Change is difficult for most of us.  That applies to individuals as well as to communities.

At a communal level there are those who want things to change and nothing ever changes quickly enough.  There are also those who are uncomfortable with change and who prefer to maintain the status quo.  When both sides in a community dig their heels in the fireworks are sure to start. In the church we have lived with that tension for a long time.  Some want the church “to move on” and they have their own agendas as to where it ought to move on to.  Others feel that there’s nothing wrong with the way we’ve always done things so they resist change.  The challenge for leaders is to manage change so that it happens without division – and (more importantly) so that it happens in faithfulness to Biblical principles.

The urge or desire for change strikes us all at a different times. A change in hairstyle, or clothing, and sometimes something even more radical, a new place to live.
I received a newsletter this week from a counselling service I have recommended to a number of people, and in it there was a definition for therapy which disturbed me. I suppose I wouldn’t have noticed it if the counselling agency did not have Christian roots, and at one time promoted itself as a specifically Christian counselling service.
Noting their definition for therapy made me wonder if the service was Christina at all now, and sure enough, the newsletter held not one word which might even hint at it being Christian. That was a great disappointment, and caused me to look further, and check their web site. My suspicion was correct. There was not a single indication that Elkanah Counselling is a counselling service that is run by Christians or based on Christian principles. The closest thing I could find was that they offer help under the heading of “Personal Wellbeing” for “Spirituality Issues” I was now profoundly disappointed.

The Eye of the Storm

New Year's Sermon by Rev C Berends

on Psalm 46

Scripture Readings:

Mark 4:35-41; Psalm 46

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The sea has often been a symbol for chaos. Biblically, the stories of the flood, the drowning of the Egyptians in the Red Sea, the crossing of the Jordan, have all reinforced the idea that the sea is chaotic. It does not always behave in a rational manner. One minute it can be calm and flat, the next minute a pounding wave. It is no wonder that the disciples on the Sea of Galilee, whom we have just read about in Mark 4, are frightened when the storm appears on the lake and their little boat is tossed to and fro.