Summer Youth drop-in is on again this Thursday afternoon 3-5 pm.
Jesus’ parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8) is about a judge who did not care about people or God. But the widow kept bothering him so persistently that he gave her the justice she was asking for, just so he could get some peace! I wonder whether Jesus might have drawn quite a few laughs in the way he told this parable. But its message is very clear: Jesus told it to show us that we should “always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1). Our heavenly Father is better than unjust judge. Even if we harass him with our prayers, he will not put us off. He will see that his children get justice (Luke 18:8).
It was wonderful to gather to pray for our nation in bushfire and drought the last two Fridays. (Also, as at last Sunday, we had collected $2260 for the Archbishop’s appeal for bushfire and drought). We are beginning to see answers to our prayers for rain, although the drought has not been broken yet. We should therefore persevere in these prayers.
In brief:
- Please think and pray about how you could be involved in ministry this year. To name just a few opportunities, as you’ll see in this bulletin, there are opportunities to serve in our new ESL ministry. We need helpers for creche, and for kids’ club. Also, we are hosting an Anglicare pastoral care training course beginning in a few weeks!
- Keep praying for Rev. Andrew Goddard and family who join us after Easter.
- Next Sunday I will be preaching on “Christianity in Australia”, which I hope will be encouraging and thought-provoking. From February in church we will be considering Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.