The Eight O’Clock
News November 2017
A Flourishing Life I love to read—a passion begun at a very young age. When I was three years’ old, I greatly impressed some older children who were visiting by ‘reading’ Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Little did they know that I’d learned it word for word by heart, having had it read to me over and over. I have a vague memory of standing in front of them and feeling very proud of my ‘reading’ and an even stronger memory of that same day when I had a very sore tummy after secretly eating a whole bottle of my uncle’s hot pickled onions. My mother loved to tell this story about the reading and the onions—I still love reading and pickled onions. She taught me to love books and a great variety too, from the WWI poets, to the classics and contemporary works and of course, the Bible. I can still ‘photograph’ a page and have it in memory and then apply the art of summarizing; Mom taught me in Std 4 when I had to memorize the parts of a leaf. In our house books were revered and I still rather obsessively store them in alphabetical order. I was also taught not to write in books and to underline things. Mom, I have to confess that I have taken to some underlining over the years and, having just read The Me I want to Be by John Ortberg, I wanted to remember and to share some gems of thought. The underlining facilitates this. So, as we embark individually and corporately on a journey of listening to God in November at CCK, the theme of The Me I want to Be resonated with me in the context that that is what we must first explore before we become ‘The Church that God Wants us to Be.’ Therefore, below are the thoughts that I want to meditate on from Ortberg’s book. I hope that you will find them inspiring too: * There is a ‘me’ you want to be. The world badly needs wise and flourishing human beings and we are called to bring God’s wisdom and glory to the world. * Only God can see the best version of you: ‘For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do’. * You are not your handiwork; your life is not your project. God thought you up and He knows what you were intended to be. * God made you to flourish—to receive life from outside yourself, creating vitality within yourself and producing November 2017 Eight O’Clock News
8 am Service, Christ Church, Kenilworth
blessing beyond yourself. * Inside your soul there is a battle between a flourishing self—the person you were created to be—and the languishing self. The journey begins with your spirit which becomes empowered by God’s Spirit. Your flourishing self works out of a richness and a desire to contribute. You live with a sense of calling. * Here is a great secret of the Bible: your longing to become all you were meant to be is a tiny echo of God’s longing to begin the new creation. The rabbis spoke of this tikkun olam—‘to fix the world’. The more concerned you are about your own fulfillment, the less fulfilled you will be. When your life is devoted to yourself, it is as a small grain of wheat. When your life is given to God, however, it is as if the grain is planted in rich soil, growing into part of a much bigger project. We wait in anticipation to hear the plans that our Project Manager has in store for us. - Cheryl Anderson
Sent in by Belle Divaris As is the picture of “bird sensorship” At the top of this page
Great is the Faithfulness Of God, my Father
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As a Christian who successfully trusted the perceived guidance of
a loving God on several occasions, I feel compelled to share my experiences, many of which I regard as very close to miraculous. I lost my very dear wife, Amalia, in a motor accident after only six years of marriage while returning from an Easter trip to Kyle Dam in the then Rhodesia in April 1976. My father and I both survived being unconscious for 28 days with minimal permanent damage. My mother had a small cut on her left leg and my three-and-a-half year old daughter, Nikki, a small cut under her left eye. After leaving hospital Nikki and I stayed with my parents in Morningside, Bulawayo, for some time as I returned to work at the Council. My domestic helper, Delina, had been employed since Nikki's birth and stayed in the servants' quarters in Morningside. In due course I sold our Burnside house and rented an old house in Hillside within walking distance of a playschool for Nikki. In April 1982 many of my friends were emigrating from Zimbabwe, mainly to Australasia. Not knowing how to proceed regarding emigration as a single parent, I laid the question out before God. The next weekend the church Bible reading was Genesis 12,1-3: Abraham being told to leave everything he knows and go where God directs him. This was also my daily Bible reading the following Wednesday. When it was read in church the following Sunday, I felt that God was speaking to me. As a single parent I'd have no domestic support in anywhere but South Africa. I investigated prospective jobs in Pretoria, Durban, East London, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town. Advice to contact Mr A and Mr B at the Cape Town City Council on the East London bound plane in December 1982 from an exBulawayan Australian immigrant was confirmed verbatim when I phoned my UCT professor upon arrival in Cape Town on the same holiday. I duly applied for a job at the Council. Nikki and I crossed into the RSA at Beit Bridge on 6/4/1983 with our R500 Emigration Allowance. My Cape Town-based aunt had obtained a flat for us with a maid's room at Highbury Court, Main Road/Aliwal Road, some 900m above Wynberg Girls’ Junior School where I had enrolled Nikki. As soon as I qualified for a Council Housing Loan I bought a house with a prefabricated temporary maid's room opposite Timour Hall School, Plumstead. The garage was soon extended to include a permanent maid's room, again on the Council Housing Loan. In 1985 two people at Christ Church and a friend at work suggested I meet a most attractive single infant school teacher, schooled in Kingwilliam’s Town. I duly met Dot at a Trivial Pursuit Evening at Christ Church. Upon receiving further divine guidance including confirmation from a random source, I proposed to Dot after a brief 60-day courtship. A trivial pursuit indeed! We got married on 22/2/1986. My brother, Ken, says Dot is just like Amalia. Dot and I bought a house in Kenilworth in 1987, and produced James in June 1989, and David in August 1993. [My confidence in acting on divine guidance was derived mainly from the fact that while in Rhodesia, Amalia and I had prayerfully requested in 1973 that I would be able to successfully read for an MSc Public Health Engineering in the UK, despite having no funds for such an enterprise and my having only a 3rd Class Civil Engineering degree from UCT. RSA didn't offer this fulltime MSc study we felt essential for a family man. I eventually obtained a Government State Lotteries Fellowship and six months’ paid leave from Bulawayo City Council, having asked practically every November 2017 Eight O’Clock News
wastewater treatment firm in the country to sponsor my studies, whereupon I would work off the loan. I'd always received a short, sharp negative reply.] I worked relentlessly hard in Newcastle for the duration of the 12-month course. If I failed it would not be due to slothfulness! The best year of my life also included my winning a Man of the Match bottle of whiskey during the first term when Newcastle University played cricket against Shotley Bridge.] In 1994 Nikki married Paul Wimmers [he attends to Christ Church's computer needs]. They live in Lakeside, having produced Shohn (June,1999) and Tehya (January 2004) and Nikki presently works for Civils 2000. Having come to Cape Town in 1983 with a R500 emigration allowance, I now have a lovely wife and family, a house, and I'm retired from Council after 29 years service. Dot is due to retire in 2018. My firm conclusion from the foregoing can only be—Great is God's faithfulness! - Peter Wilkinson
Colleen Thomas and Bishop Martin Breytenbach were married at CCK on Saturday, 14 October 2017
Introducing Caroline Powell Caroline is a fairly new
member to the Christ Church family, having joined in 2016. However, she has been a friend of Christ Church for over a decade, known by many of us through her work at The Warehouse. She started working at The Warehouse in 2007 running the Urban Gleaning Hub that helped churches across Cape Town to give and receive gifts of time, treasures and talents with dignity and over these past ten years has been blessed to witness the generosity and kind heartedness of many of the ‘8 O’ Clockers’! In recent years, The Warehouse has moved from being a primary vehicle of community development and started to focus even more on playing an accompanying role with local churches as they discern with God what their role in addressing the inequalities of South African society could be. For example, as many of us know, The Warehouse used to run an Urban Gleaning Hub where we could offer our time, treasures and talents directly, but since closing it, they are helping churches develop their own unique ways of doing this both in response to disasters and to ongoing needs of families with whom they are in relationship. In accompanying churches on this journey, they train and facilitate leaders and congregations, host discussion events, develop resources and mentor church leaders. One of the things she loves most about her role as a church mobiliser within The Warehouse team, is the chance to meet South African Christians from across the whole spectrum of our country who are deeply committed to the transformation of the country. She is currently studying an honours in theology with a focus on urban transformation and it was during this journey that she felt God strongly prompting her to join the community of Christ Church after worshipping at a church in Gugulethu for many years.
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She is involved in helping Christ Church with the prayer and discernment process, ‘God’s Big Dream—prophetically imagining the future of Christ Church with God’—that we will be going through in November, and is looking forward to meeting many more people from the community during this time as we give thanks for all God has done and is doing in and through Christ Church, and pray and dream together about our church and community.
HAPPY SPECIAL BIRTHDAYS To
Judy Jenkins (29/10) Jim de Necker (7/11) Barbara Bowden (9/11) Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
The Stubbings in Europe Above is the stunning
November 2017 Eight O’Clock News
WWI Canadian Monument at Vimy Ridge in France on the Somme with lawn mowers at work (the sheep go where humans still fear to tread) on cratered ground still littered with unexploded shells and other ordinance. (L) Gill and Henry in Brussels.
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Moodie Celebration The weekend of 13-15 October saw the celebration of the
200-year anniversary of the arrival of the Moodie family in South Africa. As my maiden name is Moodie, I and my whole family were able to attend. Captain Benjamin Moodie brought 200 families with him from the Orkney Islands to settle in the new British colony in 1817. He bought a farm called Grootvadersbosch (GVB) in the mountains between Swellendam and Heidelberg and moved into the farmhouse which was built around 1750. This house is now owned and lived in by my second cousin, Keith Moodie and his wife, Michelle, and it was Michelle’s idea to put together the 200year celebration. 90 people came together from as far afield as America to enjoy a very special time indeed. Rod and I, and our two children and their families stayed on a part of the original farm which is now owned by my cousin, John, called Honeywood. It has various guest cottages so it was really great for us all to be there together. Our cottages were situated right next to a field with horses and sheep on it, so it was delightful to wake up and step outside to watch the excitement of our grandchildren as they fed the horses carrots and apple.
It is a 7 km trip from Honeywood to the main GVB farm and after unpacking at Honeywood on Friday evening we all set off for GVB to meet the rest of the 90 family members, some of whom I know well, some I have met once or twice, and some I have never seen before! It was good to catch up and meet new family over drinks and snacks. There were many children (the Moodies appear to be a fairly prolific bunch), and they all just ran around the grounds and climbed the lovely old trees near the house, getting to know one another. My grandson, Riley, was amazed to discover that a boy he knew from his school was actually a relative of his. Michelle had gone to enormous trouble to get everybody’s family connections correct, and she had a large board on display showing just how each of us was related—very useful indeed. Next morning, we all met at GVB at 10 am to collect lunch packs and head off for a 2-hour hike on the farm and enjoy a picnic under the trees near a waterfall. The hike required many crossings and re-crossings of a small river, and very few of us arrived with dry shoes by the end of it. After the picnic we visited the Moodie graveyard, situated on a hilltop close to the GVB farmhouse. There November 2017 Eight O’Clock News
I was able to see my grandfather’s grave (above), as well as those of a much-loved uncle and two aunts, and a couple of fondly remembered great-aunts, amongst other lesser-known Moodies. One of the children with us played the trumpet, and it was very moving indeed to stand among the graves while the last post was played, remembering those dear ones who had loved and helped to shape us. Then it was time to return to Honeywood to rest for a bit before changing for the big dinner at GVB in the evening. My cousin John gave a talk about the history of the Moodies leading up to their arrival in South Africa. Second cousin, Keith then gave a history of the GVB farm itself. Lastly, Michelle gave a very interesting talk about the Moodie women (those who had been brave enough to marry Moodies!). The caterers gave us a very good three-course dinner, and a great time was had by all. On Sunday morning some of us decided to visit another farm, Westfield, situated across the N2 on the way to Witsand. This farm was granted to Captain Benjamin Moodie by the then governor of the Cape, and Benjamin built a lovely house there in 1832. It is now lived in by another Benjamin Moodie, his wife and three young children. They are very distantly related to me, and I confess to not having known of their existence until the weekend. They were happy for any of us to look over the house and to visit Captain Benjamin’s grave which is in a little graveyard in the middle of the wheatfields. We eventually headed back to Cape Town having had a very special time indeed. Although no family is ever more important than any other family, it is right that one’s own family should be important to one. I think that we all had a more complete picture of who we were, where we came from, of all those who had gone before us, and who stand behind us. When you have that picture it helps to give you courage on the one hand, and a sense of responsibility not to let them down on the other. I am so grateful to God for my particular family, and for this time of sharing with them. - Sally Palmer (Photograph above: Dereck Palmer, Kerry Cooper, Sally & Rod)
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Ten Days in Tuscany Imagine the delight Helen and I felt a couple of months ago
when our friends Dr David and Margaret Taylor invited us to join them on a holiday in Tuscany—and in a splendid villa too, just outside the town of Lucca. The Taylors’ generous friend, Guiseppe Cucci, had issued an open invitation to them to stay at his Italian home, the Villa di Buona Speranza, and to ask friends and family who were free to fit in their holiday time there as well. Well, we were the fortunate friends who went to join the party! Guiseppe had been a pupil at Paul Roos where he met David who was then an English teacher and the two became friends. They have remained so for the last 40 years, during which time Guiseppe became a highly sought-after financial adviser to many wealthy people. The villa had been built on three floors in the 18th century, some parts of which remained intact but much else had been restored and refurbished. Each of its many bedrooms had a hand-painted ceiling and a modern bathroom attached and the views from the upstairs windows were of the beautiful undulating hills overlooking the plain towards Lucca. Ancient olive trees, their branches a silvery green, surrounded the villa and cypress trees demarcated the neighbouring properties. An elegant Italianate garden was laid out, with its terraces descending to the roadway below and a quiet fountain playing in the forecourt. The winding road leading up to the villa and others surrounding it on the hillside were extremely narrow and we became used to the sound of cars giving a single blast on the hooter as they approached hairpin bends in the road—a very necessary precaution! We were fortunate that David and his son Stephen had both hired cars and in this way our party toured a good deal of Northern Tuscany, travelling as far as our beloved Florence and the fabled Pisa and San Gimignano. On many occasions we motored into Lucca itself, to observe life within the centuries-old walled town which is enclosed by historic and massive brick walls. Many metres high, with trees and lawns growing on top, the walls themselves form a park complete with pedestrian paths and cycle tracks and townsfolk and visitors alike hire bicycles to circumnavigate the whole walled town in about 20 minutes (see photograph above). Everywhere, in the hill towns and on the plains, were beautifully decorated churches, testimony to the Catholic faith of present generations and those who had lived there in earlier times. The churches’ interiors were dimly lit by the glowing candles of the faithful and also glimmered with fine stained glass and precious works of art. Back in the villa’s original kitchen and scullery, wonderful Italian country dishes were prepared by our party’s adventurous cooks—antipasta, insolata, bruschetta, lasagne and succulent November 2017 Eight O’Clock News
roast lamb were enjoyed, usually accompanied by the delicious red wine of the area. On one occasion, our host brought his chef and prepared a multi-course Italian meal— primi, secondi, roast, fruit and cheese—the real thing! With its hints of aromatic herbs and subtle flavourings, the meal made us feel totally spoilt, both inside and out! The time we spent at the villa gave us such a special opportunity of savouring the true Tuscan way of life—slow-paced, gentle and, somehow enriched by the characteristic earth colours of the landscape. Sitting or walking in the villa’s olive orchards, with blue skies and the softer sun of the end of summer, we felt pretty close to heaven. Following our 10-day Italian idyll, we were off on our road trip to the highest peaks of the Alps and the most pellucid of the Italian lakes—a rather more typical European sort of holiday experience but further instances of the infinite variety and generosity of the Creator’s hand in making such a world for our delight. - Helen & Neil Veitch
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Emerging into Spring Winter was a bleak time for me.
Because of physical health problems I had cut my business, which was flooded with work, for two years, not taking on new clients. At year end 2016 I took off four months to rest more. In April/May this year I confidently expected to start up again but instead of floodgates of work opening up there was very little. In addition my husband is starting up a new business. A good contract with an overseas buyer opened up, but a local contractor let us down and in a complex mess everything fell through—so now husband was not earning much either. Understandably our finances were looking rocky. Various other factors played a part. Our advisors told us we needed to get onto the waiting list of a retirement complex as these can be 15 years or more and with the financial problems the ones we looked at were not as good as I had hoped and we could not find one that suited our needs (mainly to be allowed to keep a four-footed friend with us indefinitely). Also I was weaned off one anti-depressant early in the year (I had a serious depression years ago as part of my physical illness). Whatever the reason, by May I had spiralled into severe depression. My thanks to Ali Bourne and her prayer team for supporting me through this time. In September my wonderful doctor who had tried various things changed me onto a drug that had not been very successful before with me but had worked to quite an extent. It seemed to work now. Also in mid–September Paul Cameron, a Methodist minister from Pretoria with a healing gift, came to run a Mental Health Weekend at St Peter’s in Mowbray. A whole weekend about mental health was too much for me to contemplate but I attended half of the Saturday morning. There were only about ten people and Paul showed us HOW to pray and WHAT to pray. We all took turns at having everyone else lay hands on us and pray for us. I have not looked back since that week. The following weekend was EMERGE. When I booked for EMERGE it was with the feeling that it had to be better than a miserable weekend at home, but by the time we left home I was feeling cheerful anticipation. We moved into our beautiful attic accommodation down the road and at the conference centre were met by a smiling fellow in a yellow rain jacket who showed us where to park—Rob of course! Highlights of the weekend for me range from divine to prosaic. There was prophetic prayer offered. I was told I was like a baobab tree thriving/surviving in hostile conditions (and yes it was a hostile winter) but giving shelter to little animals and providing medicinal fruit. I was juggling a lot of things (true). God wanted to heal me on all levels (The pray-ers did not know about my health problems.) God was holding me on His lap and snuggling me. How this all encouraged me! On the more prosaic side were Charles Parry’s walks in nature. How good of so many people to offer activities over this weekend and to work seamlessly together. Then the third highlight was just the FUN of welcome games and the quiz—huge laughs. The mindfulness session was good and so were the presentations and discussions. This was not the usual conference weekend with a lot of talks and discussion groups and an overfull programme—there was lots of time-out AND lots of things to do. I did miss the older members of the church. The stairs at Rocklands are steep but I think many could manage them. EMERGE is for everyone! (Next year perhaps Paul could come and do small healing workshops at Emerge?) I emerged refreshed and have not looked back. Work (and finances follow) has picked up (perhaps a little too much). I am enjoying lots of things, particularly doing SHINE—spending an November 2017 Eight O’Clock News
hour a week teaching a child to read at a Woodstock school. We are by now very fond of each other. Things are looking up a bit for my husband. After a tiring search we have even found a retirement place that ticks all our boxes—greenery, dogs allowed and a frail care so we will not be separated if one of us needs it. My thanks to those who supported me in prayer and the EMERGE TEAM and of course Paul Cameron and my doctor.
Psalm 40 I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me A firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, A hymn of praise to our God. My prayer is that others will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.
- Anonymous CCK Member
2 Timothy 4:17 But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth.
Grief My Oxford dictionary has ten words describing grief, all of which I
have experienced at various stages of my life. Like falling in love, it has to happen to one to begin to realise how life-consuming it can be. The difference between the two emotions is that the one can be enjoyed publicly and the other is endured privately. It was only after my husband’s death that I began to experience true, deep grief. Other deaths had all brought sadness, regret and compassion for the mourners but didn’t give me any idea of what an all-consuming, endless emotion grief is. It is so ever-present, that whatever I am doing or thinking, it is always there. Unlike joy which can be blazened openly, grief is largely a private emotion. No one wants to listen to endless tales of woe and misery and to talk about it does not help the way sharing problems or joys helps. Because my life has been so empty lately I’ve been thinking about what I can do about it. Loneliness—and boredom have been the hardest part: the daily routine is so familiar that every day seems the same. I find it hard to think of ways to bring more interest into what I do. However, once I’ve solved the crossword and the Target which I manage most days, I have a problem. I don’t like reading or watching television (unless there is special sport on) and life before was always busy: making a cup of tea was a joy.
In Loving Memory of Jenny Davies I found out about Jenny’s death almost three weeks after she
passed away. I had been away from church for two weeks during which she died and was buried and I wasn’t aware of this. So when I was paging through the News just before the 8am service started, and saw her face next to a date indicating birth and death, I was shocked. I felt very sad, not only because she had died but because I didn’t know and had not been part of her farewell from this earth. I met Jenny during a Sunday 8am breakfast about three years ago. Coincidentally she mentioned my distant relative, the now late Dr Phyllis Ntantala (the wife to Dr AC Jordan) that she had worked with about 50 years ago, before the Jordans went into exile in the USA. I promised to get her Phyllis’ telephone number and email address. I also connected her by phone with Phyllis’s son, Pallo, who remembered Jenny from the time she was still Jenny Mouat. She was very happy after that conversation and I was too. She invited me to her flat many times, and unfortunately I couldn’t always make it. In fact, I made it much less than I made it. I remember Jenny the activist, and Jenny the political commentator. She and I joined the Anglican-organised protest march from St Mark’s Church in Cape Town to Parliament, to protest against the corruption in government. Jenny was very happy on that day. I took photos of her with my cellphone that she said she would send to her family. We reminisced about protests of the apartheid era. I also remember meeting her in church after the 2016 Local elections and she told me we needed to meet because there was much to talk about. So when I visited her in her new home we talked about the implications of the election results, especially the proposed alliances. I didn’t believe the opposition parties would actually form alliances—I thought that egos would stand in the way. Jenny believed there was a new order coming. She was right. In fact at that time she was reading the biography of Mmusi Maimane. Jenny wasn’t always serious—talking about politics and November 2017 Eight O’Clock News
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So I decided to write which is something I can do sitting down and which uses my brain and occupies time. I’ve already written my memoirs and about my family and some of my experiences. My thoughts are filled with grief and I’m trying to write as honestly and unemotionally as I can—which is very difficult; it isn’t coming as naturally as my usual writing does but I am hoping it will bring relief. I am filled with sorrow for what I have lost. There is no bitterness, self-pity, resentment or anger. I just feel endlessly sad for what I have lost. In writing this, I set out to express my emotions. I have learned just what very complex emotions make up grief. It is at times so all consuming that it hurts like a broken leg does. It is a real, physical, endless ache—and needs a pain killer. - Irene Bekker (Resident at Sherwood House, Kenilworth
analysing sermons – but funny, including making fun of herself. I found her very easy to talk to. She didn’t talk about her ill-health. I remember asking her casually how she was and she answered, “apart from … and … and….?” (counting the various parts of her body which gave her pain). Then she changed the topic. We talked about her travels which she could fund after selling her valuables. When she asked for my opinion on whether she should take her crafts and hobbies items to the retirement village, I told her, ‘Jenny you know I’m not likely to encourage you to deprive yourself of something that brings you joy, so yes, of course, pack your hobby stuff otherwise what are you going to spend your time doing at the retirement village?’ I thought she felt relieved, but wondered if her family and close friends would agree. During the past three years I would sometimes lose contact with her and then reconnect. Sometimes she would re-initiate the contact by phoning, or I would suddenly see her in church. I had discovered that she was ill, and it was because of her ill-health that sometimes she would ‘disappear’. For instance, for weeks I was desperate to talk to her to tell her Dr Phyllis Ntantala had died in the USA. I only had Jenny’s old flat telephone number, not the new address number. I was overjoyed when I saw her in church. This year most of the time when in church I would watch her leave after taking Communion—picking up her summer hat and her walking stick. She told me some of those times she was leaving to look after her grandchildren, something she enjoyed a lot. It was obvious she was getting weaker but I didn’t know the end was close. My last time with her was when I had breakfast with her and Geka at Geka’s home. I didn’t know it was the last time I would spend with her. Phumla ngoxolo Jenny, side siphinde sibonane kwelizayo! Rest in peace Jenny, till we meet in the next world. - Thobeka Mda
Based on Psalm 20 Proverbs 18:10: The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the
righteous man runs into it and is safe. John 14:13: Whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in My name, I will do it. John 15:16: You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give it to you. John 16:24: Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. 1 John 5:14: … this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us. John 14:16: … I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. Ephesians 3:16: that … He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being. Colossians 1:11: May you be strengthened with power according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy. Acts 10:3: … ‘Cornelius’ … ‘Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God…’ Hebrews 6:10: … God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and love that you have shown for His name in serving the saints, as you still do.
TLC Needs a New Leader TLC (To love and care), as part of CCK’s Pastoral care
Ministry (PCM), is a team of approximately 35 volunteers who have offered their services—to make a meal, pick a posy, bake biscuits, and deliver any or all of these to a member of our community who is in need. The leader attends a monthly, daytime meeting of the PCM where those in the congregation going through difficult times are identified. He/she then contacts a volunteer to enlist his/her services. TLC focuses on meals, flowers, biscuits—and three times a year organises an afternoon tea for the Seniors’ Movie Meeting. This is an essential ministry—so it is very important that we find someone before the start of next year. The role requires someone who has some basic computer skills and is available to check emails on a daily basis and to make relevant telephone calls. If you would like to know more, please talk to Sally Bresler on bresler@zsd.co.za or 073 229 5114, or after church. [PS As someone who benefitted greatly over the past two years, my situation was greatly relieved by the love and care—and the delicious meals—which were supplied. Ev.]
A Prayer for Africa God please forgive Africa, Guard her children Guide her leaders in Your Way, Bring her peace, For Your Son's sake Amen. - Sent in by Jan D’Arcy Evans November 2017 Eight O’Clock News
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Hosea 6:6: … I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Jeremiah 29:11: … I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for peace and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Matthew 12:50: … whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother. Ephesians 3:20: Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work in us… The psalm which follows is based on these scriptures Mike Winfield
May you Receive the Spirit sent from Heaven as your helper! May you hear Jesus answer when you are in distress! May you know the authority of his name to protect you! May you receive the Spirit sent from heaven as your helper, granting you power and strength in your inner being! May your generous service and gifts to the poor be received as an acceptable offering, and your prayers and lifestyle of obedience be regarded with favour! May he grant you your soul’s desire, and may your plans be aligned to his will and purpose! May we joyfully celebrate Christ’s victory on our behalf and openly declare our allegiance to him! May Father answer all our petitions! Now I know Father’s immeasurable great power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in heaven, that same power is at work in and through us who believe. Some people trust in their wealth and influence, but we trust in the authority of Jesus name. They will ultimately collapse and fall but we will rise up and stand secure. May we know that overwhelming victory is ours through Christ Jesus who loved us!
Hebrews 4:12 … the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Editorial Team Tel/e-mail Ev Els
021 696 0336 emichael@iafrica.com
Cheryl Anderson
083 272 1530 canderson@beckman.com