Welcome to The Pastors’ Pen, an update for life at Southern Cross.

We continue to think of creative ways to ‘drop love’ to our city and community as we all aim to respond to this natural disaster. As we noted last week, a need that we seem to have identified is the use of the hall by community groups, including St Paul’s (Lismore Presbyterian Church, Keen St). Therefore, if you or your gospel community require a booking, can we remind you of our booking system via this online booking form. If you have a DNA meeting at Park Ave or need it for a ministry team, please also complete the online form to confirm the time with our admin team at Southern Cross, as we expect more usage over the next six months. Praise God for our Park Ave facility and the way we have been able to use it to ‘drop love’ over the last month and in the months ahead!

This Sunday, we continue in our Psalms series with James Ritchie preaching. There will be no video recording of the talk on Sunday. If you are unable to attend, we hope to put the audio of the talk on the website late Sunday afternoon.

Personally, this Sunday, I will travel to Sydney to present a ‘Hope 2022’ message to three large metropolitan churches to outline ways they can partner with us across 2022. Our prayer is that these three churches may be able to partner with SCPC and SCG, both prayerfully and financially, across 2022. This will allow our staff and leaders to continue to proclaim the hope of Christ to our city in its flood of despair. We expect we will know part of the outcome of this support by our AGM next Sunday 3^rd April. The AGM will run from 12:15pm until 1pm. We expect this will be a time of confusion, haziness and murkiness, yet an opportunity to again re-anchor ourselves to Christ, cling to him and watch with wisdom as the year progresses.

Let me finish with the passage that I will present to the churches of Sydney this weekend. We explored it briefly a week or two ago in our Psalms series. It comes from the lips of Jesus as he casts his eye over Jerusalem, the city he dearly loves. He invites us again into his heart, his desires, his affections. He wants to gather the city to himself. Jesus loves Lismore. He wants to gather those from Lovemore to himself. Do you share that desire? We pray your heart matches the heartbeat of Christ!

34 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Luke 13:34

SP

Welcome to The Pastors’ Pen, an update for life at Southern Cross. 

They say one week is a long time in politics. But it seems one day is a long time, in our city, as it responds to this devastating flood. For earlier today, Peita and I were able to spend a brief amount of time with a few members of the staff team at Lismore High School who understood access would be available for the hall this weekend. 

However, it has come to light that some of the electrics in the building are faulty which will mean we are unable to meet at Lismore High School this Sunday 13^th March, and possibly for the coming weeks. 

Therefore, we will now meet at Park Ave with the Maxwell, Griffiths and Coutts GCs at 9:15am, followed by the Herd, Henderson, Kemsley and Playsted GCs at 10:45am. 

Please continue to pray that we might drop love across our city during this perplexing time as we face many changeable factors. Yet one thing is certain, we will need the fruit of the spirit as we love our city more. 

Do you know them? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

Thanks for reading this Pastors’ Pen.

SP