A School of Struggle

 The Christian life is presented by Christ, not as the sentimental belief in natural goodness, but as a hard and dangerous road, which involves both severe temptations and continual dangers.  It may be necessary to endure sacrifices in order to avoid fatal temptations.  Though the love of God is always available… life, especially for the Christian, is not one of easy choices, but often a school of struggle, in which some things have to be given up if others are to be obtained.

Elton Trueblood

Did you know that …

This Friday (March 2^nd) is the annual World Day Of Prayer? This year’s prayer focus material, entitled Let Justice Prevail, is prepared by women of Malaysia. The World Day of Prayer website, www.worlddayofprayer.net , has resources to enable you to participate in this special global prayer focus.

 Did you know that …

Next Sunday (March 4^th) is Children’s Day in New Zealand? There never was such a thing when I was a child! Although every year on Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day, I used to ask why not! Nevertheless, this is a good opportunity to focus on our children, who are “a gift from the Lord” (Psalm 127:3), and to do something special with them. Check out the website, www.childrensday.org.nz .

 Did you know that …

 Neighbours’ Day Aotearoa 2012 is just around the corner? It’s actually scheduled for 2 days, March 24^th and 25^th. It is an annual, nationwide focus aimed at strengthening neighbourhoods, by encouraging Kiwis to get to know the people living next door. A first wave or smile, a chat over the fence, inviting someone in for a cuppa, or holding a street barbeque – every connection makes our neighbourhoods more friendly and safe. The long term vision is for every Kiwi household to mark this day and join in the fun – and to be more neighbourly every day. Wouldn’t it be great if Christians were “leading the charge” on this? Have a look at www.neighboursday.org.nz .

I know we’ve only just had Christmas … but believe it or not, LENT begins this week! This Wednesday (February 22^nd) is Ash Wednesday, the start of the season of Lent. Lent is a special period of 40 days (not counting the Sundays) leading up to Easter, during which Christians have traditionally focused on repentance, fasting and prayer, in preparation for Good Friday and the remembrance of Christ’s death on the cross. One of the ancient practices associated with the beginning of Lent is rubbing ashes on to one’s forehead, often in the shape of a cross, as a sign of repentance – hence the name Ash Wednesday. Another very old Lenten tradition relates to the day before Ash Wednesday – Shrove Tuesday. This is also known as Pancake Tuesday, and the tradition is to make and eat pancakes, to use up all of the rich food in the house, before the period of fasting and frugality begins the next day. A family Pancake Party on Shrove Tuesday can be a fun way to start focussingattention on the coming of Easter, and all that it means, and provide a great opportunity for parents to talk with their children about confession and repentance, and about the death and resurrection of Jesus, and all that this means to them.

Greetings everybody. This is our first weekly newsletter for 2012, and it signals that the regular patterns of church life are getting under way again for the new year. So … welcome back!

Tomorrow, of course, is Waitangi Day, a very significant occasion in the life of our nation. This morning, the theme of our service is Reconciliation, and we will share Communion together. In light of that, I want to share with you a couple of comments about forgiveness which I read recently – both from people who have known well the challenges and the power of forgiving …

 Forgiveness and Love               Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. It isimpossible even to begin the act of loving one’s enemies without the prior acceptance of the necessity, over and over again, of forgiving those who inflict evil and injury upon us.Forgiveness does not mean ignoring what has been done or putting a false label on an evil act.  It means, rather, that the evil act no longer remains as a barrier to the relationship.

Spiritual and Political             Archbishop Desmond Tutu

One of the things about forgiveness you have to remember is that it is not onlyspiritual. It is part of real politics. In forgiving, people are not being asked to forget. On the contrary, it is important to remember, so that we should not let such atrocities happen again. Forgiveness does not mean condoning what has been done. It means taking what happened seriously … drawing out the sting in the memory that threatens our entire existence.

More and More Demands        Thomas Hoffman

 More and more things are demanding our time and energy. More shopping. More travel. More planning. Pressure builds, and it is increasingly difficult to find quiet time for our Advent-life. As we brush elbows with more and more people who are more and more anxious for the season, we hear again our call to simplicity. The great mystery this Advent is that our personal holiness touches the lives of all those with whom we come into contact. When we are made holy as individuals, it is the whole world that reaps the reward.

CHRISTMAS IS COMING! 

If I had a dollar for every time someone has said to me in the last few weeks something like: “I can’t believe how quickly this year has gone!”, or “I can’t believe it’s nearly Christmas!”, I would be a wealthy man! Someone said to me last Sunday morning, “Is it really Advent Sunday next week?  How can that be? I got a real shock when you said that this morning!  Are you sure you’ve got that right?”   

Of course, people say every year that the year seems to have gone really quickly. That’s not new. But maybe, the busy-ness and pace of life are increasing just a little every year, and every year the months seems to fly by just a little quicker – and it’s as the year comes to an end that we start to really notice that. If that’s so, it makes the season of ADVENT even more important than it has ever been – a time when we make sure we pause and reflect on the stunning Christmas story, and allow it to grip us anew. And maybe also during Advent, or the holiday period, we should all give some thought as to whether we need to make some lifestyle changes so that our lives are less frantic in 2012.

In our service last Sunday morning, we heard about Believers’ Baptism, and Alpha. I want to encourage you to continue to think about these two topics.

 Alpha is a course that invites people to “explore the meaning of life”, and introduces them to the central beliefs of the Christian faith – in a relaxed environment, where every question is welcome. In the words of The Guardian newspaper of London, “What Alpha offers, and what is attracting thousands of people, is permission, rare in secular culture, to discuss the big questions – life and death and their meaning.”

 We are intending to offer Alpha at KBC next year. So think about whether you’d like to participate in such a course … and/or whether there is someone you could invite to an Alpha course. (By the way, there are some very interesting varieties of Alpha courses available now: Youth Alpha – specifically designed for teenagers; Student Alpha, for university students; Senior Alpha, for those over 75; Workplace Alpha; and Alpha for ESOL.) If you’d like to register an interest in participating in Alpha in 2012, please fill in one of the forms at our Info Desk or contact our office.  

 It was a great joy to share with Jo in her baptism last Sunday. I want to encourage others of you to be baptised by immersion, if you haven’t already been. Believers’ baptism is about beginning … It’s not a sign that you’ve reached a certain level of Christian knowledge or behaviour; it’s a sign that you’ve BEGUN THE JOURNEY. If you are interested in discussing this – or disagreeing with me! – I’d love to chat with you.

An interesting thought to ponder:

 The Soul’s Condition

 I feel the vacuum, the loneliness, the silence, the dehydration of the soul as people who want desperately to save our constitution, our country and our planet still wander the streets without knowing how to say hi to one another.

Sam Smith

 If there’s any truth in this sentiment … and if you identify with it at all … then

perhaps you should come to the Bridge Builders Course this week!

Something I read this week which got me thinking …

When we go faster and faster, we grow more and more insensitive to the needs of everyone around. We become dull, blunted, imperceptive. In the morning, for instance, when we are moving like a launched missile, our vigilance falls; we may hurt the feelings of our children or partner and never know it at all. To be aware of others, we have to go slowly and pay attention to what is happening. Our faculties must be alert and fully functioning.

Sometimes, under the goad of speed, we act as if other people are not there. When we move fast, those around us seem to be blurs, like statues glimpsed through the fog. Our minds are elsewhere, and we have just enough attention in the present moment to avoid knocking everybody down–and sometimes not even that much! We will shove our way in front of others when they are reaching for something, squeeze by them at the door, shut the lights out on them when we leave the room, disturb them by talking out loud to ourselves or whistling or banging things about–and all this because we do not truly see them.

On Thursday of this week, I tidied my office!  It’s been on my “To Do” list for months!  I threw out heaps of rubbish.  I found some things that were lost.  I sorted and organised things, and put them away in their proper places, so I know where to find them, and so that things which need to be actioned will be.  And I cleaned and dusted and vacuumed.  I felt so good when I walked into my office on Friday morning – it looked pristine!  I almost feel like running tours of my office today after church, so you can all see how good it is – before it gets messy again!

 The things is, deep down I’m a tidy person.  I like things to be neat and orderly.  But somehow there doesn’t always seem to be the time to keep everything the way I want it to be, and the messier things become, the messier they continue to  get – it’s a downward spiral!

 Of course, life can be a bit like that.  I genuinely want to live as a disciple of Jesus.  But things get “messy”.  And the messier they are, the messier they tend to become.  Sorting stuff out with Jesus that needs to be sorted out … getting stuff cleaned up the way I know it should be – and the way that, deep down, I want it to be … can be on my “To Do” list for a LONG time – but somehow I never quite get around to it.    

 And yet when I do – HOW GOOD IT FEELS! !!