The Eight O’Clock
News July 2018
Ka Pun Kha, Lord My recent holiday in Thailand was not only restful but energizing as
well. The exquisite seascapes will remain in my memory and I will recall the thrill of diving into the turquoise ocean and swimming with the fish. A lasting impression will be of the Thai people and their gentleness. Softly-spoken, always-smiling and eager to please, most of them exuded a serenity despite their circumstances. The polite and friendly way of greeting each other by saying Sawadee with putting your palms together and gently bowing, generated in me a feeling that the other person really mattered. I enjoyed participating in the custom and also bowed with my palms together on saying Ka pun kha—thank you. I think this holiday was so particularly good for me because I lived each day in the moment. The day-to-day stressors largely contributed by the corporate workspace were absent as my emails and mobile were disabled. I had time for prayer, mindfulness, contemplation, rest and fun. It appears that this is the kind of wholehearteded living that Brene Brown writes of in her book, The Gifts of Imperfection. I am aware that we cannot live in a Thai paradise forever but we can in our everyday lives endeavour to embrace the gifts of imperfection: courage, compassion and (k)connection (CCK !). The book explores the power of love, belonging and being enough and the things that get in the way of this. Researcher and academic, Brene says, after interviewing numerous people on what it is like to live wholeheartedly, ‘I now see that cultivating a Wholehearted life is not like trying to reach a destination. It’s like walking towards a star in the sky. We never really arrive, but we certainly know that we are heading in the right direction. I now see how gifts like courage, compassion and connection only work when exercised. Every day’. ‘Wholehearted living is about engaging our lives from a place of worthiness. It means cultivating the courage, compassion and connection to wake up in the morning and think, No matter what gets done and how much is left undone, I am enough. It’s going to bed at night thinking, Yes I am imperfect and vulnerable and sometimes I’m afraid, but that doesn’t change the truth that I am also brave and worthy of love and belonging’. In the book, 10 Guideposts are outlined and express what we should cultivate and what we should let go. #1 Cultivate Authenticity—let go of what people think #2 Cultivate Self-Compassion—let go of perfectionism #3 Cultivate a Resilient Spirit—let go of numbing and powerlessness July 2018 Eight O’Clock News
8 am Service, Christ Church, Kenilworth 021-797-6332
#4 Cultivate Gratitude and Joy—let go of scarcity and fear of the dark #5 Cultivate Intuition and Trusting Faith—let go of the need for certainty #6 Cultivate Creativity—let go of comparison #7 Cultivate Play and Rest—let go of exhaustion as a status symbol and productivity as self-worth #8 Cultivate Calm and Stillness—let go of anxiety as a lifestyle #9 Cultivate Meaningful Work—let go of Self-doubt and ‘Supposed To’ #10 Cultivate Laughter, Song and Dance—let go of Being Cool and ‘Always in Control’. Ka pun kha, Lord—that You can show us all these things and bring us to a place of courage, compassion and connected wholehearted living.
- Cheryl Anderson
A walk on the Wild Side… Last month I visited Thailand and one of the things that I most
wanted to do was to walk with the elephants. The elephants that I spent time with are rescued from a hard life of trekking and logging and some still bear the physical scars as well as the emotional ones. Researchers say that elephants are right up there on the intelligence scale with man, chimpanzees and dolphins. The saying goes ‘elephants don’t forget’ but I would hope that they have forgotten the horrors of their past enslavement. Our guide instructed us how to behave around the elephant group—the oldest elephant was 50 years old and the youngest 10 months. We fed them first to gain their trust—bananas with the skins on and huge sticks of sugar cane. An elephant eats up to 10% of its body weight per day—that can be 300kg or more. It was amazing to offer the food to them and watch the trunk come out so deftly to grab the food and eat. They therefore poo a lot too but ingeniously down the road is a Poo Paper factory where beautiful notebooks and paper are made out of elephant dung. We followed them down to the river where they rolled in the mud and we then bathed them with river water. After that we walked through the lands with them and observed how they ate more roots, small trees, bamboo and grass. Back at the camp we fed them more sugar cane sticks. Elephant keepers called mahouts often exploited elephants and did not treat them well. The rescue organization has not only rehabilitated the elephants but has cleverly designed a programme whereby the mahouts are now employed in the organization and taught how to properly care for and respect these great creatures whilst at the same time securing a living for themselves and their families.
- Cheryl Anderson (photograph on p3)
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The Person Whose Bible is Falling Apart Usually Isn’t... Even as a little child, I believed in Jesus.
He was part of our family life as I grew up. I listened to Bible stories at my mother’s knee. We said grace at table, our prayers at night, went to church on Sundays, sang Jesus loves me, this I know with enthusiasm. We were Christians. Then, one day in my teens, in Trinity Presbyterian Church, Grahamstown, listening to a minister from the Island of Iona, I realized one didn’t inherit Christianity from devout parents, and I was moved to make a personal commitment to Jesus—and to the best of my understanding, I did. Religion was a private affair—before the renewal of the 1970s, before cell groups where one could share and receive encouragement and guidance for one’s walk with Christ; and before a real awareness of the Holy Spirit at work in one’s life. So, with no-one to guide me, I went on much as before, though with a greater commitment to bedtime Bible reading. I enjoyed Religious Instruction classes and memorizing Psalms and Gospel portions. Over the years I have found that these passages have become part of me and often they ‘speak within me’. I don’t actually have to open the Bible to hear God’s voice. Even now, I recall them best in the beautiful language of the King James Bible. Much later, in the then Rhodesia, I met and married my dyed-inthe-wool English husband, a ‘good churchman’, a practising Anglican. Change for him was unthinkable, so, opting for united family worship, I became an Anglican. We attended a confirmation course run by the Dean of Salisbury Cathedral and I was confirmed at Forest Row by the Bishop of Sussex. We continued at the Cathedral until, as our family grew, we moved to the suburbs and worshipped at St Luke’s Parish Church. There, in the 1970s, the Renewal sweeping the Christian world reached us, and during an African Enterprise ‘Discipline and Discovery’ Course, I came to realize that saying grace, going to church, singing hymns and ‘saying’ prayers was not what being a Christian was really about, but that a living relationship with God in Jesus Christ was the heart of the matter. So, we learned a whole new way to practice our faith. We learned, too, that to hear God speaking through His Word was crucial. The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself, His ‘Manual for Living’. Without it His people cannot know Him, or know how to please Him. We joined a cell group, sang joyous new praise songs alongside favourite hymns, shared and encouraged one another—and we started to learn to read the Bible! I swopped my King James for a Good News Bible which eventually fell apart (see picture) and began to discover what Jesus means when He says in John 6.45, It is written in the prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God’. Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from Him comes to Me. A leap forward in my understanding came through an ‘Overview of the Bible’ led by our group leader. I discovered that the Bible is not a book, but a whole library! These 66 books encompass History, Biography and beautiful Poetry; there is the prose of the Wisdom Writings and all the Prophets—major and minor—in the Old Testament, and, in the New, the wonderful Gospel accounts of the Incarnation and Jesus’ life on earth, followed by the history of the establishment of the Church, and the epistles of the Apostles, ending with the Revelation of St John. In his book, Breathing, I Pray, Ivan Mann says, Reading Scripture is more than a literary or academic exercise. It has the possibility and potential of dynamic change in our life— July 2018 Eight O’Clock News
‘Let me be vulnerable to your Word.’ It may bring us pain or pleasure, joy or tears but it will, should we be vulnerable to its grace, enlighten us and draw us into the closer presence of God. Mann goes on to quote a passage in Kenneth Leech’s book, Spirituality and Pastoral Care, where he, in turn, quotes Charles Marson writing about the dangers of knowing Scripture without entering this vulnerability. He writes about those who know all about Abraham except the way to his bosom, all about David except his sure mercies, and all about St Paul except the faith which he preached’. And Mann ends by saying, It’s as though we sometimes fail to see the Word for the words. How easy it is to make Scripture a purely academic pursuit and then theology loses its essence, for true theology springs from the application not just of our intellect but of our whole selves. It is as much about praying as thinking and as much about living as either of the others—we are to be doers of the word and not just hearers. And I began to get to know God, and to get to know Jesus—not just to know about them. To enter into relationship, it was imperative to engage with the Word, personally, in private, every day. For me, this happens early in the morning, once I am up and dressed, ready to face the day, but before its busyness and its distractions. Early rising is essential for me! (This may take a little effort, but it’s worth it! Read In the Morning by Ralph Cashman overleaf). When we read Scripture, it’s good to take a moment to pause and remember we’re in God’s presence and to breathe a prayer—I like a simple Celtic prayer: ‘I open myself to the wisdom of the Word of God; I open myself to the guiding of the Word of God; I open myself to the power of the Word of God.’ Then, afterwards, I notice how that has been answered—and use a Journal to record the readings and any insights received. There are many ways of reading Scripture: Lectio Divina: like reading a letter from God and taking note of any word or phrase that especially touches one and meditating on that. Or, Imaginative Contemplation: reading a parable or story about Jesus and imagining one’s self as a character engaging with the others— how would it be to be there? Many commentaries and Bible notes are available as excellent guides. And there is the Lectionary. Having used a variety of guides for many years, I have settled on the Lectionary for the Anglican Church of SA as the most helpful to me because it challenges me to read parts of the Bible I would not naturally choose, or might even avoid. In the readings set for each day, I am made aware of the amazing way in which Scripture supports and explains itself—prophecies in the Old Testament coming to pass in the new; victories or defeats in the histories being celebrated or lamented in the Psalms, and so on. One is also made aware of the seasons of the year and to walk with Christ through those seasons. What we use for guidance is not so important as making our reading regular and personal, touching our own circumstances and drawing guidance and direction from what we hear our Lord saying to us, and then opening ourselves to the Holy Spirit for His guidance and empowering. Keeping a Prayer Journal helps to focus my thoughts—and to remember! To conclude, I quote Ivan Mann again: ’All that has been said here of the reading of Scripture could also be said of much spiritual reading and study—we can allow God to use the words in order to pierce us with His love, to wound us with a desire for Him. In that wounding and desire our spiritual life finds its source and its destination.’ - Elizabeth van Lingen
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In the Morning I met God in the morning When my day was at its best, His presence came like sunrise Like a glory in my breast. All day long His presence lingered All day long He walked with me, And we sailed in perfect calmness O’er a very troubled sea. Other ships were blown and battered Other ships were sure distressed, And the wind that seemed to blow them Brought to me sweet peace and rest. Then I thought of other mornings With a keen remorse of mind, When I too had loosed the moorings With His presence far behind. So, I think I’ve learned the secret Learned from many a troubled day, You must seek God in the morning If you want Him through the day. Ralph Cashman
Opportunity to Cuddle Christine Revell Children’s Home (http://www.crch.co.za/) in
Athlone is desperately looking for ladies who can give a few hours during the weekdays to be ‘Kangaroo Mums’ to the very little babies (we have babies from just days old). All that is needed is the ability to cuddle, sing to and feed the babies—but basically to give them ‘skin to skin’ contact and all the vital aspects of emotional nurturing that a children`s home cannot do. Currently the home is at capacity for the very little babies and without ‘kangaroo mums’ these precious babies miss out on the vital nurturing that touch and skin to skin contact can provide. Hours ideally needed are 08h00 to 12h00 but so urgent is the need that this can be amended. Contact Rosemary Sloggett at 021 697 1748 or email at crevell@iafrica.com.
July 2018 Eight O’Clock News
HAPPY SPECIAL BIRTHDAY to
Doreen Ash (90 on 7/7) Olive Runciman (9/7) Alex Fry (94 on 14/7) David Greenfield (80 on 16/7) Vivienne Saycell (70 on 17/7) ‘If you look for Me wholeheartedly, you will find Me. Jeremiah 29:13 [New Living Translation]
A Meeting with the Queen My great grandfather, the
Rev James Greenfield, was a Free Church of Scotland minister, and was the minister for some 20 years in Stornoway in the Island of Lewis. The following extract from Queen Victoria’s diary was discovered ‘accidentally’ by one of my cousins. My grandfather would have been nine years old at the time and could possibly have been there, although I have not heard that this was so. Extract from: Duff D: Queen Victoria’s Highland Journals, Webb and Bower, Exeter; 1980; p 204: Monday, September 17 (1877) ‘After lunch some doubt as to what should be done, but decided not to go to Pool Ewe, beyond Gairloch, but on to Kerrie’s Bridge to meet the good people who had asked permission to come over from Stornoway, in the Isle of Lewis, to see ‘their beloved Queen’. Drew again. At ten minutes past four we two and the Duchess of Roxburghe started in the waggonette, General Ponsonby and Brown on the box. We went by the same pretty winding road; but the Kerrie Falls were not nearly so full as on Friday after the heavy rain. As we approached Kerrie’s Bridge, we saw a number of people standing on the road, and we drew up to where they were and stopped the carriage. General Ponsonby presented the minister, Mr Greenfield, who had come over with them. They Sang ‘God save the Queen’, with most loyal warmth; and their friendly faces and ringing cheers, when we arrived and when we left, were very gratifying. It took them three hours to come over, and they went straight back. There were two hundred and fifty of them of all classes, from very well dressed down to the poorest, and many fishermen among them. We met many of these on Saturday coming back from having sold their fish, and also on the coaches. As we returned we met the coach where there was only just room to pass.’
- David Greenfield Photograph James Greenfield with his wife, 1862
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My Relationship with the Bible I have a vivid memory, which must have been in about January
2004, of my first foray into what has become a deep and ongoing relationship with the Psalms. I was sitting on MY beach in East Kleinemonde (near Port Alfred) and praying for my family. Psalm 103 ‘happened’ to be the text for my prayer. A verse in this Psalm read like this: Satisfy our being with good things… I thought it was very appropriate on that particular day and decided I would try to keep it in my head by rolling it around for the rest of the day. And so I played with it, trying to fix it in my memory by changing the pronouns… satisfy my being; satisfy Ed’s being; satisfy Andrew’s being and satisfy Kate’s being. As the day went on, I found I kept forgetting this phrase and that it was an effort to recall and retain it. But I persevered and subsequently made a decision to try and remember at least ONE verse from a different Psalm each week. So it was, that over the next six or seven years, whenever I read the Psalm set for the day in the Anglican lectionary, I gradually ‘built up’ a verse from each Psalm as a kind of liturgy in my head. I didn’t ever attempt to remember the number of the verse... simply the Psalm from which it came. In time, I found I knew enough verses to be able to ‘play’ with them by grouping them together into topics: verses that spoke of family; of praise and thanksgiving; of nations; of prayer etc. Soon this liturgy ‘in my head’ became my default pattern—for when I was bored in clergy meetings or waiting in a queue or even once in a dentist’s chair to name a few! In this endeavour, I was hugely encouraged by Eugene Peterson’s book called Answering God and in which he writes about using the Psalms as weapons of prayer; and in turn I have tried to encourage others to try and remember a verse from a few psalms (in addition to the ones we all know from Psalm 23!). Why not start at Psalm 1 and choose a verse to remember and then slowly move on to Psalm 2 so that you have two verses to play with and to pray with! In terms of my broader relationship with the Bible, I will always remember David Prior emphasizing the need to look at the ‘Whole counsel of God’ and so I have tried to read it through from Genesis to Revelation for the last few years; this using different methods.
Kingsley Lliwawala Kingsley is a Malawian man
who lives in our self-catering flat in Mons Avenue Claremont. He left Malawi in 2010 aged 25 for economic reasons hoping to try and earn enough to support his four brothers and two sisters who are still there. We first met him in April last year when he moved into our house during a six month period of renovation; and which we were spearheading from the Free State. His presence during this time offered excellent security and WHENEVER there was a little bit of water! he kept the grapevines on our Cape Dutch pergola alive… Kingsley works for us for one and a half days a week (Tuesday and half of Wednesday); he has a permanent Friday job; ‘fills in wherever’ on an ad hoc basis; but is looking for more opportunities to work both in the Claremont area and further afield. He is very July 2018 Eight O’Clock News
McCheyne’s lectionary is a good one and which involves four readings a day; then there is an excellent lectionary put out by the Bible Society; but the one I have enjoyed most is Eugene Peterson’s Bible in one year. All three of the methods I mention involve a lot of reading but Eugene Peterson believes in a ‘sabbath’ and so on Sundays NO reading! This year I am enjoying Nicky Gumbel’s audio bible in one year (BIOY). As with the Psalms, I try to hang on to a verse to use as a prayer weapon wherever I can and so my head liturgy has now got a bit wider than the Psalms if still somewhat limited to the Old Testament! Last year, I was very taken with a verse from ‘somewhere’ in Genesis and which was very meaningful in all sorts of contexts: ‘Work graciously behind the scenes; lead me (her/him/us) straight to the door and give your servant (her/him/ us) success in this (whatever it is) task’. Of course there are helpful little books which comment on short (er) passages of Scripture and this is also hugely helpful. In sum, I think that what I am trying to emphasize in this short article is the importance of remembering, be it ever so slowly, a verse from what we have read. If anyone is interested, I am happy to share my own ‘Psalm’ liturgy; or a copy of McCheyne’s or the Bible Society’s lectionaries. Happy ‘praying in Scripture’. - Jessica McCarter
hardworking and is multiskilled—gardener, handyman, painter, houseworker, security and dog carer to name a few. Kingsley has just completed the recent Alpha course at CCK, citing the ‘Holy Spirit weekend’ a highlight. If you would like to make further enquiries, please contact Jessica [McCarter] (0824922355)
CS Lewis Joy is the serious business of heaven.
- Letters to Malcolm (1964)
The truth is, of course, that what one regards as interruptions are precisely one's life.
- Collected Works of CS Lewis (1994)
When we Christians behave badly, or fail to behave well, we are making Christianity unbelievable to the outside world. - Mere Christianity (1952)
There are only two kinds of people: those who say to God, ‘Thy
will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘All right, then, have it your way.’
- The Great Divorce (1945)
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Elsché Eygelaar My motto is: love God, love His
people, Live life, Advance His Kingdom. I was born in Cape Town, but grew up in a small town in the Karoo, Laingsburg. I studied Theology at Stellenbosch University. After graduating, I worked as a youth worker for eight months in the Free State and then got the position as part-time minister in the Dutch Reformed Church Constantia in August 2014. I have been living in the southern suburbs for four years now. I’m the oldest of three—I have a younger brother and sister. My whole family are teachers. My Dad is the principal of Heidelberg High School, where my mom is also a teacher [this is a calling for them and not just a job]. My siblings are also high school teachers—in Porterville and Moorreesburg. I grew up in a Christian family in the Karoo and in the Dutch Reformed Church. In grade 11 I decided that I wanted to commit my life to Jesus Christ. Looking back, I can see how God started to shape me for ministry right there but I did not see it at that stage. I had to decide what I was going to do for a living after matric. I started asking God what He wanted me to do—and explored a lot of options. At that stage I also told my parents that our church was not helping me on my journey. After we tried to help the church to become more relevant and also lead a few ministries, we decided to move to another church in Mossel Bay which helped me discover that God was calling me to full-time ministry. I started studying Theology at Stellenbosch University (which was a faith journey on its own) in 2008. After finishing my studies I started working as a youth worker and then got ordained as a minister in the DRC in August 2014 in Constantia where I still work as a minister (part time). My vision for my new part-time position at CCK as Young Adults’ Leader is Community. I would like to help build a community who helps young adults with vocation, authentic relationships and turning knowledge into wisdom, so that church stay relevant and connected to our everyday lives, challenges us to be disciples and also creates community that is a crucial part of our lives. Let’s do life and figure life out together! I am passionate about two things: helping people reach their full potential and cycling. I am passionate about mountain biking. Riding single tracks gives me great joy! I love getting people on bikes, servicing bikes and trying new tracks and tricks with my mountain bike. Oh—I am not a very good cook—so feel free to invite me over for lunch/dinner!
C.S. Lewis A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word 'darkness' on the walls of his cell. [The Problem of Pain]
He died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been the only man made, He would have done no less. July 2018 Eight O’Clock News
Keenan Farquhar
I was born in Cape Town, grew up in
Retreat and attended Bergvliet Primary and High School. I’m the older of two boys—my younger brother Ronan is 17 years old. My journey of faith began in my final year of high school. I was always part of the church, and I went through the rituals of church even being involved in church ‘ministry’ but my faith was never my own. I remember attending a youth camp in my final year of school and seeing young people my age who had a real love for Jesus. I remember going: ‘I want that’. It was at that camp that my journey of faith began. Coming from that camp, I remember being so in love with Jesus, all I wanted was for every one of my friends to experience the same thing I was experiencing. I started leading the youth group at the age of 18 at the church that I was at, with the sole purpose of wanting every single young person to realize the goodness and greatness of Jesus, and the fact that He wanted to transform their lives too. It was here where my passion and love for God’s people grew. After school I started studying a BTH in psychology at Cornerstone Institute with the idea of becoming a Christian Counsellor. I was still actively involved in leading youth ministry. By my second year of studies, with guidance from my mentor, it was clear to me that God had called me into ministry. I stopped studying psychology and pursued Christian Ministry instead. As my love for Jesus grew, my love for young people grew. This grew in me a passion to see young people discipled, welcomed into an alternate community and living out their faith in Jesus in tangible and practical ways. I started working part-time as an intern and assistant to the youth worker at St Martin’s and during this time I had the privilege of engaging with and discipling young people as well as being part of a staff team. I learnt a lot and grew more and more into the leader God wanted me to be. From there I took on the full-time youth worker position at St Martin’s and one of the things I enjoyed most was building, directing and developing a team of nine young youth leaders who are now faithfully and actively serving the youth ministry and the church. I have this crazy belief that young people have the ability to change the world! That’s my vision for Ambies. That we would be a community of young people who are madly in love with Jesus and are open to be used by God to change our schools, our communities and the world. I’m also really passionate about food and sport—sometimes the one taking preference over the other. I love playing tennis and soccer as well as watching soccer. I’ve got a big love for Manchester United, the greatest soccer team in football history.
C.S. Lewis ‘Being in love’ first moved them to promise fidelity: this quieter love enables them to keep the promise. - Mere Christianity (1952)
Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as far as it can be obtained. - God in the Dock (1970)
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Drumming Party
July 2018 Eight O’Clock News
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Ansuné van der Merwe A bit more than 26 years
ago, a little girl was born in Johannesburg. Her parents named her Ansuné (An-soo-nay) and they loved her very much. On the day she was born, her dad and her gran set out to the shops to find her a pair of ballet shoes. She looked just like a ballerina to him—little did he know how much she would love ballet one day. Ansuné spent her life searching. She didn’t search for God, for she always knew Him as her Friend, Father, Guide, Counsellor, Defender and King. Instead, she spent her life searching for an answer to give when people asked that dreaded question: ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ She started ballet at the age of four and later added modern, Spanish, tap and ballroom dance classes to her weekly schedule. She also enjoyed singing and learnt the words of ‘Don’t Cry for Me Argentina’ long before she could string full English sentences together. Added to that, she felt at home on the stage, whether reciting poems or acting in a play. Maybe she should become a performer? On the other hand, she really enjoyed solving maths problems and proving physics equations. Her heart also welled up with joy whenever she had the opportunity to write creatively. She moved to Cape Town in 2013 to study at UCT, where her overwhelming list of choices seemingly reduced to a few. Based on her degree, she could become a lawyer or she could work in the media industry as a journalist or brand manager. At last, it seemed possible to discern which direction her life would go! Yet, this didn’t last very long. By the time she graduated, she was back at square one! Her (almost) life-long dream of studying Musical Theatre at the Waterfront Theatre School came true. While training hard, she planned to become a director, performer, qualified dance and drama teacher, and choreographer. However, if there’s one thing she knew about God, it was that His
plans for her often looked very different from the ones she came up with. She also trusted that they were better than she could have imagined—He does after all see the big picture. Ansuné felt quite sad when she couldn’t stay at the Theatre School for more than a year. Yet, she decided to embark on the rest of her adventure with God with open hands and open heart. Since then, she’s worked as a drama teacher for various branches of the Helen O’Grady Drama Academy. She’s also worked as an operations manager, language consultant, and writer for various companies. In all these different experiences, she still didn’t find an answer. But, as always, she did find her God. He was there in every moment, and while life sometimes seemed random and directionless to her, she knew that He was faithfully preparing her for a future He had already designed. As soon as she stopped looking for ‘the one thing she was supposed to do’, God surprised her with a new job. Ansuné never thought she would be appointed as CCK’s Children’s Ministry Leader, but she soon felt like she would never want to do anything else. In this position, everything comes together and she feels truly alive—she gets to love and teach children, build and lead teams, write and think creatively, direct dramas, organise events, and most of all, continue to share her passion for the gospel with others. At the brink of a new adventure, she feels excited about her vision: Ansuné sees children who know, stand for and live for Christ in all of life, with transformed hearts and the gospel as the firm foundation from which they engage with and change the world around them. This is Ansuné’s story and it doesn’t end here... PS Ansune and Alex Schoeman announced their engagement on 24 June 2018
Why is our human Screaming and tearing Her hair out?
- Source unknown for both posters. Sent in by Ros Aronson
C.S. Lewis I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. Beats me. We got the boxes, the dogs got the shoes—it looked like a win-win situation to me
All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before. - The Last Battle (1956)
July 2018 Eight O’Clock News
Three Conversions Everyone Needs Sue (who was not a Christian) was attending a rehabilitation
clinic for people with severe respiratory problems. She had a chronic condition (COPD: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) that was getting progressively worse. The clinic meets at our church building (HTB). She arrived for her clinic, but there was no one there. (She had got the wrong date!) She waited around and had a look through flyers about our next Alpha. Sue turned up for our course on Wednesday evening. She soaked it all up and was full of excitement and interest. She came to church on the Sunday and was back again on the Wednesday. It suddenly clicked for Sue that Jesus is God! A huge piece of the jigsaw for her. She gave her life to the Lord—dramatic. She called her sister to tell her she had become a Christian and her sister was in the middle of a meeting with a friend to pray for Sue! She had been praying for her for twentyfive years! The following Sunday Sue came to church, came forward for prayer for healing and was remarkably healed of her COPD. [She has been] running up and down stairs at home, off her medications, etc! She met with her physio at the medical clinic who was astonished at what had happened to her—remarkable difference. She has been healed and has since prayed for and seen others healed, including one of cancer! On 30 April Sue was baptised and brought over 150 friends and family to celebrate with her. She is having a huge impact— evangelising to anyone that will stand still long enough to listen! John Wimber often used to say that we all need three conversions: to be converted to Christ, converted to His church and converted to His cause. Sue was obviously not only converted to Christ, but also instantly converted to His church and to His cause!
Extract, Nicky Gumbel, Bible in One Year, 18/6/18
The Conundrum of Calling
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‘Calling is a much abused word today. In the church it can be little more than a pious euphemism for doing what we feel like doing. Such abuse is brought to celebration in the secular culture, when doing what we feel like doing, attained by any way we feel like doing it, seems often to be what lies behind ‘career development.’’ —Tilden Edwards
When God saw that Moses had settled down enough to listen and pay attention, He finally began to speak. Finally, the true God was able to address the real Moses. And the first thing God wanted to talk to Moses about was his calling. Hearing the Call In our day, it is easy to dismiss the idea of calling as an antiquated, overly-spiritualized concept, but in Moses’ case God called to him—literally—out of the burning bush. It was as if God was saying, ‘I know the questions about your identity have been a little confusing for you, but I have always known who you are. You are a Hebrew. No matter where you live, no matter who raised you, no matter how anyone tries to beat it out of you, no one can take your fundamental identity away from you. ‘You know what it is to be displaced. You know what it is to live your life on someone else’s terms, to see the injustice of it all and want to do something about it. In the very essence of your being, you are someone who is not willing to let injustice go unanswered; your care for your people and their well-being is deep and genuine. ‘Now that you know who you are, I am calling you to do something out of the essence of your being. You have submitted to the rigours of the wilderness. Come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.’ When the Pieces Come Together In this moment, all the pieces of Moses’ life started to come together. Finally it was becoming clear that his calling was inextricably interwoven with his human situation and his own personal history. His passion for his people and the strong sense of justice that caused his violent outburst back in Egypt was at the heart of what God was now asking him to do. Even though his outof-control reaction to the injustice he had witnessed back in Egypt was terribly wrong, the incident itself was not irrelevant. It was connected to something real within him. Before his encounter with God he had been propelled primarily by his own raw, human anger. But being angry is not the same thing as being called. Now God was calling him to move beyond his undisciplined, angry outbursts to a more substantive and helpful response. Now God was guiding him to embrace even more fully the person he had always been and, paradoxically, to also transcend it! Turns out that naming and letting go of what was false within him was just the beginning; now God was calling him to claim his full identity and to lead boldly from that place. To go back to the place of his greatest pain and lead there was a lot to ask, but now—forty years later!—Moses’ time had come. God was asking him to step up and be everything he was and everything God would call him to be, for the good of many. Moses discovered, as we all do, that our transformation is never for ourselves alone. It is always for the sake of others as well. - Extract from Ruthy Haley Barton, Editorial Team Tel/e-mail
Origin unknown; Sent in by Sue Taylor July 2018 Eight O’Clock News
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