Jamberoo Anglican

Thanks a lot!

December 7, 2017/in News Sheet Blurb/by Jodie McNeill

Do you take the time to say “thank you” to God?

At times of relief from danger, we thank God a lot.

But what about at the normal times of life when things can be fairly mundane?

If we are not thankful to God for what he has done, then perhaps it is because we don’t fully appreciate how much he has done for us?

In the letter to the Colossians, Paul outlines what the life ‘worthy of the Lord’ looks like.

He uses four phrases, which say that Christians should be bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power, and giving joyful thanks (Colossians 1:10-12)

Thankfulness is at the heart of being a Christian.

But what should our thankfulness be like?

Verse 12 says that it should be “joyful”.

Show me a person who lives a life worthy of the Lord, and I’ll show you a person who joyfully gives thanks to the Father.

Do you say thanks to God at dinner time?

Well, the well-known poet G. K. Chesterton thinks we shouldn’t stop there.

You say grace before meals.

All right.

But I say grace before the play and the opera,

And grace before the concert and pantomime,

And grace before I open a book,

And grace before sketching, painting,

Swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing;

And grace before I dip the pen in the ink.

How will you thank God, this week?

Jodie McNeill

Coming up this weekend 9th – 10th December 2017

December 4, 2017/in Coming Up this Weekend/by Val O'Regan

This weekend, we we finish up our series on 2 Samuel. In the final talk, Jodie will be speaking on the topic, “The problem of the wrath of God”, from chapter 21 verses 1 to 14 and chapter 24.

At our 5pm Saturday service we will have a special presentation on Special Religious Education (SRE), which is our mission of the month.

Our 8am Sunday service will be a Morning Prayer Sunday service.

Our Senior Minister, Jodie, will also be answering these questions during our services:

1 What does Glenn Davies mean when he says he, “accepts the outcome of the marriage postal plebiscite”?
2 Was 2 Samuel set in Medieval times?
3 How old was David in 2 Samuel 21:15?
4 Would Joab and the other war officials be the same age as David, and how old were his mighty men?
5 Who were the three mighty warriors in Samuel 23:17, and what were their names?
6 What weapons were used in the Bible before swords?
7 Were the descendants of Rapha also known as the Nephilim?
8 Does it still snow in the Middle East and around Bethlehem today?
9 In Psalm 51:4 and 2 Samuel 12:13 David said he had only sinned against God, but didn’t he also sin against people like Uriah and others?
10 Would it be better to say that war memorials are not a celebration of war, but a reminder of the devastation of war?
11 Would it be possible to choose a different day for the church event planned on Easter Monday?

If you’re wanting to check out our church we’d really love you to visit us on Saturday at 5pm for a contemporary service with kids’ program and dinner afterwards, or come along on Sunday at 8am for a Prayer Book service.

See you at 5pm this Saturday or 8am this Sunday, God willing!

Church news for the week beginning 2nd December 2017

December 2, 2017/in News Headlines/by Val O'Regan

This weekend’s Bible Talk

This weekend, we continue our series looking at 2 Samuel as Jodie preaches from chapter 21 verses 15 to 22 and chapter 23 verses 8 to 39, with the title, “The might of the king’s men”.

Mission of the month

Church Missionary Society (CMS) is our mission of the month. Support this ministry through the ‘Mission Table’ in the Hall.

Midweek Service

This Thursday 7th December at 11am we’re having our next ‘Midweek service’ in the church, followed by a light lunch. This is an ideal time to come together, especially for those who may find our weekly services to be a challenging time of the day. Bring along old and new friends for a service that is aimed to serve both regular churchgoers and those who may not have been along before, or at least for a long time.

Dinner at the Bowlo

Join us this Thursday at 6pm at the Jamberoo Bowling Club for a relaxed Chinese meal together.

Carols in the Park

Enjoy Carols in the park under the stars at Jamberoo on Tuesday 12th December, starting at 7pm, located at Reid Park. Bring all the family along to enjoy and evening of Inter-church Carols. Bring a blanket or a chair and settle in for a lovely evening of Carols supported by the Salvation Army Band.

Christmas Carols Service

On Saturday 16th December, two Saturdays before Christmas, we’re opening our doors at 5pm for a night of Christmas Carols. Invite your friends for this great night of singing and sharing about the saviour of the world!

Christmas Day at 9.30am

Join us at the special time of 9.30am on Christmas Day for an all-age, community celebration of the birth of Jesus!

New roster coming soon

If you’re unavailable to serve on a roster from 18 December 2017 through 18 March 2018 please let us know via comment card, email office@jamberooanglican.com or even better go to www.jamberooanglican.net.

Giving update

Each week we need to receive $6300.00 in order to meet our commitments. In the last calendar month, our average weekly giving was $5402.00, leaving a gap of $898.00.

Up to the end of the last calendar month we needed to have received $81,900. Compared to that total we received $71,624, leaving a gap of $10,276.

Electronic giving is a great way to give! It helps us prayerfully plan our giving, and then the bank will help us keep that commitment, even when we may be unable to attend. To give by direct transfer then these are the details. Account name: Church of England Jamberoo. Account number: 10081274. BSB: 062562 .

Remembering the Bible

December 1, 2017/in News Sheet Blurb/by Jodie McNeill

Learning things by rote is not very popular anymore. It has largely been dropped from school curriculums as an outdated method of teaching.

Learning things deeply is far better than simple parroting off the facts. By nature it is also repetitious and hardly the funnest form of education.

However this has impacted the Christian’s practise of learning memory verses by rote.

Perhaps we are wary of a false piety, being like the Pharisees. More likely we are simply wary of the hard work!

But our kids ministries have worked to hang on to this practise and with good reasons.

If the motivation to learn something off by heart is simply to get good marks, its benefits will always be limited. But the Christian has the motivation to know God, so this discipline can be a wonderful aid to this. The mental effort to remember a verse will mean that you are forced to reflect on these words for a lot longer than if you just read them… you will have to think about each word multiple times.

Once memorised, these words stay with you… at work, on a bus, driving to friends… the verse pops into your mind and you can reflect on them again.

Knowing some key verses from the Bible is really helpful in integrating your knowledge together.

There is a real delight when reading one part of the Bible and realising that the same words are used in another. It can help you get a bigger picture of who God is and what he has done.

John Piper often speaks of how important scripture memorisation is in maintaining joy in Christ, particularly in times of doubt or trouble. It’s at these times God can use the scriptures we know to speak directly to our heart.

So next time a verse encourages you, why not have a go at remembering the verse, and that encouragement will stay with you, and perhaps you can use it to encourage someone else too?

Simon Chaplin

Coming up this weekend 2nd – 3rd December 2017

November 27, 2017/in Coming Up this Weekend/by Val O'Regan

This weekend we continue our series on 2 Samuel. In the next talk, Jodie will be speaking on the topic, “The might of the king’s men”, from chapter 21 verses 15 to 22 and chapter 23 verses 8 to 39.

We will also share the Lord’s Supper at 5pm Saturday, so come along and be reminded again of the great service of Jesus Christ, who died for our sins.

We will also be hearing from Jemimah McNeill for a review of her Year 13 experience.

During church, we’ll be hearing answers to these questions from the past two weeks:

1 Why is the Bible reading passage different to the passage that is preached?
2 When were swords first mentioned in the Bible?
3 Why didn’t the author of 2 Samuel comment on the strange behaviour of Joab?
4 Could the song of 2 Samuel 22 have been sung before David’s sin with Bathsheba?
5 What does ‘exalt’ mean, and why would God exalt David?
6 How do we guard ourselves from looking down on flawed Bible characters?
7 How can God forget our sins when we continue to have the consequences of those specific sins?
8 Is there any information regarding the Weekendaway for 2018?

Our 8am Sunday service will be a Morning Prayer AAPB service.

If you’re wanting to check out our church we’d really love you to visit us on Saturday at 5pm for a contemporary service with kids’ program and dinner afterwards, or come along on Sunday at 8am for a Prayer Book service.

If you can’t make it in person, you’re welcome to jump online to watch the service (with the same sermon and many other items) at www.oakflats.tv.