Get in early!

01 Oct Get in early!

Happy Sunday afternoon y’all!

Wow…from a crisp cool morning we’ve moved into a blustery dry uncomfortably warm afternoon. Would that this brought us some rain…but I don’t think so…yet. But here this is a lot sooner than I expected. I cracked the whip on myself! 😉

I trust you’re making plans for the NRL Grand Final tonight. I’m really kinda hoping for  a Broncos win…quite a turnaround for them to be where they are over against where they’ve been for the last few years. And as a much younger person,  I lived through one of my home teams losing multiple times to eventual grand champions in US sports. I have a built in resistance to three-peats. And all our friends from Brisbane can’t handle 2 losses in one weekend.

 

But as we move through this week…

1. Zoom Bible Study Catch-up  —  Friday, 6^th October 2023 @ 1:00 p.m.

Join Zoom Meeting  —  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83586782734  —  Meeting ID: 835 8678 2734

2. Living Water Fellowship’s 2023 Annual General Meeting – Sunday 15^th October immediately following worship. We’ll put out morning tea & get set for the meeting, & have a look at what’s ahead as we move into our next decade. We have so much for which we can thank God. It’ll be a great morning all around! We should have the Book of Reports out by Sunday!
3. Well done for your A-grade hospitality! Thank you one and all who greeted & chatted with our visitors this morning. All we can ever do is open the door to conversations & do our best to ensure a living experience of the love of Christ…the Holy Spirit does the rest.
4. Congratulations to our anniversary celebrators! 57 & 60 years under God’s blessing of marriage is phenomenal! This is the kind of encouragement we all need in our marriages…to see people love each other & uphold their sacred promises for a lifetime; even if that lifetime doesn’t reach those sorts of milestones. God bless what he has joined!

 

I was reading a story today about a larger institutional church judicatory (like what we once would have called a “District”) that had sold some property and made a massive windfall profit. After the dust settled, the story said they’ve got $20+ million dollars in the bank. Let me write that out: $20,000,000.00…it was a bit more than that but WOW! What struck me was that they’re spending some on supporting new church development & investing the remainder to generate interest income for years to come. The interest over the last three years was more than $2 million dollars. In denominational circles in Australia, that sort of money is unheard of…it’s like you or me winning the lottery twice in a row…and then again. Did I mention I hate “three-peats”?

 

But there’s the question…What would I do with a windfall? What would you?

True story…we’ve all already “won the lottery.” We shared that in worship today. Every one of us lives in a safe, secure home. We sleep in our own bed. We’re not going hungry. We can turn to family or friends for love and support. We’ve noted before that we are the world’s 1%. For the most part, outside of the perils of passing years, we don’t fear for our lives or our security. Most of the world’s population can’t say that.

 

I know something about that church with the large & growing savings account. They’re not going well…remember this is Australia & no mainline church has pastors for all their congregations. These folks are closing more churches than they’re planting, and have more empty pews than full ones. Their young people are in short supply, & their Senior Saints are living with fewer days ahead than behind them. It’s hard for them to find leaders at every level & they are pressing retired pastors into longer service.

 

Part of how I am looking at the next 10 years of our life together, our second decade as Living Water Fellowship, involves the question of “leaving a legacy” & “finishing well.” That’s not about what happens when I die (or you) or if Living Water should close its doors…but what impact are our lives having each & every day; whether or not it’s our last. I try to ask, right before I get started in my day, “How I am investing the days & resources God gives me for his purpose & will? Whose life is enriched, or drawn closer to Christ, because of how I live from this point forward?” For the last 11-12 years I’ve felt like the most blessed pastor on earth, because even when I couldn’t see it clearly, I could see Christ calling together a faithful band of followers desperate to set a course in mission & ministry together different from the institutional decline & savings account Christianity that I saw in the wider mainline structures of the church. Our call continues to live out the life of Jesus in this community, to give ourselves in love & generous compassion & hospitality to folks all around us who have no idea what the resurrection means for them. Whether we die doing those things, or if suddenly we experience a revival unheard of before in Australian Christianity…we’ll have been faithful to our call. The results are God’s. Obedience is the Spirit at work in us. I want us to live & die being obedient to our call in Christ.

 

I thank God that you have walked the path of obedience alongside me for these years. 2024 is going to present some challenges, but none larger than God’s capacity to meet them through us.

God bless your week and put in your path someone who needs an encouraging joy-filled word from God from you!

John