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Christchurch South ParishSt Marks Somerfield
OUR CORE VALUES:
Acceptance Caring
Creativity Outreach
Teamwork Worshipfulness
CHRISTCHURCH SOUTH METHODIST PARISH DETAILS: PRESBYTER: REV ANDREW DONALDSON SUNDAY December 16th 10.00 a.m. Rev Andrew Donaldson & SUNDAY December 23rd 10:00 a.m. Rev Bill Elderton TUESDAY December 25th 9:30 a.m. Rev Andrew Donaldson
WORSHIP TIMES JANUARY 2019 SUNDAY January 6th 10:00 a.m. Rev Andrew Donaldson Communion Service SUNDAY January 13th 10:00 a.m. Rev Bill Elderton SUNDAY January 20th 10: 00 a.m. Linda Cowan SUNDAY January 27th 10:00 a.m. Rev Barbara Peddie
PRESBYTER'S RAMBLINGS FOR December January It seems that we are just getting over one Christmas and New Year when we find ourselves preparing for X-mas again. the letter 'X' has for centuries been short-hand for Christ. the Greek letter 'X'(in English 'çh' as in loch) is the first letter in the Greek word Christ (Xpioroc). the earliest date we know of, when this abbreviation was used by the church was in the 1300's. It's been in use for at least 700 years. And so the world's thoughts turn to Christmas and for us we turn out thoughts to the meaning of Christmas which lies behind all the commercial hoopla of this time of year. We've rehearsed the story many times over the span of our lives. The story is of a baby being born to be the salvation of the earth, the prince of peace. There seem to be a number of questions about Jesus' legitimacy 2000 years ago. His life from the get-go is not what we would expect to see for a Messiah. the birth story is surrounded by questions of his paternity. Mark's Gospel has no Joseph in the family lineage, however, we are about to start a new liturgical year in which we focus on Luke's retelling of the Jesus story. In Luke's telling of the birth narratives there is a Joseph. the birth story is of a small child born, who in the face of great odds, high mortality rates, poverty and the violent oppression of the Romans, this baby survives. He not only survives but flourishes. Though this baby grows up knowing the brutality of life and just how fragile life was and we would add, still is. He grows up knowing fragility but also the value and worth of all life. Jesus'wold knows nothing of the shear size of life, especially on the cosmic scale we know. Yet still life is fragile, I was asked recently why we rely on ancient writings to order our lives today? this is indeed a very good question. Should we not be establishing new foundation stories for our world? The short answer is that we are establishing new foundation stories to explain why we,life, exist. the big bang, evolution, cosmology, quantum theory. these are all important stories. My answer to the question posed was basically that we are not all that different to humanity two or more thousand years ago. Beyond the relative comforts that we enjoy, life is still brutal in many parts of the world. While we've let go of much of the biblical narrative, e.g. we don't punish people for wearing mixed fabrics (Leviticus 19:19) much of what is written especially in the teachings of the prophets and Jesus is still very relevant. The story of Jesus is especially poignant for me as we see the mot fragile of people, a baby born in poverty in Roman occupied territory, yet we see in the life of this one person hope when there is no hope, peace in the midst of unimaginable horror, the possibility of joy when there was very little to be joyous about and love which takes a stand against all that would devalue any life. Happy 'X'-mas, Andrew Email christchurch.south@methodist.nz Phone +64 3 980 5002 |
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Updated 26 September, 2018
