So what next? The video response is a good way to show gratitude in particular toward service men and women.
Philippians 4 verses 4-9:
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”
Anyhow before completing this post I read the following Pastor’s Point for May 4th (www.CGCC.org.au) written by Dr Keith Graham entitled "Mind-Set"
Living in community with other Christians is always a challenge. The church is made up of such a disparate group of people. Jesus said: "all people will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35 Is this the reputation of our church?
How can we make this a reality? We are instructed to: “. . . in humility count others more significant than yourselves” Philippians 2:3. C. F. Hogg asserted that: "whenever we compare ourselves with others to our advantage, we are out of touch with Christ."
On Wednesday this last week, we buried a man ( Mr Alf Pearce 101+4 months) who believed the words of Jesus were to be lived out in life. He took to heart the command to mimic Christ's mind-set. Christ humbled Himself even to the death of the Cross in order that others might be spiritually blessed. Christ models the mind set that is to characterise us. Self-centeredness, the lack of a sacrificial spirit are foreign to the mind-set of Jesus. Philippians 2:5-8.
Paul regarded his own life as a sacrifice in the interests of the spiritual advancement of others. Paul's “sacrifice and service” is his willingness to not only endure sufferings but also to lay down his life if that was going to advantage others. Philippians 2:17; 2 Timothy 4:6. Paul's mind-set meant the welfare of others was more important than his own personal agenda.
Paul claimed that the only person available to be sent to the church at Philippi was Timothy. Everyone else was obsessed with their own interests, not the interests of Christ Jesus. Everyone except Timothy had a non-christian mind-set! Which category do we fit into?
There is Epaphroditus who : “nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life” Philippians 2:30. Epaphroditus had the same mind-set as Jesus. He placed the interests of others before his own.
Do we?
Why is there disharmony? discord? friction? between Christians? Basically it is because we have the wrong mind-set.
Florence Alshorn was a missionary in Uganda. Conditions were difficult, the climate unhealthy, but the chief problem was the jealousies, the quarrels between missionaries. A senior missionary was a veritable pain in the neck! Seven young missionaries had come in seven years but none stayed.
One day, Florence was sitting on the veranda crying her eyes out when an old African lady came and said: "I have been here for fifteen years. I see you come. You say you bring us the Saviour but he never save this situation. You fellas got it all wrong."
Her words brought Florence to her senses with a bang. She was a contributor to the problem. She did not have the mind-set of Jesus. She resolved to change her thinking.
Every day for a year, Florence read I Corinthians 13. Life became an adventure in learning to love instead of an agony. The old missionary became very fond of Florence and Florence of her. Later she wrote: "my colleague whom I have come to love very much."
The trouble stemmed from the fact that the missionaries knew Romans 5 "Christ died for us," but Romans 6, which tells us that we "have died with Christ," was like a foreign country to them. They hardly knew anything about it. If we want to make it easy for God to complete our salvation, let us spend time in Romans 6 and I Corinthians 13 in order not to be obsessed with self. “. . . may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all" 1Thessalonians 3:12. Let us adopt the mind-set of Jesus.
Keith Graham
[I am indebted to the late Mr Tom Carson for the missionary illustration.]
So set myself the challenge of increasing my attitude with more gratitude, to read 1 Corinthians 13 everyday for the rest of this year and also refresh myself with Romans 5 and 6.
Monday April 7th 2008 dawned bright and clear. I had risen early as the car needed to have the dust washed off- residue from a dust storm a few days earlier, then stowed away my two bags and headed for my sister-in-law’s place about 20 minutes drive away. A quick cuppa and we were on our way.
Trudy was very excited that we were on the first leg of our four day trip to Lakes Entrance. This would be the first time we had spent more than one day together since we had known each other – forty years. Trudy has struggled with loneliness especially in the evenings. I on the other hand after the busyness of the day enjoy the solitude of the evening hours.
The first 30 minutes or so were bumper to bumper as we weaved our way through the morning J O B’s traffic. Once we were clear of the main link roads we made our way to the freeway and headed towards Gippsland which lies south east of Melbourne.
Our first stop was Warragul and here we met a Solicitor who seemed very happy to personally guide us to the Craft shop we were looking for. We must have walked around the whole town because my legs were beginning to object to the pace we had set. He also seemed very pleased to encourage us to visit Loch which was Patchwork heaven he said. I’m not if he was the Quilter or his wife! We enjoyed 30 minutes looking around and I made a few small purchases. Next stop would be Yarragon.
This small centre is set on the highway and is the best place to stop for a break, enjoy a picnic lunch or to eat in the famous Corner Cafe. There is a large grassed area to the side of the highway with an old locomotive engine standing at one end. Our children had played on it pretending to be train drivers. These days it is fenced off - so this joyous activity has been curtailed for today’s children.
We made several more stops at Craft shops before arriving at Beaches Family Units. The approach to Lakes Entrance is quite spectacular. A channel built over a long period of time allows the tidal lakes to flourish. Fishing vessels can be seen dotted about with many venturing out into the ocean to gather the plentiful fish and seafood supply. The footbridge allows entrance to the main beach area and a 2 hour walk through bushland to the entrance with the choice of the return walk along the beach. Along the Esplanade are picnic areas and a walking track from one end of the town to the other. A beautiful place for families to spend a holiday.
On Tuesday we took a boat luncheon cruise to Wyangar Winery taking the North Arm of the Lakes to get there. A beautiful cruise taking 45 minutes with a short bus ride up the hill to the winery where we enjoyed a tasty lunch. In the middle of the festivities we were all surprised by the sudden swooping of a Kookaburra who stole one of the Flathead Tails from a visitors plate and made off with it in double quick time. The cheeky blighter. Wine tasting was also on the menu and the highlight of this was tasting the Muscat which had been in the freezer. Thick, smooth and a totally different taste to the room temperature version. Although cold it was not frozen. Mmmm a great taste.
Trudy and I took a trip to Buchan Caves on Wednesday morning. There are 500 caves in all. However, I am glad that visitors to the Caves are only taken on a walk of the Fairy and Royal Caves. Many of the 500 caves are extra narrow and require people crawling on hands and knees, getting wet and very dirty. These caves have a number of entrances which offer animals shelter - bats in particular. The caves we visited are sealed caves so there are no creepy crawlies, snakes, wombats, or bats, so for the main part smelled quite sweet. The entrance led to a narrow walkway and we were enclosed by wire mesh and a hand rail – no touching of the limestone, so narrow we had to turn sideways and sometimes even stoop. The display of natures work was absolutely spectacular. We went down 43 metres. I surprised myself by not experiencing claustrophobia. If I had known the passageways were so narrow (closed in) I might have had second thoughts about entering in. The caves are known to fill with water from time to time, but we were informed this quickly drains away within 24-48 hours through cracks and crevices in the rock and comes out at the swimming pool area clean and clear.
After lunch we then took a cruise around the larger lakes which was interesting today but the seals were nowhere to be seen.
Our return trip on Thursday took up the whole day as we called in to many Craft shops on the way. We thoroughly enjoyed the break, getting a spot of sun and wind burn.
How is it when you begin looking into a subject your search takes you down many rabbit trails. I was reading II Thessalonians Chapter 2 when I came across verse 15
“Stand firm, and hold to the traditions which you were taught,
whether by word of mouth, or by letter from us.” (NASV)
The question arose “What are the traditions Paul is referring to here?”
This question occurred around about six weeks prior to a conversation with a friend who announced that he and his wife had become proponents of the liturgical practice of the Anglican Church. I was stunned by this news as previously they had been staunch participants in a close knit home church with no ritual or connection with the institutional church.
So my line of enquiry was broadened to cover more in depth searching of early church history. This process is taking some time – I’m not a fast reader.
Until I was 12 my family travelled (when we were permitted) to be with my Father who was a commissioned officer in the British Army. Church attendance was fairly limited as we were often living in non-English speaking countries. Church attendance was either CofE, or Methodist and sometimes church parades were a must to attend. Twice I was sent away to boarding school so did not get to church very much during these periods.
My teen years were spent living in the English countryside on the outskirts of Leicester, England and together with my family fellowshipped with a small group of believers who lived in the next village to us. We shared in each other’s lives – picnics, rambles, games evenings, special family events, worshipped together, attended Bible conferences together. We were one yet not without difficulties from time to time. These eight years were a stabilizing time for me. There was a good group of young people, being a small group we often visited with the youth of two other local and similar assemblies and we enjoyed discussions on all sorts of Bible related subjects.
In the 60’s my family migrated to Australia and in the 45 years which have followed there have been many changes among the assemblies and many of the ‘traditions’ Paul exhorts the believers to be steadfast in and hold fast to have been swallowed up in the great march toward modernity. The fellowship of believers as I knew it has virtually disappeared to be taken over by schedules, programmes, pre-planned services, Pastors, passivity, worship teams, song leaders etc.etc.etc.
So where to now? Is all that I learned in my teens for naught? The following verses are a few of those my thoughts have returned to:
Prov 22:6 “train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it”.
Ephesians 6:4 “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
2 Thessalonians 2:2-4 “Do not be shaken from your composure or be disturbed...” “Let no one in any way deceive you...” etc
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown in their commentary on 2 Thessalonians 2:15 explain:
“Stand fast - so as not to be shaken or troubled” and
“Hold fast - so as not to let go. Adding nothing, subtracting nothing.”
And so this is just about where I am on this trail – ‘standing firm’ and ‘holding on’. Research and reading program is on-going …. I shall take a break; eat some ‘trail mix’ before continuing.
DreamKatcher
