Southern Cross Presbyterian Church

Most of us like to have a taste of a new dish before we hoe in to it. That first taste puts us in a good position to know whether or not to proceed. We’d like to invite you to make the most of a one-off opportunity, a taste of something new – “Groundwork: training for the ordinary Christian life“.

This is something we’re really excited about! Groundwork puts a great opportunity within EVERYONE’S reach to be better equipped to live for Jesus in everyday life.

In the past, a lot of theological courses have been poorly suited to the ordinary Christian life – in terms of both relevance and accessibility. But the developers of Groundwork have done a great job in producing a course that is directly relevant to everyday life and can be easily tailored to cater for different circumstances.

You may or may not have considered any sort of theological education before but EVERYONE should come along to Park Ave next Wednesday night at 7:30 to hear Murray Smith serve up a taste of Groundwork. That way you’ll be able to make an informed decision about whether you’d like to hook in for more.

Murray, one of the authors of Groundwork and a lecturer in Biblical studies at the Presbyterian Theological Centre in Sydney, will present a seminar from the unit on work, called “good work: a labour of love”. He’ll also be explaining how Groundwork can work for you. So don’t miss out!

What: introduction to Groundwork and sample seminar presented by Murray Smith

When: Wednesday 9 November at 7:30pm

Where: SCPC, Park Ave, East Lismore

Why: because faith needs legs! This is a great one-off opportunity to get a taste of Groundwork so that you can decide for yourself  whether to look into it further.

What to bring: a plate of your favorite nibblies to share (but seriously, if you can’t do that, come anyway!)

Welcome! Term 4 seems to be the craziest time of the year, don’t you reckon? It often feels like life is just happening to you, out of control, and all you can do is hold on and hope for January. It’s a time, maybe even more so than other times, when Jesus – that’s the LORD Jesus – can easily get ignored and lost in all the fuss of the end of year and Christmas and all that…

But it shouldn’t be like that, it doesn’t have to be like that, and if we know what’s good for us, we’ll make sure that THIS term 4 it’s not like that either. Because according to Hebrews 8-13, which we’re digging into this term, LIFE IS BETTER WITH JESUS. Not in the dumb way that you might’ve heard some people talk about that makes Jesus out to be just some heavenly Santa Claus. Life is better with Jesus because Jesus is better than anything else this life has to offer! Seriously – he’s WAY better!

So I’ve got an idea. Before term 4 gets out of hand (and you know it will!), decide now how you’re going to make time for Jesus. I mean, make a plan and plan to stick to it. And as part of that plan, why not commit to making it to every week of your small group or DNA this term. That way, you’ll not only be encouraged yourself to discover why life is better with Jesus but you’ll be encouraging others as well.

We’re currently running the Marriage Course at SCPC. It’s the 4th time we’ve run it and every time couples who truly want to grow strong marriages benefit by attending. But we know that it’s sometimes difficult to get out 7 Thursday nights in a row for something like the Marriage Course (especially with young kids!).

So here are a couple of links, one to a video, the other to an audio talk, that that you can watch or listen to together in the comfort and convenience of your own home. I hope they help husbands & wives to love each other well..

Serve week is upon us again! What a great opportunity serve week gives us to think creatively about how as small groups and gospel communities we can love God through loving our church and loving our town. Here’s a brief description of one serve project from last term to get you fired up…

Our group first discussed the serve project in week one after the study on James 1. James 1:27 referred to looking after widows so we chose 2 women from church who no longer have a husband to help with those house and yard jobs that suddenly become overwhelming when there is no man around to do them.

On Saturday the 4th of June (God provided perfect weather) we went to Judy Ritchie’s place in the morning and Barbara Jackson’s place in the afternoon. Laurie Armstrong, Peter Caton and John O’Connor are gifted household handymen so were able to fix a number of kitchen and household things for Judy. Margaret Armstrong, with the help of her daughter, who was previously Judy’s neighbour, re-strung a venetian blind. Scott took care of the chain-sawing in the garden while Laurie and Bronwyn helped load one ute and two trailers with sawn-off branches. Delma O’Connor, Wendy Walls, Margaret and Bronwyn removed morning glory from Judy’s avocado tree and back yard. Judy provided us with a very pleasant morning tea on her gorgeous patio. John cooked our BBQ lunch before we headed out to Barbara’s place. 

At Barbara’s, Robert and Julianne Boland and Eden Caton joined the crew. Peter, John and Robert got up on the roof and removed the ineffective gutter guard that was contributing to blocked gutters. Delma, Julianne, Eden and Wendy washed windows and then everyone joined in the weeding and pruning in the garden. Barbara provided us with a much appreciated afternoon tea on her verandah and a good day was had by all, thanks be to God.

This Sunday is going to be tough, and I’m not just saying that. Suffering isn’t just a “topic”, it’s an all-too-real part of our experience of life. So talking about suffering, like we’re going to be doing this Sunday,  is never easy because it’s very real and very personal. But I reckon that just means we need to be listening to God’s word all the more. Suffering raises so many questions for us. Where better to look than God’s word for the answers, or better still, the perspective that we need.

As part of Sunday’s service we’ll be hearing a great new song done as an item – “it is not death to die”. You can look here for a sneak preview (but a warning: the combination of words and images is pretty confronting).

And don’t forget that we’ll be participating in Clean-up Australia Day straight after morning tea this Sunday. Invite your friends to join us at 11:00am for a bite to eat before heading out around East Lismore. Remember, the motivation is to care for our patch as God intended AND also to spend some time together with our friends who need to know Jesus.

See you Sunday!