New Year, 2015
Dear Alberton Methodist and Worldwide Holey, Wholly, Holy Family
Chris
and I truly hope that you have had a blessed Christmas season and
that 2015 will be a blessed and prosperous (in the true Biblical
meaning of that word) year for you and your loved ones.
I
wrote on my blog before Christmas (read here) that Christmas isn't so much about
celebrating the birth of Jesus as it is about celebrating the
incarnation of God and then remembering what it means to be an
incarnational people and presence in the world around us. In my New
Year message (here) on Sunday 4 January, I call for us and all Christians to
remember that we are called to be different and
I share some frightening statistics which show that, in the West, we
Christians are not very different from non-Christians. I think this
means that we have forgotten what it means to be incarnational
people.
Teresa
of Avila sums up beautifully what it means to be an incarnational
people with these words:
“Christ
has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world.
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the
hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands,
yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has
no body now on earth but yours.”
May
2015 be the year where we each discover afresh, perhaps even through
our own personal epiphany, what it means to be Christ in the world
around us, because it is just such a discovery that will bring us
blessing and Biblical prosperity.
Chris
and I really covet your prayers as we seek the Lord's will for us
regarding our future as we come nearer to the end of our ministry here at AMC.
Please remember our Annual Society Meeting on Wed 14
January. All current Society Stewards and members of the Leaders'
meeting have been asked to submit reports on their work in 2014.
These will be available from the church office from Friday 9 January
(you can ask for a printed copy, or they can be e-mailed on request)
and they will be taken as read at the ASM. Please remember that you,
the congregation, determine the agenda for that meeting and I ask
that any item you want included on the agenda be submitted to the
secretary of the ASM (simone@amc.org.za)
or me (cedric@johnwesleyproject.com)
by Tuesday 13 January at noon.
I
believe AMC is going to need particularly good, Biblical leadership
over the next few years, and with that in mind I include with this
Pastoral Letter some devotional material that I have come across in
the last few weeks regarding leadership. It is pertinent to all
leaders, at work, school or home, but I ask you in particular to read
and use them in the context of electing 7 Society Stewards at our
ASM, bearing in mind that Biblical qualities of leadership are not
always the same as worldly ideas regarding leadership.
In
closing, here is the hymn that I have chosen as our “theme” song
for the first few weeks of this year. It is called Oceans
(Where Feet May Fail) from Hillsong United and it can
be used as a prayer as we face the great unknown of a new year. You
can watch it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga3DmPRPAQQ
but here are the words:
You
call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep
My faith will stand
And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine
Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sovereign hand
Will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You've never failed and You won't start now
(chorus)
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep
My faith will stand
And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine
Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sovereign hand
Will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You've never failed and You won't start now
(chorus)
Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior
(chorus)
Much
love,
Cedric
Here are the readings
for the next few weeks
4
January Epiphany Sunday (read my sermon here)
Isaiah 60:1-6
Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14
Ephesians 3:1-12
Matthew 2:1-12
11 January Baptism of the Lord
Genesis 1:1-5
Psalm 29
Acts 19:1-7
Mark 1:4-11
18 January Old Testament and
Gospel: Listening and Responding to the Call to Follow
Samuel 3:1-10, (11-20)
John 1:43-51
25 January Old Testament and
Gospel: Listening and Responding to the Call to Follow
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Mark
1:14-20
1 February Covenant Services
(Cedric and Vernon
will select some of these readings)
Deuteronomy 31:9 –13;
2 Kings 23:1 –3; 2 Chronicles 34:29 –33; Jeremiah
31:31 –34;
Psalm 50
1 Peter 1; Matthew 25:14 –30;
Matthew 25:31 –46; John 15:1–8.
