Today is Advent Sunday - the beginning of the new church calendar year and the beginning of a new government. During Advent human longings for a better world are focussed on the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the return of Jesus as King to rule and reign over the planet that will ultimately meet all our need and satisfy all our longings. In the meantime we have a government who will need our prayers as the govern for the good of the whole nation. While we watch and wait for Jesus return there is still work for us to do as his agents on earth. Once again the updated brochure - Count on Me presents opportunities for Serving, Giving and Growing in the parish. Please read it through to see if God could be asking you to enquire about something. When Jesus comes he will expect us to be about the work of his kingdom.
God bless you. Andrew

The last week has seen frenetic activity among Christians who believe in prophectic messages from God. In March a word was given claiming to have predicted the 22 February earthquake and predicting a huge quake with a tsunami for 28 September. Since late August another word resulting from a dream by a man with connections to this parish has been disseminated among churches and publicly by letterbox drop. He claims to have heard the same date independently. Now that they have reached the public arena I feel it is appropriate to comment on them.

In short I do not think they are from God. Here are some of the reasons:

1 The theology underlying them belies an unbiblical concept of God's judgement. God does not use natural disasters to bring judgement on the ungodly. Judgement will be wrought on the great day of judgement and until then all of God's judgement has fallen upon Jesus on the cross. If these things are a wake up call they are for the church, not the ungodly whom God longs to be saved.

2.  They show an Old Testament understanding of prophecy where the prophets representated the godly remnant calling an ungodly leadership back into line with God's covenant. In the New Testament prophecy is given to edify, exhort and console. In 1 Cor 14:29 St Paul instructs that the church is to weigh what the prophets speak. The geeek word for to Weigh means to separate, judge or weigh - implying that some of the word will be from God and some of it will be from the human heart or even a fallen persective. Old Testament prophecy was to be obeyed. New Testament prophecy is to be sifted. New Testament prophets are to to submit their offering to the church for weighing. St Paul also says not to treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil. (1 Thess 5:20-22). The people behind these words have not submitted them to recognised church leaders for weighing, rather they have been circulated among other prophets for affirmation and then wider dissemination through prophetic networks. This in itself undermines the credibility of the messengers.

3. God does not give prophetic words with specific dates and times. Even Jesus said (Mark 13:32) that of that day (his return) we may not and even he does not know neither the day or the hour.

 

4. Senior sprit-filled senior church leaders in Rangiora and Christchurch have weighed these words and judged them not to be from God.  Many have said that they would need more independent words submitted alongside the existing ones before they would consider them further. I know of no church leader that is advising their congregation to heed these warnings.

5. I have sought God myself and do not hear him warning Canterbury. I have his peace about doing nothing.

So what should we do now? Lets go about our lives witnessing to God's goodness focusing on the rebuilding of Canterbury. This is a time for God's church to arise with acts of loving service. People should do no more than be prepared with the recommended emergency supplies etc as we have been asked to do for years. Hopefully we have learned our lesson now. 

 

This week the Press released the results of an online survey of readers showing more than half of the voters planning on leaving Christchurch - or would if they weren't tied to the city by their properties or jobs. Forty thousand people voted on the unscientific poll and 64 per cent said they wanted to leave the city or didn't know what to do. These shocking figure represent a massive loss of confidence in Christchurch and a crisis of hope. How are we to respond to this? The scientist in me wants to say that the aftershocks will cease and we are likely to have stable ground for more than our life time. The economist in me wants to say that with the massive investment in rebuilding we will have lots of job opportunities and a humming economy. The architect in me wants to say that we are going to end up with one of the world's best built environments and Christchurch/Canterbury will be a great place to live. I really do believe all of the above, and I am not going anywhere! But the Vicar in me knows that many people live in, and are controlled by, fear. People have lived through a frightening time and it will take time to recover emotionally. The Spirit that lives in me knows that perfect love casts out all fear and we walk by faith - the opposite of fear. As a people of faith we have hope for a great future and that while we have safe homes to live in, good schools for our kids and jobs to go to (and just about all of us do) we should not be making any decisions out of fear. Let us be strong, let us face down fear with our faith and get on with the task of building the kingdom.

Dear everyone,

I have enquired of the Waimakariri District Council about how our churches can be of most help in Kaiapoi. There are two requests:

1.      Strong bodies to help with physical clean up. Phone Chris 027 331 0440 who is working out of the Kaiapoi Rugby Centre car park on smith st.

2.      Donate food for parcels. Phone 03 327 8945. They are working from 116 Williams St.

Would you forward this please to anyone you know of in the parish and particularly through your small groups.

Thanks

 

Andrew

Dear everyone,

Thursday’s edition of The Press reported that in 2009, the marriage rate in NZ was 13.2 per 1000 unmarried adult Kiwis – down from 16 per 1000 in 1999, while in 1974, New Zealanders were tying the knot at a rate of 39.2 per 1000. The good news was that divorce numbers also fell in 2009, with the divorce rate
of 10.2 the lowest since 1980. There were 8737 divorces in 2009, nearly a 1000 fewer than in 2008! The director of the Petersgate Counselling Centre in Christchurch, Struan Duthie, said people were less likely to get married as they now had more choice.
"People in the post-modern era are looking for alternatives," Duthie said. "They don't see it as sinful to live with their partner any more. "More and more people are in de facto relationships and when they break up, they're not recorded as divorces." I (Andrew) wonder if we are seeing a further collapse in a godly institution. This is the world we are raising our children in. Romans 12: 2 says do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. God has a better way for relationships than the Kiwi way. To hear more about it parents are invited to meet with us tomorrow night to discuss Raising Godly Children and on 24 May teens are invited to Godly Relationships (see details inside). Now, to provide hope and inspiration Ray and
Fiona McMurdo will celebrate 25 years of marriage by renewing their vows at a brief ceremony to be held at St John’s 11.45 next
Sunday 16 May.

God bless

Andrew