John Cannell's birthday function at Oyster Cove, Jan. 2011

Good fellowship, food, jokes and stories. Many happy returns John

Here is John Cooking up a storm with Graham Kingston observing

Resources moving

Moving to another blog site but moving the spirit also!

Saintmarksblogresources.blogspot.com will house (surprise) resources and this blog will be reserved for other moving matters, i.e. things that have helped our Christian journey, Parish events and other items where we have seen God at work.

I will attempt to compile an index so that the resources are accessible. watch this space!

Repressed issues

The author of Every Day Light has over the past three days been looking at psalm 73 and how many "good" Christians don't admit to themselves that they have a problem and go about busily promoting their good traits and others bad ones while deep issues within remain unresolved. The psalmist airs his problems openly and works through them. It struck a chord with me that it can be easier to avoid confronting an issue by concentrating on where you believe you are making progress but without admitting and dealing with matters, they just don't go away

More natural disasters on Australia's radar - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

More natural disasters on Australia's radar - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Brisbane floods

I arrived in Brisbane 16th Jan. three days after the peak of the floods virtually all the affected houses had their contents awaiting collection by then.Many were able to save nothing, the warning was so brief.
This is outside my brother's house at Rocklea
and looking 180 degrees about

This is my Brother and his bride,(of 20 years) besides the contents of their property at Rocklea. These piles were continuous along every flooded street and for many, not only included their possessions but the walls and ceilings of their houses.

60,000 volunteers registered and helped owners and tenants restore properties, delivered food and drinks to keep people nourished, set up barbeques and cooked thousands of sausages

Three days later it looked like this.

Again, the 180 degree about view
During all this cleaning and restoration work, volunteers called at each house about every 20 minutes offering sandwiches, water, soft drinks, bread, pizzas or their labour.

Affected owners had the emotional roller coaster of the loss and trauma, then the positive emotion of the groundswell of volunteer aid.

The OT reading for Sun 23rd tells of Isaiah's prophesy that the people of Napthali and Zebulun in Gallilee have seen a great light because to them a child is born, mighty king , wonderful counsellor, Prince of peace. I reckon the people of Rocklea, Fairfield etc also have seen a great light, the very same light as the goodness of Queenslanders shone brightly and it will be a blessing for all who have experienced that light.

The goodness of Jesus runs to his gift of salvation, however much of His essence was displayed during the aftermath of this flood. My prayer is that the essence which is common to humanity joins people to Christ and makes the step of accepting Him as Lord closer and easier.

Lynette's very genteel afternoon tea

The gentle breezes, gentle scenery and gentle Channel and Cygnet society gathered at Lynette and Graham Lakin's home at Nicholls Rivulet and enjoyed a wonderful afternoon tea with light jazz and chamber music. Here are some snaps.

This painting was donated by Julie Kellly as an auction prize

Sacrifice, # 2

One of those hunger attacks last night which allow some clear thinking without clutter of the day. The certainty of only two things, death and taxes came to mind in the context of sacrifice.

If we accept the premise of the author of the Jan 4 Every Day light reflection, that no pain, no gain. Helping others costs, and with the certainty of death a reality, the question becomes do we want our lives to pass with no value added to the world. If we decide we want to contribute positively then it will cost us. In adding to Jesus' mission in the world, this simplistic thinking helped me to make a conscious decision and identify areas of sacrifice that I choose to make.

sacrifice

The Every Day Light reflection for Jan 1 was about the sacrificial nature of Jesus and how it is necessary to have a sacrificial nature in oneself to understand Jesus. full text as follows...January 1

Understanding the Cross
For reading & meditation: Romans 5:6-21
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (v. 8)

An ancient theologian - St. Augustine - suggested that "the answer to the mystery of the universe is God and the answer to the mystery of God is Christ." If this is so then I would like to make a further suggestion: the answer to the mystery of Christ is to be found in His sacrificial spirit, the supreme evidence of which is the cross. We will never in our mortal state be able to grasp the full meaning of the cross. But what we do grasp gives us a clue to what lies in the heart of the Infinite. Theologians often discuss the various theories of the atonement. Personally, I find myself accepting any theory of the atonement that makes the meaning of the cross more vital and clear. No theory seems to me big enough to fit the facts. As Jesus broke the bars of the tomb and stepped out beyond them, so the fact of Jesus dying seems to transcend our most careful statements or form of words. To really understand the cross one must have an attitude of mind and heart that responds to its meaning. I came across this: "To understand art one must have art within one; to understand music one must have music within one." I thought to myself, to understand the cross one must have a sacrificial spirit within one. Those who profess to know Christ but live only for self will know something of the cross but will miss its real meaning. The cross is best understood not by an argument but by an attitude.

This caused me considerable thought as I wrestled with what and how to sacrifice, without dying.

Todays reflection 4/1 has the answer...

An Unintentional Tribute
For reading & meditation: Matthew 27:32-44
"'He saved others,' they said, 'but he can't save himself!' " (v. 42)

What humiliation and shame our Lord endured for us on the cross of Calvary. Cicero, a Roman philosopher, said of crucifixion: "Far be the very name of a cross not only from the bodies of Roman citizens, but from their imaginations, eyes and ears." But He, our Lord, though sinless, was crucified on a cross. Although His blood was flowing freely from wounds inflicted by the crown of thorns on His head, from His back that had been lacerated by cruel thongs, from His hands and feet through which He was skewered to the tree, yet He refused the deadening drug offered Him. He underwent the ordeal with brain unclouded and with nerves unsoothed. The crowd who watched Him cried: "He saved others, but he can't save himself!" But strange as it seems, that mocking phrase became the central truth of the gospel. He was saving others and therefore He could not save Himself. That is one of the greatest truths of life -if we are to save others we cannot save ourselves. To quote Spencer again: "It is a great mystery," he says, "yet an everlasting fact, that goodness in all moral natures has the doom of bleeding upon it, allowing it to conquer only as it bleeds. All goodness conquers by a cross." This law of saving by self-giving runs through life. Those who save themselves cannot save others, and those who save others cannot save themselves - cannot save themselves trouble, sorrow, hurts, disappointments, pain, and sometimes even death. This is a law of the universe, and it applies to God as much as it does to us.

peace,

John

Prayer: