CCK 8 O'Clock news - September 2016

The Eight O’Clock

News September 2016

What’s Next, LORD ?

‘Smile, things could be worse; so I smiled and sure enough, things got worse.’ (Frank Mee ) Like me, has that sometimes been your experience?

Last year was my annus horribilis—the more I tried to smile, the worse it got. Only something was different.

In past years, although I’d always trusted God to meet my every need, I’d somehow not surrendered fully to His soothing, calming and empowering touch. I was too independent.

‘When I am afraid, I put my trust in you’. (Psalm 56.3).

This I had always done but at the same time often allowed myself to be overwhelmed by worry, anxiety and fear. I wanted to do God’s work for Him, I was impatient to know the outcome.

Then by God’s grace, in one of my worst years ever, I was able to humble myself under His mighty hand and surrender all—one of my favourite scriptures had at last become a reality, not just in my intellect but in my heart and soul. ‘Humble yourselves then, under God’s mighty hand, so He will lift you up in His own time. Leave your worries with Him, because He cares for you’. (Psalm 94.19) It was easier than I had thought possible and an overwhelming peace displaced my worst fears. When anxiety, fear and sadness was great within me, His consolation brought joy to my soul.

The missionary Elizabeth Elliot wrote: ‘Only in acceptance lies peace… not in resignation.’ It is the blessed assurance that only Jesus brings, independent of conditions and circumstances. It comes from experiencing and not just knowing that God is control.

Author Creath Davis points out the big difference between acceptance and resignation: * ‘Resignation is surrender to fate.

Acceptance is surrender to God. * Resignation lies down quietly in an empty universe. Acceptance rises up to meet the God who fills that universe with purpose and destiny.

September 2016 Eight O’Clock News

8 am Service, Christ Church, Kenilworth

* Resignation says, ‘I can’t.’

Acceptance says, ‘God can.’ * Resignation paralyses the life process.

Acceptance releases the process for its greatest creativity. * Resignation says, ‘It’s all over for me.’

Acceptance says, ‘Now that I’m here, what’s next, Lord?’ * Resignation says, ‘What a waste.’

Acceptance says, ‘In what redemptive way will you use this mess, Lord?’ * Resignation says, ‘I’m alone.’

Acceptance says, ‘I belong to you, Lord.’

‘My peace I give you… do not let your hearts be troubled and… afraid’ (John 14:27).

- Cheryl Anderson

HAPPY SPECIAL BIRTHDAYS To

Jenny Howitt (1/8) Pat Holmes (18/8) Jennifer Taylor (25/8) Toni Koker (28/8) Genesis 17:1: Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless.’

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Pam & Andy Andrew Jesus said, ‘Greater love has no-one than this: that he lay down his life for his friends’. [John 15:13]

Some lay down their lives for others in death, but, in a wonderful way, others do so in life, giving themselves and their time to improve the lot of people around them. I came away from my meeting with Pam and Andy Andrew feeling that I had met two such people— that, together, they share a passion for loving and serving others, as will emerge as I tell their story.

When I arrived at the Andrew’s home in Long Place, Pinelands, to be greeted by Pam and two energetic hounds, I immediately felt the vibrancy of the place and of the couple I had come to meet. They have been married for 48 years. Pam was Catholic and Andy Presbyterian when they met so, in order to worship together, they decided to join the Methodist Church. And eventually, living in Port Elizabeth after retirement, they became Anglicans, and worshipped at St John’s, Walmer. There they met Eric Pike, former bishop of Port Elizabeth and, when they were moving to Cape Town two years ago, he suggested they join Christ Church, Kenilworth. On settling in Pinelands, they attended various Anglican churches, then visited CCK and were touched by the warm welcome and friendliness they encountered. Now, as ‘early birds’, Pam and Andy have been attending the 8 a.m. service since the beginning of this year, and feel happy that they have found their spiritual home.

Pam and Andy have two sons and a daughter. Gary lives in Port Elizabeth with his wife, Julie, and their baby girl, Holly, while Christopher and his wife, Karen, with her daughters, Kimberley and Tanielle, have just moved to Cape Town. The Andrews’ daughter, Sue, and her husband, Craig Torr, and sons, Daniel (18), Matthew (16) and Luke (13), live in Pinelands. It was to share in the lives of Sue and Craig, who run a busy financial planning company, and their sons, that Pam and Andy moved to Cape Town. They help wherever needed, especially with the boys’ transport to and from school and the sport with which they are heavily involved. (All three boys play for one of the WP under-age waterpolo teams requiring a huge amount of training). Both feel a real sense of purpose in helping the family, and value the opportunity to bond with their grandsons in this special way.

For 50 years Andy’s love for young people kept him in the teaching profession where he sought not merely to stuff the heads of learners with names and dates and facts and figures, but to make the fascinating subjects he taught, History and Geography, interesting and relevant to his students, and found them very responsive in return. He taught at Queens College in Queenstown, until a move to Cape Town took him first to Westerford High School and then to Pinelands High as Acting Headmaster. From there he went to Dale College, Kingwilliamstown, as Headmaster, until he retired.

While in Cape Town, Pam—working for the Blood Transfusion Service—had the distinction of being present, for the cross matching of blood, at the first human heart transplant performed

by Dr Chris Barnard and his team in 1967.

After retiring, Andy spent four very difficult years, 1996 to 2000, working in Bisho and organizing the first all-inclusive, Eastern Cape matric exams. After retiring in 2000 they settled in Port Elizabeth where Andy continued teaching in temporary posts, including Collegiate Girls and Grey Boys for the next 15 years.

September 2016 Eight O’Clock News

I asked Andy whether, in his busy life in education, he had had time for anything outside teaching, and he told me about his 30year involvement with Rotary, during which he had served a term as President of the Kingwilliamstown club in the late 1980’s. Later, in Port Elizabeth, he was in charge of one the larger Rotary projects—the upliftment of disadvantaged schools in the northern suburbs. The emphasis was always on improving the teaching through discovering the real needs of each school. Libraries were set up, and much-needed equipment—books, overhead projectors, computers, photocopiers, etc. were provided. Andy’s service to the community was recognized in 2012 when he was nominated Port Elizabeth Senior Citizen of the Year, an award given to ‘Golden Oldies between 70 and 80’, for service to the community. Although the award went—justly, in Andy’s opinion— to someone else, it was an extremely prestigious nomination of which he is very proud.

In all this time, Pam was quiet, encouraging Andy to recount his activities, but with a little prompting, she started to share. In Kingwilliamstown, she had, for 12 years, run her own Personnel Agency—again helping people, in this case, to find employment.

At the same time, she was responsible for coordinating the activities of the four Dale College Hostels, which housed 300 boarders, and managed the entertainment of visiting sports teams.

Pam belonged to the Rotary Anns Club both in Kingwilliamstown and Port Elizabeth. The focus was on knitting projects, donating garments to about 20 different charities—children’s and old age homes, orphanages and nursery schools. Rotary Anns themselves did a lot of the knitting, but wool was given to women in old age homes to occupy them and give them a feeling of involvement. AIDS baby vests were supplied to hospitals. The Rotary Anns in Port Elizabeth raised funds to support the Igazi Foundation to help Dr Littleton establish the Igazi Ward, a world class Haematology/Stem Cell transplant unit at the Provincial Hospital for the people of the Eastern Cape. Pam and Andy are both still members of Rotary in Pinelands.

And now, as new members of CCK, they have already become actively involved!

They have joined the ‘Feeding the Hungry’ team; Andy is on the Intercessory Prayer Roster. In response to Rob’s invitation, Pam is joining the tea brigade and Andy has joined the CCK group reaching out to the Voortrekker High School nearby. We are so glad they have come to be with us.

- Elizabeth van Lingen

Why, Lord ?

In February last year, Helen, a dear Christian friend of mine, was expecting her first grandchild. Her older daughter was born mentally challenged and is cared for in a home. Her younger daughter, who had been married for a few years, was pregnant, and the family were awaiting the birth with eager anticipation. Lucy had a very healthy pregnancy until at 36 weeks she appeared to have contracted one of the many bugs doing the rounds at the time. At 38 weeks she went into spontaneous labour. The baby was moving around at that stage, but by the time she got to the hospital there was no heartbeat. Lucy delivered her baby Alexis naturally very quickly, but he was stillborn. From there her health rapidly deteriorated and she was diagnosed with acute fatty liver of pregnancy. After spending three weeks in ICU she was moved into the isolation ward.

Over the next few weeks Helen and her husband, Lucy’s husband and many concerned family members, friends and fellow believers from all over the world (including the CCK prayer chain) prayed for her recovery. After spending five weeks in isolation she died. This was devastating, but the family showed great courage, and clung on to their God through their heartbreak.

In February this year I made a lunch date with Helen.

I hadn’t seen her for a while and she told me she was struggling. Her sister who lives in the UK had been due to visit and keep her company through the painful anniversaries which were looming. However, her sister had had to cancel the visit as her husband was very ill. On the morning of our lunch date, as I prayed I railed against God. To be honest, I was really angry. I know God can and does heal—I’ve witnessed and experienced it a number of times. For example, at the Airport Fellowship in Toronto, with my own eyes I’d witnessed someone praying for several deaf people who were all healed. ‘This is so unfair—so unjust!’ I cried out, asking that eternal question, ‘Why??’

Suddenly, totally unbidden and unexpected, a picture opened up before my eyes. I saw Lucy looking radiant. I knew the little one was with her. I can only describe her appearance as being of the essence of who she was created to be. The words, ‘Lucy is safe’ dropped into my spirit.

Scriptures tell us that those who die in the Lord will be reunited with Him, for example, ‘Jesus said to Martha, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.’ (John 11:25-26). It’s one thing, however, for it to be head knowledge, but quite another for it to come alive in one’s heart when God communicates personally. This was very encouraging to me, but even more so to Helen—she remarked that it was perfectly timed.

The evangelist Reinhard Bonnke, has been used by the Lord to heal many thousands of blind, deaf, dumb September 2016 Eight O’Clock News

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and lame people, and has even had a dead person resurrected at one of his crusades. Describing how God communicates with us he remarked, ‘Radio waves fill your room, but you might never know it if you didn’t have a receiver.’ One of God’s great Bible names is ‘the Lord is there’. (From Faith, the sixth sense). I am so grateful that God has created us so that by faith we can tune in to His wavelength, even if, as in my case, I was not in a very receptive state—but in His mercy and grace He responded to my desperation and Helen’s need.

I still have many questions, yet have since become so much more aware of the fleeting nature of life on earth. I value this life and am determined to treasure each day. I also believe that globally we are entering into a deeper supernatural revelation and practice of physical healing. Yet in the light of eternity, whether one spends 3, 30 or 90 years down here makes little difference. It is comforting to know that Helen and her family can look forward to being reunited with Lucy and her child, Alexis, for eternity. It is also a challenge to pray without ceasing for our loved ones who have yet to come to faith and be tuned into God’s eternal wavelength.

- Janet Mills

Green Door…

What’s that secret you’re keeping—I want in !!

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Eddie’s prayer:

The Beginning of Spring There’s a feeling of something new in the air, and, on looking around more carefully, I see small green leaves on the old oak trees, buds of new growth on pruned rose bushes, and many other growing things looking alive and well. It must be coming on for Spring! This very shy season doesn’t burst forth with flowers blazing all at once, but comes tip-toeing in quietly—first, with little signs of new growth hardly visible and then gradually more boldly. Such an exciting time God has given us, and not just in the garden but in ourselves if we will be observant.

A sense of wanting to do/be something different, a reaching out, changing, a wanting to please God. Everything around us in creation is changing, blossoming, wanting to praise God and we want to do likewise. Look beyond ourselves.

Eddie Askew (my favourite author) in his book of meditations and prayers, Breaking Through, writes about the launching of Voyager 2 for Jupiter and the clear and vivid TV pictures of the planet’s surface. It had travelled more than three thousand million miles in space on a 12-year journey arriving only a few seconds late and only 20 miles from its projected arrival point ! The technology to achieve all this is awesome and mind-boggling. Every aspect of it we marvel at, and yet we can’t do the simplest things here on earth. He writes: ‘It leaves me spellbound but it also leaves me wondering.

We can see the face of Jupiter but does that help us to see more clearly the face of our neighbour and his need? While we reach into space, people stay hungry, homeless, sick. Sometimes for all the notice we take of them, they might live on a different planet. But they are here with us, now.

How much technology do we need to reach out and touch them ?’ (We really do need to prioritise better, get our ducks in a row and the scientists will just have to cope with delay.)

Lord, the camera shows me things I never thought to see.

The wonders of your universe brought close, before my eyes.

The sleight of hand of cosmic conjurers, their science mathematical, precise.

It’s no small feat to break out from the garden you’ve given us on earth, reach out, and catch the stars.

But conscience is a casualty, the rocket’s roar covering the cries of the suffering.

The hunger, printing pain on human faces, unnoticed as we trace trajectories across the screen.

The suffering’s just another episode in a television soap.

The hungry acting out a part that loses impact with each day’s repeat.

Lord, help me to see that if technology can’t cope with Your demands for justice, mercy—I won’t mention love, that’s too much to ask— then something’s wrong.

The need is here. And reaching out beyond our world won’t help.

You ask me, not to reach for stars but just to walk the harder journey to my neighbour down the road.

That feeling of change in the air. Might it lead us to do just one thing for that poor person in our neighbourhood ? They are not difficult to find. Think of the delight on the face of God.

- Wendy Gunn

How to Get to Know Your Neighours

- Sent in by John Rogers

Caren, the owner of the cat, lives in Montebello Flats

just uphill from us in Dean Street, Newlands. Stuart, from Marie Street across the road, is the hero who tempted the cat down from our step-ladder on the upstairs flat's balcony using Caren's biltong!

If you look carefully at the first photograph you will see Phil in the outer doorway, pointing out the cat’s position.

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CARMEL GUEST FARM Carmel, the well-known Christian Holiday & Conference Centre overlooking Victoria Bay, near George, will be holding another Prime Plus Week [Sunday, October 9 - Friday, October 14] Prime Plus events, and the previously well-known ‘Life after Work’ weeks, have been hugely popular for anyone seeing

themselves as ‘seniors’ since the 1980s. The programme is still popular and bookings should be made without delay. The programme is not for seniors only—the invitation is open to everyone.

It’s five days full of laughter and fun and wonderful meals, built around helpful Christian teaching and inspiring times of sung worship in Carmel’s beautiful chapel overlooking Victoria Bay. Friendships blossom and are renewed every year and many guests testify to being encouraged and restored by attending.

Andrew & Beryl Phillips, who were part of the Carmel team for almost 25 years, will once again lead this week as they will be back from Mauritius for a few weeks at that time. Andrew will pick up last year’s theme title of ‘Come walk with me’ and this year will present five messages on ‘Lessons from Life’, drawing much from his own spiritual walk during their years here at Carmel.

Planned titles of his messages are as follows: 1. Guidance 2. Walking in the dark 3. It’s all about God’s glory 4. The kind of things we need to learn 5. Staying the course CARMEL CONTACT DETAILS: PHONE: 044-889 0019 EMAIL: reservations@carmelguestfarm.co.za

The Spirituality of Listening The twin foundations on which Western culture was built were

ancient Greece and ancient Israel. They could not have been more different. Greece was a profoundly visual culture. Its greatest achievements had to do with the eye, with seeing. It produced some of the greatest art, sculpture and architecture the world has ever seen. Its most characteristic group events— theatrical performances and the Olympic games—were spectacles: performances that were watched. Plato thought of knowledge as a kind of depth vision, seeing beneath the surface to the true form of things.

This idea—that knowing is seeing—remains the dominant metaphor in the West even today. We speak of insight, foresight and hindsight. We offer an observation. We adopt a perspective. We illustrate. We illuminate. We shed light on an issue. When we understand something, we say, ‘I see.’

Judaism offered a radical alternative. It is faith in a God we cannot see, a God who cannot be represented visually. The very act of making a graven image—a visual symbol—is a form of idolatry. As Moses reminded the people..., when the Israelites had a direct encounter with God at Mount Sinai, ‘You heard the sound of words, but saw no image; there was only a voice’ (Deut. 4:12). God communicates in sounds, not sights.

He speaks. He commands. He calls. That is why the supreme religious act is Sh’ma (Hear, O Israel…). When God speaks, we listen. When He commands, we try to obey...

This may seem like a small difference, but it is in fact a huge one. For the Greeks, the ideal form of knowledge involved detachment. There is the one who sees, the subject, and there is that which is seen, the object, and they belong to two different realms. A person who looks at a painting or a sculpture or a play in a theatre or the Olympic games is not himself part of the art or the drama or the athletic competition.

He or she is a spectator, not a participant.

Speaking and listening are not forms of detachment. They are forms of engagement. They create a relationship. The Hebrew word for knowledge, da’at, implies involvement, closeness, intimacy. ‘And Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived and gave birth’ (Gen 4:1). That is knowing in the Hebrew sense, not the Greek. We can enter into a relationship with God, even though He is infinite and we are finite, because we are linked September 2016 Eight O’Clock News

by words. In revelation, God speaks to us. In prayer, we speak to God. If you want to understand any relationship, between husband and wife, or parent and child, or employer and employee, pay close attention to how they speak and listen to one another. Ignore everything else.

The Greeks taught us the forms of knowledge that come from observing and inferring, namely science and philosophy... from the sixth to the fourth centuries BCE. But not everything can be understood by seeing and appearances alone. There is a powerful story about this told in the first book of Samuel. Saul, Israel’s first king, looked the part. He was tall. ‘From his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people,’ (1 Sam. 9:2, 10:23). He was the image of a king. But morally, temperamentally, he was not a leader at all; he was a follower.

God then told Samuel to anoint another king in his place, and told him it would be one of the children of Yishai. Samuel went to Yishai and was struck by the appearance of one of his sons, Eliav. He thought he must be the one God meant. But God said to him, ‘Do not be impressed by his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. God does not see as people do. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart’ (1 Samuel 16:7).

Jews and Judaism taught that we cannot see God, but we can hear Him and He hears us. It is through the word—speaking and listening – that we can have an intimate relationship with God... We cannot demonstrate God scientifically, ... logically. These are Greek, not Jewish, modes of thought.

Listening lies at the very heart of relationship. It means that we are open to the other, that we respect him or her, that their perceptions and feelings matter to us. We give them permission to be honest, even if this means making ourselves vulnerable in so doing.

Listening is the climate in which love and respect grow.

In Judaism we believe that our relationship with God is an ongoing tutorial in our relationships with other people. How can we expect God to listen to us if we fail to listen… And how can we expect to encounter God if we have not learned to listen? On Mount Horeb, God taught Elijah that He was not in the whirlwind, the earthquake or the fire but in the kol demamah dakah, the ‘still, small voice’ that I define as a voice you can only hear if you are listening.

Crowds are moved by great speakers, but lives are changed by great listeners. Whether between us and God or us and other people, listening is the prelude to love.

- Rabbi Jonathan Sacks Extract from The Spirituality of Listening [Posting from Annie Kirke’s Facebook page]

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The Totally Unsolicited Article [This article appeared in the November 2004 News and is reprinted here with a follow-up article written a few weeks ago.

The Editor totally denies any culpability!]

Last Sunday I complimented Daphne (Burger) on her enjoyable article in the 8 O’ Clock News on why she joined the Choir. She thanked me and remarked that it was becoming increasingly unsafe to make any sort of comment on any subject in Ev Els’s hearing, as one was likely to be trying to remember it again in an e-mail to her for the 8 O’ Clock News. The truth of this set me to imagining how things might be in about a year’s time. A typical conversation with any one of the Friends/Acquaintances of Ev might go something like this: F/AE (incautiously): Hi Ev! Ev: Hello F/AE. How are you?

F/AE (realizing their error): OK, I think. I haven’t been anywhere, seen anyone, done anything, thought anything all week!

Ev : Really? Won’t you put that into an e-mail and send it to me for the 8 O’ Clock News—in not more than 700 words. Make it personal and not preachy. Thanks.

Those of us who know Ev are all too well aware that her requests are commands. She may be little, but she’s awfully fierce!

Thus newcomers to the early service will be somewhat startled to observe the method of entry into the church by the congregation.

Some will approach furtively, sidling along the wall, peering around corners, dropping to the ground and Indian-crawling behind the knees of the sidesmen. Others will be seen climbing the fence at the side and making their entrance through a side door, gaining their seats in a series of short dashes between columns. Some may even be lowered by friends through the roof of the church!

(However, these latter will be viewed askance by the congregation in general, and the Property and Finance Committees in particular, and may well find themselves the target of a sermon by Duncan (McLea) on ‘The Difference Between Living a Bible-Based Life, and Just Plain Showing Off, and another one by John (Atkinson) on ‘The Spiritual Implications of the Relative Heights of Ceilings in the Palestine of AD 30 Compared With Those of Modern-day Christian Churches’’).

All too soon the newcomers will realize that these antics are in order to avoid Ev and her camera in the porch.

The methods of exit at the end of the service will be as bemusing to the uninitiated. They will see little old ladies hurl their walking sticks and zimmer frames away as they sprint for the door, or else use them as cultural weapons as they join the ugly scenes at the back of the church, where the congregation, abandoning the entire concept of Brotherly Love in favour of the more pragmatic ‘Everyman-for himself-and-the-devil-take-the-hindmost’ are all jammed in the door, trying to get out before the vestry door opens and Ev emerges to buttonhole someone with a leading question.

Tea or breakfast after the service will, sadly, become a thing of the past, but it’s an ill-wind and the general level of aerobic fitness in the congregation will rise by 26.435%.

For the Choir, of course, there is no escape! This is why, if you have ever wondered, there seems to be a preponderance of articles in the 8 O’ Clock News written by or about choir members.

We are easy to pick out in a crowd: we’re the ones with the nervous tic, the haunted, slightly bulging eyes, the tendency to gibber.

However, as I shared all this with Daphne, the most sinister aspect September 2016 Eight O’Clock News

of all was brought sharply home to me. She listened to me and then said: ‘You MUST put this into an email to Ev for the Eight O’ Clock News.’ The horrible truth dawned—OH NO! IT’S CATCHING!! AAAARRRGHHHH!!!!

- This is submitted by Sally Palmer in much love, respect, admiration and gratitude to our dear Ev for all her hard work, both on the 8 O’ Clock News and in the Choir!

A Second Totally Unsolicited Article Ev recently remarked to me that she was thinking of re-publishing the article I wrote almost twelve years ago titled, The Totally Unsolicited Article. I mused over the fact that, in the last twelve years, certain things have changed a bit and the article would need to be updated.

Firstly, Duncan’s sermon would now be delivered by Rob, and Annie’s replacement of John’s sermon would probably centre on the evils of abusing our own roof when there are so many others who have no roof at all.

Secondly, there is no longer a Property or Finance Committee, but I would imagine that John McPetrie (and one or two others) would be pretty miffed.

Thirdly, with Ev’s exit from the choir, she is now free to lurk cunningly in the entrance of the church before and after each service. This would not necessarily change the manner of evasive entry for members of the congregation, but it would mean that they could no longer make their escape while Ev was closeted in the vestry after the service. So I had to re-imagine my ‘year later’ scenario slightly. Instead of everyone heading for the back door of the church waving their walking sticks, I would think that all the doors along the side would burst open before the echoes of the final hymn had died away and the congregation would stampede for their cars and drive speedily away while looking over their shoulders in terror. This would mean that visiting preachers would be left standing in bewilderment at the back door wondering why there was no one to greet and thank them for their sermon. However, again, it is an ill wind, and Rob or Annie would now be able to enjoy a leisurely breakfast and put their feet up for a bit before the start of the 10 am service.

Lastly, any gibbering displayed by choir members could now safely be attributed to age rather than fear.

- Sally Palmer, August 2016 - Sent in by Margie Hare

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Special Delivery z

Kate Lyon (nee Maytham and wife of Ben) with identical twin daughters born in Auckland, NZ on 19/8/2016.

Emilia Berkeley (L) weighed in at 3.25 kg and Zoe Elizabeth (R) at 3.33 kg.

Much gratitude to God from Pam & Berkeley for a safe pregnancy and birth.

Last Laugh A man went to a pet shop and asked, ‘How much is that green parrot?’

‘It’s R3000’, said the pet shop owner.

‘That’s a lot of money!’

‘Yes, but it can type fast and accurately.’

September 2016 Eight O’Clock News

Homecoming

Elaine and JD Pienaar arrived home on 9 August.

They have been living in London for several years.

Photograph (L) was taken at Jbg

airport where Daphne Burger (Elaine’s mom) met them.

Daphne is delighted that they are back and that she has easy access to her two grandsons, Jean-Ben (JB), (2) and Jesse.

Jesse joined mom and grandmom at the 8 am service last Sunday. (Rob commented that Jesse at seven months’ old lowered the average age considerably !)

‘How much is the red parrot?’

‘That’s R5000. It costs a lot because it can answer telephones and take messages.’

‘And the grey parrot?’

‘That one costs R10 000.’

‘Wow! What can it do?’

‘I’ve never seen it do anything, really, but the other two call him ‘Boss.’’

- Origin unknown. Sent in by Beth Mackrill

The Priority of Compassion This really resonates with my own journey. Over the last few

years I have come to truly experience the compassionate love of God and understand more fully that the primary calling for us as Christians is to share God’s compassion and love with others.

1) Jesus shows us that compassion is to be our priority 2) We are to show compassion, not judgement 3) Compassion connects us 4) Some ways we can grow in compassion Jesus shows us that compassion is to be our priority: In Luke 13:10-17 Jesus is teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath when he notices a woman who is bent over, crippled with something like arthritis. And Jesus calls her to come to him and he lays his hands on her and heals her. Notice that the woman hasn’t come to Jesus asking to be healed, Jesus sees her, has compassion on her and heals her.

The synagogue leader is indignant that Jesus has healed on the Sabbath as he thinks that this is breaking the commandment of keeping the Sabbath holy by doing no work on the Sabbath. How Jesus responds to this criticism is by emphasizing compassion as God’s over-riding priority by saying that even on the Sabbath people untie their ox or donkey and lead them to water so they can drink.

There are many other times in the gospels that we read of Jesus’ compassion—for the hungry crowds, for the widow whose son had died, for blind Bartimaeus , for the woman with the issue of blood, for the woman caught in adultery to name but a few. Jesus’ life shows us that compassion has to be our priority. And in calling us to follow Him, Jesus calls us to show the compassionate love of God to other people in word and action. The compassionate, unconditional love of God is the good news of the gospel and this is what draws people to God—not our judgments or lack of compassion.

We are to show compassion, not judgement So why do many of us struggle with being judgemental rather than compassionate? One of the main reasons is that we might see God as some kind of a judgmental perfectionist who we need to try and please by doing the right things, rather than a compassionate and unconditionally loving God who longs for us all to truly experience His love, to receive and share God’s love.

The word compassion is derived from the Latin—com with and patio suffering. Compassion means to suffer with someone, to share in their suffering.

God, in the person of Jesus, showed us the most immense compassion by sharing in our human suffering with great vulnerability, dying on a cross. Jesus came to save us and not to judge us (John 3:17). God is a compassionate God. So where does the concept of God as a demanding perfectionist come from? I read a very interesting reflection by Richard Rohr which explains that Christianity’s idealizing of a kind of ‘perfection’ seems to have come from Jesus’ teaching on loving our enemies in Matthew 5, which ends with verse 48; ‘Be perfect, therefore, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.’ However, if we read this in context from verse 43, we read that Jesus is speaking of loving our enemies and showing the unconditional love that God has for all people, the evil and the good, the righteous and the unrighteous. Rohr points out that the parallel passage in Luke 6:32 -36 ends with the words: ‘Be merciful, just as your Heavenly Father is merciful.’ Merciful rather than perfect… we are to show others the merciful, unconditional and compassionate love of God, September 2016 Eight O’Clock News

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not a kind of rigid, rule-bound, ‘never make mistakes’ kind of perfection. Michael Green... agrees with Rohr that the meaning of perfect is to be like God in extending... undiscriminating love towards everyone. ... Jesus says to us: ‘Be merciful, be compassionate.’

Or as Rob expressed this in one of his sermons during Lent—’It’s more important to be kind than right.’

Compassion connects us.

I’m sure you’ve all experienced the difference between a compassionate and a judgmental response when you’ve shared with someone about a difficult time you are going through.

My dad, aged 88, fell in May and had to have a hip replacement and he and my mom are now struggling with other complications and ramifications after his operation.

When someone responds compassionately, saying something like, ’Oh no, I’m so sorry to hear that. It must be very stressful for you all…’ I feel seen and understood by the person and my sense of connection with them deepens.

However, when someone responds with a judgmental comment like, ’Shouldn’t your parents have moved to a retirement home before your dad got so frail?’, I feel judged, not seen/isolated.

So compassion connects us, judgment separates and isolates us.

Just as with others, so too does compassion connect us with God as others mirror something of God’s compassion to us. When we come to know God as compassionate we want to spend time with Him, knowing that whatever struggle, failure or situation we are living with, we can look at it with Him, in the light of His compassion, and ask for the grace we need.

Some ways we can grow in compassion * Our image of God is crucial. It’s been said that we become like the God we worship. If you don’t see God as compassionate then it is likely that you could struggle to be compassionate yourself.

Spend some time really opening yourself in prayer to receive God’s love and compassion and read Scripture through the lens of compassion rather than judgment. A prayer by Gerard Hughes that I continue to pray daily is ‘Lord God, please let my whole being be centred in You so that You may be the God of compassion and love TO me, and THROUGH me.’ * If you didn’t experience compassion growing up and have deep childhood or other emotional wounding you may want to consider counselling or therapy as well as someone praying for you. It can be deeply healing to have another person mirror the compassion and unconditional love of God to you and help you do your inner work with God. If you feel trapped by a spirit of perfectionism or of judgment or something else that is preventing you both receiving and sharing God’s compassion you might like to come for prayer ministry or ask someone to pray with you during the week, or see someone for spiritual direction. * Jesus said the first commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul and that the second is like it—to love your neighbour as yourself. The religious leader who asked Jesus ‘Who is my neighbour?’ was told the parable of the Good Samaritan... Jesus asked him, ‘Which one... was a neighbour?’

He replied, ‘The one who showed mercy....’ And Jesus said to him, as he says to us, ‘Go and do likewise.’

- Judy Everingham [Full sermon on website] Editorial Team Tel. e-mail Ev Els

021 696 0336 emichael@iafrica.com

Cheryl Anderson

083 272 1530 canderson@beckman.com