Monday 26 March 2018

Special Easter Services at St Patrick on the Hill Chapel

Easter is not about njammie chocolate  eggs, hot cross buns and bunnies, but about taking time out to celebrate and reflect on the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross. This week there will be plenty of opportunity to do just that at our lovely little chapel up on the mountain.

WEDNESDAY  4.45 - 5.20 pm  
Time for reflection on the Psalms of Lament as part of  an informal Evening Prayer session.

THURSDAY  5-6 pm
Simple informal service with  'Breaking of Bread' - Jesus said 'Do this in memory of me'

FRIDAY  12 noon to 1.15 Good Friday 
Short reflections on the cross and nails  - with readings, prayers and lovely music

SATURDAY  All day
Quiet personal reflection in the chapel

SUNDAY  8am   
Celebration of Easter - the Risen Christ - with joyous music and Holy Communion

SUNDAY  10am 
Family Service of celebration in the Chapel with well-known hymns and ... a visit from the Easter Bunny ?

Wednesday 21 March 2018

Sunday Sermon Hallowed be your name

Psalm 24, 
Luke 18:1-14 

Are you happy with your name? Is it meaningful for you?  We carry the name of our FATHER; if you are called “Christian”, you should be known as such and reflect Jesus to everybody around. 

The name identifies the person and as a person- God is not a thing.  At the bush, Moses asked “what is your name?” (Ex 3:14).  In a polytheistic setting he needed to know, “Are you the same God who helped me?”  Then the name respects the nature – God called Himself “I AM”.  The Israelites wrote this as “Yahweh”, but did not pronounce it, but said it as LORD, which is how our Bibles print it. 

The Lord’s prayer starts with God, our Father.  Are we consciously addressing GOD?  Do we deliberately make contact when we pray?  Are we reverently addressing GOD?  Do not rush into His presence!  Or is your prayer just sounds? 

Remember who He is, the unique Lord!  Appreciate the king of the universe.  Make sure that you seek only the LORD, and not rely on anything else. 

So in our prayer we ask that God be hallowed; this is not a common word, we should   pray with understanding!  It does not mean “hollowed”, a God at all defective, but “Holy”, which means, among other things, “wholly”.  Remember that secret sins spoil prayer, lack of commitment spoils prayer – our prayer to be effective must be “whole”. 

Then we approach God in holiness - there is no other way, except through Jesus, for we must have our sins forgiven to stand before a holy God.

Then we approach God by holiness.  We need to make the connection! The only way to do this is to be filled by the HOLY Spirit to bond us to God. 

Then when we pray to make his name more holy, we want this to be done by many other people – we pray “thy kingdom come”.  This prayer means evangelism, and of course evangelism is effected through prayer. 

Finally, Listen!  Prayer is two-way.  It is communication.  So take time not just to enter prayer, but afterwards to hear him, perhaps through his Word. 

God has opened his side for us so we can pray - Have we?

Monday 12 March 2018

Special moments at St Patricks

We were very blessed this Sunday to play host to little Klara and her parents, Jotham and Laulani Stone, who came all the way from Stutterheim to dedicate her to God at our little Chapel.

Grandparents and family from all over the country came to join in and little Klara clearly enjoyed the ceremony. Reverend Liz's message of shining God's light into her life was very apt.



Her dad presented us with a poignant dedication of her life to God and we were very privileged to be part of all of this!


Thursday 8 March 2018

Celebrating the life of one of our worthy chapel woman

Yesterday we had a high tea in Hogsback to celebrate the value of woman, all woman, but especially one woman who has made an incredible difference in the lives of not just woman, but everyone on the mountain. Her name is Norma and she is a prayer warrior.

Norma stands for everything that is gentle, kind, generous, caring and worthy. She was the doctor here in Hogsback for many years, caring for the sick and running an AIDS outreach. Even after she finally retired (after her initial attempt at retirement to Hogsback), she still remains totally invested in our little village as part of the executive board for our local outreach, Jikani, and as part of our Chapel lay preachers and pianists, as a friend, a wife and a mother to all.

Silke's poem for Norma says it all:



For a text copy of Silke's poem, download it from here: goo.gl/KgChgf 

Norma read to us the story of when God created woman to remind us of our biggest flaw....

 

So, Norma, on your 70th celebration month, we can only say that you mean the world to us and that we appreciate you more than you can imagine! As you did not want to be honoured with presents and accolades, we would like to ask everybody to acknowledge you by making a donation to your hearts project, Jikani (www.jikani.com) at the following banking details:

FNB
Acc name: Jikani
Acc No: 62391132075
Branch: fort Beaufort / 210419
Reference: 70th


For all the photos from the event, see here: goo.gl/XQ6dts