Do you know the feeling of Déjà vu?

This weekend is our AGM. However, if you were able to join us for our Congregational Meeting on December 10 last year, then this Sunday you have the feeling of Déjà vu!

Don’t deny that feeling, it is true!!

In order to complete the staffing for 2024 we needed to ensure our budget was correctly prepared for our December meeting. Therefore, the treasurers will be presenting just about an exact budget to one delivered (and accepted) in December. Consequently, we are expecting a short meeting on Sunday, and I will be chairing the meeting in a way that reflects this.

The only new piece of information on Sunday will be a short, mini-Vision-Sunday-type update on some
things we can expect for the next 10 months at Southern Cross and the early part of 2025.

So, do consider coming along, even with the short update at the end we expect the meeting to be
complete in around 30 minutes.

Finally, I pray you were encouraged by my honesty on Sunday around my challenge in seeing Christ as gain. Learning Philippians 3:8 off by heart last week was a great devotional aid for me in really considering what Christ means for me. I pray you might feel enthused to give memorising it a go to. Here I go at writing it off by heart! You can check your Bible to see if I got the word order right…
What is more,
I consider everything a loss.
Because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
For whose sake I have lost all things,
I consider them garbage,
that I may gain Christ.

SP

P.S. Over the coming fortnight I will largely be in SEQ (often at Queensland Theological College in Brisbane). I will be working with my supervisor at QTC to write my exit thesis to complete my Masters of Theology. The question I have written to complete for my thesis is the following: Thomas Chalmers and the growth in affection for the missionary movement in early-mid 19th Century Scotland. Chalmers preached a sermon in Glasgow in 1819 titled “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection” and it has gone on to be quoted by a host of Christian leaders, even the late Tim Keller. Therefore, my interest is to see whether a strong affection for Christ (think Phil 3:8!), can lead to a growth in Christian missionary activity.

During the week Southern Cross hosted the first Northern Rivers Presbytery (NRP) meeting of 2024. What a brilliant bunch they are! We started our time together in Jeremiah 1, seeing the critical need Jeremiah had to be a witness to the greatness of God to a world and a people that would want to disregard him. Jeremiah was not going to have an easy ministry. It was going to require firmness, tenacity, long suffering and endurance.

It was not an easy meeting; stories of real heartache, leadership teams faced with significant opposition and future decisions required that cause us all to want to shrink back due to fear. When the need arose for members of the Presbytery to volunteer for roles and the room feel silent, I confess I may have yelled out “Let’s send Jeremiah”!

I don’t know if you have read the book of Jeremiah lately but it is a very confronting read. At times it feels too much to bear to read of the trials of Jeremiah. Yet, as you continue reading in the book, he will later utter “the word of God is in my bones”! I understand that he is saying that as hard as this is, he is compelled to speak God’s powerful words – it’s in him and he must speak it!

Could I ask you to pray for our Presbytery and the churches it seeks to serve (from Tweed Heads in the north, to Grafton in the South). Pray for the members of Presbytery, that when we feel afraid, anxious and overwhelmed (which can feel like every meeting!) we would understand the call to be witnesses to God’s living word, be prepared for trials and allow our Father to meet us in our fears.

Finally, would you also consider to pray for me personally. In 2024, I continue to serve as the Interim Moderator at Crossroads Presbyterian Church in Wollongbar while they remain vacant (following the retirement of their pastor at the end of 2022). I will be preaching there this weekend from James 1. We have a heart for this area and are eager to see a strong gospel voice continue to develop in this growth corridor. Please pray also for Jill as she works a half day each week as the Administrative clerk for the NRP, that she would quickly adjust to this position and bring her fantastic gifts to bear in this critical role.

Let me finish with this powerful word from the prophet Jeremiah:
4  The word of the LORD came to me, saying,
5  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
    before you were born I set you apart;
    I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
6  “Alas, Sovereign LORD,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”
7  But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8  Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD.
9  Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. 10  See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy
and overthrow, to build and to plant.”
Jeremiah 1:4-10

SP

It’s been frantic for many families this week with kids all returning to school at varied days across the week. And for some new kindies, it’s not until next week. This can be such an anxious time and parents
and carers need to be emotional coaches [1] for the small (and big) kids!

This Sunday, for Southern Cross Goonellabah (SCG), is also a very anxious moment. For many a real
heaviness and genuine fear. For others from SCG, a real mix of emotions, a curiosity about what God
is doing in this moment, a sense of loss – yet wrapped up in a pang of excitement. How do you handle
that bubbling emotional load? Cast your cares on him. [2]

The other real and present conundrum is that for many at East Lismore with the pressures of the new
term beginning, health concerns or financial challenge, the reality of SCG’s combining and continuing
this Sunday may have been lost on you. We understand the pressures. However, what happens if these two parties from above, meet on Sunday? One member unaware, one member in deep thought and heartache. How will that conversation go? I think we can have legitimate concerns. Don’t you!?

So please pray.

Pray for this unique and important GO! Sunday as East Lismore welcomes our dear sisters and
brothers from SCG as we combine this weekend. We have a brand new start time in the morning for
everyone, 9:30am at Lismore High (our 6pm gathering retains its time).

Now, like a normal GO! Sunday, we will have a commissioning which celebrate Christ’s gifting to the church. [3] This will of course include all of us too, as we all GO forth as commissioners of our King. [4]

Over the weekend please do pray for the many and varied emotions in the room, particularly on Sunday morning at 9:30am. I think a beautiful item that could help to calm the room is for us to anchor ourselves in the incredible Christian virtue of joy. Joy, can allow us to move through the rollercoaster of emotions, but keep us centred, content and stable in Christ’s extravagant strength.

Therefore, I just think it is so appropriate to end with a large slab from Philippians 4 – a book we all will be journeying in this term…
4  Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5  Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8  Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9  Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
10  I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11  I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13  I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

See you at 9:30am this Sunday (or at 6pm)!
Love, Stew

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[1] This phrase comes from John Gottman’s helpful work: How to Raise Emotionally Intelligent Children
[2] Psalm 23
[3] Ephesians 4:11-16
[4] Matthew 28:18-20