Click here to check out our new playlist – another way to help us reflect on Psalm 23.
Click here to check out our new playlist – another way to help us reflect on Psalm 23.
Welcome to the Pastors’ Pen – a written update for life at Southern Cross.
We are thankful for Matt Oates’ willingness to join us on ZOOM on Wednesday night for an information briefing. Matt is the Superintendent of Ministry and Mission, assisting Presbyterian Churches across NSW to live out their mandate ‘to proclaim Christ as supreme and the way for cities, towns and the people that inhabit them, to be reconnected to God, the place of ultimate contentment and satisfaction’.
Wednesday night with Matt was a briefing on the pathway we outlined in a congregational meeting in November 2021. Our time with him on ZOOM was for around 30 minutes, as he outlined the path that we need to head along towards filling the vacancy at SCPC.
The timing of the briefing in Term 2 was due to my absence in Term 3, rather than a procedure that needs to occur to move things along.
Our next step is for LT and CoM to prepare the ‘Terms of Call’, a document that gathers statistical data from a church family to prove they have the conditions suitable to maintain a pastor for up to three years. This document then needs to be approved by the Northern Rivers Presbytery and Ministry and Mission (of which Matt Oates is the chairperson). From there we would hope to have a preliminary information session in Term 4 before a congregational meeting.
It was great to hear from Matt, for we realise we are not the only church like this in NSW. There are many and varied tasks that he is sought out for to gain his insight and wisdom. Generously he has volunteered more support for LT and CoM across Term 3 if they wish to have further assistance as they negotiate this process.
Personally, I have been working my way through Proverbs this week and many verses have come to mind as I have been thinking about these opportunities ahead for us. I have been particularly thankful for Christian leaders like Matt Oates, who serve with Ministry and Mission and provide great counsel to churches across our state so we can keep going in our core business of growing followers of Jesus.
I love this verse from Colossians when thinking about the heart of our mission and our core business in Lovemore:
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Col 2:6-7
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Welcome to The Pastors’ Pen – an update for life at Southern Cross.
We are nearly half-way through the year!
It is painfully clear that the natural disaster in February and March took its toll on us after an already long and difficult season with the covid pandemic.
But as we emerge from this tiring period as a church family, we begin to lift our head to the second half of the year and its knock-on effect for the year to come!
As you may know, I will be taking Long Service Leave in Term 3. So, before my departure I was keen for us to begin to re-engage the question around James Ritchie’s call. As we discussed late last year, we would leave any questions about James until Term 4 this year. That time is quickly approaching, particularly given my absence in Term 3.
Therefore, we will run an informal information night as part of our Leadership Team meeting next Wednesday the 15th of June from 7:30pm-8pm. Matt Oates, the Superintendent of Ministry and Mission, will be on ZOOM to explain the vacancy that exists at SCPC and the pathway to calling a minister to that role.
Oh, what a demanding period we have all undergone! And yet, as we saw in Exodus last weekend, we await our Father God’s daily provision, and so entrust ourselves to his determined and precious care, for He is able to satisfy our deepest needs each day. Remember Jesus’ bold promise to us in John 6:
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6:35
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As I reflect on this very familiar Psalm, particularly in light of events past that have shaken our community to its very essence, I am reminded that people in these times look to leaders for direction, assurance and above all, comfort. The nature and consequence of these events are such that disappointment and disillusionment will inevitably follow. No man or organisation will ever be able to fully satisfy people’s material and emotional needs in this time.
As our community rebuilds its lives, homes, places of work and social connections, there is anxiety about the cost of building materials and basic food items, and the availability of those things as well. The writer of the Psalm says “I shall not want”. How can our city’s people, not want for these things when so much is needed? How can I tell a family living in their car or a tent to not want for something better?
The answer to these questions is both simple and difficult. Simple in that God, through this Psalm, says that He will lead us, He will provide for us and He will be our comfort through adversity. And I know for all of this to be true.
The difficulty is in letting go of the things that consume our daily thinking – our families, work, deadlines and school runs – all of these are relevant and important.
For myself the turning point was when God restored my soul. That time was many years ago now. However, I still recall it vividly. In that moment when I knew that my sin was forgiven, I also knew what it was to be able to read and relate to every word of this Psalm.
My (and our) only hope is this world, is when the spiritual aspect of our lives transcends the material.
Ray
