Our Mission is to
Connect with people in Jesus;
Build each other up in faith; and to
Become Like Jesus.
In today’s message there are two sisters: Mary and Martha. When Jesus and his disciples are making a journey to the village of Bethany, Martha opens her home to them to stay with her family. Martha was busy with all the things that hostesses have to do. She was cleaning, cooking, baking, and attending to the needs of her guests. Mary, on the other hand, lifted not one finger to help. She sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to the conversation and the teaching there.
We assume that Martha was preparing a meal to feed at least 15 hungry people. She may have wanted to be the perfect hostess and that is well and good. I guess that’s why she came to Jesus and complained about Mary to help her. Yet, Jesus seemed disregarding to her question by saying, “Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is really important right now and Mary has chosen it.”
This was not the reply Martha expected. And here, of course, is the message of our text for the day. What is ‘the one thing’ that Jesus refers to? There are many things that are important in life, but only one thing is of ultimate importance that is sitting at the feet of Jesus.
It is important for us to be a responsible person going about doing all the good we can. But, in the process, we need to feed our own souls. This is where worship comes into the picture, and Bible study and prayer. We need to take time each day sitting at the feet of Jesus. That is where the fuel comes from for doing good works, meeting our responsibilities. We need the refreshment of seeking God’s presence. We need to study the scriptures and to reflect on their meaning for our lives. IL-WOONG.
Intergenerational Service Evaluation It is now some months since we closed our previous two Sunday services and commenced our intergenerational service on 3rd February. We believed that creating a new service where the attendees of both the previous morning and evening services come together and worship, would enable us to:
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grow relationships between generations;
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pool resources with the load being shared amongst a greater number of people, allowing the worship, structure and dynamics of the service to be varied depending on the team serving;
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have opportunity for fellowship each service with a morning tea served each week and a lunch served after the service once every two months on the first Sunday of the month.
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Tailor a separate children’s program to assist that generation learning and growing their faith.
This is now an opportunity for the whole church to reflect on the progress of our intergenerational service. Evaluation questionnaires are available from the Stewards. Please complete and return the questionnaire at your earliest convenience and in any case by Sunday 4th August. There will be a collection box in the foyer for completed questionnaires. All information gathered will be collated, presented to the church and used to improve our intergenerational service. Any inquiries please speak to IL-WOONG or Lawrie.
DVD of the Week:
Birches – Love Endures All Things. David can hardly handle the death of his wife Jessica. As a much sought-after speaker, he is used to offering comfort to people, but now he has no answers and closes himself up in his grief. Then he is invited by an old friend for a weekend with a number of childhood friends, with whom he has had no contact for years. David really does not want to go until he hears that a last present from Jessica is waiting for him. What follows is a reunion in which the former friends find their past connection. David discovers that he is not the only one who struggles with ‘ghosts’ from the past and together they look for a way to brighten the future.
Luke 10:38-42, Beyond What We Do