hands. For the spirit that God gave us is no cowardly spirit, but one to inspire power, love, and self-discipline.
So never be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me imprisoned for his sake, but through the power that comes from God accept your share of suffering for the sake of the gospel. It is he who has brought us salvation and called us to a dedicated life, not for any merit of ours but for his own purpose and of his own grace, granted to us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, and now at length disclosed by the appearance on earth of our Saviour Jesus Christ. He has broken the power of death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Of this gospel I have been appointed herald, apostle, and teacher. That is the reason for my present plight; but I am not ashamed of it, because I know whom I have trusted, and am confident of his power to keep safe what he has put into my charge until the great day. Hold to the outline of sound teaching which you heard from me, living by the faith and love which are ours in Christ Jesus. Keep safe the treasure put into our charge, with the help of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.
GOSPEL Luke 17: 5 – 10
The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith'; and the Lord replied, "If you had faith no bigger than a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, "Be rooted up and planted in the sea"; and it would obey you.
Suppose one of you has a servant ploughing or minding sheep. When he comes in from the fields, will the master say, "Come and sit down straight away"? Will he not rather say, "Prepare my supper; hitch up your robe, and wait on me while I have my meal. You can have yours afterwards?” Is he grateful to the servant for carrying out his orders? So with you: when you have carried out all you have been ordered to do, you should say, "We are servants and deserve no credit; we have only done our duty."
NOTES ON THE READINGS
Old Testament Lesson
It would not be possible for us, at this distance in time, to know what it felt like to have had Jerusalem destroyed and people exiled. Small wonder that the book is titled ‘Lamentations,’ eh! But it underlines something that needs to be wider known. So often the assumption is that God is there to provide protection for the believer, Jew or Christian. The reality is very much otherwise. Please spend some time checking the extent to which the ordinary vicissitudes of life impact on the People of God, who need to come to terms with and adapt to all the rigours involved. Were that not the case, then the said People of God would be wimps beyond belief!!!!! Struggle is what produces maturity; protection produces little more than shadows of humans. And this is true in all of life.
Psalm
As I was typing in the Psalm for today, the thought struck me how unacceptable the sentiments would be in much of today’s world. Blow you, Jack, I am all right is the general sentiment, and a recent test on TV of people’s honesty underlines the extent to which dishonesty reigns. Small wonder, then, that the world is in turmoil. It is strange to me, that these ancient verities are ignored to a large extent, when if that were not the case, life would be so much fairer and safer ... and the wide disparity between haves and haves not would be very much reduced.
Epistle
Here we go again, with the same or similar views to the earlier readings expressed, as Paul encouraged Timothy in his life and ministry. It is not as if the Faith is about something exotic or esoteric; it is all quite simple and straightforward, even if it does run so contrary to the spirit of the present age and time.
Gospel
And talk about contrary! There is not likely to be a lot of people who would agree with the views and attitudes expressed in this passage, now is there? We are far more likely to have people demanding that their presence be noted and their status well on view. Servant? Bah! Hogwash!!!!!
Here is one of the principle reasons for rejection of the Faith by many of those in today’s world – or at least our part of it. Power and position are the ultimate goals for rather too many. And the result of that way of life shows up in the dysfunction of what passes for community and even family.
There is no way in which the Christian position is ‘different’ just for the hell of it. It is different because this is the time-honoured way of finding a peaceful and beneficial way of living. When I look out for you, and you for me, and each of us for the rest of us, then all of us are safe and life can be lived peacefully if not profitably. Love is the real factor that makes life tick, and while this may not be rocket science, it is reality (and not in the television sense, let me tell you.)
NOTES FOR A SERMON
I have commented before of the way in which so many people have departed from faith on the grounds that they expected this from God or that, and were disappointed. If God is Almighty, why does He not interfere and stop such things as wars, as hatreds, as disasters, and such? It has to be said that much of the perceived problem comes from .... making God in our own image, if I may dare to say so.
Even quite recently (as I write this) a most serious issue has arisen within our own wider family, a matter of possibly terminal illness, with one who has long been convinced that God would look after that part of the family because they are Charismatics. Even when contrary evidence and experience had damaged their family quite some years back, there remains the expectation of miracle. Time will tell, of course, but it is the expectation that concerns me.
Over the decades I have been involved in discussions and debates with people involved in both World Wars, whose faith was destroyed, they tell me, because of the totally horrific things that they witnessed. There is no way I would ever to dare to debate their experiences, for although I have been immune from such things, there is no way anyone could, for instance, be a Holocaust denier with any veracity. So the fact of those horrific things is not for debate: their assessment of God, I suggest, could well be.
There is so often and so easily that assumption that if God is Almighty, then He could, were He real, put a stop to such horrors. It is a simple, and sadly simplistic theory that does not stand up to examination, not only for God, but for a generation or two of parents may I dare say. How often I have heard the complaint that parents had little or no influence on their demanding and unresponsive children. ‘What could I do?’ has been the catch-cry, and I have been rude enough to suggest that they have taken the easy way out, surrendering responsibility to their children. There have been others who have gone the other way and demanded total obedience from their kids, often with results more disastrous than those who surrendered. Either way has resulted in great heart-searching and sometimes heart burn, for there is little in life harder to cope with than deliberately wayward children.
The real reason for taking up this issue is dual: one, to offer an alternative, and the other, to point to something that may be of great surprise to a lot of people. The cause of that surprise is found in Scripture, and particularly in the Old Testament. It is not necessary to read the whole lot of that rather large volume, but to check out some parts of it. What may be more surprising still is that the reason we have this document lies in the fact that it constitutes the Hebrew answer to the life question – why is there all this stuff-up in life anyhow?
I wonder if that got you sitting up and thinking?
Part of the answer is to be found in that most remarkable (and even more totally misunderstood) Chapter 3 of Genesis. The story of the fall. It is story, parable, not history – myth or legend if you like. It was and remains an attempt to understand where all this trouble stems and stemmed from. I am not talking ‘original sin,’ for that is a rather gross misunderstanding of what the tale conveys. But it is about cause and responsibility. It is a tale to help me begin to understand me. And you. It is the age-old demand to be boss, and you my vassal. Reason? I know best, of course, and you do not. Ego! Self. Very damaging.
And how does one respond? The normal human reaction is one of force. Father knows best, and don’t argue, or you are dead. The Cain and Abel response.
And the rest of the Bible, or the latter part of the Old Testament, shows that such an approach only aggravates the problem; it does not solve it. Read some of the prophets, and see how different an approach they offered, and anticipated a divine involvement in the whole business, the Suffering Servant approach being one of them. Or read Ezekiel who talks about real shepherds. Serving not controlling. Love not force, persistence not power. Now it all sounds so terribly easy, and it is nothing of the sort, but any good parent worth their salt will not demand, but offer a better way.
Oddly, many of those who oppose Christianity consider it to be mere superstition, and I have the hide to wonder why. The Faith has all to do with operating with justice, truth and integrity, and being a persistent parent as the prophets see God as evidencing. It was no easy business for the Loving Father to watch His own people acting like foolish and recalcitrant idiots. His reaction was not to step in and stop their stupidity – for the simple reason that such a course of action would reduce people to something far less than human. Like any parent, He would offer correction, until His next path was (and remains!) to step back and allow them to follow their own direction, in the hope and longing that they would see the disaster in front of them, and turn back to a more sensible path. This is described in Scripture as the ‘wrath of God,’ which was no belting over the head, but a waiting for a more reasoned response from them.
When it comes to World War I or II, or wars subsequent or before, who was responsible? TRULY! And the answer is us! Humans, foolish, selfish, ego-centric humans. And yes, quite a lot of them were Christian ... who either were not aware of their apostasy, or did not care a damn. Germany was Christian in both major conflicts. And so were their enemies. That first Scrap was, remember, the War to end Wars! And who remembered and for how long?
So before you go and call God for everything, or decide He no longer exists (if ever He did!) then stop and remember how He operates, and see just who is responsible for all the issues and problems, and see where He is perhaps longing over you to change direction, and return to truth and justice and integrity. Or, if you have no room left for God, then simply stop and see just who is responsible and then you change direction, and return to truth and justice and integrity.
Newsletter
SUNDAY 3rd October, 2010
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Our Celebrant and preacher today is Fr. Brenton Daulby
WELCOME
Please join us for breakfast in the hall after the 8am service or for morning tea after the 10am service. At 10am you will find all the service and hymns projected onto the sanctuary walls.
Sunday School is held during the 10 am service during School term times but not during School holidays. This will resume on 17th October
COLLECT FOR THE DAY
Faithful God, have mercy on us Your unworthy servants and increase our faith, so that, trusting in Your Spirit’s power to work in us and through us, we may never be ashamed to witness to our Lord, but may serve Him obediently all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God now and for ever Amen
THOUGHTS ON THE GOSPEL
There is not likely to be a lot of people who would agree with the views and attitudes – about being servants etc., - expressed in this passage, now is there? We are far more likely to have people demanding that their presence be noted and their status well recognized. Servant? Bah! Hogwash!!!!!
Here lies one of the principle reasons for rejection of the Faith by many in today’s world – or at least our part of it. Power and position are the ultimate goals for rather too many. And the result of that way of life shows up in the dysfunction of what passes today for community and even family.
There is no way in which the Christian position is ‘different’ just for the hell of it. It is different because this is the time-honoured way of finding a peaceful and beneficial way of living. When I look out for you, and you for me, and each of us for the rest of us, then all of us are safe and life can be lived peacefully if not profitably. Love is the real factor that makes life tick, and while this may not be rocket science, it is reality (and not in the television sense, let me underline.)
The real reasons for taking up this Gospel issue are dual: one, to offer an alternative, and the other, to point to something that may be of great surprise to a lot of people. The cause of that surprise is found in Scripture, and particularly in the Old Testament. It is not necessary to read the whole lot of that rather large volume, but to check out some parts of it. What may be more surprising still is that the reason we have this document lies in the fact that it constitutes the Hebrew answer to the life question – why is there all this stuff-up in life anyhow?
Oddly, many of those who oppose Christianity consider it to be mere superstition, and I have the hide to wonder why. The Faith is all to do with operating with justice, truth and integrity, and being a persistent parent as the prophets see God as evidencing. It was no easy business for the Loving Father to watch His own people acting like foolish and recalcitrant idiots. His reaction was not to step in and stop their stupidity – for the simple reason that such a course of action would reduce people to something far less than human. Like any parent, He offers correction, until His next path was (and remains!) to step back and allow them to follow their own direction in the hope and longing that they would see the disaster they had chosen, and turn back to a more sensible path.
This is described in Scripture as the ‘wrath of God,’ which is no Divine belting sinners over the head, but a patient waiting for a more reasoned, balanced and solid response from those who had the humility to see the folly of their recalcitrance..
From the Ron Blog
From last Sunday’s Notices
Mary V drew our attention to the work of the Magdalene Centre, which we all support. She reported that 800 people a month, with all manner of needs, look to the Centre to keep going. Not only is nothing wasted, but our support is greatly valued.
TODAY’S READINGS read by Neil T
Lamentations 1: 1—6 & 2 Tim. 1—14
Gospel Luke 17: 5—10
PRAYERS FOR THE PEOPLE led by Ben Luks
We pray for those in need: Warren and Thea, Ron Teague, Michael Boere, Sue Lloyd and Peter Little; and don’t forget Stephen with his gammy yet thankfully improving leg.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY:
HAPPY WEDDING ANNIVERSARY –
YEAR’S MIND: Marjorie Norton (1990) H. John Halstead (1995) Pat Trebilcock (2005) Mary Willoughby (1990) Fr. Allan Biggs (2000) Joyce Cook (1995)
PREPARATION FOR NEXT SUNDAY – 20th Sunday after Pentecost
Readings: Jeremiah 29:1. 4– 7 and 2 Timothy 2: 8—15
GOSPEL Luke 17: 11 0 19
Refer Fr Ron’s Notes available at http://www.anglican-belair.blogspot.com/
POWERPOINT ROSTER –
This Week Craig Deane or Trevor Tregenza
Next Week Ron Keynes or Araki Family
READER- AND INTERCESSOR ROSTER
Next Sunday Reader Trevoir T Intercessor Sue D_T
Sunday after Reader Warren Intercessor Mary V
REGULAR GROUPS AND BOOKINGS
PRAYER CIRCLE meets noon on the 2nd Tuesday each month at 36 Penno Parade North
THURSDAY 7.00m Eucharist and 7.30pm Parish Council
BIBLE STUDY 10am every Wednesday at 378 Main Road Coromandel
Valley
COMING EVENTS
Baptism on 24th October
Baptism on 31st October William Garnett
12th November Another Danny Hodgson evening of jazz. Mark diaries now!
St. John’s Senior School will be using the Hall for exams—details on the foyer board
HELPLINE
Part of being a Christian community is the support offered to each other in times of need. We offer short-term delivery of food where needed, local transport, phone calls, visits and other types of assistance. Call Christie Hodgson on 8370 3260 or Caroline Sweet on 8278 3058
TOY APPEAL
Our Anglican Toy Appeal will be held as usual in November, See ‘Joyce Arnold for details - phone 83702779’
OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD
You are asked to return your Samaritan’s Boxes to Church by next Sunday please—10th October. Please phone Marlene Dixon on 8278 8568 if you have any questions.
ANGLICARE CHRISTMAS CARDS - order form for these cards is available in the foyer. Put your name on the list to place your order.
And who forgot all about Daylight Saving?????
Items for the Newsletter need to be sent to Fr. Ron at ronpkeynes@internode.on.net by Tuesday nights, please
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Our Celebrant and preacher today is Fr. Brenton Daulby
WELCOME
Please join us for breakfast in the hall after the 8am service or for morning tea after the 10am service. At 10am you will find all the service and hymns projected onto the sanctuary walls.
Sunday School is held during the 10 am service during School term times but not during School holidays. This will resume on 17th October
COLLECT FOR THE DAY
Faithful God, have mercy on us Your unworthy servants and increase our faith, so that, trusting in Your Spirit’s power to work in us and through us, we may never be ashamed to witness to our Lord, but may serve Him obediently all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God now and for ever Amen
THOUGHTS ON THE GOSPEL
There is not likely to be a lot of people who would agree with the views and attitudes – about being servants etc., - expressed in this passage, now is there? We are far more likely to have people demanding that their presence be noted and their status well recognized. Servant? Bah! Hogwash!!!!!
Here lies one of the principle reasons for rejection of the Faith by many in today’s world – or at least our part of it. Power and position are the ultimate goals for rather too many. And the result of that way of life shows up in the dysfunction of what passes today for community and even family.
There is no way in which the Christian position is ‘different’ just for the hell of it. It is different because this is the time-honoured way of finding a peaceful and beneficial way of living. When I look out for you, and you for me, and each of us for the rest of us, then all of us are safe and life can be lived peacefully if not profitably. Love is the real factor that makes life tick, and while this may not be rocket science, it is reality (and not in the television sense, let me underline.)
The real reasons for taking up this Gospel issue are dual: one, to offer an alternative, and the other, to point to something that may be of great surprise to a lot of people. The cause of that surprise is found in Scripture, and particularly in the Old Testament. It is not necessary to read the whole lot of that rather large volume, but to check out some parts of it. What may be more surprising still is that the reason we have this document lies in the fact that it constitutes the Hebrew answer to the life question – why is there all this stuff-up in life anyhow?
Oddly, many of those who oppose Christianity consider it to be mere superstition, and I have the hide to wonder why. The Faith is all to do with operating with justice, truth and integrity, and being a persistent parent as the prophets see God as evidencing. It was no easy business for the Loving Father to watch His own people acting like foolish and recalcitrant idiots. His reaction was not to step in and stop their stupidity – for the simple reason that such a course of action would reduce people to something far less than human. Like any parent, He offers correction, until His next path was (and remains!) to step back and allow them to follow their own direction in the hope and longing that they would see the disaster they had chosen, and turn back to a more sensible path.
This is described in Scripture as the ‘wrath of God,’ which is no Divine belting sinners over the head, but a patient waiting for a more reasoned, balanced and solid response from those who had the humility to see the folly of their recalcitrance..
From the Ron Blog
From last Sunday’s Notices
Mary V drew our attention to the work of the Magdalene Centre, which we all support. She reported that 800 people a month, with all manner of needs, look to the Centre to keep going. Not only is nothing wasted, but our support is greatly valued.
TODAY’S READINGS read by Neil T
Lamentations 1: 1—6 & 2 Tim. 1—14
Gospel Luke 17: 5—10
PRAYERS FOR THE PEOPLE led by Ben Luks
We pray for those in need: Warren and Thea, Ron Teague, Michael Boere, Sue Lloyd and Peter Little; and don’t forget Stephen with his gammy yet thankfully improving leg.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY:
HAPPY WEDDING ANNIVERSARY –
YEAR’S MIND: Marjorie Norton (1990) H. John Halstead (1995) Pat Trebilcock (2005) Mary Willoughby (1990) Fr. Allan Biggs (2000) Joyce Cook (1995)
PREPARATION FOR NEXT SUNDAY – 20th Sunday after Pentecost
Readings: Jeremiah 29:1. 4– 7 and 2 Timothy 2: 8—15
GOSPEL Luke 17: 11 0 19
Refer Fr Ron’s Notes available at http://www.anglican-belair.blogspot.com/
POWERPOINT ROSTER –
This Week Craig Deane or Trevor Tregenza
Next Week Ron Keynes or Araki Family
READER- AND INTERCESSOR ROSTER
Next Sunday Reader Trevoir T Intercessor Sue D_T
Sunday after Reader Warren Intercessor Mary V
REGULAR GROUPS AND BOOKINGS
PRAYER CIRCLE meets noon on the 2nd Tuesday each month at 36 Penno Parade North
THURSDAY 7.00m Eucharist and 7.30pm Parish Council
BIBLE STUDY 10am every Wednesday at 378 Main Road Coromandel
Valley
COMING EVENTS
Baptism on 24th October
Baptism on 31st October William Garnett
12th November Another Danny Hodgson evening of jazz. Mark diaries now!
St. John’s Senior School will be using the Hall for exams—details on the foyer board
HELPLINE
Part of being a Christian community is the support offered to each other in times of need. We offer short-term delivery of food where needed, local transport, phone calls, visits and other types of assistance. Call Christie Hodgson on 8370 3260 or Caroline Sweet on 8278 3058
TOY APPEAL
Our Anglican Toy Appeal will be held as usual in November, See ‘Joyce Arnold for details - phone 83702779’
OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD
You are asked to return your Samaritan’s Boxes to Church by next Sunday please—10th October. Please phone Marlene Dixon on 8278 8568 if you have any questions.
ANGLICARE CHRISTMAS CARDS - order form for these cards is available in the foyer. Put your name on the list to place your order.
And who forgot all about Daylight Saving?????
Items for the Newsletter need to be sent to Fr. Ron at ronpkeynes@internode.on.net by Tuesday nights, please
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