St Mary’s Kingsburgh
We are a very busy people. We have our routines and we have our purpose, we have someone who we report to and that has expectations of us. And that is all about to change. Many people have made these changes already, working from home is not unheard-of, remote offices are a thing! And it seems as if we are just meant to slot into a new way of living, stress free and without missing a beat. Go home and get on with life is what we are told. But it is no easy task. For people of faith the biggest challenge is that our means of leaning on our faith has been robbed from us. We are people of habit and our ability to deal with the stress of life is strongly attached to our ability to go to church on Sunday, to sing some uplifting hymn, have the scriptures read, hear a sermon, feel encouraged, and feel surrounded by the love of fellow believers.
For many Anglicans deviating from pg 104 is more than we can handle and now we have all this. For many of us the stress of having all this overload of information and virtual content is stressful. The constant ping of our phones with another message albeit of encouragement is stressful. The thought of going to the shops or not going to the shops is stressful. The unfamiliar is stressful, the familiar is stressful, and we wonder how we are going to get through it.
Together! We are still a community, and we will get through this together. Reading the bible is not just a dutiful and good thing to do – it is informative. When the people of the Old Testament had the Temple destroyed by their enemies and their way of worship was destroyed, they struggled. They were physically taken into a strange land as you are being figuratively taken into a strange land. But they worshipped God in a strange land although they did not know how to. Today every scripture reading you read is about your life, the bible does not just provide someone else’s story for you to compare with, I have repeatedly told you this but now it is more obvious than ever.
The Psalmist longs to return to Jerusalem, God’s chosen place, to reveal Himself and to dwell with His people. May those Psalms and the Prophets truly speak comfort to you. Wisdom to you, guidance to you.
A few practical things:
You will receive messages on multiple platforms – (WhatsApp, Facebook, Email etc); that is because not everyone has access to everything, but we have to send it out on all platforms to reach everyone.
Please note:
This Rector’s Desk will be emailed and sent via WhatsApp Wednesday’s and Friday’s. It will also be available on the website. Please feel free to share it.
Our “Morning and Evening Prayer broadcasts” will begin Thursday afternoon and will be broadcast on Zoom Tuesday to Friday at 08h00 and 16h00. We will send a WhatsApp out to invite you to join the prayer meeting. You will need to download Zoom from the App Store.
The Pew Bulletin will be emailed out on Fridays as usual. Notices and bible readings and prayers for the week will be included therein.
The Office will be closed and should you wish to Phone you will need to phone on the Office WhatsApp number (031 916 2777) or phone me on 082 370 4702.
I am told that it takes 21 days to form a habit. Let’s look carefully at what we do then in the days ahead, because we could form good or bad habits, that’s up to us! Be assured that we have a team that is working hard to assist you (and working out innovative ways to do it) to journey with you and support you.
We know that these are trying times and that we are all under financial stress. But I remind you that the church still has bills to pay and your tithes and offerings pay those bills. Please use internet banking to make your contributions.
Parish of St Marys, Kingsburgh
FNB– Galleria: 22 01 27
Account: 625 400 953 89
May Christ the light of the world illuminate your path and lead you in righteousness and console you and give you wisdom.
Rejoice, again I say Rejoice! For the Lord our God will give us strength and power and wisdom and hope and life in abundance!
Choose Faith not Fear!
Rector.
