CCK 8 OClock News - March 2019

The Eight O’Clock

News March 2019 8 am Service, Christ Church Kenilworth 021-797-6332

something else to be ‘holy’ simply means for it to be dedicated to God. You are holy to the extent that your life is devoted to him and your actions reflect his character. Holiness and wholeness are closely related, and God wants the whole of your life.

Worship the Lord in a life of Holiness

Help! I’ve been attacked by a small dinosaur !

How does God Speak to us ?

Firstly, God speaks to us through the bible;

Secondly, God speaks to us personally in our hearts and minds; Thirdly, God speaks to us through other people - Extract, Andre Frieslaar [See p 8]

Recently, a friend from a different church in a different town made this observation: ‘I am very surprised at how little these Christians (in her church) read the bible. We needed to find a reading plan to help them.’

She thrilled my heart with her next comment that the decision was made to follow Nicky Gumbel’s Bible in One Year which is the one I have used for several years. As I had been mulling over what God wanted to use as the editorial for the Eight O ‘Clock News, I took encouragement from the third way Andre mentioned and chose the readings from Wednesday, 27/2/2019 which are printed below, though these are extracts and not the entire text.

[The readings follow a theme which is carried throughout. There is always a Psalm/a section of Proverbs, a New Testament and then an Old Testament reading, with commentary between each.]

Six Characteristics of a Holy Life Do you try to fit Jesus into your schedule? Or do you work your schedule around Jesus?

‘God cannot fit into our plans, we must fit into his,’ writes Eugene Peterson. ‘We can’t use God—God is not a tool or appliance or credit card. Holy is the word that sets God apart and above our attempts to enlist him in our wish-fulfilment fantasies or our utopian schemes for making our mark in the world. Holy means that God is alive on God’s terms, alive in a way that exceeds our experience and imagination. Holy refers to life burning with an intense purity that transforms everything it touches into itself.’

The Hebrew word ‘holy’ (qadosh) probably originally meant ‘separate’ or ‘set apart’. It came to be used to describe the ‘otherness’ of God, and how his character and nature are so much greater and more wonderful than any other person or thing. For March 2019 Eight O’Clock News

Psalm 27:1-6 Of David 1

The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When the wicked advance against me to devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall.

3 Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident.

4 One thing I ask from the LORD this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.

5 For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock.

Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the LORD

How do you live a life without fear?

David had plenty of reasons to be afraid. He was surrounded by ‘vandals’, ‘bullies’ and ‘toughs’ (v.2, MSG). Yet he said, ‘I’m fearless, afraid of no one and nothing’ (v.1, MSG). ‘I’m calm as a baby… I’m collected and cool’ (v.3, MSG). How can you be confident in the face of opposition and attack?

The focus of his life was worship. He focused on ‘one thing’ (v.4).

This was his number one priority. Don’t try to fit God into your plans. Make your plans around the priority of worship.

David gives a wonderful description of worship. What he wants to do more than anything is ‘to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple’ (v.4b). There he will ‘sacrifice with shouts

of joy; [he] will sing and make music to the Lord’ (v.6b).

I love the expression ‘the beauty of the Lord’ (v.4b). The Greek word for ‘beauty’ (kalos) is the word used to describe everything that Jesus did (Mark 7:37). Dostoevsky described Jesus as ‘infinitely beautiful’. Jesus had no outward beauty (Isaiah 53:2– 3); he had a different kind of beauty—the beauty of holiness.

As you seek the Lord and gaze upon the beauty of the Lord in worship, he lifts you above all the distractions, fears and temptations. As David puts it, ‘That’s the only quiet, secure place in a noisy world… God holds me head and shoulders above those who try to pull me down’ (Psalm 27:5–6, MSG).

Lord one thing I ask, that I may dwell in your house all the days of my life, to gaze on your beauty.

Serve the Lord in a life of holiness Mark 9:3-10:12

What should our attitude be to other Christian ministries and other Christian churches?

Divisions among followers of Jesus started very early on! The disciples started arguing about who was the greatest (9:33–34).

In this context, Jesus speaks to them about the characteristics of a life of holiness. [These are expanded in the text].

Humility Love Tolerance Discipline Peace Faithfulness Lord, help me through the power of your Holy Spirit to live a holy life and to develop the characteristics of humility, love, tolerance, discipline, peace and faithfulness.

Be holy as the Lord is holy Leviticus 1:1-3:17

How can you live a holy life when the world around is unholy?

As the people of God are about to enter the promised land, there is what Eugene Peterson describes as a ‘narrative pause’; an ‘extended time-out of instruction, a detailed and meticulous preparation for living “holy” in a culture that doesn’t have the faintest idea what “holy” is.’

‘First’, he writes, ‘every detail of our lives is affected by the presence of this holy God.’ You are called to holiness in every aspect of your day-to-day life. Second, he continues, ‘God provides a way (the sacrifices and feasts and Sabbaths) to bring everything in and about us into his holy presence, transformed in the fiery blaze of the holy.’

The language of Leviticus sounds very strange to our modern ears. The law required that the sacrifice be perfect—‘without defect’ (1:3). Through the sacrifice, ‘atonement’ was made (v.4).

Symbolically, through the laying on of hands on the head of the bulls, goats and lambs (for example 3:2,8) the sin passed to a substitute who would be sacrificed on behalf of human beings.

The blood of the sacrifice was extremely important (1:5; 3:2, 8, 13).

All this can only be understood fully in the light of the New Testament. The writer of Hebrews tells us that ‘without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness’ (Hebrews 9:22).

He tells us that the law is a ‘copy’ (v.23) and a ‘shadow’ (10:1).

In other words, this is just a foreshadowing and a picture of something far greater and more wonderful.

March 2019 Eight O’Clock News

He writes, ‘The law is only a shadow of the good things that are2 coming—not the realities themselves… It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins’ (vv.1,4).

All this was leading up to ‘the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all’ (v.10). ‘By one sacrifice he has made perfect for ever those who are being made holy’ (v.14). We receive total forgiveness; ‘sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary’ (v.18).

So, the New Testament tells us none of these sacrifices are needed anymore. However, they form the background to the sacrifice of Jesus and help us to understand just how amazing it is. Holiness starts by putting your faith in what Jesus has done for you and asking his Holy Spirit to come into your life to help you to begin to live a holy life.

In gratitude for all that God has done for you, by the sacrifice of Jesus on your behalf, offer your body as ‘a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper woship’ (Romans 12:1–2).

Lord, full of thankfulness and praise, I offer you my body as a living sacrifice. Help me, through your Holy Spirit who lives in me, to be holy as you are holy.

Pippa Adds Jesus says, ‘Be at peace with each other’ (Mark 9:50).

That would solve most of the problems in the world!

Verse of the Day ‘One thing I ask of the LORD… that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD…’ (Psalm 27:4).

HAPPY SPECIAL BIRTHDAY Graham Chater [26 March] Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you.

I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

Isaiah 46:4

How odd Of God To choose The Jews (poet William Norman Ewer)

Cecil Browne decided to add a second verse:

But not so odd As those who choose A Jewish God But spurn the Jews Excerpt from Unlocking The Bible by David Pawson - Sent in by Pam Maytham

David & Alison Newby

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David grew up in a conservative Christian evangelical

environment. His parents were originally missionaries in the Assemblies of God and later, his father, John, preached in the Brethren Church. They were constantly on the move and by 15, David had lived in 17 different places. Looking back, he feels he has spent much of the rest of his life recovering from the religious fundamentalism of his childhood.

Although they later disagreed profoundly on many issues, his father was a major influence on him. At 40, he decided to study theology, first at UNISA and then at Potchefstroom, where he obtained his PhD degree and went on to be Vice-Principal of George Whitefield Theological College in Muizenberg. At 85, he still preaches regularly at churches in Cape Town and supervises some MA students.

In his mid-teens, David’s family lived in Johannesburg’s southern suburbs, where his father was a minister with the Church of England in South Africa. David matriculated at Forest High School, where he played 1st team cricket and rugby.

At the Johannesburg College of Education he trained as a primary school teacher and joined the Student Christian Association (SCA).

In 1979 he attended the SCA’s national conference and at 20, having grown up unaware of the iniquities of the apartheid system, he was for the first time exposed to the experiences of black students and to issues of politics and social justice. Saddened and angered by what he heard, he became powerfully convinced that Christians must be engaged in the fight for social justice.

In 1980 David was called up for national service, which he did as a non-combatant, refusing to carry arms. Having got to Windhoek, it turned out that the local SADF was looking for sportsmen to represent them and so he ended up playing a lot of cricket and working in the pay office.

When his two years were over, David stayed on in Windhoek as youth pastor at the local Methodist church. He never reported for military camps and joined the End Conscription Campaign (ECC).

In 1989 he was one of 143 young men who declared publicly that they would not serve in the SADF. In 1983 he moved to Klerksdorp Methodist Church as youth pastor and the following year enrolled as a candidate for the ministry. He ran multiracial Methodist youth camps, aware that he was being watched by the security police all the time.

By the mid-1980s, South African churches were in the forefront of the fight against apartheid and when Peter Storey invited him to the Central Methodist Mission in Johannesburg, David entered the eye of the storm. He worked there from 1986-1989 at a time of great violence and uncertainty.

David and Alison Mathew had first met in 1983 at an SCA conference in Windhoek. Alison lived in Cape Town and attended Rustenburg Girls’ School and UCT. They met again in 1985 and were married in 1987. Alison joined David in Johannesburg and worked as an occupational therapist at Hillbrow Hospital. They would have two children, Kerry in 1992 and Christopher in 1996.

Studying theology through UNISA, David became a probationary minister at Central Methodist Mission and worked with ACTSTOP, an organisation which highlighted the injustices of the Group Areas Act. In 1989 he was ordained and had his first trip to England, where he worked at the West London Methodist Mission and in the chaplaincy at London University. He spoke at Anti-Apartheid meetings at a time when the international spotlight was on South Africa and at a meeting at Bradford University, his grandfather, an “old fashioned Yorkshire socialist”, listened proudly in the audience.

March 2019 Eight O’Clock News

At the end of 1989, David was invited to be Minister at Cape Town’s Central Methodist Mission. He had always wanted to work in an inner-city mission and jumped at the chance. The old Methodist church in Buitenkant Street on the fringe of District Six was very little used since the amalgamation of the Buitenkant Street and Metropolitan Methodist Churches in 1988. David spearheaded that building’s conversion into the District Six Museum, the first anti-apartheid museum in South Africa, which opened in 1992. It has been the scene of countless reunions and reconciliations and illustrates David’s view that church buildings are not always best used as churches! He remained politically engaged and was still receiving death threats as late as 1993. He also helped to lead the Gun Free South Africa campaign, which led eventually to stronger gun control laws in this country.

Upon their return to Cape Town, Alison worked as an occupational therapist in private practice and became interested in creating work opportunities for young people with intellectual disabilities. She later co-founded an organisation called Work4You, which is still doing sterling work in the field. In the early 1990s, Alison attended a course on contemplative spirituality and in 1995 she encouraged David to go on a silent retreat. This led him to a more contemplative approach to his spirituality, or what he terms “reflective activism”. Alison joined a spirituality group in 1991 and they have continued to meet every week to this day.

In 2000, as he contemplated leaving pastoral ministry, David connected with Frederick Marais and Arnold Smit at the Theological Seminary at Stellenbosch. Together, they developed a programme to equip clergy to lead effectively in the South African context. This resulted in the establishment of a unit within the Bureau for Continuing Theological Education and Research known as the Church and Community Facilitation Network (CFN). More than a thousand clergy and community leaders completed the course across the country and its impact is still being felt.

At the same time, David started his own consultancy and has consulted to Christian organisations and Non-Profits across the world, helping them with leadership development and change management. Alison qualified as an executive coach in 2005 and joined David in the consultancy. She completed her Master’s degree in coaching and has worked with him across South Africa and in Tanzania. Their biggest focus in recent years has been education, where they started the Seed Educational Trust. SEED applies the CFN approach to school leadership. It trains and equips heads of schools and education

officials through a one-year course of workshops, mentoring and coaching. It started in Cape Town’s Eastern Metropole (Khayelitsha) and now runs in five provinces across the country. Generously funded by Old Mutual and other businesses, it is registered as a course in the University of Stellenbosch Business School’s Executive Development Programme.

David and Alison joined CCK in 2001, attracted by its evangelical approach and its desire to be relevant to the issues of the day. David has been involved behind the scenes in many CCK and parish matters and Alison has helped in the spiritual direction of a number of people.

They are both still very busy with their consultancy and live in a quiet street near Rondebosch Common. Their daughter Kerry (26) teaches at Boston Primary School in Bellville and will be married in March 2019 to Alex Mudavanhu. Son Christopher (23) has just started his final year LLB at UCT. David and his father now share many theological and political views and enjoy a good and supportive relationship. Alison’s mother Jess, as well as her siblings Sheila and Jim also worship at CCK and she has a host of other relatives with deep roots in the congregation. In this new season of their lives, CCK can look forward to hearing much more from both Newbys in the years to come.

Sara Pienaar

Tauranga Doctor Joins Fight Against Drug Epidemic Bronwyn Copeland, a doctor at

Tauranga Hospital, New Zealand—and Chris Jenkins’ daughter, was due to swim an epic 40km in cold water by torchlight on 24 February to join the fight against the Bay's methamphetamine epidemic. Due to unfavourable conditions, the swim was postponed to 27 February and at the time of going to print, the outcome was unknown.

Bronwyn is passionate about preventing mental illness and the swim across Lake Taupō is to support a local campaign, P Not Once, to raise awareness about the devastating effects of methamphetamine in the Bay. The swim will take from 12-14 hours and she will start the race in the dark at 3am, with glow torches to guide her. The wind and temperature will also be a challenge. Not allowed a wetsuit, the lake will be around 19 degrees but her biggest challenge will be mental.

Around 20-30 km the challenge is greatest and Bronwyn hopes her training will help her cope with physical exhaustion.

Details are not known at time of writting, so Chris has been warned that we will want to know how his amazing daughter has fared.

- Information sent in

by Chris Jenkins

STOP PRESS: Bronwyn finished the swim in 11 hours 59 minutes on 27/2/2019 ! Well done, Bronwyn !

March 2019 Eight O’Clock News

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Gems from Jacob

Barbara & Stan Fish

Today is a Saturday Sabbath for

me… this in terms of Bible reading.

This year I am using a commentary by one D.A. Carson on two out of the four readings from the McCheyne reading plan. For those who may not know, McCheyne’s ‘four daily readings programme’ enables one to travel once through the Old Testament and twice through the New Testament and Psalms in a calendar year. In years past, I have done this, but this year I think DA Carson’s commentary will take me through from Genesis to Revelation once.

Why a Saturday Sabbath? As must be becoming evident by now… in terms of my heroes, one year, Eugene Peterson also led me through the entire Bible, but he built in a Sabbath day when NO readings were set!! I like this, and have kept the pattern ever since. So much for an introduction to my musings about Jacob.

I am surrounded by several versions as I write… ESV,CEV and of course The Message For years I have prayed a prayer from Psalm 20 for the people I love most… ‘may the name of the God of Jacob protect them’ (Ps 20:1b .ESV) In this year, while still dwelling in the Genesis stories about Jacob, I have collected a few more ‘jewels’ from those I already had about this extraordinarily unlikely man whom God chose to bless and use to further His purposes for His chosen people.

Being a lover of word craft, I wanted to try an distil these gleanings to create a more complete picture of Jacob’s relationship with God… this perhaps with a view to expanding my prayer of Psalm 20.

You will remember that once Jacob’s slightly older twin brother Esau realised that Jacob had cheated him from his father Isaac’s blessing, he hated Jacob and wanted to kill him. Jacob needed to flee and during this flight he encountered God in a dream about a ladder and in which God said to him ‘Wherever you go, I will watch over you’ (Gen 28:15. CEV). The Message says the same thing but like this: ‘I’ll stick with you until I’ve done everything I promised you’. So now my prayers for my loved ones include this verb ‘stick’ Many decades later and once Jacob and Esau had been reconciled, Jacob chose to return to Bethel, (the place he had so named after his ladder dream). There he planned to build an altar for the God whom he described in these words: He always answered my prayers when I was in trouble and He has always been at my side’ (Gen 35:3. CEV)… another way of expanding our prayers.

And lastly, as Jacob (now named Israel) prepared to die, this is what he said: ‘the God who has been with me all my life and whose angel has kept me safe, bless these boys’ (in this instance Joseph’s children). I like The Message version here: ‘The God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this very day, bless these boys’.

Finally ,Jacob prays that ‘God will give Joseph and his brothers safe passage back to the land of their fathers’ (they were still in Egypt when he died) (Gen 48:21. The Message).

I don’t think it’s too far a cry to claim Jacob’s prayers as/ for our own… I have prayed for ‘safe passage’ for the last 40 weeks for our now ‘safely arrived’ granddaughter !

- Jessica McCarter

March 2019 Eight O’Clock News

Stan and I feel that we have seen very little of Christ Church recently—a Christ Church which has been an integral part of our lives since 1973! And now we feel that this might be the time to say farewell. It has become more and more difficult to get to services as Stan’s mobility has decreased and so we have been attending the little Methodist Church at Mossop Hall in Mowbray, which was our spiritual home through the 1960s when we were first married—we’ve come full circle! Mossop has the advantage of being very close to our home and also having a 9.30 am service; more than that, it is full of old friends!

December, January and early February were a wonderful whirlwind of family visits but all of a sudden we felt our years. One day, when some of the family had left and we were quite alone again, I slipped in the shower and sprained my ankle—that was a huge wake up call for us! Our dear Lord pointed us to Psalm 94:17-19 in our Bible reading just an hour after my mishap and I couldn’t help picturing Him smiling gently down on his panicked children! Later that same day our daughter arrived from Pietermaritzburg for a prearranged week-long visit, and when she had to leave our son arrived for another week—we were cared for all the time I couldn’t walk, let alone drive!

Now we are in the throes of planning a move to a retirement home—something we should perhaps have considered sooner—and it is occupying all our energies. We hope to get to some of the Wednesday services and we certainly intend to keep up with all the Christ Church news—especially of the 8 O’ Clock congregation!

We and our children have been nurtured and blessed immeasurably by Christ Church—its leaders and its whole wonderful spiritual family—we love you and will miss you!

- Barbara Fish

Justice & Mercy A man was having his portrait painted by a successful artist.

When the portrait was finished it was unveiled. The man was most unhappy with the result. When asked whether he liked it, he replied, ‘I don’t think it does me justice.’ To which the artist replied, ‘Sir, it is not justice you need, but mercy!’

At the end of the day we all need mercy even more than justice.

God is ‘rich in mercy’ (Ephesians 2:4). The theme of the ‘mercy of God’ runs throughout the Bible. In the original Greek, ‘eleos’ (mercy) also means compassion, pity, clemency.

The mercy of God is available for you.

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The Gift of Flowers These are the ‘Grande Dames’ of the Flower Guild: Di StuartFindlay, Eleanor Watson and Estelle King.

These three remarkable women have, together, given over 100 years to serve us through the Christ Church Flower Guild.

They all have not only a love of flowers, but the gift of being able to arrange them. This gift is to reveal who God is and to display his beauty and creativity. Bruce Collins, the well-known New Wine leader, told us years ago that every time he went into his church he looked first at the flowers. A deeply prophetic person, he says that God speaks through the flowers and in that sense, for him, they are prophetic! For me the talents and gifts of Di, Eleanor and Estelle are like Bezalel: “Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts—to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship.” Exodus 31.

Christ Church itself began in 1907—70 Years later Ernie Ashcroft suggested a flower guild be formed and it continues today. The guild has done many special events: the 80th Anniversary, when the theme was Love, Joy and Peace from Galations 5:22, the 90th Anniversary in 1997, many Harvest Festivals, and Pentecost was always a great celebration with flowers.

Many were open to the general public. Eleanor remembers the special festival when only green was used in arrangements. In 1984, they did 36 weddings in one year!! These always involved poles down the aisle. Di remembers the 90th anniversary when they had to order the flowers from Oak Valley in Elgin. She heard the truck rumble along her road at 2am to deliver them to her home! One person doing three massive arrangements—until one has actually done flowers, one doesn’t realise how incredibly demanding it is physically, and the hours of work required.

Di tells the story of the wonderful link between three generations of a Muslim flower-selling family and the church.

When Mary Brown, was leader of the guild in the 70s, she used to buy flowers for the church for R5 at the flower seller in front of the Standard Bank in Claremont. Di went shopping one day in Claremont in the 1980s when the brand new Woolworths had just opened. She was astounded that they were selling March 2019 Eight O’Clock News

flowers in the shop—an unusual occurrence in those days. She immediately went to see the manager and asked him how he could imperil the livelihood of Miriam (daughter of the first lady) outside, with her family flower business! Miriam continued until she started to operate out of her home in Lansdowne, where Christ Church still bought flowers. Her granddaughter, Janie is now selling flowers at the top of the escalator in Cavendish.

Di remembers always loving flowers, and picking them in her family’s garden, from when she was about six years old. After school, she went to the Constance Spry school in England for two years where she trained as a florist. Many will remember Alison’s for Flowers, the shop in Main Road, Kenilworth, which she and a friend began on 1 May 1950, when they were just 20!

There is just about nowhere that Di has not done flowers in Cape Town. A real highlight was doing the flowers for her daughter’s wedding in the Guards Chapel in London. Her favourite flower is a cream or white double Lisianthus. She has always appreciated interest shown by ministers over the years, and especially remembers a lovely letter from Tim Smith, about how the flowers one Pentecost weekend, moved him to worship.

Estelle joined in about 1987, after being members here with Edwin for many years. She grew up in Paarl where flowers and a love of flowers were always part of her life. She just loves simple garden flowers and her favourites are whatever are in season—the miracle of the emergence of another flower. Her great pleasure in being part of the guild, was working in the quiet of the church, in a place of perfect peace and tranquillity.

Eleanor too has always loved gardens and been aware of flowers her whole life. Her favourite flower is Love-in -a-Mist. She has made so many life-long friends through the guild. She continues to arrange flowers at Christ Church as she approaches her 90th birthday.

She sums up the ethos and outlook of these three wonderful women, when she describes being part of the flower guild, as ‘an absolute joy and enormous privilege to do the flowers for the glory of God. The flowers are an expression of God’s love for us.’

These gracious women have been a great blessing to us and we welcome this opportunity to thank them for their amazing contribution to our church and life here, in the expression of their gift.

- Alison Bourne

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It’s a Girl !

Buffalo Regatta—East London

Paula and Desire’s longed for baby, Keziah Moriah Ndawisenga , was born on 19/2/2019. Give thanks to the Lord for a long-awaited gift.

After watching the coverage of the regatta on our cell phones in

It’s a Girl !

Alana and Jonathan’s baby, Elizabeth Jane Henwood arrived safely 25/2/2019 in UK, two weeks later than expected (just over 4.1kgs).

March 2019 Eight O’Clock News

2018, we decided that this was the place to be in 2019. Little did we know, when these plans were conceived, that our grandson David Person from Rondebosch Boy’s High School would excel.

The Buffalo Regatta has taken place for the past 131 years, only interrupted by the World Wars. One of the reasons for our desiring to be there was that the spectators are situated very close to the water’s edge. Leading rowing schools and universities from SA send teams to compete over a distance of 2000 metres.

The race starts up river and the crews race towards the sea, hopefully assisted by an outgoing tide and a following wind.

David was competing in the Under 16 Single Sculls and had made it to the final, which took place very early in the morning of Saturday,16 February.

We were up early so as to be at the best vantage point in the club house located close to the finishing line. As the leading three competitors passed the clubhouse it was any one’s race, somehow David managed to put in a last few powerful and determined strokes to take gold. We were absolutely thrilled that all his hard work invested over the past months was rewarded. It was a special moment to give him a big hug and ‘high five’ when he came off the water.

He was also placed first in his category in the Selbourne Sprints which is over a distance of 500 metres. We were quite surprised by this result as he prefers the longer distance racing. His school’s teams did very well in both the Under-16 Eights and the Fours, coming second to St Benedict’s which is the leading rowing school in SA. David was in both of these teams.

We give thanks to God for David and that he is blessed with this talent and that he is making the most of the pportunities he is being given. Thanks also to God for his parents who have supported him wholeheartedly.

- Peter & Lindy Tomalin

Series on Prayer

The Power of Prayer

Over the past four weeks we have had four different preachers

present a part of a series from 1 Samuel Chapters 2 and 3.

I’m sure many will agree this series was well worth listening to— and probably several times more (available on website) to benefit even further.

The fourth sermon, preached last Sunday, was presented by Andre Frieselaar who started his sermon like this: “This sermon is the last in a four-part series on prayer from the book of Samuel. Samuel was the son of Hannah, who was one of the wives of Elkanah, a descendant of Abraham.

Rob (Taylor) kicked the series off teaching us about praying with passionate intensity, illustrated by Hannah praying to God out of desperation for not being able to fall pregnant and the indignity that that produced. He suggested that we too can pray with this passionate intensity when we develop a discontent or unhappiness with the way things are or situations we find ourselves in. Living in South Africa, I am sure we can find many things to pray about with passionate intensity!

Colleen (Sturrock) was next up in the series and she preached about praying with unreserved dedication, once again illustrated in the life of Hannah, as she follows through with her vow to God and when Samuel turns three years old, she brings Samuel to Eli and leaves him at the temple to be raised there as she had promised. Hannah teaches us that the prayer of unreserved dedication involves self-offering, surrender, and, at times, costly sacrifice. Here we offer something to the Lord which costs us something.

The day was long …

The burden I had borne seemed heavier than I could longer bear, And then it lifted— but I did not know someone had knelt in prayer; had taken me to God that very hour, and asked the easing of the load, and He, in infinite compassion, had taken it from me.

We cannot tell how often as we pray for some bewildered one, hurt and distressed, the answer comes— and many times those hearts find peace and rest.

Someone had prayed, and Faith—a reaching hand— took hold of God, who heard the cry.

So many, many hearts have need of prayer; Oh, let us pray ! Let us pray !

Maximillian Kolbe, b1894, A Franciscan friar who volunteered to die in place of a stranger in Auschwitz during WWII – Sent in by Helen Veitch

Charlotte (Brown) preached the next sermon on the prayer of gratitude and joy, as Hannah is validated and loved by God and she sees the world as a safe place under God’s authority. We too can pray in gratitude and joy for these truths.

Which brings us to the final sermon in this series, the topic of which is the prayer of attentiveness. Unlike the other three sermons, the type of prayer is illustrated by Samuel rather than Hannah. And unlike the other three sermons where we are encouraged to pray to God in a certain way, this type of prayer is about us learning to listen and discern what God is saying to us…”

[And if you want to know how this sermon continued, I suggest you listen to the podcast—or ask Andre for a copy of his sermon. ]

Let every living, breathing creature praise God. Hallelujah !

Hannah & Mary As our small group studied and compared Hannah and Mary’s

songs we came to two conclusions: 1) That Hannah must have steeped herself in the scriptures as she was carrying, nursing and caring for Samuel—and that she did this in order to prepare herself for the time she knew was coming when she would have to honour her promise to God. 2) Mary must have been doing the same thing as she took in the implications of the message the angel Gabriel had brought to her and what she had agreed to do; and, that part of the scriptures she was immersed in was Hannah’s song itself. How it must have resonated with her.

When we compared the two there were startling similarities—and in an age when no individual bibles were available!

- Sally Palmer

March 2019 Eight O’Clock News

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Editorial Team Tel/e-mail Ev Els

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