BPC Updates

We are grateful to God that on Wednesday the Government dropped the requirement of proof of vaccination status to attend gatherings of more than 50 at churches. Many have felt the grief of not being able to meet with all our brothers and sisters, including those who did not want to show proof of vaccination. For some the requirement, set by the government, of something other than faith in Jesus to attend church was in principle wrong. Thankfully the cause of that grief and offence has now been removed, making it possible for us to all meet together and also easier to invite others to church by removing the necessity of awkward conversations about vaccination.

"Thankfully... [it's now] possible for us to all meet together and also easier to invite others to church by removing the necessity of awkward conversations about vaccination."

But with that thankfulness must also come an awareness that responsibility for helping each other be confident in gathering and keeping each other safe when we gather now rests with each of us individually and the church collectively. This responsibility falls to us, as it should, in a context where Covid is still very active in the community. I think I am more aware of the risk of being infected with Covid than I have been for some time. I have learnt in the last week that two of my fellow ministers are isolating as members of their families have contracted Covid, that two churches have had to cancel Sunday services because of Covid in their church community, and that one of our families has members seriously ill in hospital with Covid. Today the number of new cases was 1622, on Wednesday 1405, and the Omicron variant is in the news.

"But with that thankfulness must also come an awareness that responsibility for helping each other be confident in gathering and keeping each other safe."

So what does this removal of the requirement to show proof of vaccination when attending church mean for us? And with that removal what do we need to do to keep meeting safely?

Let me start first by talking about the attitude we must keep showing to each other as we meet. Before Wednesday’s announcement I was getting ready to speak, in what I hope is the last communication for 2021, on focusing on the Lord Jesus as we rejoice in the remembrance of His birth. And with this announcement there is one particular aspect of the eternal Son’s coming to earth that should be at the forefront of our minds if we are going to keep meeting safely together, and that is His humility.

In Philippians 2 the apostle Paul writes “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!”

When we celebrate the birth of our Saviour, sing songs about mangers and shepherds, let yourself be shocked again by the gracious humbling of the eternal Son. ‘IN very nature God’, equal with God, the eternal word through and for whom all things were made – making Himself nothing, ‘taking the very nature of a servant.’ We, I know, hardly begin to sense what that means for we have such a little grasp of what it is to be God, although we know it is to be free of death, and frustration and limitation, without grief or pain, to be in a relation of eternal love with the Father. But we can still sense a great sacrifice, a great debasing, an abandoning of privilege. And why? To love us by considering us more important than His own glory, His own life, looking to our interests by taking on our flesh and blood to defeat the one who has the power of death in His own death. It is this humbling of Himself that we rejoice in and celebrate at Christmas, that moves us to thankfulness and awe. This counting others as better than ourselves, this looking not only to our own interests but also the interests of others, is at the heart of our faith and is the mindset every believer is called to.

"It is this humbling of Himself [Jesus] that we rejoice in and celebrate at Christmas... counting others as better than ourselves, this looking not only to our own interests but also the interests of others, is at the heart of our faith and is the mindset every believer is called to.

And it is this mindset, this attitude, seen in our disciplined thoughtfulness and courageous determination to meet and serve, that we must show as we resume meetings which are open to all, vaccinated and unvaccinated, and where we have the responsibility of making those meetings as safe as possible for all.

"It is this mindset... that we must show as we resume meetings which are open to all, vaccinated and unvaccinated, and where we have the responsibility of making those meetings as safe as possible for all"

So what does the removal of the vaccination requirement mean for us?

Firstly, all our normal services at 9, 11 and 5 will be open to the vaccinated and unvaccinated. This may cause concern to some, and we did consider having one service only for the vaccinated, but in a very real sense both our morning services have already been open to the unvaccinated in the form of children. We also know that the numbers of unvaccinated members of any of our congregations are not great and will not make a significant difference in the risk of infection. That risk is already there as vaccinated people can become infected and transmit the virus and in many ways it is the unvaccinated who are more at risk.

Secondly we will cease to hold a service at 3:00 pm. Thanks to those who came, and we look forward to you rejoining your normal congregations.

At the carols service we were planning on hiring a marquee for the car park as a vaccination status unknown venue, but we no longer need to do this. Instead we will be opening up other areas inside the church to help us spread out as well as have a smaller outdoor area for those who are more comfortable outside.

Finally our Christmas Eve service will be open to all without any number limit and you will not need to preregister.

With these changes what do we need to do to help us meet as safely as possible?

Firstly, we will all have to practice Covid safety diligently for these now become more important than ever. That means keeping on staying away if you are sick, or even have a sniffle. Practicing social distancing, so being aware of others and how close you are to them. We will be putting out more chairs including in the hall to allow a space to be maintained between groups. WE continue to need to both do the Vic Services QR check in and our own, especially the latter as we are now responsible for contact tracing and notifying close contacts of their need to isolate until they get a negative test.

Secondly, Masks. The Government has said these no longer need to be worn indoors at worship services. But you are more than welcome to keep wearing your mask if that is what you are comfortable with. And we continue to strongly recommend wearing them while singing. This is an airborne virus and singing is known to spread it. We do not want to be the source of a superspreader event. IF you feel strongly about not wearing a mask when we sing, please consider not singing. Remember it is the good of others we are to seek, not our own rights.

Thirdly, we will be reserving an area to the left of the auditorium doors at the back for those who are medically vulnerable [e.g the immunocompromised, those with heart and lung conditions, the elderly whose immune system is not as strong] and fully vaccinated. With the configuration of our air flow we think that is the safest area and we will increase the spacing of the chairs here.

Fourthly, we will continue to insist on those working with children and youth, and those on welcoming, being fully vaccinated and wearing masks, unless teaching. These roles have an increased risk of exposure and therefor an increased need for protection.

Fifthly, because we are conscious of the increasing rate of infection in the community we will have a pop up outdoor morning tea this coming Sunday and Christmas Day. This will also allow us to have chairs in the hall, and decrease the crossover between services. At the moment we are planning on not having morning tea for the 10:00 am summer service for the three weeks after Christmas while we watch case numbers, which we hope might go down with the finishing of school and people away on holidays. This will be reviewed each week and may be changed.

Final thoughts and encouragements

More generally, can I encourage you if your are already vaccinated to get your booster when it becomes available. It will allow you to be more confident in meeting, and we want to be able to continue to meet.

We know that some of you, because of your health, will consider the risk of meeting still to be too great. WE will be continuing the livestream of the services. But please get in touch. We want to know that you are getting encouraged. And if you know someone in that circumstance, a large group presents a risk that one on one or small group meetings do not, so go out of your way to meet up with them regularly.

If you have any questions about these steps to keep our meetings as safe as possible, or other suggestions about how we can do that, please get in touch.

It is great that we have this relief from checking vaccination status, along with no density quotient and no limit on meeting size, before Christmas, and if you wrote to your local member about this, consider writing to thank him for the change.

Let’s use this opportunity by committing to the disciplined thoughtfulness that will keep each other as safe as possible, and in a world that is never free from risk, by being determined to keep meeting for our brothers and sisters good as well as our own, meeting to encourage each other to persevere in faith, hope and love. And at this time let’s focus on and follow our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who humbled Himself to take on our flesh, born in a stable, laid in a manger, born to grow up to die on the cross for our sake, and who is now exalted to the Father’s right hand and will return in glory. May that day be soon.

"In a world that is never free from risk, [let's be] determined to keep meeting for our brothers and sisters good as well as our own"

Tim Keller, in the article provided as a resource below in which he writes of his response to his cancer diagnosis, says that he came to realise that death had been an abstraction to him, something he acknowledged intellectually would happen to him, “something technically true but unimaginable as a personal reality.” And he continues “For the same reason, our beliefs about God and an afterlife, if we have them, are often abstractions as well.”

Keller illustrates the difference between a belief which is an abstraction, grasped intellectually but having no hold on our imaginations or emotions and a belief that has taken up residence in our hearts, in our thinking and feeling core, with a quote from Jonathan Edwards.

“It is one thing,” Edwards argued, “to believe with certainty that honey is sweet, perhaps through the universal testimony of trusted people, but it is another to actually taste the sweetness of honey. The sense of the honey’s sweetness on the tongue brings a fuller knowledge of honey than any rational deduction. In the same way, it is one thing to believe in a God who has attributes such as love, power, and wisdom; it is another to sense the reality of that God in your heart.” [cf. Ps. 19:10, 119:1-3]

As I read his very helpful article, I realised two things.

Firstly, one of the gifts the pandemic gave us is that for a moment, perhaps a fleeting moment, we were confronted by our own death, not as an abstraction, but as a real possibility. I wonder how many of us used that moment to allow the promises of God of resurrection, of being with the Lord Jesus, of the new heaven and earth, to become real and sweet to us as well, so that we could face the possibility of our death with confidence.

"One of the gifts the pandemic gave us is that for a moment, perhaps a fleeting moment, we were confronted by our own death, not as an abstraction, but as a real possibility."

Those promises were real and sweet to the writers of the New Testament, whether it is Paul writing of his present sufferings as slight and momentary and looking forward to the ‘incomparable eternal weight of glory’, or reckoning departing to be with Christ to be better by far, or speaking of the crown of righteousness the Lord, the faithful judge, would give him when he departed [2 Cor. 4:17, Phil. 1:23, 2 Tim. 4:8]; or Peter writing of the “inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading kept in heaven for you”, believers in Jesus [1 Peter 1:4]; or John longing with the Spirit for the return of Christ – “come Lord Jesus come.” [Rev. 22:17, 20] To use this time to let those promises take on concreteness and vibrancy in our imaginations, so that we, mortal people, can taste their goodness and find comfort for our souls in them, would be of lasting benefit, equipping us to not only die well but live for Jesus with confidence in the time, short or long, that we have left.

Secondly it occurred to me that the gap Keller found between his abstract belief in eternal life and a conviction of its certainty that touched his imagination, is a gap that can be present in relation to many other promises of God to us in Christ. We can talk about Christ’s love and grace, be able to give correct biblical descriptions of them, and not know the comfort of God’s love in our heart or joy in the depths of our soul from being assured that we are forgiven freely. We can speak of the power of God’s Spirit at work in us, point to the bible verses, but still feel powerless in the face of besetting temptation. Our Christian lives are impoverished because we cannot taste the sweetness of God’s kindness to us.

"We can talk about Christ’s love and grace, be able to give correct biblical descriptions of them, and not know the comfort of God’s love in our heart or joy in the depths of our soul"

How can we change that so we know the reality for ourselves of what Scripture speaks of, of what we confess, and can say to others “O taste and see that the Lord is good.”

In the article Keller writes of the work he did with both his head and heart, in study and prayer, to help those promises become real to him.

Firstly he was determined to know God in reality, as He has revealed Himself to be in His word, so that he was confident that he was placing his hope in the true and living God and not in some god of his own making or imagination. He did head work, studied the word.

Secondly he practiced speaking the gospel to himself, reminding himself of the reality of the Saviour and what He had done, and examining his own beliefs and attitudes in the light of that gospel. He did this persistently, applying that truth to his heart, ‘taking truths about God and pressing them down deep into [his heart] their hearts until they catch fire there.’

Thirdly, prayer, for he was relating to the living God, not some idea of god, and not some dumb idol. The God who hears His people when they cry out to Him, the God who is wholly committed to be the God He reveals Himself to be, to fulfill in the lives of His people every word He has spoken. It was work, the work of the longing soul that proceeded from faith, the faith that God would be faithful to His revelation of Himself and gracious to all who came to Him in Christ.

I do commend Keller’s article to you, but more than that I commend the work involved in coming to know for yourself the goodness of God, work that we can engage in all our lives for the riches of Christ are inexhaustible and unfathomable [Eph. 3:8]. The only way you can really know the sweetness of honey is to taste it. The only way to know the comfort of knowing and being known by the living God through faith in His Son the Lord Jesus is taking Him at His word and asking Him to make His love and grace, His power and truth, more and more real to your heart every day. The one who seeks will find, to the one who knocks the door will be opened, and says our Lord, to the one who asks it will be given. Seek good things from our God.

"I commend the work involved in coming to know for yourself the goodness of God, work that we can engage in all our lives for the riches of Christ are inexhaustible and unfathomable"

When The Age [Nov. 24th]¹ reports that “Leading pandemic specialists Julie Leask, Catherine Bennett and Tony Blakely argue Victoria’s vaccination rate, on track to reach 95 per cent next month, is high enough to protect the state from any increased transmission that might happen if [the] unvaccinated were given the same rights as those who’ve had their jabs”. It is disappointing for many of us to see the continuing differential treatment of the vaccinated and unvaccinated. Continuing measures that no longer seem reasonable and proportionate can not only grieve but provoke irritation and anger, irritation and anger that can spill over into our relationships.

"It is disappointing for many of us to see the continuing differential treatment of the vaccinated and unvaccinated. Continuing measures that no longer seem reasonable and proportionate can not only grieve but provoke irritation and anger"

I continue to hope that in the light of the increasing vaccination numbers, community concern expressed in peaceful protest, and the protests of retailers about having to police these measures the government will relax these restrictions soon, and the Age reports today² that the Government is starting to talk about the conditions for such a relaxation. But in the meantime how do we live, as a church and as individuals, with our grief, fears, irritations and anger in ways that will honour our Lord Jesus and see us engaged in doing good, not ill; helping, not harming.

The Connectedness of the Body of Christ

Firstly recognise the reason that the troubles of some rightly cause grief for us all. We are interconnected, one body [1 Cor. 12:13]. This is something Christ has brought about by calling us to Himself and baptising us with His Spirit. One of the consequences of this is that we should use the gifts we have for the building up of Christ’s body, and another is that ‘if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it: if one member is honoured, all the members rejoice with it.” [1 Cor. 12:26] We are feeling the reality of our interconnectedness, perhaps with an intensity we have not felt before. There is always a temptation for believers in our society to think of ourselves as independent people voluntarily associating with this church or that, as it suits us. But that is only part of the reality. We are believers because Christ has first called us to Himself, and in calling us to Himself has connected us to each other. We may not want to think of our Christian life as necessarily connected to other believers but we can only deny it, or weaken that connection, at cost both to ourselves and our relationship to Christ. Now we are feeling that Spirit worked connectedness. In the grief of those who have lost their jobs and been excluded from so much because of their vaccination choices, we feel grief. But that is not all we feel as a body. We also feel the anxieties and fears of those whose health is not robust or who are concerned about joining us because of the consequences for those they live with if they brought the virus back from our gathering. It is in our interconnectedness that this continues to be a testing time for us all.

"Our interconnectedness means each of needs to be aware that our individual responses to our situation have an impact on all in the body. Your dissatisfaction, or irritation, or anger at the current situation does not just affect you, or your family – it also affects the church you belong to."

And our interconnectedness means each of needs to be aware that our individual responses to our situation have an impact on all in the body. Your dissatisfaction, or irritation, or anger at the current situation does not just affect you, or your family – it also affects the church you belong to. Some I know are angry with the approach of the government, in particular the mandating of vaccination, including for those 12 and up, and the exclusion of the unvaccinated from so much of life. Your anger may be justified but once we are carrying anger in our hearts it can so easily overflow, as we have sadly witnessed in the treatment of workers at Dymocks. God’s word has a lot to say about anger. For example Jesus said “I tell you everyone who is angry with his brother or sister will be subject to judgment’ Matt. 5:22 and the apostle wrote to the Ephesians, quoting Psalm 4, “Be angry but do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your anger’ warning that anger gave the devil opportunity [Eph. 4:27, 31, cf. James 1:19-20]. The opportunity anger gives to the devil in a congregation of believers is to turn us into critical people, impatient with each other, able to easily misrepresent another’s actions, words and motives, harsh and hurtful in our conversation. We need to heed God’s word and not feed our anger. Part of that is continuing to trust the Lord that He is in charge and will work these times for His glory and our good. And part of that good, that growth in Christlikeness is using these times to grow in trusting patience. As Proverbs 16:32 says “Patience [being slow to anger] is better than power, and controlling one’s emotions than capturing a city.” Patience is strong. If you know yourself to be struggling with anger – get in touch.

"We need to heed God’s word and not feed our anger."

Some I also know are so grieved by the differentiation in the size of the service that vaccinated and unvaccinated can attend that, though they understand why the church has re-opened as it has with services for the vaccinated and a separate service where vaccination status is not checked, they feel so uncomfortable about it that they cannot bring themselves to attend. I understand the unsettling nature of the not rightness of our situation. But if that is you, can I ask you to consider whom you are helping and whom you are hurting by not joining with your brothers and sisters. You are not hurting the government by staying away, and you are not helping the unvaccinated. You are hurting both vaccinated and unvaccinated brothers and sisters whom you are depriving of both the encouragement of your presence and your service. It is the world that tells us to turn inwards and have our actions guided by our feelings. Faith tells us to be guided by God’s never failing word, and that word tells us to not neglect to meet together where we can.

"It is the world that tells us to turn inwards and have our actions guided by our feelings.

Faith tells us to be guided by God’s never failing word, and that word tells us to not neglect to meet together where we can."

We all need to think hard about our personal reactions to the pressures of this time and the impact they have on the body of which the Lord has made us a part. What God’s word tells us in 1 Corinthians 13 is necessary, the key for the health of the body, and the key for healthy interactions amongst us, is love, the love that is patient and kind. Now is the time, as collectively we feel the weariness and stress of continuing Covid pressure, to renew our commitment to love, a practical love guided by God’s word.

Our re-opening

Secondly, understand, as I know many of you do, the church’s position. In re-opening as we have, checking vaccine certificates and starting a separate afternoon service with limited numbers where vaccine status is unknown, we are accommodating to, not endorsing, the governments actions. That is an important distinction. Some of us may approve completely of the way the government has handled the pandemic, some of us may think some of what they have done is good and sensible and other things not, some may be completely fed up with their response. Approval of what the government is doing, or otherwise, is not the issue for us in our decisions, but taking what actions are necessary to maintain as much as we can the health of the congregation is the issue for us. Session is convinced that we need to be meeting. For our collective witness in the community, for the health of our own faith, for sustaining our love for one another, for the discipling of our children, we need to be gathering together around God’s word and resuming our ministries. And we can all gather to hear God’s word at one of our services, vaccinated or unvaccinated. This Sunday we can all, vaccinated and unvaccinated, gather and share in the Lord’s Supper as it is celebrated at all four services. The fact that none are denied the ability to hear the preaching of God’s word, that there is opportunity for all to gather at a service, even if not their normal service, and even if not altogether, which we cannot do normally, is one of the reasons Session thinks that checking vaccine certificates is a public health measure, not a gospel matter, and as a public health measure – even if it is a little strange and irritating – should be complied with. Scripture tells us we should obey our governments, and faith conforms its life to God’s word even if we do not feel like it or it is inconvenient for us or we think their instructions unnecessary and burdensome.

"In re-opening as we have... we are accommodating to, not endorsing, the governments actions. That is an important distinction."

Thirdly, recognise, when you are thinking of our gatherings, that the removal of the distinction between the vaccinated and unvaccinated, which we long for, won’t solve all our problems. The virus continues to be present amongst us with over a thousand cases a day. We will still need to do everything we can to ensure the safety of those who come, and that some have very good reason to be concerned about the risk of infection. We want all to be able to come back to gathering, including the more vulnerable, so that may well mean we need to love them by putting in place measures that can give those who are vulnerable extra security when we can mix together, as churches have done in Sydney.

Covid will continue to test us, both individually and as a church, as the body of Christ together. If we are to recover from the wounding of the interruption of our meeting, the disrupting of our ministries, our isolation from one another we will need resolve, resolve to live by faith – guided not by our feelings but by God’s word; to live by love – love that seeks to build the body up, whether that is by presence and service on a Sunday, or opening your homes to each other regardless of vaccination status, or seeking to end measures that are now disproportionate by writing or taking part in peaceful protest, love that practices the patience of the wise; to live by hope, hope not just in the ending of this time, which will pass, but hope in the living God who hears our prayers and who can rescue and keep His people.

By living in faith, hope and love we will stop the devil from using this time to sow division, discontent and disaffection amongst us. But it is up to each of us, individually members of the body as we are, to pursue the health of the body, to make sure that in the way we react to these circumstances we are not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. [Romans 12:21]

"By living in faith, hope and love we will stop the devil from using this time to sow division, discontent and disaffection amongst us."

REFERENCES

"‘Giving vaccination a bad name’: Experts say jab lockouts can end at 90%" The Age, 24/11/21 https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/giving-vaccination-a-bad-name-experts-say-jab-lockouts-can-end-at-90-percent-20211122-p59b4t.html?btis
"Premier hints at end to rules locking out unvaccinated" The Age, 2/12/21 https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/premier-hints-at-end-to-rules-locking-out-unvaccinated-20211202-p59e7k.html?btis

Friday Update 26th November 2021 – re Vaccination mandate 12-15 year old's

With Neil on leave this week, I am bringing you a brief update regarding our plans for this coming Sunday 28th, as we don’t want you to arrive at church unaware or unprepared.

Since last Friday 19th the Victorian government has introduced their Phase D CovidSafe settings, with us nearing 90% double vaccinated. (ttps://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/how-we-live)

From now on, when the regulations speak of the ‘fully vaccinated’, it now applies to all people 12 years old and up. This change came into effect with only one day’s notice, and brought some major changes. This sudden change came with real surprise if not shock, and disappointment and frustration for many.

That has meant that unless our children over 12 are double vaccinated and able to show their covid vaccination certificate, they’ve not been permitted to enter restaurants, retail stores and other places this week.

The State government has also mandated that religious services of over 50 people can only be for the double vaccinated. I understand they are seeking to minimize the risk of spread amongst larger groups of unvaccinated people. Sadly, we don’t have the time or people needed to run 8 services on a Sunday for 50 people each, where everyone is welcome.

Last Sunday we didn’t require 12-15 year old’s to present their covid certificate, as we wanted to give the congregation a week’s grace and give families time to prepare. As Neil explained last week, from this Sunday at our 9 and 11am and 5pm services, we will be asking to see the vaccine certificate of children aged between 12 years and 2 months, and 15 years of age. If you or your children have not yet attended church in person, everyone over the age of 12 years and 2 months we need to display a copy of their certificate, if they’ve not already done so, at our 9 and 11am and 5pm services. This can be done on the Service Victoria app, but it does not need to be. The certificate can also be linked to the Medicare app on a smartphone, or you are welcome to print out and bring a hard copy to show the Check-in marshal at the entrance.

Can I be honest and say this requirement for people to be vaccinated to come to church grieves and deeply saddens me. I understand that some are hesitant about meeting in groups with unvaccinated people, and that some of us, or our loved ones, are immunocompromised and at greater risk; or just feeling anxious about things.

We love you and pray for you. May God strengthen your trust in his sovereign care and give you wisdom.

Still, it grieves me that people are excluded from coming to their normal church service to hear the Gospel of Jesus and meet with his people.

I long and pray for the day when our government will remove these restrictions.

However, as I preached a few weeks ago in the morning, 1 Peter 2 and Romans 13 call us to submit to the governing authorities over us, and to obey their directions, as long as we are not called to sin. So at this stage, and hoping it remains a temporary restriction, for the sake of our community and health care system, we are following the government’s directive.

You may be responding to this in different ways. Maybe you don’t have children or your 12+ aged children are already double vacc’d and nothing will change.

Maybe your child is a few weeks away from their second dose and it’s just a matter of showing patience a little longer. Maybe you or your teenager have decided not to be vaccinated, and we respect that choice too. We are in many different places and experiencing different feelings, and I acknowledge that.

We don’t want anyone to be excluded from coming to church, and I know Andrew Wort is working to include all the youth in some way at youth group tonight.

If you are unable to attend the Sunday service at 9, 11 or 5, we hope you know you are invited to and most welcome to join us at the 3pm service this Sunday with Andy and I. Please come and hear God’s word, sing our Lord’s praise together, encourage and pray with one another. Please come to the 3pm service, where vaccination is not required. And if you choose to stay home this Sunday or for the next little while, we encourage you to still watch the livestream, and be built up by God’s word and encouraged in your faith through that. Please do get in touch with one of the pastors if you’re not going to be able to make it to church in the coming weeks, as we still want to know how you’re doing, know how we can care for you, and encourage you in your following Jesus.

Please do pray that our sovereign and good God will guide our State and Federal in their decision making; that God would give you, and us all, wisdom, patient endurance and faith in our Saviour. Please pray for the Session at Bundy to have wisdom as they lead the congregation, pray that we as a church would keep focused on making disciples of Christ and growing us all to maturity in him. Please pray that your love for the Lord and for your brothers and sisters would not wane, but abound by God’s grace.

I thank God for the unity we have in Christ, and that is something to strive to maintain in these difficult days. And as Paul prays in Philippians chapter 1, I pray that ‘he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus… that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

May God bless you.

The Government yesterday announced a further easing of restrictions with nearly 90% of the community being fully vaccinated. While that easing included a further relaxation in the size of a gathering of people whose vaccination status is unknown, up from thirty to fifty, it did not remove the requirement to check the vaccination status of those attending larger gatherings. We will therefore continue our four services as they are at present – with the 9, 11 and 5 o’clock services being for those who are fully vaccinated, and the 3 o’clock service being for those whose vaccination status is unknown. But there will be welcome changes to our services.

Welcome changes

With the removal of density quotients and caps for the fully vaccinated, this Sunday children will start in the service with their parents at 9 and 11 before going up to Sunday school. We will continue to have a children’s talk in the service for those watching the live stream.

Masks are no longer required at the fully vaccinated services but are required at the 3:00 pm service. We will be asking those on welcoming and serving on the morning tea or supper rosters to wear masks in line with the requirements for mask wearing by staff in businesses. With around a thousand cases a day still we think it prudent to ask you to bring a mask and wear it while you are singing, and of course you are very welcome to continue wearing your mask inside throughout the service. We also strongly encourage children in grades 3-6 to wear masks in Sunday school and Kid’s Club just as they are required to wear masks for school.

Morning tea will not be recommencing this Sunday but we are planning for it to restart on the next, on Sunday 28th. Supper will restart this Sunday evening. With the relaxation of the rules for cafes and restaurants for those fully vaccinated mid-week ministries can also recommence serving tea and coffee and individual portions of food in a Covid safe way if they wish. When morning tea recommences we will also re-open the slide and the gym.

The only change to the seating at the moment will be the removal of all but the first two rows of seating from the Hall. To maintain a large airspace the concertina door will remain open. We think the retention of those first two rows in the hall will allow us to be adequately spaced, but we will keep an eye on that to make sure we are all comfortable.

The removal of the density quotient will allow us to plan for Christmas and summer with more confidence but the condition of that removal is that we continue to be diligent in checking in both with the Service Vic app and with our own system. It is the latter we will rely on if and when the time comes that we need to contact you in the event of an infected person coming to church, and the responsibility for doing that has now been transferred to us.

While we are saddened by the continuation of restrictions on the size of the gathering those who do not wish to declare their vaccination status can attend this is still progress we can be very thankful for, progress that makes our gathering and ministries a little easier and friendlier. As we continue on the path towards an increasingly normal summer four things to bear in mind.

'While we are saddened by the continuation of restrictions... this is still progress we can be very thankful for, progress that makes our gathering and ministries a little easier and friendlier.'

Four things to bear in mind.

Firstly, increased activity means an increased need for people to serve. Thanks to all who have resumed serving their brothers and sisters in the many tasks and roles that make our gathering happen and let me encourage all of us to again embrace ‘serving one another in love’ with the gifts and skills the Lord has given us for the common good. It is that cheerful mutual service that makes our common life good.

'let me encourage all of us to again embrace ‘serving one another in love’ with the gifts and skills the Lord has given us for the common good'

Secondly, if you are unvaccinated please consider joining us at the 3:00 pm service. You may have been shut out of many things by government regulation but you are not shut out of church. Don’t let the ideal, the longing for everything to be just as it was before the pandemic, be the enemy of the good, and meeting with your brothers and sisters is good. This is not a time to be or feel isolated from them. Recognise that you need the encouragement of not just hearing the word, which you can do on the livestream, but of the presence of flesh and blood brothers and sisters who are pleased to see you.

'If you are unvaccinated please consider joining us at the 3:00 pm service. You may have been shut out of many things by government regulation but you are not shut out of church.'

Thirdly, keep your eye on Christmas. Pray that case numbers go down and we can all return with confidence, and invite our friends with confidence. We have good news to share, the birth of the Saviour of the world to rejoice in.

Fourthly, as I was going through these changes and working out with the staff what they meant for our gathering I realised again how busy and pre-occupied with the present and the near horizon living through this time can make us. Yet the troubles and challenges of this time will be seen as slight and momentary in the light of eternity, and the questions that have preoccupied many about vaccine safety and efficacy, the answers we are so emotionally invested in and are tempted to divide over, will then pass into obscurity. I was reminded of Paul’s words to a congregation preoccupied with the excitement and disturbance of tongues and other spiritual phenomena, tempted even to divide over them. “Now these three remain: faith, hope and love, and the greatest of these is love.” [1 Cor. 13:13]. Let us keep our focus on what remains. An obedient faith in the Lord Jesus, a life lived with our hope placed fully in the coming of the Lord Jesus and our rising to be with Him, and the love that serves and ‘covers a multitude of sins’, the love of those who know that they have first been loved by Christ. Nothing else lasts.

'the troubles and challenges of this time will be seen as slight and momentary in the light of eternity... Let us keep our focus on what remains. An obedient faith in the Lord Jesus'

I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible on December 5th when I return from holidays.

It was wonderful to see so many of you in person last Sunday. As I reflected on how good it was to be together my dominant emotion was thankfulness, thankfulness to God for preserving us and starting to bring us together again. Paul often commenced his letters with thanksgiving to God for his sisters and brothers and for God’s work in their lives [1 Cor. 1:4, Eph. 1:15-16, Phil. 1:3-5, Col. 1:3, 1 Thess. 1:2-3, 2 Thess. 1:3]. Take 1 Thessalonians for example where Paul gives thanks remembering “their [your] work produced by faith, their [your] labour motivated by love, and their [your] endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ”. On Sunday I was reminded that this is also what we can give God thanks for in each other in the lockdowns and as we come out of lockdowns.

Faith, Love and Hope

The faith that has kept us relying on God’s Fatherly care and steadfast love and faithfully praying for each other through this time. The faith that wants to testify in gathering in Jesus’ name around His word to God’s continuing saving work in the world. The love that has kept us caring for and in touch with each other, the love that is now re-engaging in serving one another as services and ministries recommence. The hope that has sustained a thankful and trusting endurance.

The faith, hope and love that keeps us in gospel partnership as we seek to renew our collective witness to a world that has been confronted with its frailty and fear of death, our collective witness to our Saviour who has defeated death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel [2 Tim. 1:10] and who is now Lord with all authority in heaven and earth. Hasn’t this time brought home again how good it is to belong to the Lord Jesus, to be able to say “The Lord is my shepherd”. To know the Lord Jesus is in control when we have felt our powerlessness. To know His grace is sufficient when we have felt our strength so weak. To know if the worst should happen, it is the best, that to depart and be with Christ is better by far [Phil. 1:23]. To know the God we meet in Jesus is kind and we can entrust those we love to Him. To know we can depend on Him, and that those who trust in Him are blessed. We do have good news to share in sharing the gospel of Jesus.

'Hasn’t this time brought home again how good it is to belong to the Lord Jesus, to be able to say “The Lord is my shepherd”. To know the Lord Jesus is in control when we have felt our powerlessness. To know His grace is sufficient when we have felt our strength so weak.'

Our healing has just started

I know we have just started our healing after what has been for us individually and collectively a wounding time. Case numbers are still high and almost every day I hear of an infection in this school or that. Many whose health is frail are still understandably hesitant to meet in larger groups. I know many of us still feel weary. While, for example, it was wonderful to see so many on Sunday and have so many good conversations, wasn’t it tiring, as well as encouraging. As Andy said, we are like bears coming out of hibernation, still coming up to speed, and we need to steward our strength. And I know we still have the grief of the family being unable to meet together as usual because of vaccination differences. We still have a way to go.

Join prayer to thankfulness

So let’s join prayer to our thankfulness. That is what Paul does. His thanksgiving is part of his prayers for his brothers and sisters. As Paul does for the Philippians, lets pray that our love for each other would abound more and more and would be practiced with wisdom and discernment so we do what is ‘excellent’ in our dealings with each other [Phil. 1:9-10]. We need our love to abound. And let’s pray as Paul does in Colossians 1:11-12 that we would be “strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.” Isn’t that a prayer for our times, a prayer not just to be sustained by God’s needed power but for endurance and patience with joy and thanksgiving, the joy and thanksgiving that lightens our hearts and refreshes our souls [cf. Prov. 15:13, 15; 17:22].

'Let's pray that our love for each other would abound more and more and would be practiced with wisdom and discernment so we do what is ‘excellent’ in our dealings with each other'

Pray also for each other what Paul prays for the Colossians at the beginning of his prayer, that we would be ‘filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.’ [1:9] I used to think that was Paul praying that the Colossians would know how to live as Christians, have personal conviction of God’s will for them. But Paul is praying for something prior and more fundamental, something so much richer and life sustaining. He is praying that they would know Christ ‘in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge’ [2:3], and understand how God’s eternal purpose to reconcile all things to Himself and save us is brought to pass through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus [Col. 1:15-23], understand God’s ‘plan for the fullness of time to sum up all things in Christ’ [Eph. 1:9-10]. That prayer answered in our lives is the source of a rich Christian life. Not a Christian life that just gets by, is intellectually and spiritually shallow, always in danger of being blown away by challenging times or challenging arguments. Not a Christian life we experience as joyless struggle of duty. But a Christian life that is worthy of our Saviour, an enduringly fruitful life, a life where we grow in knowledge of the true and living God [Col. 1:10].

'God has been teaching us through this time to depend on Him'

God has been teaching us through this time to depend on Him. So let’s pray for each other that we would meditate on the cross and know more of its power and wisdom, and more of the love that purposed to save sinners like us through it. Let’s depend on Him, as we give thanks for His work in and amongst us, to keep us growing in our knowledge of Christ, His glory, the wonder of His cross, and the depth of His love.

I am looking forward to seeing many of you, Lord willing, over this weekend, at the cleaning bee and especially at one of our services on Sunday. But it will take a deliberate decision on your part to be there on Sunday for attendance will involve hassle and risk.

Hassle and Risk.

The hassle of getting organised to get out the door after months of Sundays doing church from the couch; of wearing masks indoors if you don’t have an exemption; at 9, 11 and 5 the extra step, perhaps resented, of having your vaccination status checked; of just being Covid aware in seating and spacing.

And the increased risk, involved in all getting out and about, of being exposed to Covid, the risk many of you have already faced in sending your children back to school. While we are doing all we can to minimise that risk in our gathering [hence the hassle already mentioned] that risk can’t be completely eliminated.

I know confidence will return at different rates and everyone’s circumstances are different but whether it is this week or next week or the week after, I hope you will accept the hassle and take the risk and gather in person with your brothers and sisters, for this is hassle and risk undertaken for a great purpose.

'I hope you will accept the hassle and take the risk and gather in person with your brothers and sisters'

Hassle and risk for a purpose.

Our gathering is the corporate, collective witness to the world of the saving purpose of God. It says that the Lord Jesus has a people whom He has called to Himself, that He is active in history, in our time, calling His people out of the world. You may not have thought of it like that. You might be thinking of our gathering in terms of personal encouragement or family culture or community, something that serves your growth, your intention to disciple your children or your need for connection with others. Being encouraged, discipling your children and connection with others are all good things and important, but our gathering is more than that. It tells the world that God is not some dumb idol but that He is at work in the world saving through His powerful gospel, calling His people out of darkness into His marvellous light.

'Our gathering is the corporate, collective witness to the world of the saving purpose of God. It says that the Lord Jesus has a people whom He has called to Himself, that He is active in history, in our time, calling His people out of the world.'

The gospel is powerful whether we meet or not, but our gathering is the tangible testimony in our community to its power. And our gathering, where we come from so many different backgrounds and nationalities, is also testimony to the scope of God’s purpose – to save people from every nation, race and tongue – and to save them by grace, for we are undeserving sinners, through faith in the Lord Jesus, crucified and risen. And in our gathering, as we are truly the church of the Lord Jesus, the church He builds by His gospel word and that lives by hearing and obeying His word, our neighbours can also see how good it is to belong to Jesus as we live loving one another. As Hezekiah prayed for the deliverance of Jerusalem [Isaiah 37:20] so I am praying and would urge you to pray that we will be regathered with determination and thankfulness so that our neighbours may know that the LORD alone is God, and He is the living, saving God, and in knowing that themselves find salvation through trusting the Lord Jesus, sent by the Father to be the Saviour of the world.

'pray that we will be regathered with determination and thankfulness so that our neighbours may know that the LORD alone is God'

We temporarily suspended in person meetings to give no offense to our neighbours and to do what is right in the sight of all during the pandemic [1 Cor. 10:32, Rom. 12:17-18], mindful of the reputation of the gospel in the community. Now it is worth enduring the hassle and taking the risk of regathering for the witness our gathering is to the same gospel. For gospel witness Paul endured the hassle of being flexible and adaptable, of taking on behaviours he wouldn’t normally be drawn to, "becoming all things to all people so that by all means he [I] might save some” [1 Cor. 9:22]. God’s Word calls us to imitate him in that desire, to "not seek our own advantage but that of many, that they may be saved.” [1 Cor. 10:33-11:1] Endure the hassles of getting out of the house and getting back to church in the same spirit, the spirit of seeking the good of others. And Paul exposed himself to great risk to preach the gospel – he lists his trials in 2 Cor. 11:23-29, his beatings, imprisonments, shipwrecks, hardships and more. We have that same gospel that calls people ‘from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God’ so that they can receive forgiveness of sins and a place amongst God’s people. [Acts 26:18]. It is worth taking a risk to witness to the truth of this gospel in our gathering, for the gospel is so good.

Building towards Christmas

And the plan in restarting now is to deliberately work towards displaying the goodness of the gospel in our Christmas gatherings, including the outdoor Christmas carols we will run, Lord willing, on the 19th December. One of the reasons we are keen to get going through November is so that we can build confidence towards meeting and inviting others to join us at Christmas, where the goodness of the gospel is on display to all in the events we celebrate, and so we are ready to run GSF in January, Lord willing, where children can hear the good news of the Lord Jesus.

'the plan in restarting now is to deliberately work towards displaying the goodness of the gospel in our Christmas gatherings'

The goodness of Christ’s gospel stands out in our present circumstances. We might have hoped to be able to celebrate a triumphant victory over the virus, to re-open church and society with confidence, and to think that Covid and all its associated problems were behind us. The fact that we face hassle and risk in re-opening tells us that is not the case. The relaxation of restrictions is a victory that just demonstrates the limits of human power, of the salvation humanity can work. The virus will continue present amongst us. Vaccination has temporarily given us the upper hand, a reprieve from the scourge of pestilence, but this pandemic is just one skirmish in the long and losing campaign humanity fights against disease and the death that carries us all away.

But think of the Saviour the gospel proclaims and whose birth we will celebrate at Christmas. He doesn’t give us a temporary reprieve from sickness and death. Nor is his victory an accommodation to the continuing presence of a destructive evil amongst us. He doesn’t bring a freedom that is qualified with ongoing restrictions, a rule that tramples on sensitive consciences. His people don’t need to live in continuing fear and anxiety.

'Think of the Saviour the gospel proclaims and whose birth we will celebrate at Christmas. He doesn’t give us a temporary reprieve from sickness and death... His victory over sin and death is complete'

His victory over sin and death is complete, His rising from the dead the firstfruits, the guarantee that His people will rise with Him at the last day in bodies that know no grief or pain. By His death and rising He has established righteousness, justice and truth as the foundation of His reign. There is no compromise with or accommodation to evil in His reign and He will bring the kingdom from which all evil is cast out. He gives His people the unqualified freedom of being children of God, and deals gently with the weak and wounded. He has set us free from bondage to the fear of death and tells us we can cast all our cares on Him.

And this victory is His alone. He does it all – sacrificing Himself, not sacrificing His followers. In this Saviour:

We have the joy we have longed for but cannot know if all we have is ourselves, and our best efforts;
We have the light that drives away the gloom cast over us by sickness and death
We are given hope, sure hope in a world where we are learning that hope in ourselves or in human leaders, in their limited knowledge and frail plans, is so fragile, hope which perishes with death.
And we can know ourselves known and loved, graciously and freely, forever.

Isn’t the gospel that brings us this Saviour good?

And this is a joy, light, hope and love we can together invite others who so need it to share in as we rejoice together in our Saviour’s birth at Christmas.

So – whether this week, or next , or in a month’s time – accept the hassle, face the risk, and come and gather with those whom the Lord has made His own people. Testify to the world in gathering of the grace of the saving God, the God who can save them.

Ending Lockdown

Today is the day we see a further relaxation of restrictions. I am not sure which you are most excited about – no masks outdoors, or being able to travel to the country to see family, or to shop, or gather outside in groups of up to thirty. There is a great eagerness in the community to get back to life as it was without lockdown. I share that eagerness and for me the opportunity to meet in person is what I am most thankful for.

I am eager to meet with you in person on the 7th, whether it is in the 150 fully vaccinated gatherings where, like most other venues, you will need to show your vaccination tick or print out, or in the 30 person 3:00 pm vaccination status unknown gathering. Whatever your vaccination status I encourage you to come to the appropriate service to meet with your brothers and sisters, for knowing there are those who love us for Jesus’ sake and hearing the gospel word together, is good for us, good for our souls.

'Whatever your vaccination status I encourage you to come to the appropriate service to meet with your brothers and sisters,

for knowing there are those who love us for Jesus’ sake and hearing the gospel word together, is good for us, good for our souls.'

It is, for example, easy to feel isolated in lockdown, and being in the bodily presence of others is a good way to address that feeling. It is easy to feel put out by someone’s comment, to think them unsympathetic or suspicious, when all you have is words divorced from presence, from the warmth of a smile, from the attentive listening of someone who is wholly present in your conversation. Meeting together is good for building encouraging and genuine relationships amongst us, good for preserving our unity. And as I did on Sunday, I would encourage thoughtfulness in coming, an awareness of what will make the other more comfortable, more secure in meeting, a loving commitment to "in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” [Phil. 2:3]. As well as an FAQ page on the website videos are being prepared by Andy and Cat to engage us with what is involved, both practically and in our attitudes, in returning confidently and thoughtfully, and it would be good to watch them to prepare yourself for coming back into the building together on the 7th.

The Dangers of returning to pre-lockdown life.

But enthusiasm to return to pre-lockdown life is not without dangers both for our wider society and ourselves. In Amos 4 the Lord speaks of the heedlessness of the people in the face of His actions to turn their hearts back to Him. He gave them food shortages v. 6, drought v. 7-8, blight and mildew v. 9, pestilence v. 10, and sudden destruction v. 11. But the refrain after recounting each of these judgements is ‘yet you did not return to me, declares the LORD’. And the outcome of this lack of reflection and repentance was the more terrifying prospect of meeting the LORD Himself in judgment v. 12.

'I fear for our society... will be lost in self congratulation and a renewed determination to live pursuing pleasure and self fulfillment.

Will you pray for God’s mercy on your neighbours?'

I fear for our society that without God’s grace in opening their eyes the opportunity to be humbled before their Creator and to return to Him will be lost in self congratulation and a renewed determination to live pursuing pleasure and self fulfillment. Will you pray for God’s mercy on your neighbours? And will you be bold enough, now you can spend social time with them, to initiate conversation with your neighbours? You could ask what they have learnt over this time – about themselves or their life – or what they are thankful for? Finding a way to talk about the sure hope we have in Jesus and the comfort of knowing God’s steadfast love, can start with talking with them about their lives and this time we have all shared in.

Reflecting ourselves

And we should take time to ask ourselves those same questions.

What has the Lord taught me about myself, about my loves, about my hope?

How have I grown and changed through this time?

That is a conversation with ourselves that may go on for months or years, but take the time to have it.

It may encourage you to see you have a new confidence in our Father’s steadfast love and faithfulness as you reflect on the way He has kept you. You may find a new appreciation of the comfort of knowing that the Lord really is with us. You may get a renewed conviction of the good of daily bible study and prayer for keeping your relationship with your heavenly Father healthy which will serve you well into the future. Or you may find yourself disturbed by having had uncovered the selfishness of your lifestyle, the shallowness of your faith, or how much your contentment was tied to worldly prosperity and security. Uncomfortable, but if that is you, thank God for His kindness, and resolve with His help to pursue love, a deepening trust, and a hope that is placed fully in the grace coming to us at the revelation of Jesus on the last day and not on anything in this world.

Lord willing

My own reflection this week has taken me back to verses we all became very conscious of at the beginning of the pandemic in James 4:13-17.

"Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin."

I have for many years said ‘Lord willing’ in relation to my plans. Yet we live in a culture that wants to live denying the constraints of our creatureliness and pretends that we can make our world and our futures by ourselves. That culture shapes us even unaware, and so when my plans – my daily plans – were not just interrupted but denied, I was shocked by how hard I found it not to be angry at my loss of control and the frustration of my expectations, and shocked by how hard I found it to humble myself under God’s mighty hand. I do not want to lose sight now of my frailty and creaturely dependence on God that this time has reinforced to me. There is peace in confessing that my plans are not necessarily His plans, and in trusting that the plans of the One who knows all things, who is committed to the great good He is working for His people, and who has embraced me in Christ with His steadfast love, are better. Life is both richer and more secure when I can cheerfully say ‘If the Lord wills’.

'I do not want to lose sight now of my frailty and creaturely dependence on God that this time has reinforced to me.

I know there are many more things for me to learn from reflection on this time. What about you? We are about to get much busier from the re-opening of schools, shops, travel, our homes, our church, and then we have the hectic run to Christmas. There is much in that busyness to be thankful for but take time to reflect and articulate even if just to yourself what the Lord has taught you and is teaching you by this pandemic experience about yourself, about what you love, and about what you are living for.

"Take time to reflect and articulate even if just to yourself what the Lord has taught you... by this pandemic experience"

Give Him thanks for His work in your life through this time and pray that every day He would continue to help you to grow to maturity as a follower of Jesus. Looking forward to seeing you at one of the services on the 7th – Lord willing.

Changes at 80% Fully Vaccinated.

Reaching Roadmap Landmarks

On the back of increasing vaccination rates and in the face of increasing case numbers the Government has re-affirmed its commitment to their Covid Road Map. We are looking very likely to reach the vaccination rates that will trigger changes to lockdown at or before the scheduled dates, that is 26th October for 70% double vaccination and 5th November for 80% double vaccination. This is something for which we should be thankful, for both the availability and uptake of the vaccines and the associated hope of release from lockdown and the possibility of resuming face to face meeting.

It is also something we need to prepare for as a church and Session has made a number of decisions in this regard. While some meeting outside is possible at the 70% mark, now less than two weeks from this Sunday, which the youth group and evening congregation may make use of, Session’s focus has been on the 80% mark. At this stage a group of up to 150 fully vaccinated people can meet indoors or a group of up to 20 people with an unknown vaccination status can meet.

This possibility is very welcome although it raises the two concerns I have spoken of before. The first concern, very real with high case numbers in the north, is safety for all while gathering. The second is the difference in group size allowed the vaccinated and the unvaccinated and the thought that we will have meetings in which some of our brothers and sisters cannot participate because of their vaccination status. Yet Session is determined to commence regathering as soon as possible and in regathering to seek to address both those concerns as well as we may.

Thus on November the 7th, Lord willing, we will resume our normal three Sunday services at 9, 11 and 5, and also commence a smaller gathering at 3pm for those who do not want to declare their vaccination status. Why have we made that decision and what will be involved in implementing it?

'On November the 7th, Lord willing, we will resume our normal three Sunday services at 9, 11 and 5, and also commence a smaller gathering at 3pm for those who do not want to declare their vaccination status.'

Why Reopen as soon as possible?

Firstly we are concerned that continuing to not meet together is increasing the damage of our isolation from each other. Some of us live alone and are finding that isolation from contact with their Christian family increasingly distressing. Others particularly with young children struggle to get anything out of the livestream. It is not an easy experience for them. Our children and young people do better when they can meet together and others can be involved in their discipling. Being unable to meet also means we are doing a lot of our thinking alone and are unable to test what we are hearing and thinking with others. When we do not meet it is easier for misunderstandings to arise and harder for them to be resolved. We want to start to limit and reverse the damage as soon as possible.

Secondly having a set start date for re-opening, as opposed to some date in the indefinite future when vacc’d and unvacc’d can meet, helps our planning. It will take some effort to start again – to revise and re-publish our covid safe plan, to regather service teams, to clean the building, to get in place the administrative infrastructure. Having a set date to work towards will help us.

Thirdly we think it will, understandably, take time to rebuild confidence in gathering. We have been apart for a long time and there is active infection now in the wider community. We expect to start with smaller numbers, but the earlier we start the more time we have to practice our procedures while people’s confidence to gather recovers. Starting with those who are more confident gives us time to demonstrate that church is a safe place to be. Each one of us has many individual factors to consider as we make a decision to gather so people will come back at different times and as circumstances [e.g. masks, or quarantine requirements] change. But while acknowledging individual difference we must also remember that meeting to encourage each other is something God’s word exhorts us to, is helpful to us and others, and no life, no Christian obedience, is ever risk free. Obedience takes courage.

But meeting in larger groups, as we intend to do at 9, 11 and 5, will involve a divide between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated. Why not just meet in smaller groups where vaccination status does not need to be checked? The brief answer to that is that it is impractical for us. For 300 people to meet in groups of 20 would involve 15 meetings on a Sunday and we are more than three hundred. It would not work. And most of us, like the wider community, are either fully vaccinated already or well on the way to being fully vaccinated. Having the larger meetings for the fully vaccinated that we can have also creates the opportunity to have a smaller meeting for the unvaccinated where their exposure risk is lower. In this case conforming to the public health orders for a season will make it safer for both the vaccinated and unvaccinated.

What will be involved?

To have our larger meeting will involve revising our Covid safe plan to conform to Government guidelines. We will need to re-institute all those practices we had last year: children will start upstairs because of the limits on the numbers in the auditorium with a density quotient of 1 person per four square metres: we will not be able to have overlap of the 9 and 11 congregations, and so we will have to leave through the back door again after a limited time after the service; initially we won’t have morning tea or supper inside because that would involve removing masks while standing up and moving around.

We won’t need to pre-register for 9, 11 and 5 services, but we will need to show evidence of being fully vaccinated, just as you will for a whole range of activities. So I would encourage you if you haven’t already to have proof of vaccination on your phones. This will only need to be checked once [as you can’t get unvaccinated] and so we will have other ways of checking vaccination status for those who don’t have a certificate on their phones. Having said that, this may change if the Government follows NSW in allowing both vacc’d and unvacc’d to meet at 80% double vaccinated. Even if they don’t this requirement will only be temporary until we get to the next stage of the national plan although when that will be is uncertain.

'this requirement will only be temporary until we get to the next stage of the national plan although when that will be is uncertain.'

On a practical level we will need to re-form our ministry teams and so over the coming weeks we will be in contact to see when you are happy to resume serving. Some of those teams, like the Pastoral staff and PA for example, will need to divide into team A and team B to be on alternate weeks to prevent losing the whole team if someone attends who is subsequently found to be infected and we have to quarantine. Again, that may change as quarantine requirements change.

In addition to protect those who are serving Session will require all those serving on Ministry Teams where children are involved in the ministry – for example Sunday School, Kid’s Club, Youth Group, Playgroup and Mainly Music – to be fully vaccinated as children can and do transmit the virus and their capacity to adhere to Covid safe practices are limited. We also think it wise that those on welcoming are fully vaccinated.

There is a lot of detail to be worked out and the regulations are still to come. But we have done this before and the joy of meeting and having our children able to meet is worth it. It is progress in the right direction, we hope it will be one way, and we do expect these requirements to gradually ease over the months to come.

What will be involved in the smaller service where vaccination status is unknown?

This will run at 3pm and initially I will take it. It will be different as those numbers allow more interaction, and it is our intention to provide music and incorporate the children in the gathering. Because of limited numbers you will have to register for this and preference will be given to the unvaccinated.

The livestream will, of course, continue, and we plan to maintain pastoral contact and conversation with those who would rather continue to engage through the live stream. The purpose of these arrangements is not to exclude any but to support and allow to gather as many as possible.

'The purpose of these arrangements is not to exclude any but to support and allow to gather as many as possible.'

What we expect.

Coming out of lockdown will be messy and ragged as we regain confidence at different rates, as public health rules change, and as we need to be continually aware of the presence of the virus in the community and take steps to keep our meetings as safe as possible.

We will need to keep Peter’s words in our minds – “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” [1 Pet. 4:8] None of us will get all our decisions right through this time, but we can all be committed to seeking the good of each other, and to extending grace to each other. We will need to keep on being patient with each other, gentle in our conversation, and thoughtful in our actions, particularly in conforming to Covid safe practices, remembering that many may be more anxious than us about regathering.

'We can all be committed to seeking the good of each other, and to extending grace to each other... keep on being patient with each other, gentle in our conversation, and thoughtful in our actions'

We need to be especially thoughtful about conversations we have about vaccination. Whether we think the vaccines are safe and effective, as I do, or not, is a judgment based on our understanding of the science. It is not a gospel issue and we must continue to accept one another as every believer has been accepted by our Lord [Romans 14:7-12, 15:7]. But the decision to not get vaccinated is a decision that in the current context carries consequences for our vulnerability to the infection and also to participation in a range of activities. We must just accept that is the way things are for now. In a sense it is a decision to come out of lockdown at a slower speed, but the direction is still the same and this time will pass. While we are waiting for it to pass we have to keep on encouraging each other to persevere as followers of Jesus through whatever means we have and not let those we may not see at our service drop out of our prayers or concern.

What of our other activities and ministries?

I have not spoken of our other ministries. They can also resume on the week of November 7th subject to complying with the Public Health Orders and we will be working through with each ministry what that looks like over the coming weeks. While further information about what they will do will come, Session has resolved that we do not expect the leaders to be checking the vaccination status of those who come and this task will be delegated to the pastoral staff.

Every time we come to a re-opening there is a lot of information to digest. Session invites you to a Zoom meeting on this Sunday night at 8:00 where you can ask questions about Session’s decisions. That is not a meeting to debate the virtues of vaccines or the rights and wrongs of requiring proof of vaccination to meet in a larger group, but to get clarification about Session’s approach and the decisions it has made, and to help us think through the many details that will be involved in implementing these decisions. I would encourage you to join us then if you have any questions.

'Session invites you to a Zoom meeting on this Sunday night (17/10) at 8pmwhere you can ask questions about Session’s decisions.'

Please continue in prayer with thankfulness.

Thankfulness that we can enjoy the protections of vaccines and move to re-opening, and thankfulness for the prosperity and stability that has enabled that. And prayer – for the government as it seeks to wisely return our liberties of movement and association while protecting the healthcare system; for those who work in a healthcare system that is coming under increasing stress; for Session as it seeks to care for and encourage all as we reopen; for each other that we would continue to be sustained in love and patience.

Thanks

One of the issues in re-opening that concerns many is the distinction being made by the government between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated in what will be permitted them. While there are many issues in mandating vaccines and we grieve for those whose work is affected by that mandate, for our church context the focus of our concern is on the size of the gathering in which the vaccinated and unvaccinated will be permitted to participate. At the moment when 80% are fully vaccinated those who are fully vaccinated will be able to meet in groups of 150 fully vaccinated people, and those whose vaccination status is unknown will be able to meet in a group of up to twenty. While we hope this may change as we draw closer to that vaccination target, as it has in NSW where at 80% fully vaccinated the vaccinated and unvaccinated can be at church together without distinction, I know that the prospect of not being able to be all together as we come out of lockdown is troubling to many.

'I know that the prospect of not being able to be all together as we come out of lockdown is troubling to many'

But a prior issue is the safety and efficacy of the vaccine itself, for if the vaccine is safe and effective in both decreasing the severity of the infection and preventing death and also effective in decreasing transmission of the virus, then, while we may have wanted the government to find other ways of protecting the hospital system, the government’s actions are at least understandable.

We have always said, and still do say, that in relation to individual decisions about vaccination each of us should consult our local doctor. But as there are consequences for our community from our individual decisions, and as in love I want each of you to be as well protected as possible from the Covid virus which is spreading in our community and will continue to spread as restrictions are eased, we have put up on the Covid Roadmap website a conversation Andy and I had with two local specialists, Professor Nathan Grills and Assoc. Prof Stephen Tong. Both, as you will hear in the conversation, are Christian men, both are well credentialled, and both have current clinical experience of treating people infected with the Covid virus.

There is lots of information available about the vaccines on the net, much of it from overseas, much from people known only on the net whose standing we find hard to discern, and much often requiring a familiarity with various scientific disciplines to assess. So we are very grateful to be able to talk about the evidence for the vaccines’ safety and effectiveness with two brothers who have local experience, are known in our community, and who have ample expertise in assessing scientific and medical publications and evidence. We may not have asked all the question you might have about the vaccines, but we have tried to answer many, and there are also links to further information and resources on the page.

'We are very grateful to be able to talk about the evidence for the vaccines’ safety and effectiveness with two brothers who have local experience, are known in our community, and who have ample expertise in assessing scientific and medical publications and evidence'

Love always needs to be informed by truth just as truth needs to be guided in its application by love. Christians don’t live in a post-truth world where there is ‘your truth’ and ‘my truth’ and both are equally valid even if conflicting. The vaccines, for example, are either effective, or they are not, and that will be discernible by using the means God has given us to know and understand our world. We want our common life, our conversations and our decision making to be characterised by truth and love, and I pray the conversation will be a contribution to achieving that goal.

'Love always needs to be informed by truth just as truth needs to be guided in its application by love. Christians don’t live in a post-truth world where there is ‘your truth’ and ‘my truth’ and both are equally valid even if conflicting.'

With first dose vaccinations now exceeding 80% we continue as a community along the planned path to re-opening. This is something I hope we are all looking forward to even if the pathway chosen brings some risks and raises concerns in the treatment of the unvaccinated. In addressing both the risks and the concerns there are a number of areas to engage with as believers – for example, the role of conscience, how we think of Christian freedom, matters of authority and our relation to government, how we work out what it is to love our neighbour. Many of these have been touched on in these talks over the last nineteen months but as we prepare for this significant re-opening in the context of accepting that Corona Virus will be endemic in our community Andy and I have revisited them in a conversation on Zoom which he has posted on our own Roadmap page, a link to which is included in this Friday email. I commend that conversation to you and invite you to get in touch if it raises questions you would like to pursue further.

'In addressing both the risks and the concerns [around re-opening] there are a number of areas to engage with as believers'

NSW Encouragement

As we look to re-opening it was very encouraging to see that the NSW government has acknowledged that gathering for worship is different from going to a restaurant and has decided that when the population there hits 80% fully vaccinated churches there can be open to both the vaccinated and unvaccinated. This is a tribute to the respectful and patient engagement that has been taking place between the churches and the government throughout the pandemic in NSW. It will raise management issues and churches will have to lodge and stick to their Covid management plans but it would be wonderful to be granted the same freedom here and to not have our congregations divided between the vaccinated and unvaccinated. Please pray for that outcome.

'It would be wonderful to be granted the same freedom here [as in NSW] and to not have our congregations divided between the vaccinated and unvaccinated. Please pray for that outcome.'

A continuing matter of concern.

In relation to Covid restrictions we have co-operated with the Government for the common good, but on other matters – such as the Suppression legislation or the removal of ‘exemptions’ so-called for Christian organisations from the anti-discrimination act – we continue to have significant differences with the Government. The Government is proceeding with both these initiatives and I have included a link to Murray Campbell’s latest blog on the suppression bill. At the time of its passing there remained uncertainty about the vigour with which the government would seek to use this bill to restrict the teaching of the Christian sexual ethic. Murray reports that from briefings the government has given on what they see as forbidden by the bill the signs are not good. I will write further on this in the coming weeks but next week is our Assembly when a significant report on the Bill and our response as a denomination will be considered.

Pray for the Assembly

Please pray for the Assembly that we will be both wise and faithful in our resolutions and that it would encourage perseverance in faithful teaching of the good gospel of our Lord Jesus. And continue to pray for the Government that we would be able to live ‘peaceful and quiet lives, godly and dignified in every way.’ [1 Tim. 2:2] We pray because the LORD is sovereign over governments, their rising and falling [1 Sam. 2:6-8, Isaiah 40:21-24], sovereign over their every decision [Prov. 16:33, 21:1]. The LORD knows the circumstances in which our faithfulness to Jesus will best glorify Him and we can trust Him to keep us, so we don’t need to be anxious about what governments do. But our calling out to God for deliverance [Psalm 17:6-8] should also be accompanied by faithful action in love, and as we think that the Christian sexual ethic is good and its practice promotes human flourishing you might, after reading Murray’s blog, want to consider writing to your local politician and raising your concerns with Him.

'We pray because the LORD is sovereign over governments, their rising and falling, sovereign over their every decision.

The LORD knows the circumstances in which our faithfulness to Jesus will best glorify Him and we can trust Him to keep us, so we don’t need to be anxious about what governments do.'

Words for the weary

Let me finish with the wonderful words of Isaiah 40, words for the weary:

²¹ Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been declared to you
from the beginning?
Have you not considered
the foundations of the earth?
²² God is enthroned above the circle of the earth;
its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
²³ He reduces princes to nothing
and makes judges of the earth like a wasteland.
²⁴ They are barely planted, barely sown,
their stem hardly takes root in the ground
when he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.

²⁵“To whom will you compare me,
or who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.
²⁶Look up and see!
Who created these?
He brings out the stars by number;
he calls all of them by name.
Because of his great power and strength,
not one of them is missing.

²⁷Jacob, why do you say,
and Israel, why do you assert,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my claim is ignored by my God”?
²⁸Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the whole earth.
He never becomes faint or weary;
there is no limit to his understanding.
²⁹He gives strength to the faint
and strengthens the powerless.
³⁰Youths may become faint and weary,
and young men stumble and fall,
³¹but those who trust in the Lord
will renew their strength;
they will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not become weary,
they will walk and not faint.

The Burnett Institute Modelling "Know C19" Especially the section ‘Vaccine properties’ on page 3.
"How do the COVID vaccines change your risk of infection? And are you less likely to pass it on?" ( ABC article with helpful references, 24th Sept 2021)
Vaccine Appointments Website If you are wanting to be vaccinated but having trouble booking, this helpful site will show all places near you administering vaccines (eg. doctors, pharmacies and state clinics) along with their next available appointment date.

Last Sunday the government revealed its roadmap out of lockdown. In that plan relaxation of restrictions are tied to vaccination numbers and while there is a lot of information there to digest, especially in relation to return to school and work, the numbers that matter for our meeting and the ministries of the church are 70% and 80% of the eligible population double vaccinated (see table).

TARGET	PRIVATE GATHERINGS	PUBLIC GATHERINGS	RELIGION	FOOD & DRINK FACILITY
70% double vaccinated (estimated for 26th October)	Not permitted	Fully vaccinated: up to 10 people outdoors Unknown vaccination status: up to 5 people outdoors	Fully vaccinated: Outdoor only DQ4, 50 cap Unknown vaccination status: Outdoor only DQ4, 20 cap	Seated service only Fully vaccinated: Outdoor only, DQ4, 50 cap
80% double vaccinated (estimated for 5th November)	For up to 10 people including dependants	Fully vaccinated: up to 30 people outdoors Unknown vaccination status: no change from previous Remove mask for alcohol permitted	Fully vaccinated: Indoors DQ4 and 150 cap, outdoors DQ2 500 cap Unknown vaccination status: 20 cap, DQ4 Masks still to be worn indoors.	Open for seated service only Small venues: up to 25 people if fully vaccinated before DQ applies Fully vaccinated: Indoors DQ4 and 150 cap, outdoors DQ2 500 cap

I am grateful that there is a plan out of lockdown for I, like you, long for our lives to return to more normal settings where we can see family, move about freely, and where we can meet together for church, youth and children’s ministries, and growth groups.

A Reasonable Plan

Two features of the plan stand out. Firstly it is a very gradual removal of restrictions, and secondly there is a marked difference in what is permitted the fully vaccinated to what is permitted those whose vaccination status is unknown. Both these features of the plan are understandable, even though they raise some challenges for us.

We can understand them if we keep in mind the government’s goal, which is to open up society while not overwhelming the health care system. As the delta variant is highly infectious and we are a population without natural immunity to it, and as the vaccines, while effective in decreasing infection rates and transmission, and very effective in preventing hospitalisation, intensive care admissions and death, do not prevent all infection and transmission amongst the vaccinated, any opening up will mean an increase in infections, and with that an increase in hospitalisation and demands on our ICU resources, as we have seen with the increased infection numbers in NSW recently. The resources of our health system, while very good, are not infinite. This is especially true of staff resources and the government’s cautious re-opening is an attempt to protect staff from being overwhelmed and to retain capacity in the system to treat all those other conditions that need treating, particularly in ICU – the car accidents, strokes, heart attacks and more. (see articles listed above for references)

'the government’s cautious re-opening is an attempt to protect staff from being overwhelmed and to retain capacity in the system to treat all those other conditions that need treating, particularly in ICU'

We support the government’s goal – to reopen the community, its economy and civic life, and to not overwhelm our health resources in the process. But this re-opening does present two major challenges for us as a church.

Challenges for us

The first challenge, which I think is going to be the abiding challenge, is recovering confidence to meet again. Our meeting is essential for our discipling of our children, our own encouragement to persevere in trusting the Lord Jesus and doing good while we wait for His return, and to our collective witness. But to meet we will have to face the risk of catching Covid in our meeting. We will work hard to minimise that risk by diligently maintaining Covid safe practices but the risk will remain. No one can rule out the possibility that doing all we should an infected person who is asymptomatic may come and another person be infected. Risk, of course, is always present in all we do. No one, for example, can guarantee they won’t have a car accident on the way to church. We have lived with risk and taken responsibility to protect ourselves from those risks we know. Yet there will be a heightened awareness of risk in our community, and while many of us are longing to return to church some will be reluctant, even fearful to return, perhaps for a long time. We need to recognise that and in love each of us must do all we can to minimise that risk, and that, in my understanding, includes getting vaccinated and following Covid safe practices like mask wearing indoors while required.

'To meet we will have to face the risk of catching Covid in our meeting... We need to recognise that and in love each of us must do all we can to minimise that risk'

And that brings us to our second challenge in the re-opening roadmap, the difference in the treatment of the fully vaccinated and the unvaccinated, particularly in the meeting size. We should note that the government has not forbidden the unvaccinated to go to church when reopening comes, just limited the size of the meeting they can attend for the understandable reason that the unvaccinated have a higher chance of being infected and of transmitting infection and a much higher chance of being hospitalised with the infection. Some I know will dispute that and are perhaps concerned by my commitment to the good of vaccination. I understand that and am happy to talk with you about it. But all of us are feeling the grief of the division and the distress of those who are not convinced the vaccine is safe and effective as they are increasingly excluded from their work and other aspects of life. How to respond to the distinction the government is making in the treatment of the vaccinated and unvaccinated raises significant issues, both in principle and practice for us, where the starting point is that participation in our common life is dependent on faith in the Lord Jesus, not what we think or do about vaccination. The denomination as a whole is considering these issues at a special meeting of the general assembly of Australia in October, and Session will also be deliberating over these issues in the weeks ahead.

'All of us are feeling the grief of the division and the distress of those who are not convinced the vaccine is safe and effective as they are increasingly excluded from their work and other aspects of life.'

Time to prepare

We are not yet at 80% of the eligible population fully vaccinated. We have time to work towards our re-opening. We will be doing that at a practical level – what we need to do to make sure all our ministries operate in a Covid safe way, and what we have to do to make sure all those serving in them are protected. We will also be working through the issues of principle.

Over the next few weeks we intend to do four things:

Firstly, to look together at the Bible’s teaching on the relevant principles that should guide our decisions – for example, love of neighbour, attitude to government, conscience, authority, Christian freedom.
Secondly, we are in the process of arranging a discussion with two local well credentialled medical specialists on the science of infection and vaccination so that we can ask them questions about Covid infection, and the efficacy and safety of vaccines.
Thirdly we hope to have a session on Zoom, probably after the Sunday services, where we can discuss with you what we are thinking.
And then fourthly we will publicise Session’s decisions and the reasons for them.

For Prayer

So for now, some prayer requests:

Please pray for Session, that we would have the wisdom from above that James speaks of, the wisdom that is ‘first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere’ [James 3:17], so that we make decisions that facilitate our meeting safely, build up all believers, and enhance the reputation of the Lord Jesus in our community.
Pray for each other, that whatever our views on vaccines we would relate to each other with kindness as those who are loved by Jesus, and would all humbly seek to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, the peace the gospel brings. Pray with thankfulness that we are being provided with a way out of lockdown, and with thankfulness that there is a vaccination that will give us some protection from the illness.
Pray for our medical staff. They are treating very sick people with Covid now, and it is exhausting work as many of us have seen in interviews with them on TV. Pray that they will be preserved and protected, and especially the Christians amongst them would be sustained in wisdom, kindness and care for those in their charge even as they work under great stress.
Pray for the government as we are commanded. Peace and good order are great gifts for a society, so pray for their wisdom and protection, and the prospering of their efforts to keep the community safe, as well as praying for their salvation, as we should for all people [1 Timothy 2:1-7]

We have several weeks until we can enjoy some more freedoms. Keep doing the ordinary things. Drawing near to the Lord for grace to live faithfully each day, keeping your hope in Him, and using the small freedoms we do have now to stay connected with and encourage each other. Jesus’ people are still to be known for their love of one another, so let that be seen – in the home, and in all our dealings with each other.

'Jesus’ people are still to be known for their love of one another, so let that be seen – in the home, and in all our dealings with each other.'

Sharing the grief the Apostle Paul knew

As I was praying through the congregation this morning [9:00am ‘M’s’] I felt again the grief of not having seen or spoken to so many of you for so long, knowing you also are cut off from each other. But I was reminded by the act of praying for you itself that the Apostle Paul knew the grief of not being able to see the people he loved and for whom he was concerned. He was literally locked up for significant periods of his life. Two years under house arrest [Acts 28:16] in Rome around 60 AD and then a harsher imprisonment at the end of his life [2 Timothy 2:9], imprisonments to which he refers in the letters he wrote from prison – Ephesians [Eph. 3:1], Colossians [Col. 4:10, 18], Philemon [9-10] and Philippians [Phil. 1:7, 12-14] from the first imprisonment, 2 Timothy [2 Tim. 2:8-9] from the second.

'the Apostle Paul knew the grief of not being able to see the people he loved and for whom he was concerned... he knew the grief of being cut off from believers enduring trials of their own, daily concern for their faith and growth'

With our own lockdowns I guess we can start to feel a little of what that must have been like for Paul. Coping with the boredom and isolation – though he could receive visitors. Stuck a long way from many he knew, the frustration of not being able to travel – or even move beyond his house or cell, the postponement of his ministry plans. And he knew the grief of being cut off from believers enduring trials of their own, daily concern for their faith and growth. Paul spoke of those times as times of suffering [Eph. 3:13, Col. 1:24, 2 Tim. 2:9], suffering which is an experience of the heart and soul not just of the body, a suffering in which we have been sharing in a small way no matter how well fed or healthy our bodies are.

Perserving like Paul

Yet we know from the letters Paul wrote from his imprisonment that Paul persevered through these times. He persevered in trusting Jesus and making Him known, knowing the gospel did not share his weakness or humiliation, but was powerful and glorious [Phil. 1:12-14, 2 Tim. 2:8-9, 4:16-18]. He persevered in staying in touch – the letters he wrote, and the messengers like Timothy [Phil. 2:19], Epaphroditus and Tychicus [Col. 4:7-9] who went between Paul and the churches. And he persevered in prayer, sharing his prayers and thankfulness with those for whom he prayed at the beginning of each letter [Eph. 1:13-22, 3:14-21, Phil. 1:3-11, Col. 1:3-12, 2 Tim. 1:3, Philemon 4-6]. He was so confident in God’s answering prayer made for His people that Paul could commend the Ephesians to the God who could do abundantly more than all we can ask or think [Eph. 3:20] – confident God would do not only what was asked but so much more, beyond our asking. Prayer wasn’t for him empty wishes or a quick thought about someone but in his confinement prayer was his active service of those he loved.

'[Paul] persevered in trusting Jesus and making Him known... He persevered in staying in touch... And he persevered in prayer'

What encouraged me this morning was recognising that God made Paul’s imprisonment an example of His doing more than we could ask or think. God made Paul’s imprisonment fruitful far beyond anything even Paul could imagine, fruitful for us so many hundreds of years later. Fruitful for us even in our lockdown.

We can turn to those letters he wrote from prison today and be sustained in faith by being reminded, for example,

from Col. 1 of the greatness of our Saviour [Col. 1:15-20] in whom all the fulness of God dwells,
or from Eph 1 of the eternal scope and certainty of God’s great plan to save His people [Eph. 1:3-14] and sum up all things in Christ,
or we can be encouraged from Phil 2 to embrace the humility of our Saviour in seeking the interests of others ahead of our own knowing that this was the path to His exaltation [Phil. 2:1-10].

Comfort and encouragement for us from letters written in his suffering.

'God made Paul’s imprisonment fruitful far beyond anything even Paul could imagine, fruitful for us so many hundreds of years later... We can turn to those letters he wrote from prison today and be sustained in faith'

And we can see in Paul a model in confinement of joy [Phil. 4:1], thankfulness, contentment [Phil. 4:11-13], and confident hope [Eph. 2:3-10, Phil. 1:19-26], and be strengthened in those life sustaining attitudes by being brought to know through Paul’s words the Saviour he knew.

Praying with Paul

And we have his prayers, wonderful prayers that we can pray for each other through this time

We also can pray, as Paul does in Philippians 1:9-11

⁹And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, ¹⁰so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, ¹¹filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Or from Ephesians 3:14-20

¹⁴For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, ¹⁵from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, ¹⁶that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

²⁰Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, ²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Or from Colossians 1:9-12 we can pray for each other

⁹And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; ¹¹being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; ¹²giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

I am encouraged in our apartness to have been given these words to pray for each other for I know our God will hear and answer them, for we know this is His will, He has given these words to us. He is not limited in what He can do in lockdown for His people, and what He does in answer to these prayers is so good, an eternal good.

Think about Paul’s experience. In ways we cannot even imagine, God can make this time fruitful for us as He did for Paul as we continue to put our trust in His Son. I need that encouragement, and I hope it encourages you to know that our God is doing more than we can ask or think through this time.

'In ways we cannot even imagine, God can make this time fruitful for us'

Disappointment

Many of you have probably begun to process your disappointment at the lack of any significant change to restrictions in the Premier’s announcement last Wednesday and his foreshadowing of a slow relaxation over many weeks as vaccination numbers increase. While, considering what is happening in the NSW hospital system the determination to keep case numbers, and thus the numbers requiring hospital admission, low, makes sense, it is still hard to contemplate many more weeks of lockdown – schooling from home, working from home, the inability to spend time in the presence of family and friends, the inability to plan anything to look forward to.

A Change in Strategy

I will talk about how we can endure this time well, individually and as a church, later, but what I want to think with you about first is the change of strategy that the Premier announced, the shift to emphasise vaccination based on the recognition that the delta strain is now in the community to stay and we can no longer aim for zero cases. This is significant on two levels. Firstly I do think it offers a glimmer of hope. Vaccination is something we can do. We cannot control case numbers but as a community each of us, if we are convinced that the vaccine is effective and ethical, can contribute to vaccination numbers. Vaccination numbers, tied to a relaxation in restrictions, are measurable and can give us a sense of progress towards significant relaxation of restrictions, and that sense of progress will be helpful. Secondly, with the acceptance that Covid is now endemic, unable to be removed from the community, we also have to accept that the likelihood has increased that we or those close to us may encounter Covid at some time, and we will also have to accept that there will be, as there has been in NSW, deaths from Covid. Lord willing, this dawning awareness of the nearness of death, coupled with the experienced reality that we are not in control of life, might open up for us conversations with family, friends and neighbours about where they can find hope beyond this life and a peace that is not dependent on our circumstances and control, the hope and peace they can find in repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus. Pray for those conversations, and that you will be ready for them because you have yourself, trusting the Lord, that hope and peace.

'Lord willing... the experienced reality that we are not in control of life, might open up for us conversations with family, friends and neighbours about where they can find hope beyond this life'

RAPping I the weeks ahead

But for now the current pathway looks like we face 8-10 weeks of lockdowns with only small, incremental, relaxations along the way. The Premier has said that they hope to make an announcement about schools in Term 4 next week and so there is still a possibility for children returning to school then [though five weeks away] which will be welcome, but we anticipate that we will restricted to live streaming services at least to the end of October, and perhaps well into November unless there is a drastic change in approach by the Government. As many of us are weary and the prospect of another 8-10 weeks of lockdown is hard to bear I want to remind you about how we can endure this time, and not only endure but come out the other side in good shape individually and as a church.

'I want to remind you about how we can endure this time,

and not only endure but come out the other side in good shape individually and as a church.'

Three things – Remember, Accept, Practice – R.A.P.

REMEMBER – we have a God who can keep us, and to whom we can always draw near for grace and mercy.

Psalm 23 is as true now as it was at the beginning of the pandemic.

The Lord is our shepherd, we shall not want.

He makes us lie down in green pastures,

He leads us besides still waters.

He restores our souls.

He leads us in paths of righteousness for His names sake.

Even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we need not fear, for He is with us, His rod and staff comfort us.
Goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives and we will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

As believers in Jesus these words are ours – you can say it to yourself as your own – the Lord is my shepherd – as your own because of the extraordinary grace and mercy the Lord has shown in laying down His life for us. Have confidence in the gracious love, given us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that has made these words words we can speak with confidence. That love is steadfast.

So we are not left on our own, or abandoned to our own resources, ever. Our Lord Jesus is near, He knows what we are going through, we can always seek help from Him. Remember your Saviour, our good shepherd, who can carry us for ever [Psalm 28:9], and turn to Him, abide in Him.

'We are not left on our own, or abandoned to our own resources, ever. Our Lord Jesus is near, He knows what we are going through, we can always seek help from Him.'

Remember, and Accept.

ACCEPT that these are the circumstances which our sovereign God has brought about for His glory and our good. We can get angry and frustrated, anxious, dejected and depressed. But faith in the true and living God says not a sparrow falls to the ground but by our Father’s will. He is in charge of the movement of viruses and the decisions of premiers. We need to humble ourselves under His mighty hand and trust that He will not fail in His promise to work all things, even dismal lockdowns, for our good. He has told us the good He works in us – helping us to become like Christ who trusted and obeyed the Father in all circumstances. We have opportunity to practice that trusting obedience daily in loving our neighbours, respecting our government, giving thanks, encouraging one another, all the good commands of Scripture. More, He has told us that at peace with Him our suffering will work endurance, character, and hope in our lives, outcomes that will stand us in good stead all our lives. In God’s Fatherly care this is not wasted time in our own lives or the lives of our children. Hard times, but for those who know and trust our heavenly Father they are purposeful times.

Remember, accept, and practice.

PRACTICE perseveringly those things that will nurture faith, hope and love in your life. We have been here before, and in our lifetime we may be here again – and we know what works, the means God has given us to sustain our Christian lives. You don’t have to live the whole 8-10 weeks at once, just one day at a time.

Each day meditate on the Lord’s word – with the devotion or following your own bible reading plan. Meditating on His word will remind you that God is, He speaks, and you can know Him. It will take you out of yourself to attend to Him.

Pray with thanks. The Lord hears our prayers in Christ. The Lord Jesus has opened up the way for us into the presence of God whom we can call our Father. He tells us to cast our cares on Him, and He invites us to pray for our brothers and sisters [1 Peter. 5:7, Eph. 6:18-20]. Praying for others is a way of loving them. And we have so much to give thanks for – life, stable government, peace, and even if believers are losing everything, as all of us will at least on the day of our death, we can give thanks that we have a faithful Saviour who will give us what can never be taken away from us – life with Him forever. We can and should be thankful always.

Maintain those habits yourselves and encourage one another to do so. It says encourage one another daily [Heb. 3:13] so why not try and contact one other member of the congregation each day.

'Why not try and contact one other member of the congregation each day.'

Keep on meeting with each other in your growth groups on Zoom – it is encouraging just to see each other. I know some of us are zoomed out, but don’t think this is indefinite. With the change of strategy there is a glimmer of hope so think of zooming each other as preparation for the time restrictions are eased, when it is so much easier to resume face to face contact if you have been in contact.

Prayerfully engage with the Livestream so that you can hear the word of God taught. Livestreams are a much diminished experience compared to gathering in person, but it is the same word of God and will do its work in your life. The livestream helps maintain our connection and identity as a congregation, not just as isolated individuals. If you are parents of young children and you know they can’t concentrate through it and you are distracted and frustrated – accept that. Watch up to the children’s talk and song, and then either one adult head off with the children leaving the other to enjoy a little bit of peace, or turn the livestream off and resolve to listen to the bible talk later. I know many of us are tired later, but try listening to the talk as a podcast while you are tidying after the children have gone to bed, or if you get to walk on your own – find what works for you.

Some hard weeks ahead but RAP each day, Remember, Accept, Practice each day, to get to the end in as good a shape as you can. As vaccine numbers grow we will get a sense of progress, and get a better sense of when that end will come.

Respectful Conversation

But a final reminder. The new focus on vaccination will make those uncomfortable with vaccination feel they are under even more pressure. Even today on the radio I have heard vitriol directed against those reluctant to get vaccinated. This must not happen amongst us.

As you know I am thankful for the vaccine, confident that it is effective in protecting those who receive it and reducing the load on our hospitals, and that the risks posed by becoming ill from covid are far greater than the risks of vaccination. But no one should ever be forced against their will to take any medicine, including vaccinations. And while we can have conversations about vaccinations so that ‘we do not let what we regard as good be spoken of as evil’ [Rom. 14:16] all our conversation should be respectful, without either ‘despising’ or ‘passing judgment’ on each other [Romans 14:3-4].

We are accepted into our fellowship on the basis of repentance and faith in Jesus, not on the basis of persuasion about the good or otherwise of vaccination, and our Lord Jesus has commanded that His community is to be a community characterised by love. Let’s work hard to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace by being humble, gentle and patient with each other [Eph. 4:1-3].

'all our conversation should be respectful, without either ‘despising’ or ‘passing judgment’ on each other [Romans 14:3-4]. We are accepted into our fellowship on the basis of repentance and faith in Jesus, not on the basis of persuasion about the good or otherwise of vaccination'

As the delta variant spreads and as the Federal Government has set vaccination targets for some re-opening of the country vaccination is again in the news and the question of vaccination is being engaged in with a new urgency. Some of us are grateful for this and the targets of 70 and 80 percent of the adult population vaccinated gives us some hope of escaping the harsher restrictions of lockdown, hope that is needed.

But for others of us who are hesitant about vaccination this vaccination drive creates pressure and anxiety, with the possibility of even greater social pressure to get vaccinated as the weeks go by.

As a community we need to acknowledge that there are differences amongst us about vaccination and think about how we live with and speak about those differences so that difference does not become division. What unites us is our common faith in Jesus the Saviour of sinners, not having a common mind about the science of Covid.

'As a community we need to acknowledge that there are differences amongst us about vaccination and think about how we live with and speak about those differences so that difference does not become division.'

And that is probably a good place to start, by saying that you don’t get advice about the appropriateness of the vaccine for you from the church. As you know I am comfortable with, even enthusiastic, about vaccination and am looking forward to getting my second shot of AstraZeneca next week, Lord willing.

But my conviction on this need not be your conviction. You should get your advice from your medical practitioner, someone who more fully understands the science and also knows you and your medical status. There are also, for those who are interested, a series of questions and answers on the vaccine on the Federal Health Department website at https://www.health.gov.au/initiatives-and-programs/covid-19-vaccines/is-it-true that address a number of concerns – for example whether the vaccine affects fertility, or can give you Covid. There is lots of information out there but can I plead with you not to be your own expert. Talk with your doctor.

"You don’t get advice about the appropriateness of the vaccine for you from the church... can I plead with you not to be your own expert. Talk with your doctor."

While we don’t give medical advice as a church we do teach the Scriptures and there are three aspects of the teaching of Scripture that I want to draw your attention to.

Romans 14 and accepting our brothers and sisters.

The first is the teaching of Romans 14 which deals with deeply held but opposing convictions amongst the Roman Christians about foods and days. These were not trivial differences for them and threatened to be fellowship defining differences, creating boundaries between Christians. Paul reminds the Romans and us that our brothers and sisters are not accountable to us. Let me read you some of what he says:

First he sets the scene

Romans 14: ²One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.

Then he points out the danger with these differences

³Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.

That’s the danger. We can despise or judge those who disagree with us and make our judgements the boundaries of God’s community. But our brother or sister is not accountable to us in these things. He or she has been accepted by God and is accountable to the Lord.

⁴Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

'Our brother or sister is not accountable to us in these things.

He or she has been accepted by God and is accountable to the Lord.'

But note, our freedom comes from being the Lord’s servants, and so all we do must be in honour of the Lord, for we will all give account to Him.

As Paul continues

⁶The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. ⁷For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. ⁸For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

¹⁰Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God;¹¹for it is written,

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God.”

¹²So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Each of us needs to be convinced in our own minds v. 5, 23 that our vaccine choices have been made as Jesus’ servants, made to please Him and proceeding from faith in Him. Where this is the case, we are to accept one another and not pass judgement on one another. Instead we are to ¹⁹"So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding."

'Each of us needs to be convinced in our own minds that our vaccine choices have been made as Jesus’ servants, to please Him and proceeding from faith in Him.'

There is more in Romans 14 and I commend it to you, but we need to give each other the freedom and acceptance that comes from being the Lord’s servants, and show that in the way we speak to each other and continue to associate with each other.

Obedience to Government

Secondly, the Scripture is clear that we should respect and obey our rulers, where what they ask of us does not require us to disobey God [Romans 13:1-7, Titus 3:1-2, 1 Peter 2:13-17]. This has been an obedience we have been called to throughout this pandemic as the government’s attempts to protect us from the spread of the virus has curtailed our freedoms, including our freedom to meet together. I know this has troubled some but Christians have not been singled out in this – these restrictions are community wide. The intention is good, to save life [Mark 3:4]. There is no restriction on preaching the gospel itself, which we can still do online, over the phone, in private conversation. Nor is there any requirement to worship any other god. We are suffering with the suffering community, not from the community, and that is probably a good place to be for our witness in the community. We should acknowledge that it is a great blessing to live in a well ordered society where health care is free and the government is active to protect the health and lives of its citizens, and pray with thanks for those in authority. And if the government introduces some kind of vaccine passport we will need to reckon with the idea that the Scripture gives them the authority to make these decisions when we are considering our own response.

'We are suffering with the suffering community, not from the community, and that is probably a good place to be for our witness in the community.'

A wrong idea

In relation to these restrictions I have heard it suggested that ‘where government ceases to function by God’s design it yields up its authority’. I do not think this is the teaching of Scripture and if you are persuaded by it I would encourage you to speak with me. It in effect sets the church, or worse, individual Christians, over the government as those who determine whether the government is functioning according to God’s design, and thus whether any particular government has legitimate authority. It is a position that legitimates, not just disobedience but in the end revolution, and has been used for that purpose in history. Despite what some claim this was not the position of the apostles. We need to remind ourselves that the government the apostles were writing of was a government that sponsored idolatry and was focused on maintaining its own power often with great cruelty. While the apostles did say to the Sanhedrin when forbidden to preach the gospel “We must obey God rather than men” Acts 5:29 and that is always true, they also tried to render to Caesar what was Caesar’s. In Acts while Paul had run ins with synagogue rulers and local officials he was benefited by Roman citizenship and the actions of Roman officials. He never set himself up as the judge of the legitimacy of the government he lived under but said that they were appointed by God, and knew that they would in turn give account to God, not to him. Even in Revelation 13 where there is a government that puts itself in the place of God the Christian response is to suffer faithfully. Titus 3 continues to be a good summary of how we should behave. There Paul writes

Titus 3: ¹Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, ²to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.

LOVE

Thirdly all of us must act in love. I do think that love of neighbour, especially the immunocompromised and those who cannot take the vaccine, is a good argument for those of us who can take the vaccine to have our jab. [Just as reducing the load on our hospitals from Covid infection is a good argument for vaccination].

Vaccination is now also the road out of restrictions for our community and we all long for that. But I can also see that those who are not convinced by the science might not take the vaccine out of love, love that wants to preserve people’s freedoms to make their own informed and responsible choices about their health. But whatever our choice we must make sure that we are acting out of love, not fear or anger, nor an unwarranted suspicion of the motives of others. And our loving engagement with our community mustn’t stop at a decision about vaccination. If the government’s pandemic response has troubled you, consider in love whether you should be more involved in the political process as a way of serving your community. We are still a democracy and working for the common good through politics is better than grumbling or getting angry.

'whatever our choice we must make sure that we are acting out of love, not fear or anger, nor an unwarranted suspicion of the motives of others'

Finally, as you are thinking about love let me just add this.

Being able to meet together is vital for our evangelism and discipleship. While the word of God is powerful always it helps people to experience our community and see the goodness of living for Jesus in our loving service of each other. But it will not be enough for us to be able to meet together again, although that will be wonderful. People will have to feel safe in our meeting, have confidence that we have done whatever we can to ensure their safety. In my mind one of the factors people will consider in making the decision about whether to join us will be the level of vaccination amongst us and that is reasonable, for it will effect their likelihood of contracting the virus amongst us.

So when you are considering what is loving consider the impact of your choice on being able to invite others to come and join us and on their willingness to hear the gospel from us. After all, making disciples is the work our Lord has given us to be busy with in our time here, and so, thinking about how we can best help that happen is an important consideration of love.

"So when you are considering what is loving consider the impact of your choice on being able to invite others to come and join us and on their willingness to hear the gospel from us."

Facing our limitations

All the limitations of human power and knowledge have been on display this last week, whether it is in the rapid fall of Kabul and the miseries of the evacuation, or closer to home in dealing with the pandemic. We may want good, but we cannot achieve it. We may want peace and justice for Afghanistan, or at least the safety of those who worked with us, but we struggle to achieve even that. We may want businesses open and children at school but the road to that goal is fraught and our capacity to stop the virus limited. We can’t know when a new variant will develop, or to whom the existing variants will spread. Our efforts to control it, even when effective, create other harms in damage to the mental health of many. Our authorities can call for compliance but cannot ensure it.

"We may want good, but we cannot achieve it..

feeling the limitations of human knowledge and power is a healthy engagement with reality."

This is not a criticism. Acknowledging, more, feeling the limitations of human knowledge and power is a healthy engagement with reality. Hopefully it will foster humility that will prevent those in power from making extravagant promises beyond their power to keep and temper the expectations of those who look to their leaders to provide prosperity and security.

The blessing of trusting in the LORD

"I draw our attention to those limitations to remind us of and to help us feel how good it is to have our trust and hope in the LORD"

But I draw our attention to those limitations to remind us of and to help us, believers in Jesus, feel how good it is to have our trust and hope in the LORD, the living God, through trusting the Son of God, the Lord Jesus. ‘O LORD of Hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you” [Ps. 84:12] says the Psalmist, and that is true. The LORD is almighty. There are no limits to His knowledge and power. HE can bring plagues, as He did at the Exodus [Ex. 11, 12:29-32] and stop them, as He stopped the pestilence at the threshing floor of Araunah when David interceded for Israel and confessed his sin in ordering the census [2 Sam 24]. The LORD is never surprised – not a sparrow falls to the ground or a virus mutates but by His will [Matt. 10:29]. All things serve Him [Psalm 119:91], even the actions of those who reject His rule, are unco-operative with His good commands. Those who crucified Jesus did “whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place’ Acts 4:28 and what Joseph’s brothers meant for ill, selling him into slavery, God meant for good and brought great good about through their actions, the saving of many lives [Gen. 45:4-8, 50:20]. His power is no blunt instrument that leaves unforeseen or unpreventable harms in its wake as it achieves its goal. He is not overwhelmed by detail or numbers. He knows us by name, individually, and His might is such that He works all things for good for His people, those who love Him [Romans 8:28]. What might be a deserved rebuke for a godless society’s pride can at the same time be in the lives of His people, in God’s love for them, the means of increasing our trust in Him, an opportunity to grow in loving obedience as we look to love our neighbours in need, and a way of weaning us from the love of the world [1 John 2:15-17] to set our minds on the things above where Christ is [Col. 3:1-4].

"Those who trust in the LORD, who are at peace with Him and so can rely on His steadfast love and faithfulness, who know His truth and might and so give themselves to be guided by His word, are blessed."

Those who trust in the LORD, who are at peace with Him and so can rely on His steadfast love and faithfulness, who know His truth and might and so give themselves to be guided by His word, are blessed. That is our state as believers in Jesus, who know peace with God by being justified by faith in His death for our sin, who are by faith adopted as God’s children and can call Him Father.

A Picture of Blessing

Psalm 1 shows us what that blessing looks like and how we can enjoy it in a world where we can be stressed by changes in our external circumstances, by uncertainty, by the fearfulness of human evil, the weakness of human good, the vagaries of climate or employment, the failure of friends or of our bodies.

Psalm 1:

1 Blessed is the man
    who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
    nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and on his law he meditates day and night.

3 He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.

Like a tree planted by streams of water. As the seasons pass by – some hard, some good, the blessed person is sustained in being sound and fruitful. In good times their life may not look much different from others, but as the years go by and the trials accumulate the difference becomes more and more apparent in sustained wholeness.

"Like a tree planted by streams of water. As the seasons pass by – some hard, some good, the blessed person is sustained in being sound and fruitful."

And that blessed life is sustained by turning away from evil and meditating on, delighting in, God’s word, by knowing God and His good way of living from His word. In these uncertain, stressful, and wearying times know the life giving blessing of trusting the LORD by being sustained by His word. Whether it is reading the lives of the Patriarchs in Genesis and seeing God’s faithfulness over years and generations, or meditating on the law and being refreshed by righteousness, or seeing God’s power and grace in the life of David, or the faith inspired courage of an Elijah; whether it is being moved by the vision of God’s saving greatness in Isaiah, the revelation of His holiness in Ezekiel; or seeing the love and kindness of our Lord in the gospels, or the greatness of His victory in the accounts of His crucifixion and resurrection, or having our times and the future unveiled in Revelation, meditate on His word, and give thanks for being blessed in trusting the living God in trusting the Lord, Jesus.

As the Psalmist says

Psalm 34: 8 Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

And before I end, let me express my thanks to all those who prayed on Wednesday for the encouragement their thoughtful prayers were. To see and hear you was like being given a glass of cold water on a hot and weary day.

"Thanks to all those who prayed on Wednesday for the encouragement their thoughtful prayers were. To see and hear you was like being given a glass of cold water on a hot and weary day."

The endurance of earlier generations

In an attempt to acknowledge the difficulty of the pandemic and the lockdown Sydney is enduring, I heard one of the NSW health officers say that this was probably the most challenging time our society would face in our lifetime.

That may or not be so, but it got me thinking about the challenging times my parents and their generation faced during their lifetime, particularly the second world war. While that experience is very different from living through a pandemic there are similarities between that time and what we are experiencing.

For example, when my father signed up he gave up his autonomy. He went where he was ordered, when he was ordered. He conformed to instruction, whether it was about taking tablets or about what he should wear or when he could see his family. And he knew his life was in the hands of less than perfect leadership, people who shared with him the goal of defeating the axis powers but who didn’t know how the future would play out and who might make decisions that could cost him his life [and nearly did]. Yet he voluntarily submitted to this loss of freedoms and imperfect leadership for the common good.

Those who were not in the services still faced the anxiety of uncertainty as the fortunes of war ebbed and flowed, and knew a shared grief as news of casualties went through the community. For those who had husbands, sons, brothers in the Japanese POW camps there were years of living between hope and despair.

It was not easy for anyone, and it went on for years. For my father four years until discharged medically unfit, for our society six years. Yet thinking of my parents’ experience encourages me. God kept them through that time with all its ups and downs, and God brought it to an end. They were individually believers. I still have my father’s army issue New Testament from the war and all his life he continued his habit of daily bible reading. They were believers and they endured trusting God, and they found Him faithful.

"Yet thinking of my parents’ experience encourages me... They were believers and they endured trusting God, and they found Him faithful."

A Reminder we live in the same world and should show the same endurance

Our lockdown continues with all its uncertainty and disruption, all its restrictions on our individual freedoms, and the background sadness of those who are falling ill with the virus and those suffering loss of psychological health or of income and businesses.

It is a reminder to a generation that want to believe otherwise, that we live in the same world as our parents, a world in rebellion against its Creator where, as Jesus warned, ‘Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes, famines and plagues in various places” [Luke 21:10-11, cf. Mark 13:8-9]. It is a world where peace and prosperity can never be taken for granted, yet it was into this rebellious world that God, out of His great love, sent His Son to save sinners, and to which He will again send His son in glory at the day of His choosing. And it is in this world that the gospel goes to all nations and God keeps saving His people.

Wars and rumours of wars, famine and diseases are the context in which we live our lives as followers of Jesus in this world, the context in which we live knowing that Jesus is Lord with all authority and is pursuing the fulfilment of God’s eternal purpose to bring life and immortality to all who believe through the gospel. So as another frustrating week goes by, and who knows how many more there will be like this, let’s keep encouraging each other to endure like previous generations of believers trusting our almighty Saviour and showing that in thankfulness, prayerfulness, and the obedience of faith.

"Let’s keep encouraging each other to endure like previous generations of believers trusting our almighty Saviour and showing that in thankfulness, prayerfulness, and the obedience of faith."

Thankfulness above all for a Saviour who will keep us in life and death, who brings us peace with the Almighty just and holy God, who has given us hope that He works all things for our good now and will raise us to eternal life then.

Thankfulness, prayer, for mercy and deliverance from this disease, for our leaders that the Lord would prosper their efforts to protect the community and maintain peace, for freedom to keep living Christian lives, for the gospel to reap a harvest amongst us, and for Jesus’ return.

Thankfulness, prayer, and the obedience of faith, shown in respect for those the Lord has put in positions of authority in our society, in love for our neighbours that can temporarily sacrifice freedoms and rights for the common good, and practical love for each other as we help each other endure through this time.

And if all this sounds familiar – good. Most Christian encouragement is reminding each other of what we have already learnt in the gospel, just as Christian health is remembering the truth of the gospel, remembering to do all that Jesus has taught, remembering to live lives of thankful persevering trust in our almighty Saviour Jesus.

"Most Christian encouragement is reminding each other of what we have already learnt in the gospel"

The different burdens people bear

Over the past few months many conversations have brought home to me how he burden of the pandemic and repeated lockdowns is experienced differently amongst us.

There are the parents of young children, children at kinder, who have repeated coughs and colds, repeated tests, repeated periods of exclusion from routine activities
There are teenagers whose schooling and social life is disrupted, who feel intensely the loss and uncertainty, and their parents who must work hard to maintain their wellbeing
There are those who know the weariness of trying to work from home and supervise school from home
Those who have lost casual work and whose income has plummeted
The single living on their own who have endured repeated periods of isolation
Those who have interstate family they cannot see
Those who have been bereaved and who have struggled to organise the funeral and been denied the comfort of mourning together
Those who have had periods of hospitalisation and been unable to have visitors
Those for whom the background anxiety has heightened their own mental health struggles
Those caught up in exposures sites and required to do fourteen days quarantine
The few who have actually been infected with Covid and known the anxiety of that
The many who feel the weariness of the uncertainty, the loss of being able to make plans and look forward to their fulfilment

Few have escaped some direct impact and even if we have all of us are affected for

Paul says of the body of Christ which is the local congregation in 1 Cor. 12:28

“If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it”

There is a lot of suffering amongst us.

It may not be dramatic, for many it is not severe, but it is suffering

And we, individually and as a community of believers, feel it.

It is like a low grade fever that is constant, sapping energy from our body, making us uneasy by its persistence that we could become very sick even as we long to be well

Recognising Suffering, Practicing Lament

At the start of this, our sixth lockdown, it is good to recognise that suffering of the body

For it helps to explain how we feel, that we are reacting to something bigger than our own personal experience. We are sharing, all of us, in the hurting of the body

And that recognition directs us in our turning to God

As we are suffering together we can turn to God together in lament and in prayer for relief

As a Christian culture we are not good at lament but the Psalms have many examples of individuals and communities pouring out their grief to God and asking Him to act. This is an expression of faith, not unbelief. It is often accompanied by thanksgiving that come from confidence in God’s character and commitment to His people.

"At the start of this, our sixth lockdown, it is good to recognise that suffering of the body. For it helps to explain how we feel, that we are reacting to something bigger than our own personal experience."

You might think of Psalm 13, the prayer of an individual

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I take counsel in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”
lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.

There are Psalms where the community brings its griefs to their God – Psalm 12, 44, 60, 86, Psalms given so that we, believers in Jesus, heirs in Christ of these Psalms, can bring our griefs to God and ask Him to act. We don’t have to be in the exact same position as the Psalmist, to be facing the same kind of affliction with the same intensity, to use their God given words.

"We don’t have to be in the exact same position as the Psalmist, to be facing the same kind of affliction with the same intensity, to use their God given words."

We don’t need to be in the cave with David to say Psalm 142:

With my voice I cry out to the Lord;
with my voice I plead for mercy to the Lord.
I pour out my complaint before him;
I tell my trouble before him.

We don’t need to know David’s enemies to say Psalm 143

Hear my prayer, O Lord;
    give ear to my pleas for mercy!
    In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!
Enter not into judgment with your servant,
    for no one living is righteous before you.

For the enemy has pursued my soul;
    he has crushed my life to the ground;
    he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.
Therefore my spirit faints within me;
    my heart within me is appalled.

I remember the days of old;
    I meditate on all that you have done;
    I ponder the work of your hands.
I stretch out my hands to you;
    my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah

Answer me quickly, O Lord!
    My spirit fails!
Hide not your face from me,
    lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,
    for in you I trust.
Make me know the way I should go,
    for to you I lift up my soul.

Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord!
    I have fled to you for refuge.
Teach me to do your will,
    for you are my God!
Let your good Spirit lead me
    on level ground!

Wait for the LORD

As we suffer together, let us pour out our grief to God together and seek His help, help He promises to give to those in covenant with Him in Christ. Let us look to Him to restore us, to restore our peace and our prospering as His people, those who seek His will and glory, who live to make disciples of all nations. It is grievous to be always weary, grievous to see the trials of our brothers and sisters, grievous to see the work of making disciples disrupted and become more difficult, grievous to be unable to meet together to encourage each other.

"As we suffer together, let us pour out our grief to God together and seek His help, help He promises to give"

So turn to God. Psalm 27:7-14

Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;
    be gracious to me and answer me!
You have said, “Seek my face.”
My heart says to you,
    “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”
Hide not your face from me.
Turn not your servant away in anger,
    O you who have been my help.
Cast me not off; forsake me not,
    O God of my salvation!
For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
    but the Lord will take me in.

Teach me your way, O Lord,
    and lead me on a level path
    because of my enemies.
Give me not up to the will of my adversaries;
    for false witnesses have risen against me,
    and they breathe out violence.

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord
    in the land of the living!
Wait for the Lord;
    be strong, and let your heart take courage;
    wait for the Lord!

Part 1 - Confidence in Coming Back

A Melbourne restauranteur was quoted in Tuesday’s Australian as saying “What happens is consumer confidence takes two, three, four, five weeks to build. We struggle to get that momentum going again [after lockdowns]. There are impacts for many months.”

As we look at a cautious relaxation of our fifth lockdown his words resonated with me. We feel the tentativeness to re-engage, the struggle to regain momentum in our ministries and Sunday gathering. Just thinking about getting going again can sometimes feel like a burden. But I am far more confident about the future. I am confident because this week I have had the encouragement of seeing the determination of so many in restarting their ministries – thank you Mainly Music, Explorers, Cleaners, Kids Club and Youth Group teams. And I am confident because we are different from a business, with a different source of direction, a different source of strength, and a different source of confidence about the future.

"We feel the tentativeness to re-engage, the struggle to regain momentum in our ministries and Sunday gathering. Just thinking about getting going again can sometimes feel like a burden."

We are different

All the businesses that have been shut down, all community sporting clubs, are reporting a difficulty in getting going again – in getting people through the door or volunteering to serve. But we are not a business or a community club. The church does not consist of a core of people offering services for others to consume. We are Christ’s church, the household of God [1 Tim. 3:15-16], together, every one of us, the body of Christ that has its life from the head and which grows as each part does its work [Eph. 4:15-16]. We are called together by our Lord Jesus, called to serve one another in love, and brought into being by Him for a purpose – to be salt and light in the world, not just individually but collectively [Matt. 5:13-16]. In our life together, in our dealings with each other, we are to model and show to the world the goodness of trusting and obeying Jesus. Our coming together is not a preference or a pastime, but an expression of our being as people joined to Jesus by faith and to each other in love as the family of Christ.

"The church does not consist of a core of people offering services for others to consume. We are Christ’s church, the household of God... Our coming together is not a preference or a pastime, but an expression of our being as people joined to Jesus by faith and to each other in love as the family of Christ."

Directed by faith

And we have a different source to direct our behaviour. As believers our guide in life is not our feelings, appetites or desires, or even our own weariness. Our guide is the Word of God, the word that tells us for our good not to neglect meeting together. In dealing with the ups and downs of the pandemic and our own ups and downs in it we know that the safe path is to keep on walking by faith, not by sight. That means we will continue as believers to be directed by love, not fear, for love is what our Lord commands. And love seeks to encourage and sustain, to overcome isolation, to keep our children learning the faith together, to relieve need, even if it involves some risk. There was risk as well as cost and inconvenience in the Good Samaritan stopping to help on the bandit infested road to Jericho. There is risk in getting back together again or getting the vaccine which we hope will allow us to end this cycle of lockdowns, but trusting our God who commands us to love and rules all things, love takes the risk – again and again.

"As believers our guide in life is not our feelings, appetites or desires, or even our own weariness. Our guide is the Word of God"

Sustained by grace

And we have a different source of strength. This pandemic has brought times of great weariness of soul to nearly all of us, and sometimes it can seem too hard to walk by faith and love. But we can rely on our gracious Lord who delights to show His strength in our weakness [2 Cor. 12:7-10]. Paul’s thorn in his flesh must have been so wearying and distracting to him, getting him down. But rather than remove it the Lord said to Him “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” This is a time to know again that where we rely on Jesus’ grace we have strength even in our weakness to live as His followers.

"This pandemic has brought times of great weariness of soul to nearly all of us, and sometimes it can seem too hard to walk by faith and love. But we can rely on our gracious Lord who delights to show His strength in our weakness"

Confidence in God, not people

And we have a different source of confidence about the future. Our trust is not in people, that they will make all the right decisions to keep us open and restore prosperity. As believers our confidence is in the steadfast love of the Lord. Our hope for the success of our obedient efforts, the prospering of our life together as His people, whether in or out of lockdown is in our faithful God, and so we are confident that in His good time He will restore and strengthen us.

So directed by His word, relying on His grace for strength, confident in His steadfast love let’s get going again and show to the world our difference in our life together, to the glory of our Saviour.

"So directed by His word, relying on His grace for strength, confident in His steadfast love let’s get going again and show to the world our difference in our life together, to the glory of our Saviour."

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His steadfast love endures for ever.

Part 2 - Church with the 100 Cap

It is another cautious relaxation so let me run through what, Lord willing, this will look like for us. I will focus on our Sundays services for, praise God, a cap of 100 in the building means that Mainly Music, Explorers, Friday Women’s Bible Study, Kid’s Club and Youth Group can all restart more or less normally – with a covid check in marshal, masks on inside, and food only where people are appropriately seated. But the one hundred cap does require as before some adaptation to our Sunday gatherings.

Services

We will return to three services this Sunday, 9, 11 and 5, but only livestreaming at 9 and 5 unless there is an event at 11 to give some small relief to our PA and AV teams. For those who normally attend 11 the 9 am service will be waiting for you on youtube. Pre-registration is needed to come to church so that we can keep track of numbers. We don’t want to have to turn people away at the door. If your service is full consider going to another. We do want as many as possible to be able to attend services over these two weeks so those who are seeking to attend but can’t fit in this week will automatically be registered for next Sunday.

When you arrive scan the QR code and smile at the check in marshal behind your masks which we will have to wear inside throughout the service. Consider using the myChurch app to print your name tag to decrease touch.

Children and Youth

To maintain consistency over what we anticipate will be a staged relaxation children in little Sunday School and Sunday School will start upstairs. Please keep sending them with their labelled water bottle and snack. This will continue until we have a cap of 300 or more in the building. Creche will start after the Kid’s Song. Due to the limit on numbers and the inconsistency in attendance that creates Sunday youth will be waiting to restart till all can be present.

Morning Tea

We won’t be starting Morning Tea or Supper at present. With only 100 max in the building we can’t afford overlap in the morning congregations. Further, restaurants are only allowed to serve people who are seated with a cap on group size of 10 and so it would seem imprudent at any service to create a situation where people are moving around with masks off talking to each other while they sip a tea or coffee. We hope this will only be for two weeks.

The Lord’s Supper

We have also decided not to have the Lord’s Supper this Sunday but instead wait to celebrate the Supper in September. We had a couple of reasons for this. I and others are very uncomfortable with celebrating the Supper where some can attend in person and some cannot. This seems to me to express separation and even exclusion, not the unity Christ’s people have in the Supper. I know we can all hear the promises and all eat and drink, in the building and on line, but where some can be together and not all reinforces the not rightness of our situation, especially to those who want to be with us but cannot be because of the number cap. Better to wait. And in the current circumstances as we are just emerging from lockdown it probably goes against the spirit of the regulations for a large number of people to all have their masks off inside at the same time, even if briefly, as would happen in our celebration of the Supper. Again, better to wait for the anticipated further relaxation of restrictions.

Growth Groups

Growth Groups, sadly, are the ministry who gain little from these relaxations. No one can be in our homes and only ten in public areas like parks. The encouragement, edification and connection that comes from meeting in growth groups has been, and continues to be, vital for sustaining us at this time. So pray for them and their leaders as they resume on Zoom and many start the generosity project.

We do hope for a further relaxation in two weeks, Lord willing. So while giving thanks for what we now enjoy continue to pray for that relaxation. 100 is just a start for us, but a difficult and unsatisfying number for our Sunday gatherings and it is so good for all of us to be able to be together. So ask the Lord that in His mercy we continue to see low case numbers and can come back to all being able to meet, and as you do remember to ask for the same mercy for our brothers and sisters in NSW who are struggling now with what we have experienced so often.

Part 1 - Recieving bad news with confidence as believers

In my daily bible reading this week, as I was digesting the news of the continuing lockdown and the reality that our services would be online again this week, I came across Psalm 112 verses 7 and 8. Speaking of the person who fears the Lord and delights in His commandments it says

He will not fear bad news;
his heart is confident [firm], trusting in the Lord.
His heart is assured [steady]; he will not fear.
In the end he will look in triumph on his foes.

(Psalm 112:7-8 CSB)

These verses got my attention as I have found myself sometimes reacting to the bad news of the continuing case numbers and accompanying restrictions with dismay. Such news can unsettle me, sometimes even generate what I call a brown funk – that mixture of anxiety about all the uncertainty around what is happening, frustration, even anger, about the actions or inaction of others, and a growing sense of powerlessness that can cloud the mind and temporarily obscure the light of truth and hope. It is an uncomfortable feeling and an unhelpful reaction, but I don’t think it is uncommon in these days. You may know your own particular version, however fleeting, of it yourself.

"I have found myself sometimes reacting to the bad news of the continuing case numbers and accompanying restrictions with dismay."

So I wanted to understand why the righteous person of Psalm 112 can receive bad news with confidence, with a steady heart that is not unsettled and fearful.

It would be good to be that person in our world, for there is no shortage of bad news – whether about the climate or economy, about politics or pandemic, it just keeps coming. And there is no shortage of those who peddle and magnify the bad news.

"I wanted to understand why the righteous person of Psalm 112 can receive bad news with confidence, with a steady heart that is not unsettled and fearful."

And sometimes the bad news is not just out there, in general. Sometimes the bad news we receive is very personal – when we are told that it is our job that will be lost, our parent who is ill, our tests that show cancer. Personal, and real – our income is lost, our parent does die, and we do face months of gruelling treatment with an uncertain outcome.

How does trusting the LORD mean we can receive this bad news without fear, with steady hearts?

To know the truth of that we must see that this Psalm is first true of Jesus. He was the Israelite who lived all His life in fear of the LORD, delighting to do the Father’s will, the genuinely righteous person. And He was often the recipient of bad news, bad news that concerned him directly – whether that was news of many disciples abandoning Him, or of Herod’s plot to kill Him, or of His own people’s rejection of Him [John 6:66, Luke 13:31; John 18:35]. He lived with the bad news that rejection, humiliation and shameful death on the cross awaited Him in Jerusalem, that this was His Father’s will [Mark 8:31, 9:31, 10:33-34]. Yet even in the garden as He brought to the Father His desire that it be not so, His heart was steady, set to do the Father’s will. And when He heard the bad news of Pilate’s verdict He was not afraid, His heart so settled that on the way to the cross He could give prophetic warning to the people who followed Him [Luke 23:28-31], that as He was crucified he could pray for the forgiveness of those who crucified Him [Lk 23:34], and on the cross itself provide for His mother [John 19:26-27], open paradise to the thief dying next to Him [Luke 23:39-43].

And His confidence in His Father’s wisdom, might and love was right. He was raised from the dead, exalted to the Father’s right hand through that painful death. He looks in triumph on His enemies.

Psalm 112:7-8 is first true of our Lord Jesus. He was not afraid when He received bad news; His heart was firm, trusting in the LORD. And it is in Jesus, trusting Him, that we can know for ourselves that same confidence and assurance in the face of the constant bad news we receive in a world still in rebellion against its Creator and Lord.

"[Jesus] was not afraid when He received bad news; His heart was firm, trusting in the LORD. And it is in Jesus, trusting Him, that we can know for ourselves that same confidence and assurance in the face of the constant bad news"

It is in trusting Jesus that we are righteous, justified in God’s sight by Jesus’ death for our sin. We are at peace with God and need not fear this bad news as news of His judgment on us, as an expression of His just anger at our sin. That anger is deserved, but the Lord Jesus has taken it upon Himself. He has received the bad news of being sentenced to death for sin in our place, so that we can receive the good news of forgiveness. Justified by faith we stand now in grace. Grace is God’s settled attitude towards us and we can rely on it. [Romans 3:18-26, 5:1-11].

And it is in trusting Jesus that we know the LORD is our loving heavenly Father. The ruler of the universe, the one who has life in Himself, has committed Himself to us in covenant relationship. His promises to us are sure, promises of life, of peace, of being able to see His face. And He has said nothing will separate us from His love.

Remember those words

Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

As it is written:

Because of you
we are being put to death all day long;
we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39)

How are you responding to the bad news you receive, whether it is bad news about what is going on around you, or bad news that affects you directly? I was a little rebuked by those verses in Psalm 112 and challenged to repent of my little faith that gives way so easily to dismay, that allows me to be so quickly unsettled. Our God is almighty, His wisdom never at a loss to know how to further His good purpose for His people, and His love never falters. It is not for the best of all possible lives in this world, a world still subject to sin and death, that we have trusted Him, but for the resurrection to a new heaven and earth, glory beyond our imagining. Nothing we experience here changes that, or its certainty. So let’s receive bad news as those who know they are justified by Jesus’ blood and honour our God, the God who raised our Lord Jesus from the dead, by trusting Him as He deserves, showing that trust by not being afraid and unsettled by the news we hear. Let’s honour Him by hearts that are firm and steady in keeping on doing His will by loving others and giving our Saving God the praise and thanks He deserves, now and forever.

"Let’s honour [God] by hearts that are firm and steady in keeping on doing His will by loving others and giving our Saving God the praise and thanks He deserves, now and forever."

Part 2 - A brief review of Tim Kellers book "On death"

Some of the worst news we can receive is news of our own coming death or news of the death of those we love.

Tim Keller has written a book “On death” to help us receive this news as believers. It is two short chapters and a helpful appendix.

In the first chapter he looks at the fear of death, both its reality and how Jesus took on flesh and blood so that through His own death He could free us from that fear, focusing on Heb. 2:14-15.
In the second chapter he looks at the disruption death brings to our relationships, and the comfort of the gospel hope of resurrection, that personal, embodied, beatific and certain hope, focusing on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
Then in the appendix he gives seven days of readings for someone facing death, and seven days of readings for someone grieving the death of one they love.

I found it a book full of encouragement and comfort. It is also a timely and practical book in a society that has a renewed consciousness of death, one that you could give away to someone seeking hope and comfort. Read it yourself first, but for anyone who has any background in Christianity, or is curious, it would be a suitable book.

Timothy Keller On Death Hodder and Stoughton, 2020

Lockdown 5. Some of us thought it inevitable, some of us hoped it would never be – but whatever we thought, it has arrived with its further disruption of our lives, its reminder that life is not what it was and may never be again.

What does it mean to walk by faith, not just in the current lockdown, but in these Covid times?

Paul uses that phrase “We walk by faith, not by sight” in 2 Corinthians 5:7. It expresses there the reality that we do not yet have all we are promised in Christ for we are still in these mortal bodies and away from the Lord. But because we walk by faith we are confident, whatever ‘slight and momentary afflictions’ [2 Cor. 4:17] we experience, that the day will come when we are at home with the Lord and so now we make it our aim to live lives pleasing to Him, knowing we will appear before Him [2 Cor. 5:8-10].

So what is it to walk by faith now, to go through Covid times knowing that what we see, how things appear, our surface experience, is not the full picture because the full picture is given by the word of God, the gospel of Christ? Let me suggest four things that are true where we walk by faith.

Firstly, in the experience of uncertainty, believers know certainty.

This is an experience of uncertainty. There is an air of provisionality around whatever plans we make. Yet believers know certainty. We know, as Daniel has taught us, that the LORD rules – as Daniel said to Belshazzar, it is the LORD who holds our life breath in His hand and who controls the whole course of our lives [Daniel 5:23]. Not a sparrow falls to the ground, said our Lord, without our Father’s consent [Matt. 10:29]. Our God rules, and He has said He will work all things, even difficult things, for the good of those who love Him [Rom. 8:28]. His word tells us what that good is, helping us to be conformed to the image of His Son, and in that work trial has a vital role, working in us endurance, character and hope [Romans 5:1-5]. Walking by faith in Jesus in the experience of uncertainty we know certainty.

Secondly, walking by faith in Jesus in the experience of frustration we know thankfulness.

It is frustrating to be looking forward to that holiday or even just a day’s outing, and then have to cancel. To think you are just getting on top of things, and have to start schooling from home again. To be longing for the release of playing sport with others, and to have leave the boots in the cupboard. And yet believers are always giving thanks, for we always have cause for thanks. In a world newly aware of its mortality, we have a hope of eternal life. In a society that deserves God’s judgment for its pride and rebellion, believing in Jesus we have peace with the just and holy God. Our sins are forgiven – what a burden lifted. We have a Saviour who has said He will be with us always, God’s Spirit in our hearts assuring us or our relationship with God our Father crying Abba Father. We always have cause to give thanks

Thirdly, where we have to recognise our insignificance, to walk by faith is to recognise that we are loved children who can always draw near to our heavenly Father who knows us individually.

I don’t know about you but I wasn’t rung up by the authorities to get my opinion before they made the decision to lock us down again. No one consulted me about its impact on my individual plans or well being. In the face of Covid we have had to recognise that individually we are not particularly important, our lives just a component in the statistics – how many tested, how many ill, how many vaccinated, how many getting support. Yet by faith we are known by the Almighty God, individually. Our Lord calls us by name. Even the hairs of our heads are numbered. We can come with confidence to the throne of grace, the throne of the Almighty God, for mercy and grace to help in time of our individual need [Heb. 4:14-16]. This should not make us proud, for it is all by God’s grace, and all because of who He is, eternal, almighty, without any limit in His knowing, the God of love. Yet it is comforting.

Fourthly, to walk by faith is to know that in an experience of weakness we need not despair for our Lord has said “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness” 2 Cor. 12:9

As this time exposes our weaknesses – emotional, spiritual, physical – we know we can rely on the strength of our good Saviour to live lives as His follower.

The Lord Jesus is a great Saviour. All this wonderful, comforting, unseen reality comes from Him, and He has promised to be with us always.

So keep walking by faith, not anxious but confident in Him, and every day giving thanks, drawing near for the mercy and help you need, relying on His rich and generous grace, freely given us in our Saviour.

For we walk by faith, not by sight.

Before I talk about the welcome relaxation in the density quotient I want to reflect briefly on what we do when some part of Scripture troubles us. Over the last few months I have had conversations myself or have had reported to me conversations about the concerns some have or the disquiet they feel about the teaching of Scripture on a broad range of topics - election, hell, sexuality, government, marriage, judgment.

Thankful for conversation

I am thankful for those conversations. It is good for me and the other pastors to be made to think about whether we have understood correctly and taught clearly those parts of Scripture. None of us want to cause unnecessary offence but more than that, I am very conscious that at the last day I will be judged [James 3:1] for what I have taught. We are stewards of God’s word and safety is only found in teaching that word faithfully. It would be awful to unthinkingly be teaching some cultural or ecclesiastical tradition as if it were the word of God. That is why I am grateful for conversation that give me an opportunity to look again at the Scriptures, to make sure they say what I am teaching they say, and also grateful to know you are praying that we would teach the word clearly, and grateful through your support for being given time to read and think about it.

"I am grateful for conversations that give me an opportunity to look again at the Scriptures, to make sure they say what I am teaching they say"

Delight in God’s Word

But sometimes those conversations sadden me where what is expressed is not a desire to understand what is in Scripture better but a sense that Scripture in its teaching is a bit of an embarrassment and God should really have expressed Himself better. That saddens me because a core Christian conviction is that all Scripture is God breathed, the word of God, and that God’s word is good. The blessed person is the one who delights in and meditates on God’s Word, who confesses it to be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path [Ps. 1, Ps. 119:105], more desirable than gold [Ps. 19]. Jesus in His life showed He was that person, knowing and living by the Scriptures. But we live in an age where many are convinced of their own goodness and wisdom, think they are more insightful than all the generations that have gone before, and think they know better than God what He should have done and said, and feel free to express their judgment of God. We should be conscious of how easily the spirit of the age can seep into our own interaction with Scripture, how easy it becomes to judge Scripture against the assumed self evident truths of our age.

"We should be conscious of ... how easy it becomes to judge Scripture against the assumed self evident truths of our age."

God says the one to whom HE looks, the one He regards, is the one who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at His word. Growth in understanding of God’s will can only happen where we listen to God in exactly those contexts where He is telling us what we don’t want to hear and where we are willing to change our minds to conform our thinking to His word. Yes – we must make sure we have understood the Word correctly, and that may be work. Yes – it may take time to work through why we might find a teaching so difficult, to come to conviction that our good God has told us this for our good. But that is the path of wisdom, that trusts in the LORD with all our heart and does not lean on our own understanding [Prov. 3:5].

"Growth in understanding of God’s will can only happen where we listen to God in exactly those contexts where He is telling us what we don’t want to hear"

Focus on the real cause of offence

But what most troubles me is that a focus on these issues can obscure what is really offensive and confronting in the Christian message, and that is the cross of our Lord Jesus and the lifestyle our crucified Lord calls for from His followers. The cross is not just the source of our salvation. It is the foundation of all our knowing and the content of all our living. To say the cross of our Lord is the wisdom and power of God [1 Cor. 1:18ff] is immediately to doubt my own goodness and wisdom, and to say God is incomparably better and wiser than I could imagine. It is to confess the rightness of His judgment on me, that I am a helpless sinner, incapable by my reason alone of discerning God’s will and of holding God to account. In fact to confess the cross as the wisdom and power of God confounds any claim that we know better than God what He should have done or said, for we would never have chosen the cross to save the world, but God did and has saved through the death of Jesus, reconciled the whole creation to Himself through Jesus’ blood [Col. 1:15-20]. All our thinking about God, and all our conviction about His goodness and wisdom starts here, and to confess we are saved through the death of Jesus is to also confess His is a wisdom and goodness, a power and love, that cannot be doubted or faulted.

"Focus on these issues can obscure what is really offensive and confronting in the Christian message, and that is the cross of our Lord Jesus and the lifestyle our crucified Lord calls for from His followers"

And the cross gives a shape to discipleship that confronts us every day, confronts our pride, our easy self-concern, our culture taught preoccupation with our rights. We know the words – love one another as I have loved you, or that greatness is service because the son of man did not come to be served but to serve. We know that when our Lord washed the disciples feet He said that He was setting us an example [Mk. 10:43-45, John 13:1-17, 34-35]. But to live that way - whether it is in our marriage, or ministry, or in the way we shape our week to be present to encourage our brothers and sisters – that is a daily challenge, the challenge of daily denying ourselves and taking up our cross, of ‘doing nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit but in humility considering others as more important than ourselves’ [Phil 2:3].

I always welcome conversations about those aspects of Scripture’s teaching that are challenging or where you think it could be expressed better. But whatever it might be start your thinking at the cross, what it says about us and about God, and reckon you only understand the cross and trust the one who died on it as you live the cross, in love willing to do the will of your heavenly Father whatever the cost.

Further Relaxation and Sundays

We are thankful for the further relaxation in the density quotient announced this week. From today we can have one person per two square metres provided we also have a designated Covid check-in marshal. What does that mean for us?

Well, it means firstly that on Sundays we will need a covid check in marshall, someone to check that each of us have scanned the QR code or used the alternative check in sheet as we come into church. I know it irritates when we are not trusted to do the right thing, but reckon that the pain is worth the gain, smile and use it as an opportunity to say hello to whichever brother or sister has the job of marshall.

And it is gain for us to be at 2 square metres.

This Sunday it means we can run morning tea and have the library out again, as well as keep the petition closed for warmth.
Next Sunday, the 18th, it means children will start with us in the service before heading out to Sunday school and creche.
This Sunday the children will still go straight up to Sunday School as part of the holiday arrangements, and please keep sending them with their labelled drink bottle and snack.

We will keep needing to wear masks indoors unless you have an exemption but those working with children will not have to wear their masks when engaging with the children.

Winter, with coughs and sniffles and very cold mornings, is a harder time to get things going again, but make the effort.

Our Lord wants us to meet together for our good and just your presence is an encouragement to your brothers and sisters in a time when we all need encouragement.

"Make the effort. Our Lord wants us to meet together for our good and just your presence is an encouragement to your brothers and sisters in a time when we all need encouragement."

It was good news this week with churches in Metropolitan Melbourne being allowed 300 inside, still subject to the one person per four square metre density quotient. It was not all we were hoping for, but the government has said this will be in place for two weeks with a further relaxation planned after that if numbers stay low.

What does it mean for this weekend?

Firstly, to maximise our numbers children will go straight upstairs to Sunday School as happened when we were last subject to the one person per four square meter density quotient. A big thank you to the children’s ministry team who will not only run Sunday school this weekend but also for the two weekends of the holidays so as many of us as want to can come to church. Parents, you will need drop your children off upstairs when you arrive, send them with their labelled drink bottle and snack, and remember to pick them up promptly when the service finishes.

"A big thank you to the children’s ministry team who will not only run Sunday school this weekend but also for the two weekends of the holidays so as many of us as want to can come to church."

Because of the good work of the Sunday school and creche teams we think that we will have space for all those who want to come to church at all three services. So we have scrapped pre-registration. Just come, scan in the QR code, and self check in to get your name tag. When you arrive there are three ways you can do check in.

You can do it by the computers – sanitise your hands before and after touching them, and we will also be sanitising the screens or keyboards.
Even better would be to use the ‘My Church’ app – if reception is an issue fill out the check in in the car park and then have your bar code scanned when you come into church.
Finally if none of those work for you, come to the registration desk and a name tag will be printed for you there.

Remember we do still need to wear masks indoors, and we do have to have a ‘Covid Marshal’ monitoring QR code scanning. I am sorry about this intrusion and will be glad to see it go, but for now that is the price we have to pay to meet. Smile at the welcomer behind your mask when showing your QR tick.

As we will need to have chairs through the hall again we won’t for these next two weeks have morning tea or the library open, but we hope to move back to one person per two square meters in a fortnight, and both these will, Lord willing, commence then.

We know this is a season of many colds and sniffles but I hope to see as many of your there as possible. Having been away for four weeks and then back for only one week before lock down I will be especially glad to get back to being able to meet and have the encouragement of sharing with you in prayer, praise and conversation as we gather around God’s word. That word is full of encouragement [Romans 15:4] as it reminds us our God reigns, and He has entrusted the rule of His people to His Son the Lord Jesus, who has, says Paul in Ephesians 1:20-23, been raised from the dead ‘and seated at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come’. And then Paul adds this great assurance, that God ‘put all things under his [Christ’s] feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” The one who rules all things is our head, and we are dear to Him, His beloved bride. We need not fear or be anxious for we are sustained by His life, comforted by His love, and kept by His mighty power. Alleluia.

"We need not fear or be anxious for we are sustained by His life, comforted by His love, and kept by His mighty power. Alleluia."

Part 1: Our plans within eased restrictions

Restrictions Easing

As hoped and expected Metropolitan Melbourne has had a further easing of restrictions and so, as foreshadowed last week, we will, Lord willing, have services at 9, 11 and 5 this Sunday. Numbers remain limited to 75 in the building, along with those necessary to facilitate the services. It is a grief that we still cannot all meet and I am sorry that so many of you are on the waiting list for this Sunday because it is so encouraging to be together in person even when numbers are limited. And there will be a lot of encouragement this week as we witness people making profession of faith and a baptism, hear God’s Word, and sing our God’s praise together.

We hope that there will be a further easing next week and that in line with the current situation in country Victoria on Sunday 27th we will be able to have 150 in the building. Keep praying for the control of the spread of the virus and that further relaxation for it will be great to see you all there. If that relaxation should happen we will still be governed by the density quotient, set again at one person per four square metres which will complicate life a little. I will talk about how we will manage that next Friday.

In the building

For those coming to the building on Sunday we will be needing to be vigilant about practicing Covid safe measures. We will be wearing masks indoors and singing behind masks. Children, who will start in the service and then go up to Sunday School, should bring their own labelled water bottle and snack. We won’t be having morning tea this week – we will need to have chairs set up in the hall to meet the density quotient requirements, and we will need to move out of the auditorium to allow cleaning. We are used to all this, we can live with it, but let’s hope we will rapidly pass through this phase of re-opening.

There is one new requirement. The government, in an attempt to bolster the effectiveness of QR codes for contact tracing, now requires all businesses ‘to ensure their customers check-in upon arrival,’ so the welcomers will need to check this when you pick up your name tag. This is intrusive but we all depend on effective and efficient contact tracing. Whatever the requirements, it is good to be able to start meeting again and let’s hope we can enjoy further relaxation of meeting requirements over the coming weeks. But if you can’t make it, please keep watching the live stream, and join with us in meeting through on line means. All three services will be livestreamed this week, and there will be a Zoom catch up after the 9:00 am service.

Part 2: Responding to the Family Violence Report

Family Violence Report

Some of you will have seen press reports related to the release of the ‘National Anglican Family Violence Research Report: Top Line Results.” Some may even, like me, have read it. The results and the commentary associated with it, especially from Julia Baird on the ABC, were distressing. Family violence is a reality in our community and our churches, and according to a report in today’s Australian family violence is increasing

[“Family violence offences in Victoria have reached the highest level on record over the past year to end of March, making up one fifth of all recorded offences.” View here.]

Your pastors have had, over the years, to deal with a number of cases of inter partner violence [IPV] and members of our congregation have been the victims of such abhorrent behaviour. They may well need your support, the support of their brothers and sisters, as the publicity surrounding this freshens their own grief or heightens the tensions of the situation they are living in. We should all be alert to the signs of domestic abuse, have zero tolerance for it, and be ready to support those going through it or who have been subjected to it. It is well known that in churches perpetrators will twist Scripture to support their controlling behaviour, and the report lists doctrines that can be misused – the lifelong nature of marriage, the necessity of forgiveness, suffering as a feature of the Christian life, and the teaching that the husband is the head of the wife. What was distressing about Baird’s commentary was her desire to use misuse to push her own agenda in relation to her falling out with the Sydney diocese and its complementarian stance on the relation of men and women, her assertion that association is causation, and her lack of recognition of the real work that both the Sydney and Melbourne Anglican dioceses have undertaken to address family violence in their churches.

"We should all be alert to the signs of domestic abuse, have zero tolerance for it, and be ready to support those going through it or who have been subjected to it."

There is still a lot of work to be done on both the details of the survey and on the analysis that accompanies it, and it is too early to draw conclusions from its results about the relative frequency of domestic violence in churches or its causes. I have included links in the resources section to two articles – one an interview with Sandy Grant who is a member of Family Violence Project that commissioned the report and who has played a significant role in the development of the Sydney diocesan response, which also contains links to their resources. The other is by David Robertson who deals with both the issue and the criticisms of Baird. Both are helpful.

Our Winter Teaching Series will also be looking at what Scripture says about the relationship of men and women, both in marriage and in the church, and I hope in that to also address the ways Scripture teaching is twisted by abusers. I am convinced that living according to God’s word is both freeing and fulfilling, but we must make sure we understand it correctly and work together in applying it in ways that honour the God who gave it.

"I am convinced that living according to God’s word is both freeing and fulfilling, but we must make sure we understand it correctly and work together in applying it in ways that honour the God who gave it."

Reflection

After reading the report I sat down and wrote a list of all the cases of Partner Violence I had been involved with over the years. You do not forget, the outcome always involves grief, and you always wonder if you could have done better. Reading Lundy Bancroft’s book ‘Why does he do that: Inside the minds of angry and controlling men’ was very helpful. I mention this to emphasise that this is an area where we can all, and we all should, keep learning, and that prevention is always better than cure. Far better to engage with dying to ourselves and learning to love our husband or wife from the outset, to confront our need for control and affirmation and the way it drives us to selfish and cruel behaviour from the beginning. Sometimes we will only be able to see our behaviour for what it is if we will listen to those we say we love, listen and believe them. If we have a biblical view of sin we should know there is not a day when we do not need to ask God to help us put our flesh, our selfishness, to death, and we should not be surprised that learning to love, especially those closest to us, is a lifelong project with many falterings along the way.

"Sometimes we will only be able to see our behaviour for what it is if we will listen to those we say we love, listen and believe them.

If we have a biblical view of sin we should know there is not a day when we do not need to ask God to help us put our flesh, our selfishness, to death"

It was as I was reflecting on the report that I came in my daily reading to Psalm 86, which contains comfort for those who are abused, those who deal with it, and even, if they will repent, abusers – and I will leave you with vv. 5-7

For you, Lord, are kind and ready to forgive,
abounding in faithful love to all who call on you.
Lord, hear my prayer;
listen to my cries for mercy.
I call on you in the day of my distress,
for you will answer me.

In our frailty our hope is in the Lord’s steadfast love.

- Psalm 86:5-7

If anything in what I have said today has distressed you get in touch, or talk with a trusted Christian friend, or if you think you are subject to domestic violence consider calling 1800 RESPECT.

PART 1: Encouragement in affliction

Slight and Momentary Affliction

Fifty percent, my doctor told me yesterday, of people who get the Astra Zeneca jab experience no reaction.

Sadly I was not in that fifty percent and I have had a miserable night. But my affliction has been truly light – aches and pains relieved by Panadol – and momentary – the symptoms improving within twenty four hours. All I have been left with is a significant sleep deficit.

But the suffering of Paul, who coined the phrase ‘slight momentary afflictions’ [2 Cor. 4:17], were anything but. He chronicles them in 1 Corinthians 4 and 2 Corinthians 6 and 11. They were serious – being stoned, whipped, beaten, shipwrecked, in almost constant danger, hunger and thirst, toil and hardship – so that at one stage he could write to the Corinthians of his affliction in Asia “We were completely overwhelmed – beyond our strength – so that we even despaired of life itself” 2 Cor. 1:8.

And they recurred throughout his life, an almost constant feature of his ministry until he was imprisoned for the final time and executed in Rome.

How could he speak of them as slight and momentary?

Was he trying to impress the Corinthians as a tough guy?

Or perhaps he was just naturally modest, downplaying his adventures with understatement?

Was it because he was comparing his suffering to that of others? ‘Do you think that was hard, you should hear what happened to Peter’.

None of the above.

He spoke of his affliction as slight and momentary because of the future God was preparing for him through that affliction, what Paul calls ‘an eternal weight of glory beyond comparison.” [2 Cor. 4:17] Compared to eternity and the wonder of being raised to live in the new heaven and earth where there is no death, or pain or grief, what befell him in his ministry was slight and momentary, a small cost to pay for the benefit to come.

"What befell [Paul] in his ministry was slight and momentary, a small cost to pay for the benefit to come."

Looking to the Unseen

And knowing that he countered the discouragements of the present by looking to the unseen, not to the seen. “We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” [2 Cor. 4:18]. Paul did not focus [CSV] on the immediate difficulties of life that surrounded him, he didn’t let them grow so big in his mind that they filled his horizon to the exclusion of everything else.

"Paul did not focus on the immediate difficulties of life that surrounded him, he didn’t let them grow so big in his mind that they filled his horizon to the exclusion of everything else. It was the opposite. He focused on what God had promised Him"

It was the opposite. He focused on what God had promised Him and assured Him of by His Spirit [2 Cor. 5:5] and so he did not lose heart. The content of the unseen in the verses that follow is the resurrection and our accounting to the Lord Jesus [2 Cor. 5:1-10]. But there is more in the unseen. There is our Father God’s providential working of all things for our good, a work that climaxes in our being conformed to the likeness of Jesus [Rom. 8:28-30], and there is the steadfast love of God which makes us more than conquerors whatever trial we face [Romans 8:36-39].

Whether our afflictions are large – like the trials of illness and bereavement some of our brothers and sisters are experiencing at this moment – or small, like mine, that is the perspective we are to maintain. Looking to, focusing on, the unseen and eternal, the promises of God and sovereign working of God to bring those promises to fulfillment in revealing the glory of His Son Jesus.

Disappointments and Frustrations

I wasn’t referring to my Covid reaction when I was speaking of small trials. I am grateful to be able to get it and a night’s discomfort is a small price to pay to contribute to the community’s immunity. No – I was talking of the disappointment I feel [again] at the slow rate of relaxation of restrictions, the fact that we are not ‘snapping back’, and the difficulties that creates, and the frustration [again] of not being trusted to be responsible to make sensible decisions to protect my own and others health and instead being subjected to rules which at times appear absurd – when was someone last infected by an unmasked asymptomatic person walking down an empty street. This is a slight, momentary affliction you also might share.

But when we do feel that disappointment and frustration, learning from Paul, we focus on God and His good plan for us, the eternal weight of glory He has promised us. This is something I have already spoken about since Covid began, but I find it is something I must keep reminding myself of.

"When we do feel that disappointment and frustration, learning from Paul, we focus on God and His good plan for us, the eternal weight of glory He has promised us... I find it is something I must keep reminding myself of. For that will stop us grumbling"

For that will stop us grumbling, which is always a danger when we are disappointed and frustrated. That grumbling is serious. In reality it is grumbling against God’s unseen providence, the means He has decided will best shape us into the image of His Son.

And being reminded to focus on the unseen and eternal will help us not lose heart, so easy with repeated lockdowns, and persevere in living the life God has called us to in Christ each day, the life of thankfulness – even for vaccines, prayerfulness – including for those in authority, and love, as we make it our aim to please our Lord before whom we will one day stand.

PART 2: Our plans for re-opening, again!

Relaxation of Restrictions – and us

But there was some relaxation of restrictions that came into force on Thursday at midnight, and further easing was foreshadowed to come into effect at midnight next Thursday 17th if all goes well. How are we planning to make use of those relaxations to do what believers are called to do, meeting together to encourage one another to love and good works as we await our Lord’s return.

I am now going to run through our program for the next two weeks. There are quite a lot of changes and a lot of detail, and it is all in the transcript. It is important that you know what is going on, but you might find it easier to stop listening and refer to the transcript for the details of Sunday services or your ministry.

But here goes.

From midnight last night we are allowed to have fifty in the building for ‘services’. Fifty is not a number that works particularly well for us, especially on Sundays. So this weekend

Our activities 11th – 17th June

Kid’s Club will operate, as children are amongst those who suffer most with these lockdowns and if they are safe mixing at school they are safe mixing in Kid’s Club.
Youth Group will operate with selected year levels which Andrew will communicate, with other year levels meeting on Zoom.
The Iranian congregation won’t meet.
We will have only two services on Sunday, at 10 and 5, both live streamed.
- At 10 we hope you will see a few more faces with musicians in the building. There will be a Zoom after church for adults, and also one for Sunday School children who want to say hello to their friends [the details will be sent out with the Sunday School material]
- At 5 we will have more people in the building. Nick Lovell will be being baptised and family and friends will be there to witness it, along with more people for the operation of the service.
- At 10 and 5 this week those in the building will be those who have a role in the service and its live streaming – with one exception. We are aware that some of us, because of the restrictions about people in our homes, have had to watch the live stream on our own. If you are on your own and would want to join us at church, contact the office either by email (office@bpc.org.au) or telephone (03) 9017 9037. There will be space for you.
Masks will need to be worn in the building by all except primary school children and younger.
During the week growth groups will continue on Zoom unless they choose to meet in the church – wearing masks and doing the cleaning, and not sharing food. If your growth group wants to meet at church, email the office.
Prayer meeting will be entirely on Zoom
And Mainly Music and Explorers will not meet in the building. These activities seemed closer to the groups that might meet in community venues which are limited to ten, and so it was thought prudent to delay their return.

What further changes are we anticipating from midnight on Thursday 17th?

Our planned activities 18th -24th June

The government has indicated that from the 18th metropolitan Melbourne will be allowed the freedoms that Country Victoria has started to enjoy from today. We can’t be certain that this will be the case, and we might even hope that some restrictions will be eased earlier through the week. But in country Victoria churches are now allowed a maximum 75 indoors for the whole facility with a one person per four square metre density quotient. They are also allowed 75 outdoors at the same time but this does not seem much use to us in a Melbourne winter. So we are hoping that from next weekend we will be able to have 75 in the building.

This means that

Friday women’s bible study is planning to be back in the building on the 18th [next Friday]
Kid’s Club and Youth Group will run within those constraints
The Iranian congregation will meet on the 19th.
On Sunday we will return to three service – at 9, 11 and 5
- with all three being livestreamed because there will be profession of faith and baptism at 11.
- While the cap of 75 in the whole building is not great for us it is better to get going again with meeting in person in the hope that we are travelling towards the Covid normal of April before the lockdown
- You will need to get a ticket by registering online so we can make sure we stay within the limits.
- Children will start in the service and then go upstairs. Please continue to send them with their own water bottle and snack. The staff will be in touch with those who are on rosters to confirm availability although on that first Sunday back we are not anticipating having morning tea.
During the week that follows Mainly Music and Explorers are planning to meet, the last week before the school holiday break.
At the moment it is still anticipated that Advanced Safe Church training will be able to run.

A lot of detail. If you have questions about your particular ministry or group please get in touch with the office.

As you can gather there is a lot of work for our staff and leaders in coming out of lockdown. Please pray for them, that they would be sustained in strength, patience and wisdom.

Being trained by lockdown

Listening to the experts it appears they think we may have to move in and out of lockdown a few more times before we see this pandemic through. We should accept that and be determined to move back together again as quickly as possible. It is so much better to be in each other’s presence, to gather in person, and we know we can manage it safely where we all work together and stick to the rules – scanning the QR code, using the hand sanitizer, wearing our masks when required, keeping our distance, staying abreast of the list of exposure sites.

Going in and out of lockdown is an opportunity to learn to meet together, not because it is part of our comfortable routine or easy, but because we are determined to do what our Lord Jesus says because we trust Him. It is good training, for doing what we do out of a conscious commitment to obey the Lord Jesus is the right way to live every part of our lives throughout our lives.

"Going in and out of lockdown is an opportunity to learn to meet together, not because it is part of our comfortable routine or easy, but because we are determined to do what our Lord Jesus says because we trust Him."

There is a repeated phrase in the Psalms – ‘Hope in the LORD’

“O Israel, Hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with Him is plentiful redemption. And He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.” Psalm 130:7-8

“Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry.” Psalm 146:5-7 [cf. Ps. 33:22, 39:7, 42:5, 43:5, 71:5, 1 Pet. 1:21]

As many of us deal with the disappointment of this continued lockdown, the loss of hope in our own plans or in our capacity as a society to manage the spread of the virus, I thought, before we look at our plans for the weekend, we should reflect on the great good it is as believers in Jesus to have hope in the LORD, for Peter says that is true of us. Through believing in Jesus who has ransomed us by His blood our ‘faith and hope are in God’, in the LORD. [1 Peter 1:18-21]

What is hope in the Lord?

Hope in the LORD is not hope in our knowledge of the LORD’s plans for us; nor is it hope in the work we do for the LORD; still less is it hope that the LORD would make our plans work out. And it is not quite the same as a future hope, a hope in the LORD’s promises.

Hope in the LORD includes that future hope, but it is more than that. It is hope in Him, in a person, the LORD. It is entrusting ourselves to His might, His faithfulness, His steadfast love. It is hope that He will always be to us the person He has revealed Himself to be in saving us through His Son Jesus – the Father who has compassion on His children, whose wisdom is unfathomable, who has power to raise the dead, who is rich in mercy and love.

"Hope in the LORD includes that future hope, but it is more than that. It is hope in Him, in a person, the LORD"

When we cannot see how we can meet our need – He can. He can bring water from the rock.
When we feel our strength and resources running out – He can sustain us with His powerful Spirit and make our weakness the place where we experience the fullness of His power [2 Cor. 12:9]
Where we cannot discern the way ahead because all seems dark and uncertain – He is light in our darkness, and His word a lamp to our feet. [Ps. 139:11-12, 119:105, John 8:12]. The darkness is as light to Him.
Where our capacity to engage waxes and wanes, He is always on the job. He who watches over Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps [Psalm 121:3-4].
He never falters in His good purpose for us [Romans 8:28-30] or His good work in us, and
When life itself is ebbing away, He is in the Son our resurrection and life [John 11:25-26].

As Jesus’ followers our hope for ourselves and our families and our church is in the LORD – not in the capacity of our officials, not in advances in technology, not in our own coping strategies, not in the strength of community. All these may fail us, just as life itself will, but the LORD never will fail us.

It is extraordinary to be able to say ‘My hope is in the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth.’ This is our God’s gift to us in justifying us through faith in Christ and bringing us to enjoy peace with Him and to live in His grace [Romans 5:1-5]. My prayer for us all is that even as we again experience the disappointment of earthly plans and hopes being changed by forces much bigger than us, we will grow in the peace and confidence that comes from knowing our hope is in the LORD.

"My prayer for us all is that even as we again experience the disappointment of earthly plans and hopes being changed by forces much bigger than us, we will grow in the peace and confidence that comes from knowing our hope is in the LORD."

The coming weekend

But our normal pattern of life does continue to be disrupted, so we will be back livestreaming the services this week as well – at 10 and 5. This week there will be a Zoom chat after both services to give us an opportunity to encourage each other.

We would normally have had the Lord’s Supper this Sunday but Session has decided we will not have it this Sunday in the hope we will be able to share in it together in person in July. We made this decision for three reasons.

Firstly, we think this will be a short lockdown and did not want to communicate that it has a degree of permanence to which we must adapt again. It is something we are passing through, not settling in.
Secondly, in person is so much better and we don’t feel the need yet to resort to what is in truth a poor substitute for being in each other’s presence around the table, visibly expressing our unity in Christ.
Thirdly, we are wanting to keep things as simple as possible – for you and the staff.

Keeping it simple so we come out of lockdown well

We are wanting to keep things simple to preserve energy for coming out of lockdown. It is my observation that moving back into lockdown has been fairly smooth. While tiring and frustrating, especially for those doing schooling from home and trying to work from home, we know what to do. Bible studies have moved onto Zoom, thanks to our tech team we returned smoothly to live streaming, today Kids’ Club and Youth Group will be online. We know we can manage lockdown.

More energy is needed to move out of lockdown, to get things moving again. To re-engage with serving, to organising to get out to see people, to getting the children back into their activities, to making the effort – again – to return to normal when you don’t have confidence that it will last. That will require energy when so many of us are de-energised by lockdown. So we want to keep what we do in lockdown as simple as possible so we do have the energy to get things going again, because our normal is good. It is encouraging to be together, to sing together, to serve together, to witness baptisms, to teach children in Sunday School, to be able to invite others into our common life. That is so much better.

"We want to keep what we do in lockdown as simple as possible so we do have the energy to get things going again, because our normal is good."

We hope we will by the long weekend be able to start meeting together again. Sadly the talk seems to suggest it might be a staged relaxation of restrictions which takes a little more effort to plan and adapt to, but more of that next week when we hope to know more.

In the meantime do the simple things you know work. Maintain your personal devotion, your daily bible reading and prayer; stay connected by livestreaming the service and zooming in on your bible study; call up your brothers and sisters in Christ to encourage and be encouraged.

And put your hope in the LORD.

Let me finish with Psalm 131, CSV

Lord, my heart is not proud;
my eyes are not haughty.
I do not get involved with things
too great or too wondrous for me.
Instead, I have calmed and quieted my soul
like a weaned child with its mother;
my soul is like a weaned child.

Israel, put your hope in the Lord,
both now and forever.

Locked Down

In response to the increasing number of cases of Covid 19 acquired by community transmission, the increasing number of exposure sites, many of them in our Northern suburbs, and the thousands of primary and secondary contacts of those infected, the government has initiated a lockdown from midnight tonight that will extend until midnight next Thursday.

As a consequence of the lockdown, as foreshadowed in Wednesday’s email, all gatherings in our homes and in the church building are cancelled for the next week, including the meeting of the Iranian congregation on Saturday night. All small groups will have to return to meeting on Zoom this week, and we will livestream two services on Sunday – the morning service at 10am and the evening service at 5pm. The links are included in this email

As this is hopefully a ‘short, sharp lockdown’ we won’t reinstitute the after service Zoom meeting for this one Sunday, and I would encourage you instead to be in contact with each other.

Groundhog Day

In the discussion of this lockdown on the radio I heard someone say it felt like groundhog day – the same all over again. We have been here before so we know both what to expect and what we need to do. We know the temptations a lock down can bring – even a short one. Grumbling against the government or God, giving way to bad habits, exposing ourselves to unhelpful material on the TV or internet, impatience and irritability with others, thanklessness, unconcern for others.

And we know the resources we have and how to use them to keep living godly lives.

Spiritual practices like daily bible reading and prayer where we cast all our anxieties upon the Lord.
Practical love, seen in looking out for each other, making those phone calls, helping out with shopping or cooking.
Physical exercise and adequate rest.
Staying involved in our Christian family by participating in Growth Group over Zoom and tuning in to the livestream on Sunday for the encouragement of the Word preached. This Sunday from Daniel in the morning and Kings in the evening, reminders of the sovereignty, power and faithfulness of our God.

Above all remembering the truth of the gospel, that God is, that He rules over all and judges the nations, that we are now at peace with Him through the death of His son for our sins, and we know that He loves us and will work this for our good [Romans 5:1-11, 8:26-39]. These events are not outside His control and His power to keep His promises is not limited by a virus or the decisions of human governments. Where we live in the truth these times give many opportunities to teach our children about the power of our God and His love for His people, to share with them His good promises, and these time gives many opportunities, opportunities each day, for thankfulness

Reliving the first lockdown

But the sense of having been here before can also be powerfully discouraging, demotivating and de-energising when we start to think we will never escape the threat of death from the virus and the disruption lock down brings. I also heard on the radio a psychiatrist say she thought some Victorians had post traumatic stress responses to lockdown, triggering intense emotional reactions as people felt again the fear and loneliness and anxiety experienced in the first lockdown. Perhaps you can relate to that, or sense that in others.

If that is you remind yourself of what as believers we know to be true. Why not say to yourself before you go to bed at night Psalm 23 – the LORD is my shepherd - and give thanks that is true for every believer in our Lord Jesus, our good shepherd, true for you as you trust Him. Or Psalm 121, or take comfort from Isaiah 40:27-31. ”Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.” Remember the Lord Jesus is with His people – we are never alone. He has said He will never leave us or forsake us. And talk with a brother or sister, and pray together to the God who hears our prayers [Ps. 62:2]

Some Particular Prayers

And in our prayers we should all remember those in hospital, further cut off from family and friends, like Jen Evans. Or those who have had to rapidly adapt their plans, like Rachel and Russell Smith who are even now as I write [Thursday evening] travelling to NSW so that Rachel can have her surgery. You will know others for whom this lockdown will bring particular difficulties. Pray for them.

There are many exposure sites in the North and it may be some of us will become primary or secondary contacts of someone who is infected and must isolate. Or some of us may become infected ourselves. Please let others know, let the Pastors know if that is you.

Lord willing when I speak to you next week it will be to say that everything is back to normal, but there is no guarantee that will be the case. This is a very fast spreading virus so keep praying that the Lord would, according to His will, contain the virus and prosper the health authorities’ efforts, even as we pray for our neighbours that they would turn from their sin and humble themselves before the living and righteous God, and be moved by this to seek His mercy.

Let me close with a prayer, the Psalmists prayer for grace for God’s people so that all would come to praise the true God, Psalm 67:1-3.

“May God be gracious to us and bless us

and make His face to shine upon us,

that your way may be known on earth,

your saving power among all nations.

Let the peoples praise you O God,

let all the peoples praise you.”

On the 23rd March the Victorian Government published new covid contact tracing requirements for venues, including churches. Whereas up to this point in time churches could use their own electronic record keeping – for us registration, including pre-registration, through BundyConnect – now churches must “use electronic record keeping through the free Victorian Government QR Code Service or Victorian Government Application Programming Interface (API) linked digital system.” Venues, including churches, were given to the 23rd April to implement this change.

“All venues must apply the two square metre rule and use electronic record keeping through the free Victorian Government QR Code Service or Victorian Government Application Programming Interface (API) linked digital system (venues will have a 28-day compliance amnesty in place to 23 April 2021).”

www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/religion-and-ceremony Reviewed 12th April 2021

What does that mean for us? More change, in this case change to a system that has been working well for us. What this change means for what you do when you come to church Cat will explain, but in brief we will no longer use preregistration on BundyConnect. Instead, for Covid contact tracing purposes, we will all have to scan the Services Victoria QR Code or use the manual alternative every time we enter the building if we are going to be more than 15 minutes in the building. We will also be asking you to check in on Sundays in the way we all did pre-Covid to get your name tag as we have no access to the information kept by Services Victoria and need to keep the records we still need for SafeChurch and pastoral purposes.

I confess that my initial reaction to this new government mandate was frustration, dismay and concern that this change would discourage some from attending church just when our gathering is increasingly returning to normal, with no face masks, with singing, and from the 25th the children starting with us in the morning services. As meeting together is important for our own Christian lives, the encouragement of our brothers and sisters, and our witness in the community, and as I don’t think my reaction to this change will be unique, I am going to speak first of the causes of my frustration and concern and then how I have addressed them so that we can cheerfully adapt to the change and not lose the momentum we are gaining in returning our congregational life to normal.

I confess that my initial reaction to this new government mandate was frustration, dismay and concern

So what are the causes of my frustration and concern.

Firstly, especially when you are weary, and I think many of us are still tired from last year, change itself takes energy, and it is always discouraging to think you must change something that is working. And what we have been doing was working. Through all of us using Bundyconnect and the work of the Welcoming Teams we have a very good record of who is in the building on Sundays. We have also kept good records, both electronic and manual, of who is present in the building during the week, including LaTrobe CU on Mondays and the Iranian congregation on Saturdays. Stored by us on our servers they were readily available on request should the Covid Contact tracing team need them.

Mandating the use of the ServicesVic QR Code also introduces difficulties. There are the practical difficulties of not everyone having a phone, not all phones working well with the ServicesVic App [and only an App is available], and the poor reception many of us have, particularly in the foyer. We have explored the “Victorian Government Application Programming Interface (API) linked digital system” and other ways of dealing with some of the phone and reception issues. The Government is clear that it is not interested in individual groups developing their own API. Only certain approved commercial apps are permitted to do this and none of these seem suitable for us at the moment, and improving internet access in the foyer is also not a practical option at the moment. The practical difficulties remain and are not easily overcome.

Thirdly, as I have already said, we have no access to the ServicesVic data. That means we now must ask you to do two things when you enter the building. Scan the QR code for covid contact tracing and then check in with us. Going without check-in is not really an option for us. We must maintain records of all children and youth for SafeChurch, and it helps us pastorally to know who is present and who is not. If, for example, someone unknowingly infected with Covid came to church we would want to be in touch with all those present to see how you are going, but we would not get attendance records from the Covid contact tracers. We need to have our own record – and so an extra step for us all in coming to church, with the potential to slow down entry and also create a further bottleneck in the foyer.

That means we now must ask you to do two things when you enter the building. Scan the QR code for covid contact tracing and then check in with us... We must maintain records of all children and youth for SafeChurch, and it helps us pastorally

More importantly, in principle we don’t want to suggest that you need the government’s permission to come to church and people can only come to church when a government requirement is met. And it doesn’t take much imagination to see that mandating a system that tracks in real time every time a person enters a church building and stores that information could in some circumstances be misused. For those who already have concerns about their privacy or the government’s motives this requirement may be a deterrent to gathering, and this extra disincentive is deeply frustrating for those of us who know that regularly meeting together is essential for our well being as followers of Jesus.

We want to make it easier, not harder, to gather, for we are commanded to gather together to encourage each other to love and good deeds, and we all need that encouragement. This new requirement seems to be only adding an unnecessary hurdle on the pathway to normality.

We want to make it easier, not harder, to gather, for we are commanded to gather together to encourage each other to love and good deeds

So those are my frustrations and concerns. What to do with them?

Firstly we need to recognise that the Government has introduced this requirement across all venues, not just churches, out of a concern for people’s privacy. There was realistic concern that the contact tracing requirement was being used by commercial venues to glean personal information for their own commercial purposes – e.g. sending unsolicited advertising – and a concern about their storage of the information. Having all the information on the Services Vic servers protects the vast amount of information being collected from commercial misuse.

Secondly it should facilitate contact tracing, allowing that to get underway more quickly where there is concern about the greater infectivity of new variants and it is thought that even a delay of hours will mean greatly increased risk of further infection.

Thirdly this information is collected under the Public Health and Wellbeing act and its use is governed by the orders issued by the Chief Health Officer. Under those directions only officers authorised by the CHO can access the data and only for the purposes of contact tracing, and the data is to be deleted after 28 days. As it is governed by the Public Health Act it would appear that when the state of health emergency ceases the requirement to collect the information will also cease, so this is not an indefinite requirement. The storage of the information is also subject to Privacy legislation and the Governments Data Protections standards. I have put a link to the Services Victoria Privacy Policy in the transcript. [https://service.vic.gov.au/privacy-and-security]. While more readily accessible to the contact tracers the data is securely stored – as much as any agency can guarantee security.

Fourthly this provision feels a misfit for us because it is not designed specifically for us. The Government is thinking of businesses and trying to ensure the safe collection of contact tracing data while facilitating the re-opening of businesses. There is a world of difference between a business with clients or patrons and a church. We are a voluntary association. We are not consumers but family in Christ. We give up our data on BundyConnect to us, to facilitate our common life, not for any commercial gain. It is applied to our priorities, our ministries, and our connection. We are more concerned with preserving the privacy of our movements than preserving the privacy of our personal information from our congregation. But compared to the commercial sector we are also a small segment of the population, and a failure to address our particular circumstances is far more likely to be because of a limitation of resources on the part of the health department than any deliberate neglect. We need to be generous towards those who are trying to keep our community safe.

Thinking Clearly

The reality is that good contact tracing serves us well. Contact tracing allows outbreaks to be controlled quickly and confidence in the contact tracing is what allows our society to open up and function. Good contact tracing contributes to our being open and supports our returning to normality, to being able to meet, for example, without masks, and to sing. We should support it.

Social cohesion has also served us well. General compliance with the government’s initiatives to control the spread of the virus has contributed to their effectiveness and benefited us all. We should not undermine it.

We also must recognise that the potential for misuse is not actual misuse. Many of the things we use everyday have serious opportunities for misuse – our cars, our phones, our words. The potential for misuse does not prevent them from being rightly used. Undoubtedly data collection can be misused but it can also be powerfully helpful and so is not wrong in itself. It is actual misuse we should be concerned about.

Recent controversies [e.g. over sexuality] may have contributed to some of us being concerned about the direction of the Government and suspicious of the motives of some elements of the government and public service. But we do live in a robust democracy with a free press and an independent judiciary. While being concerned about some legislation and its impact on us we ought to be thankful for the freedoms we do have and not exaggerate any hostility there may be toward churches.

Thinking Biblically

We should also commit ourselves to be guided by God’s word, not our fears. Our fears are not prophets. God’s word tells us ‘to be subject to the governing authorities’ [Rom. 13:1], to ‘be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution’ [1 Pet. 2:13]. Scanning a QR code is not a ‘serve God not man’ issue [Acts 4:19], especially as in this case ‘Caesar’ is seeking to ensure our safety from a disease, not forbid us preaching Jesus. Those of us who are troubled by the government’s direction must remember that faith is not seen in obeying only when what God asks agrees with our inclinations, but in doing what God says even when it conflicts with our inclinations.

We need to remember that our God is sovereign over these changes and we are not to grumble [1 Cor. 10:10], even when we are weary. We are to trust Him that He knows best the context in which we can glorify Him by ‘not growing weary in doing good' but 'keeping on doing good to everyone as we have opportunity, and in particular doing what is honourable in the sight of all’. [Gal. 6:9-10, Rom. 12:17]

And we should be guided by God’s word in our determination to gather and not allow ourselves to be deterred from gathering by changes or extra inconvenience. Hebrews is clear that we should ‘consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near' [Heb. 10:24-25]. Our neglect, fears and weariness are more a threat to our meeting than any government policy.

So don’t be deterred by these changes from meeting. Like the other changes we have had in the past twelve months we will soon get used to these. Coming into the building scan the Services Vic QR code for Covid contact tracing or use the manual alternative, then check in as you would have pre-Covid. Allow a little extra time in the first few weeks so that you don’t feel rushed.

Continue in thankfulness – that we can meet, and for our increasing freedom in our meetings, and pray for the government, that the Lord would prosper their efforts to control the disease and they would be His servants in rewarding good and restraining evil.

Easter is almost upon us, just as we have had on Tuesday a further relaxation of the Covid mask rules and just as the distribution of the locally made vaccine has commenced. We have much to be thankful for and, in light of the changes announced by the government in mask wearing, we will no longer be requiring mask wearing while singing at church. That is a relief to me, and something that will be welcomed by many of you. So this Easter, unlike last Easter, we will be able not only to gather, but to gather and praise our saving God wholeheartedly, to lift our voices together to declare His greatness and the wonder of His love, wisdom and might revealed in saving His people through the crucifixion of His Son Jesus.

Make sharing in our services a priority.

I encourage you to make it a priority to share in our Easter services – Thursday night and Friday morning, and Sunday 9, 11 and 5. More, to encourage others, particularly those who are hesitant or who have struggled to get back into a pattern of gathering together, to join us at the services. Christians, where they can, should gather together at Easter.

A witness to the world

Easter is a time when we say to the world by our visible gathering, by prioritising that gathering over other activities, that Jesus matters. We proclaim in our gathering that He is real, had a real death in history, and a real resurrection in history. More we say that those events continue to be central to the history of the world, to the fate of creation, and to the eternity of every person, for in Jesus God was fulfilling His promise to be the Saviour, the only Saviour, of the world [Isaiah 45:22-25]. It is a disservice to our neighbours to let them think that these events are of purely private significance, to not declare by our public celebration that Jesus is Lord, the one now with all authority, exalted because He humbled Himself to death in obedience to the Father’s will to reconcile the world to Himself through that death [2 Corinthians 5:17-21]. We should be saying to them come and hear what the living God has done, and just as in Jesus’ death you will see the horror of human envy, indifference and cruelty, the horror of our rejection of God that disfigures and destroys life, the horror we still see around us in our world, so come and find a true and abiding hope, and the joy of that hope, in Jesus’ triumph over our sin and death in His resurrection. This is a message the world needs to hear, a message the world needs to see by their gathering is central to the lives of those who say they are Christian.

Easter is a time when we say to the world by our visible gathering, by prioritising that gathering over other activities, that Jesus matters.

Remembering for life

But our gathering is not just about witnessing to the world. Easter is part of the rhythm of our remembering, the rhythm of a year where we do not let ourselves forget what God has done for us. Gathering as we do to hear the gospel story being read is saying this great good news, the good news of the God who so loved the world that He gave His Son to give all who believe eternal life, the good news that brings peace, is for us [John 3:16, Isaiah 52:7-10]. We are part of the big story of God’s dealings with humanity, the story of creation, fall, redemption and new creation, the story where the living God makes Himself known, and where that revealing of Himself has climaxed in the coming of His Son. Gathering to remember and rejoice in the gospel story is to remind ourselves of the goodness and greatness of our God, and that He can be known and called upon to save. It is to remember that we are not alone, and our lives are not purposeless. They are marked with eternal significance, and our end is not darkness and oblivion but by God’s great graciousness, saving might and faithfulness our end is to see the living God.

A Gathering that anchors our faith in history

We should always gather around the gospel, always be gathering to encourage each other to persevere in living lives of faith, but gathering together at Easter, at that time of Passover when Jesus was crucified, helps us anchor our faith in historical reality. It is a needed reminded that we are not followers of a philosophy or made up stories but of a real man who had real flesh and blood, lived a real life amongst us, and died our real death – and then rose in a real body to be touched, seen, heard. A real man, who is God with us. He knows us, and His is real power to save – in history, for the world is open, not closed, to Him. In this world people can and do make all sorts of claims – whether about the truth of their insights, or their capacity to bring peace, or that their philosophy will change the world and humanity for good. They call us to trust them but they will in the end all decay in their graves, and their promises and claims die with them. But Jesus’ grave was empty. He lives, He hears, and He saves. His words never fail and gathering to celebrate His death and rising is a great encouragement to live trusting and obeying them, to live that life of faith, hope and love to which our God has called us in bringing us to believe this wonderful gospel that Christ has died for our sins, been buried, and has been raised from the dead and exalted to God’s right hand, to live the life of faith, hope and love that will end in our entry with joy into the heavenly Jerusalem.

Gathering together at Easter... helps us anchor our faith in historical reality. It is a needed reminded that we are not followers of a philosophy or made up stories but of a real man.

So make gathering this Easter to remember together God’s great saving work in His Son a priority, a priority that witnesses to the world its reality and importance, and strengthens and nurtures the life of faith in you. To forget is death and to remember is life.

Come, remember, and rejoice together in our risen, living Saviour Jesus.

Note: There will be no communication on Good Friday, nor the week after as we allow the office to have a rest from our routine busyness.

Today I am going to talk about the budget that will be presented to the Annual Congregational Meeting on Tuesday, a budget formulated by the BOM and coming with the commendation of both the BOM and Session.

An opportunity to talk about the budget

I have always struggled to find a forum in which to engage you with the Budget so I am grateful to now have the opportunity of these Friday talks, courtesy of the changes that came with Covid, to encourage you to both own the budget – the ministry priorities it embodies – and to prayerfully support it. Over the years I have been reluctant, rightly I think, to speak of budget and money matters on Sundays. It is just such a turn off to those not yet Christian, reinforcing their stereotype of Christian churches as being self-interested and money hungry. And we don’t gather on Sunday to have human plans and strategies promoted, but to hear the Word and praise and pray to our God together.

That reluctance has been reinforced by my conviction that your money is your money, given to you by God to be administered by you as God gives you wisdom as a disciple of Jesus, and that Christian giving is always to be free and uncoerced. And I have found it hard, conscious as I am that many of you are at a stage in life where you face many demands on your finances and that there are a lot of deserving Christian ministries to be supported, to shake the uncomfortable feeling that promoting support of our budget is promoting my own interests as one of the beneficiaries of your giving.

The Budget – the fruit and expression of our ministry priorities

But the outcome of this reluctance has meant that there can be a lack of awareness of the congregation’s needs, and worse, a lack of excitement about what we as a congregation are doing, about the ministries you are supporting. Ours is a big budget, both the fruit and the expression of ministry priorities and plans pursued over years, embodying our commitment to make disciples of Jesus together. It is all about supporting gospel ministry, investing in people, our staff, who can pastor and teach us, and who can help disciple our children and support and encourage our own evangelism. Thus we have over the years supported the youth and children’s workers, and been richly blessed by their work. This is a key area, for it is vital that our bringing up our children as followers of Jesus be supported by them being able to have peers who share that Christian commitment in an increasingly secular society, and that they have a context to test what they are hearing and be challenged, independent of their parents, to live as followers of Jesus.

There can be a lack of awareness of the congregation’s needs,

and worse, a lack of excitement about what we as a congregation

are doing, about the ministries you are supporting.

We continue to invest through appointing an evening congregation pastor in the discipleship of university students and young workers, a key time for growing as followers of Jesus through the challenging transitions from school to tertiary studies to work, and for many from being single to being married.

And our own Christian lives need to be sustained through the regular teaching of God’s word in public and private and through being equipped ourselves to minister to others, just as we need to have a context in which we can welcome new believers in the faith and be encouraged ourselves to persevere in working together in evangelism, in sharing the gospel of our Lord Jesus. This is what our morning pastors do through teaching, writing, training, visiting, supervising growth groups, supporting ministries, sustaining our gatherings.

The value of investment

I think the value of that investment was seen throughout last year and as we have moved again into this year. That we could move online so quickly was because God had given us the gifts in our tech team, but also because Andy could work with them to sustain the service. The growth groups were vital, and Clinton has been investing in organising and supporting them. We were able to produce daily devotions and the Friday emails, keeping us connected with each other. The sustaining of youth and children’s ministry, and the capacity to quickly move back to face to face meeting of Kid’s Club and Youth Group, is in large measure thanks to Andrew and Clarissa and their work over years with their teams. Chris was able to run Christianity Explored four times over 2020 and see people come to faith as they questioned their lives in the pandemic.

Our budget is about investing in ministry, and we see fruit from that investment. The rest of the budget is also about our ministry priorities. There is the support the office and administrative staff gives, which has proved invaluable – from electronic record keeping, keeping up to date with Covid compliance, distributing communications, and now streamlining our service announcements. The BOM increased the office hours towards the end of last year because of the enormous amount of work involved in starting to meet again, an investment that was both necessary and again fruitful, making possible the recommencement of face to face meeting in our building. There is the maintenance of our building, the building which is a gift from God. The usefulness of having our own building was again seen last year when many groups that met in rented premises were completely locked out of them. The fact that we could livestream from our premises and improve it over time was a blessing to others who tuned in from many places when their own congregations could not make the adjustment to online services. And the building continues to be a blessing to others, whether as a place for LaTrobe CU to start its meetings while they await return to campus and or as a hub for livestreamed conferences, for example those of Reach Australia, TGCA.

Our budget is about investing in ministry,

and we see fruit from that investment.

But the budget does not just support gospel ministry here. Through our budget the missions committee supports those who have gone out from the congregation to serve the Lord – whether in Africa or Northern Australia, North Asia or Thailand. And the budget also supports our connection with other churches in Victoria, through the support of the Presbyterian Church General Missions Program and also the Property Development Fund, the fund through which we hope eventually the Donnybrook church plant will obtain its own necessary property.

Ours is a big budget that is focused on supporting making disciples through evangelism and teaching.

Ours is a big budget that is focused on supporting making disciples through evangelism and teaching.

And our budget has also embodied our plans to realise our priorities, to keep on making disciples at every stage of life, which has often meant our budget has been a deficit budget. This year’s is no exception. In fact it is a big budget with a big deficit, the gap between projected expenditure and projected income being around $170,000. We can fund this from our reserves but to prevent disruption to ministry we would plainly not like to realise that deficit, to have sufficient funds at the end of the year to plan with confidence for 2022.

Understanding the budget deficit

How do we come to that deficit? It is a combination of acting on the plans we have made 3-4 years ago to increase the number of pastors from two to four, and Covid. Putting Clinton and Chris on was an important step from which we are reaping the benefits, but it substantially increased our expenditure. When we have increased ministry positions in the past we had used grants from the denomination to cover the gap created by the increased expenditure and our income, while income caught up as the congregation grew. But four years ago we decided to increase the number of Pastors without a grant as we had reserves in the bank and had been granted a two year pause in our giving to the Property Development Fund [5% of our giving], both of which we thought would allow our giving to increase to the point where we could sustain the appointments. Then, as we were gaining momentum in ministry, we had a Covid 2020. Miraculously, due to a combination of increased giving and government stimulus – the ATO Cash Flow Boost – we actually made a surplus in 2020. But Covid has been disruptive, making any growth in congregation size difficult. In addition some have left us during 2020 – for good things like the Donnybrook Church Plant or responding to family requests, or have just reassessed their circumstances and where they want to meet with others for encouragement. We have also had to increase office expenditure to cover the increased work we have needed to do to be Covid compliant and also, and more importantly, to maintain connection over the year. Along with resuming giving to the Property Development Fund this has contributed to our projected deficit, a deficit Session and BOM are willing to bring to the congregation because the budget is about embodying our ministry priorities and we want to sustain our ministry together.

We will, of course, be watching the finances very closely over the coming year and if necessary revive the contingency plans we had been formulating for 2020, but which in God’s grace were never needed. But we would like to move beyond deficit budgets. We would like to reach a point where giving exceeds expenditure, not to accumulate money in the bank but so that we can have confidence to plan and be in a position to help other congregations, particularly new congregations in the North of Melbourne like our brothers and sisters at Donnybrook. We will only be able to do that if we have a common mind about the importance of the local church in fulfilling Jesus’ command to make disciples. More, if we have confidence in this local church to be busy in making disciples, so confident that we are willing to invest here for eternal return.

We would like to move beyond deficit budgets. We would like to reach a point where giving exceeds expenditure, not to accumulate money in the bank but so that we can have confidence to plan and be in a position to help other congregations

When by God’s grace I first considered the ministry of teaching God’s word it was because of a conviction of the importance of the local church, and that conviction has only grown with experience. Central committees and big plans don’t make disciples. Local congregations and the evangelists they support do, as they encourage each other to be disciples, to speak the gospel to others and to live doing all that Jesus teaches. In God’s plan the local congregation where God’s word is faithfully taught is the means He provides to encourage you to persevere and grow in your faith through the ministry of each to the other with the gifts God provides, and it is also vital to your bringing up your children in the faith and their own growth into mature followers of Jesus. That is why, by the way, we all need to get back into the habit of meeting regularly week by week. And the local congregation is also vital to evangelising our community. Here people can see and experience an alternate community, one characterised by truth and love as our lives are ruled by God’s word. Here they can test the faith and be supported in change when belief in Jesus means hostility from the world. And here you can find in our common confession the encouragement we all need to keep on bringing to our needy but resistant world the light of the gospel.

Central committees and big plans don’t make disciples.

Local congregations and the evangelists they support do...

The reputation of Jesus in our community hangs on the

lives of believers in local congregations

The reputation of Jesus in our community hangs on the lives of believers in local congregations. When Christianity is spoken of, and often misrepresented, in our media, our neighbours will think of the believers they know to test those claims. Local congregations like ours that encourage genuine discipleship, living those good lives that cause others to see and praise God for our good deeds [1 Pet. 2:12, Matt. 5:16], are vital to the spread of the gospel, and the need for people to hear the gospel in Australia, in the Northern Suburbs of Melbourne, is very great.

So have a look at the budget and prayerfully consider if now is the time to invest in our congregation, and through us in the work of the gospel around us.

On Wednesday morning I saw in my inbox an email from the health department titled “Increase in gastroenteritis outbreaks in childcare”.

It went on to describe the very unpleasant symptoms of infection with the Norovirus - nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, fever, abdominal pain, headache and muscle aches, and to warn that sanitising hands would not prevent its spread. To control the spread people needed to wash with soap and water and to stay at home until forty-eight hours after symptoms have ceased.

That health alert was a reminder to me that alongside Covid 19 there are a number of highly infectious diseases out there, particularly amongst the pre-school age group, and that we all need to be vigilant to make sure our activities and gathering as a church don’t promote their spread.

Being sick is miserable, and especially when your children are young going from one sickness to the next, from the runny nose to the vomiting to the cough, is just exhausting and discouraging when you find yourself stuck at home week after week. In this fallen world loving our brothers and sisters means being diligent in embracing practices that will stop the spread of preventable infectious diseases through our community. We should also embrace those practices for the sake of our visitors and the church’s reputation in the community. We don’t want our visitors, perhaps that person you have worked so hard to get to church to hear the gospel and meet your Christian friends, to remember BPC not for the gospel message they heard but for the gastro their child caught and gave to them.

In this fallen world loving our brothers and sisters means being diligent in embracing practices that will stop the spread of preventable infectious diseases through our community. We should also embrace those practices for the sake of our visitors and the church’s reputation in the community.

Love tells us, especially as winter approaches, that we need to keep practicing our infection control measures. They are outlined in the FAQ section of the Covid 19 menu on the website [bpc.org.au]. The central point is that if you or, if you have children, your children have symptoms you need to stay at home. At this time if you have flu like symptoms, you should get tested for Covid 19. Even if the test is negative while you or your child has symptoms – e.g. the cough or runny nose persists – you should stay at home until those clear up to prevent the spread of some other URTI. If you have had gastro symptoms you should stay at home normally until 24 hours after the last vomit or runny motion, but with the Norovirus the department of health is saying 48 hours.

Sometimes we can have a persistent runny nose or cough from a non-infectious cause, such as hay fever or a post viral irritation. The important thing is that before you return to church you know it is non-infectious. In the case of a runny nose from hayfever is it like your normal hayfever? That should be a diagnosis that has been at some time confirmed by a doctor; in the case of a post-viral cough your acute symptoms have resolved, you have not had a fever for 72 hours, and you feel well. If in any doubt about this you should consult your local doctor before returning to church.

Sometimes taking these precautions can seem burdensome or even unnecessarily restrictive, and we know it can be discouraging to have to stay away because of what seems almost continuous sickness going through one child after another, a discouragement that can be compounded by disturbed nights. But love does not want to pass on preventable illness to others and these precautions have been informed by what is known of the infectious periods of these viruses and other infectious agents.

But those of us who are well also need to remember that love does not want anyone to be left in their discouragement, to have the discouragement of sickness compounded by being isolated from others. Those of us who are well should notice who is not there, who is loving the rest of us by staying away, and then getting in touch with them, letting them know you have noticed, noticed their sacrifice in staying home, and asking what you can do to help.

Those of us who are well also need to remember that love does not want anyone to be left in their discouragement... notice who is not there, who is loving the rest of us by staying away,... [let] them know you have noticed, noticed their sacrifice in staying home, and asking what you can do to help.

And if you have to stay home because of sickness keep watching the live stream and give the pastors a call. One of the major reasons we are committed to continuing the live stream is our awareness that sickness, which can happen to any of us at any time, will mean some have to stay home, and especially when children are starting in childcare they might be away for a few weeks in a row. And give the pastors, or your Christian brother or sister, a call. Often adults can safely visit a home where some are unwell because they are aware of the risks and can avoid them.

There are times in our lives when it can seem that infectious illness – and with it the broken sleep, the being stuck at home, the extra cleaning, can go on forever in our families. It won’t. There will be an end. God in His mercy has equipped us with immune systems that learn and immunity will develop in your children. But these sicknesses are another small reminder that the world is not right because of our sin. Let it be a gentle nudge to remind you that here we have no lasting city and that by faith we are on a journey to the city ‘whose designer and builder is God’ [Hebrews 11:10]. On that journey our Lord teaches us to live under all circumstances by truth and love, to inform our decisions by the knowledge God gives us and a determination to look not to our own interests but the interests of others. For now, for us, that means staying away when you have an infectious illness, and staying in touch with those making that sacrifice for the good of us all.

Our Lord teaches us to live under all circumstances by truth and love... to look not to our own interests but the interests of others.

For now, for us, that means staying away when you have an infectious illness, and staying in touch with those making that sacrifice for the good of us all.

RESOURCES:

1) Some FAQ's from our Covid-19 FAQ’s Webpage

What is our policy?

If you or your children are unwell, especially with flu like symptoms, you must not enter. Isolate yourself and get tested if you have not already done so.

If you are awaiting Covid test results, or are a close contact of a Covid 19 infected person, you must not enter until given the all clear by the Health Department.

Can they return as soon as they have a negative test result?

No. In addition to the negative test result they need to be symptom free before they come to church. We want to avoid transmitting other upper respiratory tract infections (URTI’s) as well.

Do I need to stay away if my child has a runny nose from hayfever?

No, but you should be confident it is hay fever and not an infection.

Questions to ask are “Is it like my normal hayfever?”, “Do I have accompanying symptoms like itchy eyes?”, “Is it responding to my usual treatments?” If the answer to these questions is yes it increases your confidence that it is your usual hayfever.

But if it is different from usual, or accompanied by fever, or unusual symptoms like cough, or is not responding to your normal treatments, you should go and be tested and wait for results before returning to church.

What about other illnesses?

It is good to remember there are other infectious diseases and we do not want these to spread through church. We should follow the exclusion guidelines used by schools. For example, if your child has symptoms of gastro, you should exclude them from church until there has not been vomiting or a loose motion for 24 hours.

See the document “Minimum period of exclusion from primary schools and children’s services for infectious diseases cases and contacts”

2) Summary of the Increase in gastroenteritis outbreaks in childcare Alert

Status: Active

Date issued: 9 March 2021 (Update to 26 November 2020)

Issued by: Adjunct Clinical Professor Brett Sutton, Chief Health Officer

Issued to: Childcare providers, parents with children in early childhood education, the Victorian community

Key messages

Parents and carers are urged to keep young children at home if they are sick amid a rapid rise in outbreaks of viral gastroenteritis in Victorian childcare centres.
Viral gastroenteritis is highly infectious. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, fever, abdominal pain, headache and muscle aches, with more severe outcomes in the elderly and very young. Symptoms can take up to three days to develop and usually last between one or two days, sometimes longer.
Washing hands with soap and water is one of the most effective ways of preventing the spread of infection. Alcohol-based hand sanitisers are not effective against many common viruses that cause gastroenteritis.
Infants or children in childcare or school, as well as staff, who develop vomiting or diarrhoea should stay at home until at least 48 hours after their symptoms have stopped, since they will still be infectious. If symptoms are severe or they persist, or you are concerned, see a GP for advice and possible testing.
Staff and parents should be vigilant for symptoms of gastroenteritis in children and reinforce basic hygiene measures.
Cleaning and sanitising are also important infection control measures and facilities should follow relevant Department of Health guidelines.
Anyone recovering from gastroenteritis should avoid visiting hospitals, childcare centres and aged care facilities to avoid spreading the infection to those most vulnerable. Any person living in a household with someone who has gastroenteritis should refrain from visiting these high-risk facilities until at least 48 hours after the last person in the household has recovered.

Events in Canberra this week, and the reporting of them, have made me feel at times deeply sad and angry – and at the same time profoundly thankful for the gospel, for its moral clarity, its assurance of justice, and most importantly for its offer of redemption to sinners like me.

The gospel provides moral clarity and broad moral vision

The gospel has both moral clarity and a broad moral vision, gives us light by which to walk in the darkness of our world. Certain behaviours and attitudes are just wrong, never to engaged in by those who fear the Lord. Violence, rape, murder, but also greed, pride, and sex outside the marriage of a man and a woman.

Certain behaviours and attitudes are just wrong,

never to engaged in by those who fear the Lord.

And it has a broad moral vision, not seen with the current focus on the issue of consent. Consent is important but to reduce the rightness or wrongness of a sexual encounter to only the issue of consent is a form of moral reductionism which shows the poverty of the secular gospel of expressive individualism. That is the term for the gospel of the new secular religion, ‘one’ in Steve McAlpine’s words,

“built on a commitment to individual autonomy and celebration of personal authenticity at any cost’, a ‘religion that finds ultimate meaning in the self’. [McAlpine, ‘Being the Bad Guys’ p. 27-28].

Where individual autonomy is the fundamental commitment and the source of the good life, consent becomes the sole morally significant characteristic of a sexual encounter because the will of the individual is ultimate. What expresses the autonomous will is good, what denies or frustrates it is bad. This gospel’s promise is empowerment of those who were previously disempowered but its reality is increasingly seen to be anything but. Rather than erase power imbalances in relationships it can entrench them, for some wills are stronger and the focus in the relationship becomes the manipulation of the will of the other – the door is open to that manipulation and subtle co-ercion. Having this as the only relevant moral consideration [in the name of being free to do whatever you want] leads to confusion about commitment, even about the rightness and wrongness of the act [for what constitutes informed consent, when can it be revoked, how is it to be communicated?], as well as insecurity in the relationship and into the future [will what was reckoned consent then be remembered as manipulation in a moment of subsequent regret]? This secular gospel has not led to a brave new world of life enhancing freedom but regret, hurt and chaos. The Christian gospel’s vision for sex is broader and deeper.

This secular gospel has not led to a brave new world of life enhancing freedom but regret, hurt and chaos.

The Christian gospel’s vision for sex is broader and deeper.

Like fire in a fireplace sex has a helpful and safe place in a bigger moral context. That context is marriage, a life long exclusive union of a man and a woman, as God given, within which sex is not an end in itself but a contributor to both the delight and the fruitfulness of that union. And marriage itself is understood as part of a world where right and wrong are not determined by our will with reference to our needs, where self is pre-eminent, but where right and wrong are determined by the revealed will of the Creator God who speaks, and who by example, in the incarnation and death of the Son, our Lord Jesus, and by decree has made power to serve love, love understood as a commitment to promote the well being of the other, love which is commanded to be shown by the [generally] more physically powerful man to his wife in marriage. In this understanding of the world, where we live with a commitment to the truth and authority of the gospel, our marriages and our sex within marriage are ennobled by being made to resonate with and point to the great purpose of creation, the union of Christ with His people [Ephesians 5:22-33]. This is a deeper and broader moral vision, and one that faithfully pursued does enhance and ennoble our lives, creates security and certainty, and can overcome the loneliness which is ‘an inherent by-product of individualism’

“If individual freedom is the goal and the means of achieving this freedom is replacing relationships of obligation and responsibility with a world of relational choice, then a certain amount of loneliness and insecurity will result.” [Dale Kuehne in McAlpine, p. 75]

The gospel provides assurance of justice

I am thankful for the moral clarity, the moral vision, of the gospel, and I am thankful for the gospel’s assurance of justice. We have had exposed this week, both in the events in Canberra and in the new scientific evidence presented in the Kathleen Folbigg case, the limitations and frailties of human justice. In this life complete justice is often unattainable and its pursuit can subvert justice, making it the vehicle of revenge. We should want justice and pray our authorities will be ‘the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer’ by rightly exercising their power in accord with God’s revealed will [Romans 13:4]. But human justice cannot overcome the limitations of our humanity – it will never be omniscient and omnipotent, its capacity to both access evidence and interpret the evidence available limited.

human justice cannot overcome the limitations of our humanity

This reality can leave those who are wronged or think they have been wronged either crippled with grief or consumed by a desire for vengeance and both can destroy our lives and even our society.

As Henry Ergas writes insightfully in the Australian, reflecting on Kafka,

“No one could deny the heart-wrenching torment real or imagined wrongs that have long been left to fester can cause. But Franz Kafka was right when he emphasised in The Trial that the justice “which never forgets” — yet is also incapable of accurately remembering — is no justice at all; it is, as he graphically put it, an ambush perpetually waiting to happen, a disease from which there may be temporary remission but no cure, a nightmare weighing even more heavily on the entirely innocent than on the irretrievably guilty.” [The Australian, 5/3/2021].

Christians, believers in the gospel of our Lord Jesus, know that no wrong will ever escape judgement by the just judge, the judge who searches people’s hearts [Jeremiah 17:9-10, Matthew 5:22, 28]. Our Lord tells us that on that day we will give account for every word we utter [Matthew 12:36-37], and God will give to everyone according to their works [Romans 3:5-6, Rev. 20:13]. Our Lord Jesus by His death and resurrection has guaranteed that the judgement of the last day is certain, and it will be just with God committed to upholding His law as we see in the crucifixion. We can bear patiently with the imperfect justice of this life and rather than being consumed with anger when we think people are ‘getting away’ with some wrong we should shudder at what awaits them from the just judge who has said ‘Vengeance is mine. I will repay.’ [Romans 12:19].

We can bear patiently with the imperfect justice of this life and rather than being consumed with anger when we think people are ‘getting away’ with some wrong we should shudder at what awaits them from the just judge

The gospel offers redemption to sinners

But that assurance of justice makes me even more thankful that the gospel offers redemption to sinners like me. Many of us have probably shuddered this week at the thought that we could be made publicly accountable for our words and actions as teenagers, accountable for their impact on others, and feared the public shaming that would accompany that revelation. How much more should we fear the certain judgment of God, when not only our actions but their justifications would be exposed in the light of His justice. But with God there is mercy, rich, deep and real [Eph. 2:4-5, 2 Samuel 24:14]. Our futures need not be chained forever to the sinful actions of our past, to an inevitable karma.

With God there is mercy, rich, deep and real. Our futures need not be chained forever to the sinful actions of our past

At peace with God we, through our Lord Jesus [Romans 5:1-8], do not need to live in fear of the vengeance of those we have wronged, of the vengeance of the God we have wronged. The Lord Jesus, to whom judgment is entrusted, forgives those who call on Him, those who believing His gospel that He has died for our sins, repent and confess their sin, and follow Him. There is forgiveness, as the story of David shows, even for those who abuse their power to impose their desire on another. Yet this mercy is not at the expense of God’s justice. He restores the order of His righteous rule even as He pardons by presenting His Son Jesus to bear the cost of our sinning, to be the propitiation for our sin by His blood [Romans 3:24-26]. He Himself, says Peter, bore our sins, their guilt and shame, in His body on the tree [1 Peter 2:24]. Isn’t this what we need, what our creation needs – mercy and justice, where one does not exclude the other. Only in that hope can there be real peace.

But Peter says Jesus bore our sins ‘that we might die to sin and live to righteousness’. We must live now committed to mercy and justice ourselves, avoiding wrong and being willing to forgive, not avenge ourselves on, those who wrong us while insisting as we are able on justice, the rewarding of good and punishing of wrong, in our public life.

I have found the events in Canberra troubling this week with the destructiveness of human sin at many levels and in many lives so publicly paraded before us. But it has also renewed my thankfulness for having been brought to know and believe the gospel of our Lord Jesus. As you think about what you are seeing and hearing in our news reflect on what you see and hear in the light of the gospel, and resolve to pray and speak so that in what is for many a despairing and fearful world, a world where we wrong and are wronged and live with the consequences, they also, the many, can find moral clarity, be assured of justice, and above all experience peace bringing forgiveness through believing in our Lord Jesus

A good place to start

https://www.focusonthefamily.com/episodes/broadcast/covid-19-vaccines-what-you-need-to-know/

A helpful interview with Francis Collins, someone personally involved at the highest level with the development of vaccines

https://www.russellmoore.com/2020/12/11/a-conversation-with-dr-francis-collins-on-vaccine-development-2/

On whether or not foetal cells are used in the production of the vaccine

https://lozierinstitute.org/update-covid-19-vaccine-candidates-and-abortion-derived-cell-lines/

On RNA vaccines

https://erlc.com/resource-library/articles/explainer-what-you-should-know-about-the-covid-19-rna-vaccines/

Albert Mohler: Part II The Christian Tradition and the Question of Vaccines: Seven Principles for Christian Thinking

https://albertmohler.com/2020/12/14/briefing-12-14-20

A brief article on the acceptability of using vaccines that have been developed using the cell line HEK293

https://www.heritage.org/public-health/commentary/the-covid-vaccine-and-the-pro-life-movement

Megan Best, an Australian Christian bio-ethicist, considers the morality of the AstraZeneca vaccine

https://au.thegospelcoalition.org/article/does-acceptance-of-a-covid-19-vaccine-represent-endorsement-of-abortion/

The Gospel, Society and Culture committee of PCNSW also has a series of helpful posts on vaccination at

http://gsandc.org.au/vaccinations-the-big-questions/

Thinking about the vaccine roll-out.

Thankfully the vaccination roll-out has now begun but there is a degree of concern amongst some about the advisability of receiving the vaccine. This concern relates mainly to either the speed of its approval or the use in the production of the AstraZeneca vaccine of a cell line [HEK293] developed from the tissue of an aborted foetus. In Western Australia there is even an anti-vaccination party running in the State election. So today I thought I would talk about some of the issues around the Covid vaccination and how we might think about them as followers of Jesus guided by His Word, the Bible.

Introductory comments

But first, five introductory comments.

A brief talk cannot canvas fully all the issues, and there are a number of resources attached to the transcript.
This is not medical advice, particularly individual medical advice. All our circumstances differ, and for individual medical advice you should consult your local medical practitioner.
We will have to make up our own minds about what we are to do. This is a situation where Christians may disagree and are free to do so, but whatever conclusion we come to we must be convinced it comes from faith, being fully convinced in our minds that it is pleasing to the Lord [Romans 14:5, 23]
In general vaccination is a good, whose purpose is to save lives and it has saved millions of lives around the world. It is a gift of God’s common grace that works with and through our created capacities to recognise and destroy microbial invaders that harm us. The underlying mechanism of vaccination is to equip the body to recognise a pathogen [e.g. a virus like polio] and mount an effective immunological response that quickly destroys the invader before the person gets ill. It facilitates processes already present in our creation for our good.
For me vaccination is an experienced good. Polio vaccination commenced in 1956 and before that there were recurrent polio epidemics. I grew up knowing people who had contracted polio, including a boy who walked to our bus stop with calipers on both legs. That so many now know no-one who has had polio is due to community vaccination. In India in 1977 I had the sad experience of seeing a baby with infantile tetanus, the child of a mother who had been out of the district when the immunisation campaign was conducted. Infectious diseases are scourges and effective vaccinations for them are something we should all be grateful to God for.

Concerns and Fears

Concerns about Covid vaccination cluster around the speed of the development and approval process, and about the use of cells derived from the cells of aborted foetuses in their development.

Concerns about Covid vaccination cluster around the speed of the development and approval process, and about the use of cells derived from the cells of aborted foetuses in their development.

In many ways the speed of the development and approval of these vaccines is something to be thankful for. It reflects developments in vaccine production and the use of new but existing technologies – DNA sequencing, mRNA research – to produce a safe vaccine. The talk below by Francis Collins, someone directly involved in overseeing the development of these vaccines, is very helpful. M-RNA [messenger RNA] vaccines [Pfizer and Moderna] give the cell the information needed to produce the antigen [the foreign protein] that the cell then recognises and develops an immune response to. The protein is not the virus and so cannot infect us, just a part of the virus. The m-RNA cannot enter the cell nucleus, and it is rapidly degraded by the cell’s ordinary recycling processes. In principle they are as safe or safer than traditionally produced vaccines which use killed or live attenuated viruses.

In principle they are as safe or safer than traditionally produced vaccines which use killed or live attenuated viruses.

The question with the speed of approval is really a question of whether all the normal steps in the approval process have been followed and whether the vaccine been tested with sufficient sample sizes to prove both its safety and its efficacy. The answer to both those questions from those involved in the process is yes. All the approval steps have been met, particularly in Australia where we have had the luxury of less urgency, and the sample size is now huge, with millions of doses having been administered. What side effects are experienced are generally minor and the signs of an effective response – soreness in the arm, mild short fever. With any medical procedure there are risks – even taking an aspirin, but the benefit has to be weighed against the risk. In the case of these vaccinations the risks, as far as it can be known, are small – no greater than the risks with the normal vaccines we receive - and the benefit to the individual and particularly the community, large.

Pro-life Christians are also concerned about the use of cell lines developed from aborted foetuses in the production and testing of these vaccines. The link to the Lozier institute below is to a chart they have developed and keep up to date that details which vaccines are produced using these cell lines, and which are not.

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are synthetic vaccines, manufactured, not multiplied in cell lines. Cell lines are not used in their production and there is no component of them that has any connection with cells from an aborted foetus. They have been tested on these cell lines, as have many other medications.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is produced in the cells of the HEK293 cell line. How should this influence our decision, if at all, about whether to get the vaccine and which vaccine to get? Several of the articles below go into this in more detail.

There are at least two ethical questions.

Firstly, does our use of something derived from an abortion [in this case a forty year old ‘immortalised’ cell line], make us complicit in the original evil act of the abortion?
Secondly, does our use promote further abortions?

Some will answer the first question by saying that the use of anything derived from an abortion indicates complicity. I am not persuaded by that as so much of what we use, taken far enough back, will have some moral taint. Some would argue that even our living in Australia and enjoying its wealth has at its origin the evil act of invasion. Does that mean we should abandon living here? Paul walked on roads made for the Roman military, to facilitate their conquest and occupation. Should he have restricted himself to the perilous and at times impassable non-Roman roads? We do not live in a perfect world and while we should grieve for the pervasiveness of sin in our world, we should also be thankful it is a world where sometimes good is brought from evil. The original abortion, done in the 60’s, was not done to develop the cell line, developed in 1972. It would have happened whether or not a cell line was developed. This cell line has since been altered significantly from the original cells. Those who are working on developing the vaccine also have a clear intent to do good, to save lives. The Albert Mohler article below explores these issues of distance and intent, along with other ethical considerations, but as I said above I am not persuaded by the suggestion that use of the AstraZeneca vaccine makes us complicit in the evil of the original abortion.

The original abortion, done in the 60’s, was not done to develop the cell line, developed in 1972. It would have happened whether or not a cell line was developed.

Does our use of this cell line promote further abortions?

No, although it may contribute to the normalisation of the use of such products. That is a serious consideration, but whether the products of abortion continue to be used in research will depend on changing the ethical climate to value the unborn human life and the development of alternatives, for these cell lines are extensively used because their properties are so well known. We should campaign for the cessation of use of the products of abortion in research and for ethically developed vaccines, but whether that campaign will be helped by frustrating the achievement of community immunity by refusing vaccination is another question. If we are pro-life, and believers should be, then we must also be pro the lives of those who will be spared sickness and death by an effective community wide vaccination program. So, in sum, I think there are no ethical issues in the use of the synthetic m-RNA vaccines, and, like the Catholic bishops, think the use of the vaccines like the AstraZeneca vaccine is acceptable where there are no acceptable and practical alternatives. I mention practical because the distribution of the Pfizer vaccine at -70 degrees Celsius presents formidable logistics challenges in Australia.

We should campaign for the cessation of use of the products of abortion in research and for ethically developed vaccines, but whether that campaign will be helped by frustrating the achievement of community immunity by refusing vaccination is another question.

I am also aware that there are all kinds of wild conspiracy theories going around about 5G, the vaccine being used to insert a microchip that also has the mark of the beast, and the nefarious activities of Bill Gates to control or make money out of us by this vaccination. Francis Collins draws attention to Philippians 4:6 – the encouragement of Scripture to think about ‘whatever is true’. We should not occupy ourselves with untrue and harmful speculations, as these are. Paul in Titus 3:9-11 tells Titus and the believers in Crete to “avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.” That is written for us.

Distaste, risk and love.

So should we participate in the vaccine roll out? I will, with thankfulness.

Let me give you three reasons to consider that have influenced my decision.

1) All truth is God’s truth.

He made the world and all that is in it. Science is the study of God’s handiwork, and the knowledge discovered by it part of the means God has given us for fulfilling our role in creation, to steward the world and multiply on it. Our God rules over all things. He says in Isaiah that he is the one who instructs farmers in their practice [Isaiah 28:23-26], just as he is the one who creates the smith [Isaiah 54:16-17]. That is, knowledge of our world, and knowledge of how to operate in our world, to manipulate creation to sustain human life and society, comes from Him, from His common grace. We should welcome the truth we are learning about the operation of cells, truth that in God’s grace now serves us in showing us how we can fight these novel viruses and reduce the disease burden on humanity. I sense sometimes amongst some Christians a suspicion of science and it is not helpful. I can understand how the boasting of atheist scientists can irritate us, and the invoking of politicians of the authority of science to justify their actions can grate on us, the proud triumphalism of the secularists that greeted the approval of these vaccines disappoints us, but that distaste at the misuse of science should not dampen our enthusiasm for truth about our created world and gratitude for truth that allows us to live well.

Distaste at the misuse of science should not dampen our enthusiasm for truth about our created world and gratitude for truth that allows us to live well.

2) Secondly, there is always risk in anything we do, a risk that needs to be balanced against benefit, not just to us but to others.

We might think that we have only a small risk of contracting Covid or having a serious illness when we do contract it, and so think the benefit of vaccination will be only marginal to us. Where we are making our assessment in the context of unfounded rumours about long term risks, or the dangers of vaccinations generally, and where we have a general anxiety about what we do not understand fully, we might be swayed to abstain from vaccination. But we should not be guided by untruth or fear, and we should consider the benefit to others. Overseas experience tells us that the Covid infection is serious and deadly to many, and it seems in some to have long term consequences. Further the economic and social cost to our society of measures to prevent the spread of the infection without vaccination are enormous, falling principally upon the young whose education has been disrupted, whose work has been lost, and who will be repaying the debt for decades. And as with any vaccination the healthy who can get vaccinated do get vaccinated to protect the more vulnerable who cannot get vaccinated by preventing the circulation of the virus. Further community wide vaccination will help limit the development of new, potentially more dangerous, strains of the virus by decreasing the amount of virus multiplying in the community.

3) Which brings me to love. Faith and love should guide our decision, and it seems to me love for our neighbour and our community would encourage us to get vaccinated where we can, whatever our assessment of the benefit to us individually. Love will want the vulnerable protected, our health care staff to be safer, our economy to once again be able to open up, for people to be able to travel freely to see family, for opportunities for mutation to be limited. More, love will encourage the government to make this vaccine widely available to other, poorer nations. I witnessed that case of infantile tetanus 21 years after vaccination started in Australia. We cannot have poorer countries waiting another 21 years to share in protection from the virus.

Love for our neighbour and our community would encourage us to get vaccinated where we can, whatever our assessment of the benefit to us individually. Love will want the vulnerable protected, our health care staff to be safer, our economy to once again be able to open up, for people to be able to travel freely to see family, for opportunities for mutation to be limited.

“Is it right, lawful,” Jesus asked in Mark 3:4, “on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” He asked this of people whose religious scruples, whose fear of doing something wrong on the Sabbath, made them willing to leave a man in misery for a little longer. Jesus was not pleased with them and healed the man. The answer to Jesus’ question is that it is always right to do good and save life and receiving the vaccination will do that. So I will receive the vaccination when my turn comes with thankfulness to God for His kindness in giving us this knowledge and ability to combat this disease, and letting us get on to face the other trials that will come our way in this fallen world.

It is always right to do good and save life and receiving the vaccination will do that.

Resources:

A good place to start

https://www.focusonthefamily.com/episodes/broadcast/covid-19-vaccines-what-you-need-to-know/

A helpful interview with Francis Collins, someone personally involved at the highest level with the development of vaccines

https://www.russellmoore.com/2020/12/11/a-conversation-with-dr-francis-collins-on-vaccine-development-2/

On whether or not foetal cells are used in the production of the vaccine

https://lozierinstitute.org/update-covid-19-vaccine-candidates-and-abortion-derived-cell-lines/

On RNA vaccines

https://erlc.com/resource-library/articles/explainer-what-you-should-know-about-the-covid-19-rna-vaccines/

Albert Mohler: Part II The Christian Tradition and the Question of Vaccines: Seven Principles for Christian Thinking

https://albertmohler.com/2020/12/14/briefing-12-14-20

A brief article on the acceptability of using vaccines that have been developed using the cell line HEK293

https://www.heritage.org/public-health/commentary/the-covid-vaccine-and-the-pro-life-movement

Megan Best, an Australian Christian bio-ethicist, considers the morality of the AstraZeneca vaccine

https://au.thegospelcoalition.org/article/does-acceptance-of-a-covid-19-vaccine-represent-endorsement-of-abortion/

The Gospel, Society and Culture committee of PCNSW also has a series of helpful posts on vaccination at

http://gsandc.org.au/vaccinations-the-big-questions/

Back, and thankful.

Thankfully the short sharp lockdown was just that – short and sharp and we are back to our Covid Summer this weekend with Kid’s club and Youth Group this Friday, the Iranian congregation commencing meeting again this Saturday evening after almost a year of no meetings, and all three Sunday services meeting with a density quotient of one person per two square meters, with the continuing requirement that we wear our masks indoors.

Back in operation again we will continue to re-introduce features of our normal pre-Covid activity. This Sunday at 11 the children will start in the service so they can witness the baptism of Annika Kothakota. If you are watching on the livestream be prepared for that time when the children leave, which will take a couple of minutes. In the evening we will begin serving tea and coffee after the service. This will be a helpful test of our processes before we start serving tea and coffee after the morning services at the beginning of March.

We can only do these things because of those who willingly serve, whether that is in the Sunday teams, or helping the Iranians in teaching their children under Christine’s leadership, or in Youth group and Kid’s Club. I want to thank those who have volunteered, and encourage you all to consider joining a team so we can sustain what we do without exhausting any, and continue to re-introduce valuable parts of our life together like morning tea. Serving one another is just part of the normal Christian life.

I want to thank those who have volunteered, and encourage you all to consider joining a team ... Serving one another is just part of the normal Christian life.

Practice Praise

But as I say that I recognise that the most recent lockdown creates uncertainty in our minds about the future and can contribute to a general anxiety and undermine motivation to make any plans or regular commitments, as well as add to our energy sapping frustrations with our Covid circumstances. In response can I encourage you to experience the health giving, confidence strengthening, joy renewing benefits of the practice of praising and thanking our great God.

We are called to “16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, And we have examples in Scripture of our Lord and His apostles giving thanks and praise in difficult circumstances. When our Lord encountered wilful unbelief in the cities of Galilee in which he had ministered it says ‘At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you. Father, Lord of heaven and earth” [Matt. 11:25]. He responded by praising God for His sovereign work in revealing the truth to whom He willed. When the apostles were beaten for preaching Jesus it says they rejoiced at being counted worthy to suffer dishonour for Jesus [Acts 5:41-42]. When Paul and Silas were bound in the goal in Philippi they prayed and sang hymns [Acts 16:25].

Use the Psalms

We are to praise and thank our God in all circumstances, and as those whose trust is in the living, gracious God we always have reason for that praise and thanks.

We are to praise and thank our God in all circumstances,

There are numerous expressions of praise and thanks in Psalms that can serve as models and vehicles for our own praise [e.g. 92, 103, 113, 47, 19, 32, 34]. Consider Psalm 146, one of the group of ‘hallel’, praise psalms with which the Psalter ends [Psalms 146-150].

Psalm 146: Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

The Psalmist starts with calling himself and all to praise, and committing himself to praise the LORD, the living God, always. If it is not your practice, can I encourage you not just to say this to yourself, but out loud. God should be praised publicly, His praises heard in His creation.

Then he introduces a contrast that helps us see how much better it is to be able to put our trust in the LORD

3 Put not your trust in princes,
in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
4 When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.

For good or ill the plans and promises of mortals fail. When so many seem to be putting their trust in politicians to save them it is good to remember that we have a sure hope in the LORD, and how much better that is.

When so many seem to be putting their trust in politicians to save them it is good to remember that we have a sure hope in the LORD

5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
6 who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;

The LORD who has made Himself our God through calling us to Himself through the gospel of His Son our Lord Jesus, who has brought us into His covenant family through the death of our Lord Jesus, has given us a sure hope and a present help in Himself. Those who trust Him are always blessed for He is the Creator – there is no limit to His power, all that is made serves Him, and He is the faithful God, who never fails of His promise. As those who trust Him, who can always turn to him for help, who can rely on His promises, we always have a cause for thanks and praise.

And the LORD is good, the active Saviour of His people. He is not some distant, uninvolved, uncaring power. He

7 who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free;
8     the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
    the Lord loves the righteous.
9 The Lord watches over the sojourners;
    he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
    but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

He is the good and compassionate God, and the just God who will execute His righteous judgments. His way and will are certain, for as we know through the triumphant resurrection of our Lord Jesus, and as the Psalmist declares.

10 The Lord will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the Lord!

Make their praise your own.

In a year of ups and downs, of false starts and uncertainty, refresh your spirit by praising and thanking our God who reigns for ever. Do it out loud and try making these psalms and their praise your own.

Maybe something like this:

I praise you my God for you have set me free from sin and death and given me a sure hope of eternal life, you have opened my blind eyes to see your glory, the wonder of your love and power, in Christ my saviour.

You are the One who when I am tired and weary lifts me up, when I am grieved and fearful renews my soul, who watches over me and is always with me, even when the world thinks my concerns unimportant and irrelevant.

I praise you the almighty, faithful, kind and gracious God.

Praise our God, Father, Son and Spirit – always.

PART 1 "The work of the Board of Management"

Under the shadow of the Holiday Inn cluster the Board of Management held its first in person meeting in the building since the 11th June 2020. It was good to be back together although the work of the board had continued on Zoom throughout last year.

That work, though often invisible, is important for the Board’s role is to facilitate and support all the ministries of Bundy. They do that by managing our finances, preparing and monitoring the annual budget and ensuring the financial integrity of all our dealings, considering and funding capital equipment purchases [e.g. for music and PA/AV], by keeping our insurance up to date, planning and ensuring the scheduled services and inspections required to keep operating in the building [e.g. lift, fire, air conditioning, kitchen], arranging and meeting contractors who work in the building, managing the weekly cleaning contract and sanitary services, liaising with the office, responding to maintenance requests, running our bi-annual cleaning bees.

I am drawing your attention to the work of the Board today for three reasons.

Firstly I find the Board a very encouraging testimony to the truth that God gives His people a great variety of gifts, all the gifts needed to sustain our life together, and that the body is healthy when all use their gifts for the building up of God’s people. Word gifts get more prominence in our Sunday gathering, but our life together depends on our brothers and sisters using their gifts of administration, finance, technical skill [not just the Board, think of the great work of our tech team], and practical help. Being on the Board I get to see my brothers and sisters using their gifts diligently and perseveringly, and I am thankful to God for His supplying us with what we need in each other. I am also thankful for the example they are of serving with their gifts to all of us. We need their example for the whole body grows ‘when’, joined to Christ, ’each part is working properly’, when we all in love serve one another with the gifts Christ has given us. Be encouraged by their service to use your gifts for the common good for we need you.

Secondly, the Board administers our finances on behalf of us all and so they bring to the congregation a budget annually for the congregation’s endorsement. That budget embodies each year our ministry priorities and the most significant expenditure is unsurprisingly ministry salaries. The preparation and administration of that budget is a heavy responsibility for the Board often has to bring deficit budgets to the congregation not knowing where the money will come from. While we have always been able to cover our deficits from reserves it is a measure of their faith that they have consistently supported ministry, for no congregation can survive where income is consistently below expenditure, and they are aware of that. This year will be no exception with a budget that now has quite a large deficit. But we have found God faithful thus far. We were contemplating a similar deficit last year and had had big discussions about various contingency plans but through a combination of increased giving, the government cash flow stimulus, and Covid related decreased expenditure we ended the year in the black, which none of us anticipated and for which we give thanks to God. I speak of this because the Board will be bringing this year’s budget to the congregation at the Annual Congregational Meeting which this year is provisionally scheduled for Tuesday March 2nd, and will be circulating the budget for the two weeks before. It would encourage the Board if you would examine it, ask questions beforehand [or if you want them asked during the meeting let them know you will be asking the question], and then own the budget and more importantly its ministry priorities by coming and voting to approve it, for it is not just the Board’s budget but our budget. We are making provision for on-line participation in the meeting, an innovation now allowed for in our Code. That is important for under changes to the Code we need for a quorum members and regular attenders no less in number than 10% of members on our roll. It would be good for you to be there to hear the explanation of budget priorities, hear questions asked and answered, and to indicate your support, or otherwise, for the proposed budget by voting.

We are making provision for on-line participation in the meeting [ACM], an innovation now allowed for in our Code. That is important for under changes to the Code we need for a quorum members and regular attenders no less in number than 10% of members on our roll. It would be good for you to be there to hear the explanation of budget priorities, hear questions asked and answered, and to indicate your support, or otherwise, for the proposed budget by voting.

Thirdly at that meeting we will be saying thank you to some of our retiring members. Kay Ellis and Gordon Mann have over twenty years’ service each to the congregation on the Board, including through the busy years of buying and equipping our current building. It has been a wonderful contribution and they deserve the thanks of all of us. Rob Ferrara will also be retiring after a couple of years looking after our maintenance requests. He deserves our thanks for serving well in one of the most difficult roles in the church, as the others who have taken it on can testify. It is difficult because often maintenance needs are visible [e.g. a dripping tap], many of us think they are easy to fix [although we can’t do it ourselves], and we are often only aware of that one need. We therefor think that as soon as we have notified the need, or within a week, it should be done. If only it were that easy for someone who is a volunteer with limited time and who receives multiple notifications. Trying to find someone to do the job, either a volunteer or a paid contractor, or the time to do the job yourself; arranging a time, getting quotes, supervising the job to a satisfactory standard – all takes time. Jobs have to be prioritised, and with some jobs there is always someone asking ‘Is it done yet?’

So come along to the ACM... thank those who are retiring from Board, and think about serving on Board yourself if you have the gifts and skills. It is an important and necessary work, and God gives us our gifts so we can serve one another in love.

So come along to the ACM – whether on line or in person - and thank those who are retiring from Board, and think about serving on Board yourself if you have the gifts and skills. It is an important and necessary work, and God gives us our gifts so we can serve one another in love. And yes, having just trumpeted the difficulty of being responsible for maintenance, we will be looking for someone to take on managing maintenance while the Board also thinks about better structures to help make that role sustainable. The building is in many ways part of our face to the world, creating an impression on those who visit, and a helpful support to our ministries. We are determined to keep maintaining it in a way that gives a good impression of the life of the congregation, but we will need to work together in this.

In the meantime, as other members of the Board already busy with their roles fill in for maintenance, be patient, and if you are asked to help – do if you can. And pray for the Board’s work is important and we all depend on it. So give thanks for those who have served so faithfully, pray that the Lord would raise up for us other gifted people to serve us by being members of the Board, and pray with thanks for those who continue to serve, that they would be sustained in joy in knowing they are serving Christ in serving His people, and that the Lord would continue to give them endurance, wisdom and skill as they manage our temporal affairs. And even though many of us may feel tired at the moment after a tiring year and a busy start to the new year at school, work and church, pray about whether this is a way in which you can love the Lord’s people. If that is something you are prompted to consider, talk to me, or Andrew Harrisson the chairman of Board, or any of the current members.

Pray that the Lord would raise up for us other gifted people to serve us by being members of the Board, and pray with thanks for those who continue to serve...

Ephesians 4:15 “Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

Let’s keep being a body that builds itself up in love.

PART 2 "Changes during the re-introduction of Stage 4 lockdown."

Many of you will have already heard the Premier’s announcement of a “short, sharp, lockdown” to attempt to control the spread of the highly infectious UK strain of the Covid virus. This means the re-introduction of Stage 4 restrictions for us. I know this will be a disappointment to many of you as you move to cancel planned engagements or again look at working from home with the children at home.

The Proverb says

16: 9 In their hearts humans plan their course,
but the Lord establishes their steps.[NIV]

That the LORD is in control of our lives is not only humbling as our plans are changed but for those of us who have come to know God in Christ it is good news. He loves His people and His purposes for us are good, that we be conformed to the image of His Son and come to share glory with Him. He is the God of heaven and earth and in all things, even the disruptions of viral spread, He is bringing those good purposes to fruition. We can trust Him, the living God who has adopted us as His children through faith in His crucified Son.

The church will also have to re-arrange its plans over the next five days and I will now run through our response to the re-introduction of restrictions.

The church building is shut from midnight tonight until midnight Wednesday except for the livestreaming of our services.
Also, as the Premier indicated it would be helpful to curtail large gatherings we have decided that tonight there will be a holiday from youth group – youth group will not run.
On Saturday the Iranian service will not re-commence as planned.
On Sunday we will livestream the morning service at 9:00 and it will be available to be watched on Youtube at 11:00. Only five people are allowed in the building for the livestream and so we regret we can’t proceed with Farrah Salter’s baptism. We will also be livestreaming the 5:00 pm service where Chris is preaching through 1 Thessalonians in a separate preaching program. For this week we will also return to pre-recorded songs and a pre-recorded children’s segment – watch out for Kathryn answering a big question. We will have a Zoom meeting after the 9:00 livestream and at 12:15pm for the 11:00 am congregation, and again after the 5:00 pm livestream. The links will be on the Bundy Live page. Hop on line and say hello – encourage each other as we all adjust to this lockdown.
During the week: BundyLife will start on Zoom on Tuesday and our February prayer meeting on Wednesday will also be entirely on zoom, with the link in this email. During the week we will be watching developments closely.

We hope the lockdown will be effective and so would encourage you to plan to be in church on the 21st – and let us know so we can contact you if there are any changes. There will be further communication next week when the Premier lets the community know whether the restrictions are remaining, will be changed, or will be removed.

Let us keep “praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication, keeping alert with all perseverance, making supplications for all the saints” [Eph. 6:18] as we variously deal with disappointment, with refreshed anxiety, with having all the emotions we experienced in the first lockdown stirred up in us. And pray that in the Lord’s mercy the steps the government has taken will be effective.

But give thanks – the Lord is with us, and His steadfast love is renewed to us every day. And whether we have freedom to move around, freedom to plan, or not – we are blessed in Christ, something we will remind ourselves of this Sunday morning when we look at the blessings our Lord pronounces in Matthew 5:1-11.

I read Psalm 145 this morning, so let me close with its closing verses:

Psalm 145: 17-21

The Lord is righteous in all his ways
    and faithful in all he does.
The Lord is near to all who call on him,
    to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
    he hears their cry and saves them.
The Lord watches over all who love him,
    but all the wicked he will destroy.

My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord.
Let every creature praise his holy name
for ever and ever.

Masks on, masks off, masks on ….

We have all had a reminder this week of the continuing presence of the virus in our lives and how quickly what is required can change. For me this one case has reminded me of the need for us all to keep maintaining our Covid protocols – registering for contact tracing, being vigilant ourselves with the handwashing, social distancing, staying away when sick, and keeping up the cleaning effort.

For others, as I gathered from listening to the radio on Thursday, the case is a reminder of the frailty of our lives and reinforces a general sense of uncertainty about the coming year that makes them reluctant to make any plans, that disempowers them and undermines initiative. The occurrence of these cases can thus be quite dispiriting and feed into more general anxieties we have about our society and future. Perhaps you feel that, while recognizing that outbreaks will happen from time to time.

Dealing with discouragement and disempowerment

'We live in the last days, so there will always be reminders that the world is out of order and that this is a place of pain and grief'

How to deal with these discouraging episodes and the disempowerment they bring? As I said last week we need to remember what does not change: that we live in the last days, so there will always be reminders that the world is out of order and that this is a place of pain and grief, not the best of all possible worlds where all our dreams will be fulfilled; that the living God has established His Son Jesus as Lord, with all authority in heaven and earth; that He is a God of steadfast love and faithfulness, whose every word will prove true; that the Lord Jesus loves His people and He is with us; that His gospel is God’s power to save. IF you want reminders of what that means for his people can I recommend a read of Psalm 34 or Psalm 40. Hearing the truth the Psalmist speaks of the Lord’s care for His people, and knowing that in Christ this Psalm belongs on our lips, is so encouraging. For example:

Psalm 34: 4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me
    and delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant,
    and their faces shall never be ashamed.
6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him
    and saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps
    around those who fear him, and delivers them.

8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

The unchanging requirement to love.

But I want to remind you today of something else that does not change for this can and should guide our actions even when our confidence to act has been lessened. I want to remind you of what Jesus has said is the mark of being His disciple, a mark unchanged across the generations of Jesus’ followers. You will know it, know that the night before He died Jesus said: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” [John 13:34-35] Jesus has loved us in deed and truth [1 John 3:16-18], not just with thoughts and words, and so love should motivate action, action for the good of our brothers and sisters, no matter how we are feeling. The requirement to love is unchanging, a command that sustains initiative where we are disempowered, activity where we feel like withdrawing into passivity. As believers, those who know Jesus’ love in His laying down His life for us, our goal should be to live through these times as His followers, to live sustained and directed by loving the Lord’s people.

'The requirement to love is unchanging,

a command that sustains initiative where we are disempowered,

activity where we feel like withdrawing into passivity.'

An example of love

I am thankful for the many examples of love we have amongst us and one particularly has stood out for me over the last couple of weeks. The context for Jesus’ unchanging command is not just that it was given on the night before He died. It was given on the night He washed His disciples’ feet, both a service and a sign of the love He would show in dying for them. At that time He had said “12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” [John 13:12-17]

'Love is what will hold us together,

help us recover our sense of being God’s children together,

a family united by love in action not just words'

Those who have shouldered the burden of cleaning, whether after our services or after our ministries, are giving us an example of following the example of Christ. It is an example we need, not just because we must clean to stay open, but because such love is what will hold us together, help us recover our sense of being God’s children together, a family united by love in action not just words, participants by grace in a rich reality. But their service is not only an example of love, but of faith. Jesus says that following His example of loving others by serving them in menial tasks is the path of blessing – “blessed’, He says, ‘are you if you do them.” Menial service is something we should undertake and keep on doing with joy, for it shows we are Christ’s, that our understanding of what is worthwhile and valuable has been shaped by Christ and especially by His death, and our Lord says we are blessed in doing.

'Menial service is something we should undertake and keep on doing with joy, for it shows we are Christ’s'

There are, of course, many ways of serving on Sunday and throughout the week – from teaching Sunday School to cooking meals, from preparing bible studies to ringing a brother or sister to see how they are going. All are needed, and all are to be done in love. But let us not miss the opportunity for showing the world that we are Jesus’ followers by undertaking the unrewarding and menial tasks that are necessary to keep our common life going, tasks that are outside of areas of giftedness. And trusting Jesus let’s not resent them, or even just get them done as a necessary evil – let’s thank Him for an opportunity to be blessed in serving, an opportunity to do as He has done for us. Whatever the ups and downs of the pandemic, let’s keep on looking for ways to serve in love, because we know Jesus’ love.

'Whatever the ups and downs of the pandemic, let’s keep on looking for ways to serve in love, because we know Jesus’ love.'

Reintroducing Morning Tea and Supper.

Cleaning has been on my mind for another reason as well. It is the cleaning requirements that mean we have been asking you to leave the building quickly after the service. This is not very satisfactory, for meeting together is about encouraging each other to love and good deeds, and so we need an opportunity to talk. Session has therefore, in discussion with those heading up the cleaning team, that is our elders for whose service we should all be thankful, decided to move to re-introduce morning tea and supper. We will start with supper in the next couple of weeks and move to have morning tea at both 9 and 11 by the beginning of March. The trade off in the morning is continuing to have the children start upstairs for the time being to allow us to shut off the hall and not have chairs in there at 9 and 5. Without the hall and with the children in we would exceed the numbers allowed in the auditorium under the density quotient at both morning services. Shutting off the hall will also allow a staged cleaning, so you will be asked to leave the auditorium to allow cleaning to start there. We will be starting with just serving tea, coffee, and cold drinks and see how we are managing that in the kitchen before a decision about re-introducing any food is made – so parents, keep sending your child with a snack and a labelled drink bottle. We will need to reintroduce some chairs into the hall for the 11 o’clock service, both for numbers and to continue to allow easy access to the creche. There are a few details we will have to work through, and this will create some more opportunities to serve in the kitchen. But we think this is a change most will welcome. We will be continuing to review the operation of the services as restrictions change and, Lord willing, confidence grows throughout the months ahead with continuing low cases and the commencement of vaccinations.

'As we think of this change, and of the continuing adjustments to be made over the coming months, let the last word belong to love.'

But as we think of this change, and of the continuing adjustments to be made over the coming months, let the last word belong to love. You see, despite our best efforts, with these changes there is plenty of opportunity to not get everything right – to fail to have consulted adequately with all involved; to move too early for the comfort of some, too late for others; to fail to execute the change perfectly; for the work to be distributed unevenly. But we will get through it if we hear and heed the Apostle Peter:

8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8

Truth for Testing Times - Congregational Communication 29th January

School has gone back for many this week. For some, students and parents, that is just a relief. But for others, both students and parents, this can be an anxious time. Will I have friends? Will I get on with my teacher? Or ‘Will she/he make good friends?’ ‘Will she/he have a teacher who takes an interest?’ The unknown and uncertain future can make us anxious, which is a problem for the future is always unknown and uncertain, as last year has brought home to us. We may be able to hide from that reality in the predictable routines of our existence but we have learnt how fragile those are, how much our lives are at the mercy of forces – not just biological but economic and political – beyond our control. Heightened anxiety is a feature of our times.

And sometimes our anxiety about the future is also compounded by our troubled present. By the job we don’t have or the diagnosis we do. By the conflict at work or home we are experiencing, the loneliness to which we see no end, or the hostile political rhetoric we hear. We wonder how it will work out, can’t see things improving.

'And sometimes our anxiety about the future is also compounded by our troubled present. By the job we don’t have or the diagnosis we do. By the conflict at work or home we are experiencing, the loneliness to which we see no end, or the hostile political rhetoric we hear. We wonder how it will work out, can’t see things improving.'

An uncertain future, a troubled present. That is our individual experience from time to time, and that can also be the situation of congregations like ours, full of sinners living in a world hostile to the living God. How do we live through these times faithfully?

Israel, the generation of the exodus, was tested by an uncertain future and a troubling present. They were travelling towards a land they had not experienced, had only the promise of God that they would inhabit and possess it. And they experienced first the murderous threat of Pharaoh and his armies when they were trapped beside the red sea, and then later in the wilderness they knew hunger and thirst, a hunger and thirst made worse by no known, available, means of satisfying their need for food and water. Hunger and thirst prey on the mind, they pre-occupy. I think I would have found it easy to become anxious as I saw the water skins empty, looked at my family, heard the bleating of the flocks for water.

But we are told that their response to being tested by an uncertain future and a troubling present is exactly the wrong response for the people of the LORD. Scripture tells us we must not react like them, that their experiences happened as examples to us “that we might not desire evil as they did.” In particular we are told 1 Cor. 10: 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.

To put the Lord to the test is to doubt His good intent, His commitment to His people, and His power, and to demand the LORD prove Himself by doing what you want in the way you want in the time frame you expect. It is to reverse the relationship where God’s people serve Him to demand that God serve us. To grumble is to articulate those doubts and dissatisfactions with the LORD’s response to your circumstances, to say to each other ‘the LORD does not know what He is doing, that He doesn’t care, that His purpose is not good, His promises meaningless’.

They were sins then, deadly sins, for the LORD had committed Himself to His people and called them to trust Him. He had given them good promises and had shown repeatedly His might and mercy and faithfulness– delivering Israel and destroying Pharaoh’s army in the red sea, feeding them with manna, bringing water from the rock.

And they are sins now, sins to which we can be tempted when the future looks uncertain and dark and when our present troubles are oppressive and seemingly insoluble. How can we avoid them and live with thankful confidence and sustaining hope? Let me give you five truths to remember that help me not to be overwhelmed.

'And they are sins now, sins to which we can be tempted when the future looks uncertain and dark and when our present troubles are oppressive and seemingly insoluble. How can we avoid them and live with thankful confidence and sustaining hope?'

Firstly, remember our God. He is not some dumb idol onto whom you project activity. He is almighty and does whatever He pleases.

Psalm 103 gives a helpful summary of what to remember in times of testing.

Psalm 103: 8 The Lord is merciful and gracious,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 He will not always chide,
    nor will he keep his anger forever.
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins,
    nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
    so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
13 As a father shows compassion to his children,
    so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
14 For he knows our frame;
    he remembers that we are dust.

In Christ, belonging to God’s people through repentance and faith in Jesus, this Psalm is true for us.

Whatever is happening God is not dealing with us according to our sins, for all our sins are forgiven and we have been adopted as God’s children through faith in Jesus. We know each day His steadfast love [Romans 8:31-39, 1 John 3:1-3]. He is a good Father wanting only our good. And He knows the best way of working that for us for He knows us, is aware of our frailty, and is compassionate.

Remember the God we confess in confessing Christ as Lord.

Secondly, remember that God has a good purpose in testing us. He said to the generation that was to possess the land

Deuteronomy 8: 2 And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4 Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you.

God tested Israel in the wilderness so that they would learn the lessons that would allow them to live in and keep their inheritance. The Lord is also a good Father to us, and He tests us in the circumstances of our lives so that we also are ready to possess our inheritance. The tested faith that endures is the faith that inherits the new heaven and earth.

God has a good purpose in testing us.

Thirdly, the Lord promises a way of escape under testing.

In 1 Corinthians 10 Paul continues '11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation [ or testing. The Greek word can mean test or tempt, which is testing with bad intent] has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.'

We see that in Israel’s experience. He brought water from the rock. He parted the red sea. He is never at a loss. Just because you and I cannot see how we can keep enduring our circumstances does not mean He cannot provide a way. He is faithful and will not let you be tested beyond your strength, even if part of the testing is to humble you by showing you how little your strength is.

Fourthly, it is always comforting to know we are not alone. The Lord is with us, and He is with His church. Our circumstances and the tests they bring are not unknown to Him, for He Himself has been tested as we are. Hebrews says that ‘because He himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those being tempted’, and assures us that He is someone to whom we can always turn with confidence for ‘mercy and grace to help in time of need.’ [Hebrews 2:18, 4:16]. The Lord is with us.

And Fifthly, I find it good to remember the future is not ultimately uncertain. God keeps His promises. Christ has been raised from the dead and the new age has begun in the pouring out of God’s Spirit on His people. Our labour in the Lord, our labour to be faithful, is never in vain [1 Cor. 15:54-58] for our resurrection is certain.

An uncertain future and a troubling present does test us but our heavenly Father, our almighty God, can be trusted. We do not need to be fearful and anxious. We can rely on His steadfast love which is ours in Christ. But knowing and doing are two different things, so this might be a good time to pray for yourself and each other what Paul prays for the Ephesians – that we would know ‘what is the hope to which he has called us, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places' [Eph. 1:18-20] and also that we, 'being rooted and grounded in love, would have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God.' [Eph. 3:17-18]

Great prayers for days of an uncertain future and a troubling present.

Helpful Blogs:

Murray Campbell blog- https://murraycampbell.net/
Stephen McAlpine blog - https://stephenmcalpine.com/

Both Murray and Stephen have a number of helpful posts on the matter. Murray has been following this issue for many months, and was writing on it well before the final bill was introduced to Parliament. In addition Stephen’s book ‘Being the Bad Guys’ [Good Book Company] is very helpful in considering the changes taking place in society and how we can helpfully respond and persevere.

Websites:

The Christian Medical and Dental Fellowship has a number of useful resources at https://www.cmdfa.org.au
The Church and Nation Committee of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria https://www.churchandnation.org/

The Change or Suppression Practices Bill

I have been asked to comment on the ‘Change or Suppression [Conversion] Practices Bill 2020’ which is currently before Parliament and has been a cause of concern for many. The origin of the bill is the conviction that LBGTI people have been harmed and are still being harmed by the continuation of ‘Change or Suppression Practices.’ This has to be acknowledged and we should be grieved at coercive and cruel practices based in ill-informed understandings of the origin of sexual orientation, especially where people have been pressured to participate in these against their will. Nevertheless the bill raises serious concerns about, amongst other things, its conflation of issues relating to gender identity and sexual orientation, its definition of change or suppression practices, its reach into private and voluntary conversations, its criminalisation of therapy that is not in line with affirming gender transitioning, and its enshrinement of gender ideology in law.

The bill combines both sexual orientation and gender identity in its scope and seeks to embrace them both in its prescriptions. But these are distinct issues and have different responses. It is the inclusion of gender identity in the bill and the insistence that the only response permissible to gender dysphoria in young people is affirmation of change to the desired gender that has provoked the most concern amongst professionals. Gender re-assignment treatment has recently been described in the recent English High Court judgement in Bell vs Tavistock [1/12/2020] as experimental.

“We express that view for these reasons. First, the clinical interventions involve significant, long-term and, in part, potentially irreversible long-term physical, and psychological consequences for young persons. The treatment involved is truly life changing, going as it does to the very heart of an individual’s identity. Secondly, at present, it is right to call the treatment experimental or innovative in the sense that there are currently limited studies/evidence of the efficacy or long-term effects of the treatment.” [paragraph 152]

To preclude the exploration of other treatments of gender dysphoria, to insist that only one line of response can be pursued, would seem to go beyond the scientific evidence and potentially do harm. On professional concerns see the public letter addressed to the Victorian Attorney General by the National Association of Practicing Psychiatrists.

It is also clear that the only response that is allowed to someone revealing a same sex or bisexual orientation is affirmation and strengthening them in that identity. Doubt about whether it is fixed or might change, grief at what that might mean for them and for their family, or the distance of distaste, all human reactions, will fall far short of what the government is mandating and in the complexities of family relationship may well be used against those who express them.

In addition the definition of change or suppression practices, the behaviour that is being criminalised is intentionally both broad and ill defined.

Section 5 of the Act states

(1) In this Act, a change or suppression practice means a practice or conduct directed towards a person, whether with or without the person's consent—

(a) on the basis of the person's sexual orientation or gender identity; and

(b) for the purpose of—

(i) changing or suppressing the sexual orientation or gender identity of the person; or

(ii) inducing the person to change or suppress their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Sexual orientation is further defined to include sexual practice “"sexual orientation means a person's emotional, affectional and sexual attraction to, or intimate or sexual relations with, persons of a different gender or the same gender or more than one gender;". [Part 5:59:3]

Thus encouraging someone who is same sex attracted to abstain from sexual activity outside of marriage of a man to a woman would be seeking to suppress someone’s sexual orientation.

Section 5:3 gives examples of prohibited practices.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (1), a practice includes, but is not limited to the following—

(a) providing a psychiatry or psychotherapy consultation, treatment or therapy, or any other similar consultation, treatment or therapy;

(b) carrying out a religious practice, including but not limited to, a prayer based practice, a deliverance practice or an exorcism;

(c) giving a person a referral for the purposes of a change or suppression practice being directed towards the person.

The Explanatory Memorandum [page 5] adds

“These examples are illustrative only and do not narrow the definition in subclause (1) which is intended to capture a broad range of conduct, including, informal practices, such as conversations with a community leader that encourage change or suppression of sexual orientation or gender identity, and more formal practices, such as behaviour change programs and residential camps.”

There is a real possibility with this wide definition that conversations with a Pastor, or a youth group leader, or an AFES worker, where the biblical teaching that same sex activity was sin was being outlined to help someone understand the cost of following Jesus, would be breaking the law, even if those conversations were taking place [as they would] voluntarily [“whether with or without the person's consent”]. Further, prayer with someone that he or she would be strengthened to resist temptation and live a chaste and godly life would also potentially be construed as breaking the law. This is deliberate.

'There is a real possibility with this wide definition that conversations with a Pastor, or a youth group leader, or an AFES worker, where the biblical teaching that same sex activity was sin was being outlined to help someone understand the cost of following Jesus, would be breaking the law, even if those conversations were taking place [as they would] voluntarily.'

One of the reports that has informed the Government’s development of this law [Preventing Harm, Promoting Justice, by the Human Rights Law Centre and La Trobe University] makes it plain that it considers the teaching in faith communities of homosexual practice as a sin [or of gender to be binary] to be a harmful suppression practice which develops a culture which is unhealthy for LGBTI people. The government leaving the definition broad leaves open the possibility that this teaching itself will be banned under this legislation, despite a mention of religious freedom in the Victorian Charter of Human Rights.

Another of the disturbing features of this bill is its reach into private and voluntary conversations. This legislation will make people reluctant to talk with those who might be troubled by their same sex attraction or their discomfort at their gender if they cannot be wholly supportive, if they have doubts or reservations. Yet it is helpful to people to be able to explore their feelings and responses with those they know and trust, and helpful to families to be able to speak openly about these matters. One sided conversations do not help understanding but the fear that what is now a welcome conversation may become later a resented conversation will cause many to hold back.

The bill and its shortcomings

Others have written about the bill and its shortcomings, and links are at the bottom of the transcript. While the prevention of harm to others is a worthy goal, and while we should not minimise the distress of gender dysphoria or the cost of living a celibate life, this is a bad bill with significant implications for our freedoms. And it is a bad bill because it is based on false beliefs.

'While the prevention of harm to others is a worthy goal, and while we should not minimise the distress of gender dysphoria or the cost of living a celibate life, this is a bad bill with significant implications for our freedoms'

One is the idea that gender identity is fixed. The letter of the National Association of Practicing Psychiatrists says

“The Bill is premised on the idea that gender identity is fixed and unchangeable, making attempts to change or suppress it futile. The press release accompanying the legislation put out by the Department of Justice and Community Safety makes this explicit. It says: “there is no evidence that…gender identity can be changed.” This is an extraordinary proposition and is contradicted by a large body of medical and scientific evidence.”

It is an extraordinary proposition where one of the goals of the Bill is to support people making a gender transition, and where there are a growing number of de-transitioners. The letter cites some of the evidence and you can pursue the issue of gender fluidity further there.

But the more fundamental problem is the false gospel of salvation through defining your own identity that runs through the bill, which is in truth an expression of that ideology clothed in prevention of harm.

That gospel is expressed in the ‘objects’ of the Bill. 3:1[c] states one of the objects of the Bill is

“to ensure that all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, feel welcome and valued in Victoria and are able to live authentically and with pride.”

This means it is the intention of the Parliament to

“(b) to affirm that a person's sexual orientation or gender identity is not broken and in need of fixing; and

(c) to affirm that no sexual orientation or gender identity constitutes a disorder, disease, illness, deficiency or shortcoming;”,

only just falling short of declaring no sexual orientation or practice to be a sin.

The important thing is that people can live ‘authentically and with pride’ for that is the vision of life found in the secular gospel. We are to be true to ourselves, and that means finding identity and purpose in ourselves and being free to express that in fulfilling our desires, in a context where sexual identity is central to personal identity. Salvation, the life of human flourishing, is found in sexual authenticity. Any gospel therefore that calls for authority to be found outside ourselves, or says that life is found in denying yourself, is an alien gospel in our society.

Our response to this Bill

So how should we respond to this Bill.

It is possible to respond politically – to lobby politicians to ensure amendments that protect private conversations and our freedom to teach and preach the truth. There is a place for that, for the freedoms threatened by the overreach of this bill – freedom of speech, freedom of association [defining on what basis people can belong to voluntary associations], freedom of belief – are vital to the functioning of our society.

This bill will also, if it prevents the exploration of alternative treatments other than gender re-assignment for gender dysphoria, do harm to young people. Such action though must be done in love, not anger, and in humility not a spirit of offended entitlement, acknowledging the reality that some have been hurt in the past by responses to same sex attraction that have been co-ercive.

But the best way to respond to a false gospel is with the true gospel, proclaiming Jesus is Lord and life is found in denying ourselves, taking up our cross and following Him, for He is the one with authority to judge and to forgive. In love we want to be able to call people of all sexual orientations and all gender identities to follow Christ, to tell them that He is worth everything. But that means we must also tell them the cost of following Him, and the Scripture is clear that all sexual immorality, and that is all sex outside the marriage of a man and a woman, is sin, and continuing in sin is inconsistent with inheriting the kingdom of God [1 Cor. 6:9-11]. We need to show the goodness and the greatness of Jesus, and we need to be in truth a community of forgiven sinners who love one another, including believers called out of and tempted by sins we might find confronting.

'But the best way to respond to a false gospel is with the true gospel... In love we want to be able to call people of all sexual orientations and all gender identities to follow Christ, to tell them that He is worth everything.'

To respond to the false gospel with the true gospel will now take courage. As others have observed the broad nature of the offence is meant to create a climate of fear in which we will self-censor, become less clear and bold in teaching what God has given us for our good, the sexual morality of Scripture. But our Lord Jesus has told us that we should ‘not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul, but rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” [Matt. 10:28]. And He has warned us that He did not come to bring peace but a sword [Matt. 10:34-39] and that anyone who does not love Him more than all is not worthy of Him.

Now is the time for we ourselves to remind ourselves of and build ourselves up in the truth and goodness of Jesus, to remember that what is at stake in being faithful to Him is eternal life, and that our Lord has all authority, including over governments, and will work all things for our good and for the glory of His Name. We will need to do this together, to know each other’s encouragement in a community of love as we face the hostility of a society seduced into believing a lie. The Lord Jesus is not less Lord because the Victorian Government is seeking to bring in a piece of legislation that may test our faithfulness. We must look to Him, and not expect allies either in free speech advocates or civil libertarians. And we should not be discouraged when people who claim to be Christian come out in support of affirming same sex sexual orientation as acceptable to God. In writing to the seven churches in Revelation our Lord warned his people that there were those who taught that God’s people could share in idolatry and practice sexual immorality [Rev. 2:14, 20]. His condemnation of them and those who follow them is clear, as is our Lord’s expectation that we have nothing to do with them [Rev. 2:21-24].

'The Lord Jesus is not less Lord because the Victorian Government is seeking to bring in a piece of legislation that may test our faithfulness. We must look to Him, and not expect allies either in free speech advocates or civil libertarians.'

And we should pray. Pray for our government, that they would encourage and reward good, and shun wickedness. Pray that in His mercy the Lord would continue to allow us to ‘live quiet and peaceable lives, godly and dignified in every way’ [1 Tim. 2:2], where we are free to preach the gospel. Pray especially that this legislation would not be used to exclude Christian groups from campuses or chaplaincy. And pray especially for those most threatened – Christian counsellors and health professionals, Christian teachers and chaplains in schools, our own youth leaders, evangelists on our university campuses – that they would be sustained in love of the lost, in trust in the Lord to keep them, and in hope, the hope that tells them that the work of the Lord is never in vain, and worth the cost. And yes, pray for your pastors too. I do not think for the moment we are as much at risk as those others I have mentioned for we work in a more explicitly religious context, but we always need prayer for boldness in preaching the gospel.

'Censoring ourselves would just embolden the opponents of the gospel. Worse, it would deny to lost people the Saviour who is seeking them'

Censoring ourselves would just embolden the opponents of the gospel. Worse, it would deny to lost people the Saviour who is seeking them, to dying people the Lord who can give them life. So hear the Saviour’s call to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him. The path of faithfulness to His Father cost Him His life but was the path of exaltation over all, and one day every knee will bow and confess Him Lord.

Welcome to the first of our pastoral communications for 2021.

I hope that many of you have had the opportunity for a refreshing break and not too many have had their holiday travel plans disrupted as our family did. That disruption is a reminder that we are still living in unusual times and we must plan for the year ahead anticipating the continuing impact of the presence of Covid 19 in our community. As a church that means we make our plans anticipating both uncertainty and continuing restrictions, at least for the first half of 2021. At the moment those restrictions continue to be the ones we were operating under in December with the 2 square metre rule, masks indoors, record keeping, cleaning, staying home if unwell, and hand hygiene. I am uncertain if there will be any further relaxation of these as we get ready for the return to school but suspect, in light of the recent border turmoil and the arrival of the new virus from the UK, that the government will only reluctantly relax the rules further and be very quick to re-impose them, although I would be happy to be proved wrong.

We must plan for the year ahead anticipating the continuing impact of the presence of Covid 19 in our community.

Against this backdrop of uncertainty and restrictions let me now outline our priorities for the year, the principles we will be seeking to employ in our planning, and what to expect on Sundays as we start term 1 on January 31st.

Priorities

Our priority is always to trust the Lord Jesus and do what He says, to “make disciples of all nations” by bringing them to a commitment to the living God revealed in Jesus [baptising them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit] and ‘teaching them to do” all that our Lord Jesus has commanded us. So we are committed to preaching the gospel and calling for repentance and faith in Jesus and to encouraging each other to live as followers of Jesus.

Our priority is always to trust the Lord Jesus and do what He says

But at this time in particular, where our meeting and our opportunity to deepen and develop relationships of love with each other has been disrupted by a prolonged period of isolation, and where we feel the pressure of an increasingly secular culture and we and our family members are being wooed by a powerful and pervasive secular gospel of meaning and identity through ‘being true to yourself’, our priorities for both discipleship and evangelism are firstly re-establishing our meeting together, both on Sundays, in growth groups and youth and children’s meetings; secondly, engaging with and creating opportunities to teach what Jesus has taught, for example in one on one follow up, or courses applied to marriage and family discipleship; thirdly, encouraging and sustaining our service in ministry together, so that the body grows as it builds itself up, as we build ourselves up, in love [Eph. 4:16]; and fourthly prayer, an explicit dependence on our great God to make us a people who honour His name and to save others.

The importance of regular meeting around God’s word and of having real relationships of love in a Christian community was brought home to me again by Steve McAlpine’s book “Being the Bad Guys: How to live for Jesus in a world that says you shouldn’t”, a book that will be reviewed in the coming weeks. It is an examination of the rapidly changing cultural climate that now portrays Christians and Christian doctrine, particularly its teaching on sexuality, as enemies of human flourishing. He looks at its effects, causes, and Christian responses, concluding with how Christians can resist the secular pressure to compromise on the gospel that Jesus is Lord of the whole of life and life is found in denying ourselves to follow Him. He has a very good chapter on the workplace, but also one on the necessity of church – a gathering where we can be reminded of the truth, be encouraged together to remember both our Saviour’s goodness and our hope, and love and be loved – for maintaining what he calls the faithful, faultless and fearless witness that we will need to practice in our age.

So I encourage you now, and will continue to encourage you throughout the year, to be intentional in making the effort to be in church every week, to be active in attending a growth group or meeting with other believers during the week, to expend the energy to maintain our meeting, especially our discipling together of our children, to practice real relationships of love. This is vital to sustaining your own Christian life, vital to our witness in our community, and vital to being able to welcome those wounded by the lies of our secular culture, who have found its promises empty, and have been brought by our Lord to seek forgiveness, refuge and hope in Him amongst His people.

Principles

With those priorities what principles are we employing in developing plans for the coming year. We are conscious that uncertainty is a feature of our times, and that it also increases tentativeness in commitment and can sap energy. So we are seeking a focused simplicity and flexibility that can allow for quick adaptation to changing circumstance.

Uncertainty is a feature of our times... So we are seeking a focused simplicity and flexibility that can allow for quick adaptation to changing circumstance.

While the weather is good we will be encouraging simple to organise, outdoor, social events – for example picnics and joint growth group events – that will strengthen connection. We will plan all our teaching to be either online or able to be moved online if we need to, and having experienced much online already last year we can make that move with confidence. The only events we will seek to run in Winter are the Winter Teaching Series and the Women’s Conference. Larger events that take a lot of organising and energy will not be planned for the first half of the year, and we will be making decisions about the end of year towards the middle of the year.

Being flexible and adaptive is a joint effort. As some of us have experienced with border closures, things can change quickly so this will need to be a year where we continue to check our emails.

Sunday services

But in the immediate future, what can we expect in the Sunday Services when the holidays end and we all return to ‘normal’ life?

Some of you have asked about the number of songs in the service, children in church at the beginning of the service, the livestream, and the commencement of Sunday youth.

We will be moving to two morning services at 9:00 and 11:00 on the 31st December, Lord willing. This will create work for our teams but we want to make it as easy as possible for all to get back into the habit of meeting together. We will, until further review, continue to livestream all services. To help the deepening of relationships we would encourage you to try and attend the same service each week but if you cannot get to your normal service on a particular Sunday, get to the service you can. Sunday Youth will also start on the 31st December.

While we anticipate the 5:00 pm service will have more flexibility in its arrangements not much will change in the morning at least for term 1, as far as we can see [and that may not be very far]. I know this will be disappointing as we all would like to see a return to normal. The reason for not moving the children back in at the beginning of the service, not increasing the number of songs in the morning service, not re-instituting morning tea, is the continuing operation of the restrictions that create pressure on time and space. In relation to time even a modified clean between services needs about thirty minutes, and if we have ten to fifteen minutes before we leave the auditorium, thirty minutes for cleaning, and then ten minutes before the start of the next service, you will see that we need to keep finishing the 9:00 o’clock service around 10:15. Having the children start with us and then leave adds several precious minutes, as does returning to four or five songs. In addition we remain concerned about a crush on the stairs and in the foyer when the children leave, making distancing very difficult. In relation to space the need to have chairs in the hall makes it difficult to resume morning tea [even practicing Covid safe serving], for, with the movement of people, especially children, it would be difficult to have everyone safely in the foyer and corridor.

So for the present children will normally continue to go straight upstairs [there may be exceptions e.g. baptisms] and we would ask parents to keep sending them with their own drink bottle and snack. Youth will leave during the children’s song. We will also continue to need to register for contact tracing purposes [although if you forget there is the QR code registration available at church], and to be diligent about staying away if we have covid like symptoms.

We are aware of the deficiencies of the current arrangements, particularly of time after the service for catching up with each other. We have tried to think through alternatives like staggering the cleaning of spaces or sectioning off a portion of the car park and taking urns etc outside, but think that the morning heat in February will make the latter a very unpleasant experience. The loss of the morning tea context for facilitating relationship means that we will all have to be active in creating other contexts – going to a park together, or to your home together, or off to a café together. I urge you to be intentional in that – try to have a good conversation with another one or two people each week. You will gain, and so will they. The instruction of Hebrews 10:24-25 to encourage each other does not cease to apply to us because we can’t have morning tea after church.

We will all have to be active in creating other contexts – going to a park together, or to your home together, or off to a café together. I urge you to be intentional in that – try to have a good conversation with another one or two people each week. You will gain, and so will they.

Review

We will continue to review our Sunday arrangements. The regulations might change by the end of this month. There might be a growing confidence as the vaccine is rolled out. Or there might be another increase in infections. We do not know. The removal of the density quotient would have a dramatic effect on what we can do. We do welcome suggestions about how we can do things better, and we will need to work together to make our Sundays work. The effort we put in to do what our Lord commands – to not neglect to meet together and to think how we can stir up one another to love and good works – will have eternal fruit. So enter the new year determined to meet while we can, a precious practice so easily taken away from us, the gift of gathering given to us for our good.

Enter the new year determined to meet while we can, a precious practice so easily taken away from us, the gift of gathering given to us for our good

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