Monday, June 4, 2012
Fear Not
Isaiah 41:10 (NIV) "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
This verse became the theme for the team of people from our church who went into a psychic fair for the very first time. Yes, you read correctly, we went into a psychic fair. We were taking Isaiah 41:10 to the people we met but it turned out the verse was as much for us as it was for the people we met at the fair.
We went, not knowing what to expect but with the belief that it was what God wanted us to do. Our goal at the fair was simple, we were to share God's love and encourage people to let go of the worries and stress in their lives.
For over a year our church has been praying and planning for the fair. People in our church donated money so we could book the stalls, people gave their time to make knotted bracelets, (which had the Isaiah verse on them) another person made a mountain of cross-stitch crosses. A person in our church is a reflexologist, (This person had the original vision) and was able to teach team members how to massage. Many people prayed. It was a church effort!
For us, as a church, it was a new and unknown step. We didn't know what to expect or what the outcomes would be. There were uncertainties and doubts and even fear at times. We didn't know if people would come to our stall or not. We didn't know if people would want to talk to Christians. We didn't know if we would say the right things. We had to trust God.
We were amazed at the response. People came for massage, for healing, for prayer, for answers and for a listening ear. They wondered why we would want to be there and not make money - everything we offered was free. They were surprised that the church had a spiritual element and wasn't just a charity. They were confused that a church would give massages. They were open to love of God. We trusted God.
It seems that whenever we try to bless others God blesses us as well and if the blessing we feel as a church is any indicator of how blessed people felt after visiting our stall then I think we were able to achieve our goal.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Ordination in the Uniting Church of South Australia
Last week the Uniting Church in SA celebrated the ordination of 7 people who had been candidates for Minister of the word. This ordination was particularly special because we celebrated the ordination of the first person from South Sudan to be ordained in the Uniting Church of Australia.
Each ordination has it's own feel because the ordinands involved give input to the service. They spend time with the moderator in the weeks leading up to the ordination and discuss the way the service will be shaped. For example, when I was ordained there were a few of us with young children so we wanted children to feel involved in the service. We had bags for the children with card, glue, stickers, textas and envelopes so the children could write notes of encouragement to the ordinands during the service.
This ordination service started with song and dance by the Sundanese Youth Choir in SA. Definitely a great way to start a celebration service.
Our moderator Rev Rob Williams then acknowledged the first people of Australia and welcomed us to the ordination service.
Rev Dr Ian Price preached the word and led us in wondering "What is in your hand?" with the help of some improv actors from the gathered people :-) You might recognise the part of Moses.
The ordination service was very meaningful and it's always a special time to see the people praying over the newly ordained people.
We then shared Holy Communion together. I have no idea how many people were there but you can imagine with 7 ordinands there were 100's of people there. However, time was given so that everyone was able to share in the meal.
Everyone who was ordained on the day already had a placement but this day signified the beginning of their ordained ministry.
For me it was a celebration but also a moment in my day for reflection.I was celebrating one year in my current placement and just over a year since my own ordination.
Each ordination has it's own feel because the ordinands involved give input to the service. They spend time with the moderator in the weeks leading up to the ordination and discuss the way the service will be shaped. For example, when I was ordained there were a few of us with young children so we wanted children to feel involved in the service. We had bags for the children with card, glue, stickers, textas and envelopes so the children could write notes of encouragement to the ordinands during the service.
This ordination service started with song and dance by the Sundanese Youth Choir in SA. Definitely a great way to start a celebration service.
Our moderator Rev Rob Williams then acknowledged the first people of Australia and welcomed us to the ordination service.
Rev Dr Ian Price preached the word and led us in wondering "What is in your hand?" with the help of some improv actors from the gathered people :-) You might recognise the part of Moses.
The ordination service was very meaningful and it's always a special time to see the people praying over the newly ordained people.
We then shared Holy Communion together. I have no idea how many people were there but you can imagine with 7 ordinands there were 100's of people there. However, time was given so that everyone was able to share in the meal.
Everyone who was ordained on the day already had a placement but this day signified the beginning of their ordained ministry.
For me it was a celebration but also a moment in my day for reflection.I was celebrating one year in my current placement and just over a year since my own ordination.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
God With Us
Today just didn't seem to be my day. My Key didn't want to work in the door, I got the kids to school late, plans I had for the day were thrown aside and I was just feeling out of sorts. I had a Doctors appointment before heading to my lecture at College and the Doctor was 45 minutes late! I had watched someone else cancel their appointment after waiting 'too long.' I was so tempted to do the same. I wanted to tell the receptionist how I was wasting time sitting in the waiting room when I could have stayed at the office another 30 minutes! I didn't, instead I read my emails on my phone.
Coming out of the Doctors office I had to wait while the receptionists talked to each other about 'matters of importance' and all the time I kept thinking about the time I was wasting. Finally I walked out the door, ready to head to the college, calculating in my head whether I would have time to get petrol, eat my lunch, grab a coffee and meet with a lecturer before my class started.
It was then that I saw a woman sitting in the carpark crying....
I walked over to her and asked if she was ok; she said no. Her Doctor had given her some awful news and now she was waiting for someone to pick her up. She told me how alone she felt.
We sat....we talked....we cried.....we hugged....I was aware that God was with us.
I drove away, still with tears on my face and thanked God that my Doctor was running late today.
Coming out of the Doctors office I had to wait while the receptionists talked to each other about 'matters of importance' and all the time I kept thinking about the time I was wasting. Finally I walked out the door, ready to head to the college, calculating in my head whether I would have time to get petrol, eat my lunch, grab a coffee and meet with a lecturer before my class started.
It was then that I saw a woman sitting in the carpark crying....
I walked over to her and asked if she was ok; she said no. Her Doctor had given her some awful news and now she was waiting for someone to pick her up. She told me how alone she felt.
We sat....we talked....we cried.....we hugged....I was aware that God was with us.
I drove away, still with tears on my face and thanked God that my Doctor was running late today.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Thanksgiving Tree
At the beginning of February we started our stewardship series. It was a good time to remember, as a congregation, to give thanks to God for all that he has done in the past year. We had a bare tree at the front of the church and during the service and put a flower shaped card on all the chairs. I hadn't told people what the bare tree was doing at the front of the church until I invited people to write prayers and words of thanksgiving on the cards and to place them on the tree. It was amazing how the cards transformed the tree! There was much to give God thanks for. At the end of the service the children brought their cards in that they had made in Sunday school and also placed them on the tree.
After the night service we put the tree in the foyer and now everytime I pass it through my week I see how pretty it is and am reminded to give thanks. It literally brings a smile to my face.
After the night service we put the tree in the foyer and now everytime I pass it through my week I see how pretty it is and am reminded to give thanks. It literally brings a smile to my face.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Thailand
My excuse for not blogging for awhile is that I was on a mission trip to Thailand!!
This was my first 'real' mission trip. I have been overseas before and I have been overseas as a representative of the church but I have never been to such remote areas before. I have to admit that although I enjoy learning about other cultures and trying new foods I still like the comforts of my own bed! I am not a fan of 'roughing it' or camping....
We started the trip in comfort. Our team of 8 flew from Adelaide on Singapore airlines; which is my favourite airline. We spent two nights in Singapore, getting to know each other and enjoying the sights of Singapore, and then flew to Chiang Mai.
That was where the 'rubber hit the road'. We learned quickly that seat belts aren't as important in Thailand, and that sitting in the back of a ute was part of everyday life. We had to get used to the dogs, chickens and ducks that wandered around the village and the roosters that formed an impromptu choir at 4am every morning. Squat toilets, rice at every meal and the daily community announcements at 6am were reminders that home was a long flight away.
However, as we started to make friends with the people we stayed with and the people in the villages we visited the culture shock diminished. We were amazed by the hospitality of people and their willingness to invite complete strangers into their homes. When we visited a village of "yellow leaf people" we realised how different we were as some the children were visibly shaking when we entered their homes. Even with uncertainty, they still welcomed us.
This trip helped me to realise something about mission that I hadn't thought of before. Mission trips aren't about building things. Often I hear about mission trips where schools or churches or houses are built and there is almost an expectation that a mission team will report back with an accomplishment of a finished building. In Thailand we helped to build a church but, it turned out, that wasn't the main point of the trip. I felt the most important thing we did while in Thailand was to continue to build relationships with our partners in Thailand and to offer encouragement and support to the Pastors and leaders of those partnerships.
Relationship building isn't a tangible outcome like building a church so it's harder to report back to the church what the team has done while in Thailand. What I saw in Thailand were leaders and Pastors doing their best to respond to the call that God had placed on their lives. They encouraged other leaders and people in remote villages with very little support and encouragement for themselves. They faithfully serve God and serve people but it is lonely to be in ministry in Northern Thailand where there aren't many Christians and there are many varied religious beliefs. As a team we were able to worship with the leaders and Pastors as well as the people in the villages. We gave them words of encouragement and listened to their ministry experiences. We laughed and cried, we sang songs of praise to God and we prayed. I think this is where our partnership really makes a difference.
It's amazing how quickly friendships are formed while on a mission trip. When you take into consideration language barriers, comfort zone barriers and cultural barriers you might assume friendships are hard to form. However, when your barriers are down and you are open to God's leading then what would normally seem a block to friendships forming actually help form friendships. One morning I was with a woman who didn't speak English and being from a small village, didn't speak fluent central Thai.(not that I can speak Thai) She was reading her bible and through a variety of motions asked me to sit with her and join her bible study. She would show me what she was reading then I would try to recognise the book in her index and then try to find the correlating book in my bible. When I found the book I thought was the one she was reading I would then double check by looking at how many verses were in the chapter she was reading. If they matched I hoped we were reading the same verses!
This may not be as practical as building a church but the memories and the friendships formed are exciting. It is the partnership we have between our church in Adelaide and the churches and home church in Thailand and the people in the villages that will have a Kingdom impact. We came home changed people. We learned things about ourselves we didn't know, we found inner strength we didn't know we had and we learned to trust in God, perhaps more than we had before. We went there thinking we would bless others and yet we found we were the ones being constantly blessed.
This was my first 'real' mission trip. I have been overseas before and I have been overseas as a representative of the church but I have never been to such remote areas before. I have to admit that although I enjoy learning about other cultures and trying new foods I still like the comforts of my own bed! I am not a fan of 'roughing it' or camping....
We started the trip in comfort. Our team of 8 flew from Adelaide on Singapore airlines; which is my favourite airline. We spent two nights in Singapore, getting to know each other and enjoying the sights of Singapore, and then flew to Chiang Mai.
That was where the 'rubber hit the road'. We learned quickly that seat belts aren't as important in Thailand, and that sitting in the back of a ute was part of everyday life. We had to get used to the dogs, chickens and ducks that wandered around the village and the roosters that formed an impromptu choir at 4am every morning. Squat toilets, rice at every meal and the daily community announcements at 6am were reminders that home was a long flight away.
However, as we started to make friends with the people we stayed with and the people in the villages we visited the culture shock diminished. We were amazed by the hospitality of people and their willingness to invite complete strangers into their homes. When we visited a village of "yellow leaf people" we realised how different we were as some the children were visibly shaking when we entered their homes. Even with uncertainty, they still welcomed us.
This trip helped me to realise something about mission that I hadn't thought of before. Mission trips aren't about building things. Often I hear about mission trips where schools or churches or houses are built and there is almost an expectation that a mission team will report back with an accomplishment of a finished building. In Thailand we helped to build a church but, it turned out, that wasn't the main point of the trip. I felt the most important thing we did while in Thailand was to continue to build relationships with our partners in Thailand and to offer encouragement and support to the Pastors and leaders of those partnerships.
Relationship building isn't a tangible outcome like building a church so it's harder to report back to the church what the team has done while in Thailand. What I saw in Thailand were leaders and Pastors doing their best to respond to the call that God had placed on their lives. They encouraged other leaders and people in remote villages with very little support and encouragement for themselves. They faithfully serve God and serve people but it is lonely to be in ministry in Northern Thailand where there aren't many Christians and there are many varied religious beliefs. As a team we were able to worship with the leaders and Pastors as well as the people in the villages. We gave them words of encouragement and listened to their ministry experiences. We laughed and cried, we sang songs of praise to God and we prayed. I think this is where our partnership really makes a difference.
It's amazing how quickly friendships are formed while on a mission trip. When you take into consideration language barriers, comfort zone barriers and cultural barriers you might assume friendships are hard to form. However, when your barriers are down and you are open to God's leading then what would normally seem a block to friendships forming actually help form friendships. One morning I was with a woman who didn't speak English and being from a small village, didn't speak fluent central Thai.(not that I can speak Thai) She was reading her bible and through a variety of motions asked me to sit with her and join her bible study. She would show me what she was reading then I would try to recognise the book in her index and then try to find the correlating book in my bible. When I found the book I thought was the one she was reading I would then double check by looking at how many verses were in the chapter she was reading. If they matched I hoped we were reading the same verses!
This may not be as practical as building a church but the memories and the friendships formed are exciting. It is the partnership we have between our church in Adelaide and the churches and home church in Thailand and the people in the villages that will have a Kingdom impact. We came home changed people. We learned things about ourselves we didn't know, we found inner strength we didn't know we had and we learned to trust in God, perhaps more than we had before. We went there thinking we would bless others and yet we found we were the ones being constantly blessed.
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