Welcome to The Pastors’ Post, an update for life at Southern Cross.
Vision Coordinators met last night to pray and see how our church family was responding to this horrible tragedy. There was a range of emotions that spanned the week from complete shock and horror, to despair, helplessness and exhaustion.
How are you feeling?
You may need to stop and consider and reflect on your emotions. They are a God-given gift for alerting us how we are travelling. How much emotional energy is in the tank? There is a long, long road ahead. So listen to your body and don’t ‘overheat it’. Express and cry to God and share your emotions with him. He will hear you. He will bring relief.
We are all doing it tough this week. But a forgotten member of our church family can be our beautiful kids. Therefore, we have been in conversation with Wollongbar Christian Church who have generously responded to our request to run a Kids Club for our SCPC kids and their flood affected friends and families at their premises in Wollongbar. Our friends from Alstonville Bus Company will run a 50 seater bus from Park Ave tomorrow, leaving at 8:30am and returning at 3:30pm. The program at Wollongbar will be capped at one hundred K-6 children. Regrettably, they don’t have the volunteers, experience or resources to have preschool aged children.
Then, on Sunday, we would love to bring the church family together somehow. It seems unlikely that we will be able to meet at Lismore High. Our desire is come together to sing, hear God speak through his word and pray, then move out in our Gospel Communities to serve friends, families and neighbours connected through your Gospel Communities. It is an opportunity to serve shoulder to shoulder, dropping love to those who are close to you. If we are unable to acquire a suitable building we will run a ZOOM webinar and meet in homes with our Gospel Communities. Just a reminder, we will have no 6pm gathering & SCG, we pray, will be in a position to meet at Invercauld House.
Finally, remember God loves you, he cares for you, Jesus’ body flowed out with blood and water to cover the dirt of our shame, guilt and pain. As we drop love to our city remember the love he flooded over us. So love people well in generosity. Don’t import your story to others’ stories. Allow them to share. Allow them a space to be heard and so allow them to taste just a little of the love of God as it overflows from our lives.
Let me close with Eugene Petersen’s understanding of the love of God from 1 John:
This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.
Thanks for tuning in to The Pastors’ Post.