Last weekend’s classical music concert with St Catherine’s School was a superb event, with skilled musicians performing in a beautiful atmosphere. It was wonderful to welcome so many members of the St Catherine’s community into our church building. We raised $730 for the Anglican Aid Pakistan Floods Appeal.
This week we welcome the family of Zara Tepaa to St Jude’s for her baptism on Sunday at 11am.
Baptism is a joyful part of the Christian tradition, as we celebrate new life given by God. As Jesus said, “No-one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” (John 3:3). Every single one of us needs the new life which only God’s Spirit can give. Everyone who is born again by the Spirit, through faith in his Son Jesus Christ, has new life. This new life is true, everlasting life.
In the simple yet powerful ceremony of baptism, water represents the gift of the God’s Spirit, who makes us alive. You can definitely be a Christian before baptism, if you have faith in Jesus. But because Jesus commanded us to baptise (Matthew 28:19), it seems to me that we should not neglect to baptise people who show that faith.
If you were brought up as a Christian, you may well have been baptised as an infant. But there might also be Christians among us who have never been baptised. If this is you, I would like to encourage you to take this step. Please talk to me about this, because if people are interested, I would love to hold a course for adults considering baptism early next year.
In brief:
- It’s not too late to create an Operation Christmas Child gift! Pick up your shoebox and instructions in the porch or Parish Room. Please bring your completed shoebox in next Sunday.
- If you use the dated weekly envelope system for your financial gifts to St Jude’s, there are boxes of new envelopes (dated Oct 2022 through to Sep 2023) available in the porch.
- Our special celebration service for St Jude’s Day is next Sunday, 30th We are holding a special combined service at 10.30 am, followed by a picnic and BBQ lunch in the open space of the graveyard. I really hope you can come, and encourage anyone you know who hasn’t been to church in a while. (Please note that services will not be held at our regular times next Sunday!)
Yours,
Andrew Schmidt
Rector