Over the past week, our staff team were blessed to attend the Wollongong Regional Ministry Conference, along with many others who serve in Anglican churches nearby.

A highlight was hearing Archbishop Kanishka offer a word of great comfort and encouragement to us, as we reflected on the challenges of serving during the past two years of the pandemic.

He preached to us from Isaiah chapter 40, where the Lord instructed Isaiah to, “Comfort, comfort my people… speak tenderly… tell her that her sad days are gone and her sins are pardoned.” (verse 1 and 2)

This, alone, would be enough for us to have relief in the heart-filled word of our Lord.

Yet, this delightful chapter concludes with these wonderful words about the stamina of our God:

The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. […] He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. (verses 28 to 31).

Our endurance comes from the Lord, who gives us power and strength as we simply trust in him and his goodness.

As Kanishka noted, “the way of comfort for us is to look outward to the God of grace and glory.”

As you reflect on your spiritual journey in the past two years, it’s normal to feel some degree of fatigue and even exhaustion.

But what a delightful comfort to know that the limitations of our creatureliness are a blessing, not a curse.

For, in our weakness and fatigue we are drawn to the rest and comfort of our maker who never grows weak or weary, and who gives us strength, in him.

JODIE McNEILL

(Photo credit: Joseph Choi via Flickr.com)

On the 26th of May, this country recognises Sorry Day and it remembers that over 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were taken from their families, many to pass, never to meet any of their loved ones.

Many are still walking on this earth looking to find their families. 

So it is still a raw thing and the trans-generational trauma is passed down through generations upon generations.  

It’s still a real thing in the lives of Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders.

We can all say ‘sorry,’ but it is not the word we say, it’s the actions that we do that show that we recognise and show respect to one another and we mourn with those who mourn.

It’s important because you need to understand the past to know where we’ve been. 

One, that we don’t repeat it and, two, that in order to be reconciled we have to make amends and deal with it. 

So, I love when I think of God’s message, that he sent his Son down to deal with our sin, that his Son died upon the cross, that through the blood of Jesus, we are reconciled to him, and he rose in three days.

I love that image, that true reconciliation is done and is seen through the blood of Jesus Christ.

As God’s people, and as his church, we have the responsibility to be ambassadors of reconciliation. 

So I want to encourage us … that we would be bringing the true message of reconciliation to this country.

MICHAEL DUCKETT

The Chair of the Sydney Anglican Indigenous Ministry Committee

(This is an edited extract of the original post at sydneyanglicans.net)

From a young age we’ve instilled in our children the need to plan ahead for the future.

After all, we want to make sure that we’re prepared in every way for what may occur, and that’s why we think weeks, months and years ahead in our planning.

But what if we lived a day at a time?

In Numbers chapter 9 we read about the cloud of the Lord that covered the Tabernacle, which looked like a pillar of fire.

It led God’s people in this way:

Whenever the cloud lifted from over the sacred tent, the people of Israel would break camp and follow it. And wherever the cloud settled, the people of Israel would set up camp. (Numbers 9:17)

But the amount of time at one place would vary from a single day to even a year, and they would move with very little notice.

God’s people lived a day at a time, waiting afresh to see what the Lord had in mind for their community.

This seems so different to the way we plan out our lives, sometimes with less regard for the overarching will of God.

We don’t have a tabernacle any more, but still we have this important warning in the letter of James:

Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:13-15)

This is why it’s good practice for us to say, “God willing” when we speak about the future, for it shows our humility as we live in the world that is lovingly lead by our Lord.

What’s more, it can also open up opportunities for us to share our deep trust in our Lord, as we live in a world that increasingly ignores the creator and his gracious redemption for all who turn to him.

JODIE McNEILL

(photo credit: Dafne Cholet via Flickr.com)