Sunday 21st August: Temple of the LORD (David Williams)

This Sunday David had, as per usual, a special message for the young at heart:

The reading for Sunday the 21st of August: Ephesians 2:20-22 

We have now been in our house for over a third of a century, and grown to love it.  Do you love this building?

Does it matter to us that we have a church?

In a sense it is not necessary, and costs time and money which could go to other things.  The early church grew most before it had buildings (before 318AD).

But a building has value.  It is a visible witness, reminding people of God.  It enhances our worship, by the "atmosphere" of worship - we naturally think of God. We must pray always, but a special time and place help.

Because of this, Israel had a Temple.  More exactly there was a tabernacle in the Exodus, before Solomon built the Temple. David was not allowed to build it as he had shed much blood.  It was built with love and reverence - do we reflect that? It was then destroyed in the Exile, rebuilt on the return, prompted by the prophecy of Haggai, later developed under Herod, and destroyed again by the Romans in 70AD.

Why did God allow these things? Because the Church is now God's Temple.  1 Peter 2 tells us that Jesus is the cornerstone, Christians are living stones.  So we have those functions of reminding people of God and enhancing worship. Do we know and show God's presence?

What do we do when we own a house?  We look after it, and as God's house we can be sure that he cares for us.  And we are particularly concerned that it will fulfil its function, so fix roof leaks etc.  God is concerned that we are good servants.  Maintenance may then require chopping out what is bad, which is why Jesus drove out what was rotten in the Temple - this was also stopping its functionality. Maintenance is hard work, needs zeal.  In Jesus' case, his concern for us cost him his life (cf Jn 2:17).

Prayer for Sunday 14 August

Heavenly Father, we thank You for this day, for your creation and the promise of Spring to come, for all You have provided in this beautiful place for our delight. In all the distractions of our world help us to keep our eyes, our minds, our hearts focused on our Lord Jesus Christ, the Root of our faith and our Hope in all things. Thank you that You love us unconditionally in spite of all our weakness.

We pray for Your Church throughout the world: for those who must worship in secret while we are free, for those who have lost their faith or who worship false gods. We bring to you the leaders of the church In our own country and pray that they may be bold in speaking up for right living.

In our World, Lord, we remember the many areas of conflict, especially in the Middle East, and bring to You those living in fear, in pain, anguish and without hope.

In our own Country we pray for the political leaders negotiating with one another to create municipalities that will serve the people, not themselves. Please give them wisdom, patience, vision  and  a care for others. May Your will be done .

We bring to You our own Hogsback community, those frustrated beyond patience, waiting for answers and actions to their requests which have been simmering for many years. Show us how we, as Christians, should behave, should help, should stand beside those who are angry and who vent their frustration by committing acts of destruction and violence. Help us to be loving, compassionate and understanding.

We pray for the Sick here and elsewhere and for those who care for them

Lord , please be with our Families and those who are dear to us wherever they may be.

Finally, we pray for Ourselves : Lord God, give us the strength to follow Your calling, to run the race that You have set before us in the week ahead. Wherever we are, whatever we do, whoever we meet, may You be there in us and  with us and O Lord, let us not forget to be KIND .  Amen

A thank you from Hobbiton

Afrikaans in ons kerkie

Wie het geweet dat ons hier in St Patricks ook Afrikaanse dienste het?

Die St Patricks gemeenskap strewe om 'n inklusiewe  vergaderplekkie te wees waar ons, ons liefde vir die Here kan uitleef in ons moedertale, wat dit ook al mag wees! So hierdie Sondag was dit die beurt om so bietjie in Afrikaans te aanbid.

Ons is baie bevoorreg om Ds Leon Van Niekerk te he wat elke paar Sondae opkom na die "Mountain" om ons in Afrikaans te kom bedien. Sy preek hierdie Sondag het ons gedwing om te kyk hoe God ons liefde vir Hom en vir ons naaste toets. Dit is maklik om vir mense lief te wees onder maklike omstandighede, maar wat van as ons daar moet wees onder moeiliker, ongemaklike omstandighede? Waar is ons dan?


Die volgende Afrikaanse diens is Sondag die 2de October.

Sermon 17th July: Awake O sleeper!

Ephesians 5:14  This is why it is said: “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

Do you like to sleep? Or is it a begrudged necessity? Are you too busy? And what of prayer? Are you too busy for that as well?

Sleeping is necessary for us it is a good thing. It is getting apart from the normal. And so is prayer - take time to sleep, but also to be with God

Having to sleep reminds us of our limitations. There is an increased need when a person is young and when old. One value of age is then that there is more time to pray, which we should do when we realise our limitations.

Sleep is also good as it deadens pain. Prayer also helps us to cope with pain, suffering and difficult circumstances. Are we aware of our need?

Good to be regular in our sleep, and not just when bored or tired. Our bodies are made that way. Likewise it is good to have a fixed time to pray. Of course we may also take both quick naps and prayers as needed. Then just as napping is not always a good idea, some times are not appropriate for prayer - it is the time for doing! "A little sleep, a little slumber" (Prov 6:10), leads us to material and spiritual poverty. Especially be well awake in worship - do we need coffee BEFORE the service?

Why are we able to sleep? It is the same reason why we can pray. It is because God is not sleeping! (Ps 121:4, 1 Ki 18:27). That is a reassurance - or do we find it a problem that God always sees what we are doing?

The tragedy of today is those who are spiritually asleep - wake up those around! (1 Thess 5:6). But be slow to judge them, rather seek to increase awareness. Now is the time (Rom 13:11). Wake up your friend! Wake up society!

Maybe people just think that when they do die, they just fall asleep, so there is no problem. But there is a very real judgement.

Incidentally, just as there is no night in heaven, so there is no soul-sleep. People just look as if they are asleep (Matt 27:52, Jn 11:11, 1 Cor 15:18, etc). We will be immediately conscious. I want to see God immediately!

Prof David T Williams
Theology (retired)

Earth School on Hogsback

On the 7th July Helen, one of our church councillors, invited members of the St Patrick’s congregation and some of her friends to the dedication of her Earth school. We were interested in how this dream came about and here is her story:

"My many tears are formed through the abuses and terrors we inflict on God’s most beautiful earth. A growing sense of my life’s purpose has been to create a space where people can come to be inspired and empowered to be a beneficial rather than destructive presence on the earth, thereby helping to realise our being made in the image of God’s love. This sense has grown into a dream of creating an Earth School here in Hogsback, to be built on Wild Fox Hill, the name of the land God has given me to look after. A wide range of people will be invited to attend the various programmes to be run here, with different programmes being developed to cater for the different groups of people. 

These groups include:

• Young travellers who are looking for a memorable African experience and wish to learn valuable knowledge while contributing to society. A 6 month to year long accredited course will be offered for them. 
  
• Christians who desire to learn about being effective stewards of God’s creation. A one week course, drawing from Biblical inspiration and practical action, will be offered with options to extend this into further courses. 
• Underprivileged children who would benefit from feeling a sense of connection with the earth, growing hope and developing earth keeping and entrepreneurial skills. A one week course will be offered. 
• Privileged children who would benefit from loving all creation, desiring to serve and gaining practical earth keeping skills. A three to five day course will be offered. 
• Teachers who will be offered a one week SASS accredited course to support them in linking the curriculum to environmental knowledge. 

The focus will be on the participants’:

• HEART (love for and connection with creation will be deepened); 
• MIND (spiritual, philosophical, scientific and practical knowledge and understanding will be gained); 
• HANDS (earth keeping skills will be developed: e.g. permaculture, green building, bee keeping etc).

The participants will also be encouraged to participate in activities that benefit the broader Hogsback community.

Very excitingly I express with much gratitude that my mum has given me an interest free loan to see this dream begin to be realised. The loan is to assist in the construction of the first building that will form the heart of the Earth School. It has been christened the Cabin Heart project and the photos show progress thus far :) On the 7th of July, what has become a very special day to me, a ceremony was held with friends to dedicate the land and Earth School to God’s purposes. I now look forward to God building the team of people who will help realise this dream."

The members of St Patrick’s who were present were very impressed with Helen’s passion and faith and enterprise. She is an idealist and will make the world a better place making people more sensitive to our responsibility with regard the earth, just as Betty Chew had a dream to give needy children a happy holiday in the Hogsback mountains 70 years later. An look what has happened!

Community Service

Last Sunday we had our first (hopefully of many) community services at St Patrick-on-the-Hill. The congregation from the New Voice of Bethlehem congregation from down the valley came to visit our little chapel to share communion during our Anglican service.

Simon, the visiting congregation's  pastor said that they wanted to experience our kind of service to learn from us as God is our shepherd, to which Trevor, our warden, replied that we want to learn from them too, and that is how it all came about!! God is working!!!!

The message fitted in nicely with where we are trying to be, namely the story of the good Samaritan. No matter where we come from, what the colour of our skin are and which "tribe" we represent, we are all God's children and should care for each other in love!

We really enjoyed the loving spirit of community and of course the lovely singing and drums!!

The photo album is here: https://goo.gl/JMmwyM  and the videos can be found here: https://youtu.be/jFMfGbWjpho