Will you wear a ‘Jesus Is___’ t-shirt?

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During March and April, Anglican Christians throughout Wollongong and beyond will be wearing ‘Jesus is___’ t-shirts and other merchandise.

We’re praying that it will get lots of people talking and thinking about the identity of Jesus.

You might think that it’s a bit ‘out there’ wearing it, but a really good reason to put it on is because you want to show that you’re not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus!

As we read in 1 Peter 4:16, “…if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name”

So the first reason to wear a “Jesus Is___” t-shirt is to go public for Jesus, to be unashamed that you’re connected to Christ.

For we know it’s only by calling on the name of Jesus that people can be saved (Acts 4:10, 12), and that means we need to get people talking about Jesus.

The second big reason to go public this way is to harness the power of synergy… that we can achieve more together than the sum of our individual efforts.

One person wearing a ‘Jesus is___’ t-shirt won’t be noticed for long, but if hundreds of people from across the region do, then it will create an impact.

Or, instead of a t-shirt, you could try a small badge on your lapel, or wear a wrist-band, or a “Jesus is ___” coffee keep cup, or a bumper sticker for your car or pencil case.

You could even just change your Facebook profile picture to temporarily include the ‘Jesus is ___’ artwork.

The third big reason is that when you wear it, someone might ask you, “what’s the deal with all those T-shirts… I keep seeing them everywhere!”

And you can be ready to answer: “We’re interested in people’s opinions. How would you complete that sentence?”

Let’s pray for lots of great conversations about Jesus.

SANDY GRANT with JODIE McNEILL

Coming up this weekend 8-9 February 2020

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This week we continue our series on ‘Glorious Judgement‘ and will see God at work in Egypt. If you missed the first talk last week from this series, jump online to our website or your Podcast App and have a listen to ‘Glorious Judgement in Eden’.

We have resumed our weekly question and answer time. To ask a question, simply email us at office@jamberooanglican.com or write it down via your response slip at church. This week’s questions are:

1 Who was God talking about when he said to make humans in “our” image?
2 Did the other animals in the Garden also speak like the snake?
3 How long were Adam and Eve in the Garden before they ate the fruit?
4 Given that Eve hadn’t had children, how did she react to the curse of pain in childbirth?
5 Does feminism come from the woman’s desire to control her husband, and his rule over her?
6 How long were Adam and Eve in the Garden before they were expelled?
7 How is the expulsion of Adam and Eve an act of grace and not just punishment?
8 Did Adam and Eve go to Heaven?

Come along to our 5pm service on Saturdays, where we have a kids program, followed by dinner for everyone and a youth group for the teens! Or why not try out our 9am Sunday morning service for a more classic Anglican feel, followed by morning tea and hot espresso!

Grace and peace,
Jodie

Glorious Judgement Week One: Glorious Judgement in Eden – Jodie McNeill – Genesis 1-3, 12

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Embarrassed by judgement.

We’re careful not to ____ people off.

God’s judgement shows his _____ and _____.

God ____ everything because he made everything.

Because God made everything, he makes the _____.

God made humans to rule and _____ the world.

God made one ____ that must be kept.

The snake __________ God’s rule.

The woman had to _____ God or the snake.

The snake doubted God’s love and his ____.

It is right for God to be _____.

We should _____ at God’s judgement.

Judgement shows us God’s ________.

There is conflict between humans and the ___________.

There is pain in __________ and conflict in ________.

They are thrown out of ____ for their good.

There’s a promise about the victory of _____.

Three curses are met with three ________.

‘Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God’

Download a copy of this as a PDF here:Download


Church News for the week beginning 2nd February

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OUR BIBLE TALK

This week we are starting a new four-week series lead by Jodie that will help us understand the mercy and justice of our great God. The first sermon is about God’s ‘Glorious Judgement in Eden’.

MISSION OF THE MONTH

Our mission of the month is Anglicare. You can support the Anglicare ministry by donating and buying from the mission table in the hall.

PARISH COUNCIL

Our next meeting is at the special day of Tuesday 4th February at 7pm.

AGM MEETING

Our AGM meeting for 2020 will be on Tuesday 10th March at 7pm. All members are invited to this key time of celebration and forward inspiration.

JESUS IS___ MERCHANDISE

Order a ‘Jesus Is___’ t-shirt or singlet and start the conversation! Visit bit.ly/JesusIsMerch to order online. 

JESUS IS___ TRAINING

Join with the Anglican churches in the Southern Illawarra for a not-to-be-missed night of encouragement and equipping to be able to use the ‘Jesus Is___’ tool to talk about Jesus in a relaxed and powerful way. Monday 3rd February 7-9pm in the Shellharbour Civic Centre Auditorium. Entry Free.

Alternatively, you could attend the other regional training events at:
Bowral (Wednesday 5 Feb 7-9pm), Camden (Thursday 6 Feb 7-9pm), Figtree (Saturday 8 Feb 9-12pm),
Bomaderry (Tuesday 11 Feb 7-9pm) or Caringbah (Wednesday 12 Feb 7-9pm).

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 $5882.00, leaving a gap of $418.00. Olimometer 2.52 Up to the end of the last calendar month we needed to have received $245,700. Compared to that total we received $221,466, leaving a gap of $24,234.Olimometer 2.52

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.

What’s Glorious about Judgement?

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When people talk about ‘judgement’, it normally seems to be pretty negative, because a judgement divides people, with winners and losers, and the whole idea of one person judging another just seems downright uncomfortable.

Yet in some circumstances, a judgement is a positive and welcome result.

If your wellbeing or reputation has been harmed because of someone’s harmful actions towards you, then you will welcome justice if you receive compensation or if your name is cleared from false allegations or claims.

And if the act of injustice is against someone you know and love, then you will celebrate the judgement and acquittal of the person who has been harmed.

In this case, a ‘judgement’ is a good thing, and something to be celebrated.

With this in mind, the Bible speaks over and over about God’s judgement against people who reject him and harm his good reputation.

It’s in the context of God’s judgement and punishment that we see his gracious and glorious mercy to all of us who don’t deserve his kindness and love.

Over the next four weekends we’re going be looking at four episodes in human history where God showed and will show his glorious judgement against all those who stand against him in anger and rebellion.

We’ll see his glorious judgement at Eden, as we witness the rebellion by Adam and Eve, and God’s grace through his judgement.

We’ll see God’s glorious judgement in Egypt, as he judged the blatant rebellion of Pharaoh, which led to the glorious salvation of God’s people in the Exodus.

We’ll see the glorious judgement at Easter, where the cross of Christ demonstrates God’s extraordinary love and mercy.

And we’ll see the glorious judgement at the End Time, when the definitive punishment of all rebels against God will show his love for justice and his justice in love.

JODIE McNEILL

(Image credit: Ken Teegardin via Flickr.com at www.SeniorLiving.Org)

Coming up this weekend 1-2 February 2020

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This week we start a new series titled ‘Glorious Judgement’ which will help us understand more about the mercy and justice of our God.

Our regular question and answer segment also starts back this week, where I answer questions you have submitted about a sermon or just the Christian life in general. To ask a question, simply email office@jamberooanglican.com or via your response slip at church. Here are the questions:

1 Did Paul get to preach to Caesar?
2 What happens after Acts in the timeline of the Bible?
3 What happens to Paul after Acts and is there a book of the Bible on it?
4 How did the other disciples not figure out that Judas had left to betray Jesus?
5 Since they ate roast lamb at the Last Supper, should we also eat lamb at the Lord’s Supper?
6 Should we be specific when we pray, or can we just mention someone’s name?
7 How do you be strong when things are hammering you down?

The regular kids church program and youth group for teens starts back this weekend, so come along on Saturday at 5pm where we can have fellowship together and share a meal after the service. Or why not try out our Sunday morning 9am service for a more classic Anglican style, followed by morning tea and hot espresso!

Grace and peace,
Jodie

Church News for the week beginning 26th January

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OUR BIBLE TALK

This week we have special guest Mike Williamson speaking to us on the topic ‘Living the Label’, from Ephesians 4:17-5:20.

Next weekend Jodie will be preaching on the first of four talks on the new series, ‘God’s Judging’, which will help us understand more about the justice and mercy of our great God.

MISSION OF THE MONTH

Our mission of the month is KBECET (Kiama Board for Employment of Christian Education Teachers). You can support the KBECET ministry by donating and buying from the mission table in the hall.

AUSTRALIA DAY AT THE SMITHS

Join us on Australia Day 26th January at the Smith’s for a BYO BBQ lunch. Bring your food, drinks, chairs, shade, and your swimmer’s if you’d like to splash in the dam!

PARISH COUNCIL

Our next meeting is at the special day of Tuesday 4th February at 7pm.

JESUS IS___ TRAINING

Join with the Anglican churches in the Southern Illawarra for a not-to-be-missed night of encouragement and equipping to be able to use the ‘Jesus Is___’ tool to talk about Jesus in a relaxed and powerful way. Monday 3rd February 7-9pm in the Shellharbour Civic Centre Auditorium. Entry Free.

Alternatively, you could attend the other regional training events at:
Bowral (Wednesday 5 Feb 7-9pm),
Camden (Thursday 6 Feb 7-9pm),
Figtree (Saturday 8 Feb 9-12pm),
Bomaderry (Tuesday 11 Feb 7-9pm) or
Caringbah (Wednesday 12 Feb 7-9pm).

JESUS IS___ MERCHANDISE

Order a ‘Jesus Is___’ t-shirt or singlet and start the conversation! Visit bit.ly/JesusIsMerch to order online. 

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 $5882.00, leaving a gap of $418.00. Olimometer 2.52 Up to the end of the last calendar month we needed to have received $245,700. Compared to that total we received $221,466, leaving a gap of $24,234.Olimometer 2.52

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.

What’s Needed on Australia Day?

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There are legitimate reasons why many people feel they cannot support the celebration of Australia Day on 26 January, the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet in Sydney Cove.

They have to do not only with the devastation experienced by indigenous people following European colonisation – dispossession of lands, mass slaughter, epidemics of illness and the spread of alcohol – but the continuing disparity in education and health outcomes, for example, between indigenous and non-indigenous people, and the widespread ignorance of indigenous history and experience.

There is so much of Australia to give thanks for, to celebrate and to enjoy, but there is no ‘day’ over which the long shadow of sin and selfishness and greed and violence is not cast.

Any celebration of Australia – or any nation or culture – must reckon with historical and present-day expressions of rejection of God and neglect of people.

The suggestion that Australia Day celebrations should begin with a time of mourning in acknowledgement of the suffering caused to indigenous people through European settlement reflects the Christian pattern of frank admission or confession of sin, humbly and thankfully recognising that the gospel of Jesus offers a way of forgiveness, reconciliation and transforming hope.

It is right to celebrate Australia and to give thanks to God for our country and to pray that we may be a blessing to others; but such a celebration is hollow and self-serving if it fails to acknowledge the sins of our nation and history.

We will love Australia best when we live with another ‘day’, the date of which has been fixed by God, foremost in our minds:

God commands all people everywhere to repent, for he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead. Acts 17:30b-31

KANISHKA RAFFEL, Dean of Sydney.

(This is an edited version of an article by Kanishka Raffel that originally appeared as ‘From the Dean’ at St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney. Photo by Campbelltown City Council via Flickr.com)

Coming up this weekend 25-26 January

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This week we have special guest Mike Williamson speaking to us on a special topic related to Australia Day.

Next weekend I’ll be preaching on the first of four talks on the new series, ‘God’s Judging’, which will help us understand more about the justice and mercy of our great God.

This Friday evening at 6pm we’d love you to join us for the inaugural, ‘Made in Jamberoo’ evening in our church hall, where we’ll be welcoming artisans and artists alike from our village and valley to come together to share ideas about sharing the best things of Jamberoo through powerful, new collaborations. We’d love you to pop in!

Please join us on Saturdays at 5pm for our family service where we have a kids program and dinner where everyone is welcome. Or why not try out our Sunday morning service at 9am for a more classic Anglican feel, followed by morning tea and hot espresso.

Grace and peace,
Jodie

Sticks and Stones

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Whoever first said “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me” was obviously unaware of modern-day social media.

Whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, there seems to be a keyboard courage that leads people to write things online that they’d be far-less-likely to say face-to-face to their victims.

That’s why cyber-bullying is such a problem in our midst, and it seems that our authorities seem unwilling or unable to do anything to stop it.

Our political leaders are often the target of ‘mean tweets’, the kind of bullying that is condoned and encouraged by the general populace.

It must be hard for the politicians and public figures to endure the direct attacks themselves, but the cost for their families is too great.

Words are powerful, and can have a genuinely physical impact on those who hear them.

Tragically, we saw another example this week when Wilson Gavin, a 21-year-old activist, was so brutally attacked online that he chose to take his own life.

Words of hate are felt like daggers in the heart.

This is why James wrote that, “among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.” (James 3:6).

It is a sober warning to all people that we must be wise and loving with how we speak and what we write online.

For as we read in the Psalms:

Does anyone want to live a life that is long and prosperous? Then keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies! Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it. (Psalm 34:12-14)

JODIE McNEILL

(Photo credit: Leo Hidalgo via Flickr)