29th March 2020

Welcome to online church today.  I have prayed that it will help you feel encouraged to hold on to Jesus Christ in these testing times.  “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).  While our lives change rapidly (daily at the moment!), Jesus does not change, nor is he surprised at what is going on, nor is his power to save us affected in any way.  He is the one to hold on to.

One pleasing item of news is that the closing of international borders has meant our new Assistant Minister, Rev. Andrew Goddard, with Erin, Sophie and Zara, has returned to Australia early from ministry in Canada.  They have moved into their St Jude’s townhouse in The Avenue, and will complete their two weeks of isolation soon.  I am looking forward to you all being able to meet them.

Today’s online service is printed in this bulletin, so that you can follow along.  The video includes the psalm, but not the other readings.  We thought it would be great to encourage you at home to pause the video, read the readings aloud in your home, and then restart the video to continue the service.

We have also included Kids’ Time at the beginning of the service, for which there is a video lesson and a song.  But even better than that is a great Family Devotion Pack prepared by Kat for a

home Sunday School lesson.  If you have children, make sure to use these resources.

Thank you for all of your prayers and encouragement to me and our team in this unprecedented situation.  We are praying and working hard to keep connected with everyone in the congregation (whether they are online or not!)