Newsletters - Keppel Anglican

Keppel Anglican
6 months ago

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Welcome!

A month ago, Ken Purnell sent me an email telling me how much a reflection he had read had helped him. This morning I would like to share that reflection with you. It comes from a regular email that you can request from the people who produce the NIV Bible. You can join this regular email with Ken and I by using this link: https://www.thenivbible.com/blog/#signup

What We Do Today Matters

Romans 13:11-12 rings of a warning to all God’s people. Or, a call to arms. Either way, it is worthy of our attention.

“11 And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light."

The NIV article Ken sent me looked at this well-known bible passage and summarised it into three words:

ALERT! This is an alert. The night is almost gone and the day is almost here. The day is when Jesus returns when everything will be seen for what it truly is. “The day of the Lord” is approaching! Alert! So how do we get ready for this day?
ABANDON! Lay aside the undisciplined patterns of the world. We must stop behaving like the world. What should we do instead?
ADORN! Instead, we should adorn ourselves, we should “put on” Christ. We know he’s inside us, so now we should adorn ourselves with him. We should put on the armour of God: “put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation” (1 Thessalonians 5:8).

This is God’s call to all Christians. Wake up! Not from your daily sleep, but from spiritual sleep. So often, each of us fall asleep, we fall back into the patterns of the world. (Those of you who have read the Narnia Chronicles will understand this metaphor) If someone looked at us and compared us with our neighbour, would they see any difference? So God calls us to wake up! As we read later in verse 14, “Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires ofthe flesh.” Putting on the armour of light is to put on Christ. To do the things Jesus would do. To live for God and not ourselves. To serve him only. We must sound the alarm! Alert! Abandon! Adorn! None of this is easy. So God promises to be there for you, as you serve him with your life, supporting you, and encouraging you. (Romans 15:13)

Grace and peace.

Rob

IN OUR PARISH THIS WEEK we have much to be thankful for and much to pray for.

We are all thankful to God for the SonForce kids program. We thank God for a successful VBS for 2020 and praise him that so many kids in other parts of our Diocese were able to benefit for our ministry. Please pray with me for the kids who watched and their families. May God continue to work among them.
We thank God for Jessica and her new role as the Chaplain at Taranganba State School. Please pray for her ministry regularly. This is a great blessing for our church to have someone with the skills and faith of Jessica and for her to find a role like this that suits her so well. May God bless her and encourage her each day. May he equip her with all she needs to faithfully serve him and bring the love of Jesus to TSS.
We thank God that in the shadow of COVID our church is very healthy, particularly as others struggle and we are comparatively safe from the virus within the Keppel area. We give thanks for God’s sustaining goodness as we see most of our people return to our services while other churches struggle to keep their doors open. And so we pray for other churches in our area of Keppel, other Anglican Churches in our Diocese, and other churches across the world as they seek to serve God in these times of great hardship.
We give thanks to God for our Parish Council. As they lead and direct our parish, may God give them wisdom and grace. We pray that in their often difficult role of leadership, God will strengthen them and help each member to boldly be lead by God in his service. Please pray for them as they meet on Monday 14th October at 7pm.
We give thanks to God for our CONNECT Groups who have served God through the pandemic. We thank God for all the leaders who have faithfully loved their group and lead them through this difficult time. For those groups which are still going, may God sustain the leaders of these groups and bless them as they seek to lead and serve their groups.
We are all thankful to God for those who play music in our churches. Music is a very special gift and one which only a handful of people share with us in our services. We give thanks for each of them, but particularly those who use their gift of music within the context of your regular service. May God bless our musicians, give them renewed vitality and excitement about their gift and their service to God. And we pray for God to raise up others who also seek to serve God with this gift of music in our church.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” We have much to be thankful for. May God help us to be thankful.

Rob

As we approach the end the 2020 it is timely to reflect upon how challenging this year has been and to give thanks to God for our parish family. We would like to remind everyone that we welcome your thoughts as to how we can continue to support each other and extend Christian care to the wider community.

Once passed, the Parish Council Minutes are available on the notice boards of both St James & Christ Church. As the next Parish Council meeting is this coming Monday night. Please take the opportunity to speak with a Parish Councillor with any suggestions or issues you would like addressed.

CHRISTMAS TREE FESTIVAL: The last weekend in November we commence the season of Advent, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. It will be a weekend full of activity & celebration at St James Worship Centre as we commence with the Community Christmas Tree Festival on Saturday 28th and conclude with Combined Parish Worship Service on the 29th.

We invite everyone to contribute to these celebrations. Please watch the notice boards and speak with the Wardens regarding opportunities to help.

TOP LEVEL CAR PARKING (ST JAMES): As we have only one specified disabled car park space on the top level, we would request parishioners to be mindful of leaving the top car parking for those who have difficulty in negotiating the ramp from the lower park. Your consideration in this matter would be appreciated, thank you.

SEATING (ST JAMES): We are aware that some parishioners are finding the chairs we are currently using a little difficult and we thank you for your willingness to accept that, at this time, it is the most ideal way to gather according to COVID rulings. However we also appreciate that some have difficulty in rising from these chairs. In consideration of this we have a small number of armed chairs available that we can use. If you need a chair with arms please see either one of the Clergy or Lorraine before the service and it will be arranged. Thank you.

Lorraine Veach Rhylla Webb Allison Leech