by Donna Hill | 2021 Jul,2 | Pastor's Desk
PRAISE YOU IN THIS STORM
Storms come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes there’s a gradual build up, white fluffy clouds gradually becoming darker and lower, but sometimes they seemingly come from nowhere. Sometimes storms are foreboding and scary and long. Sometimes they are light and short and finished soon after they start. Sometimes there are strong winds, sometimes rain, sometimes thunder and lightning, sometimes all of them!
Similarly, the storms of life. Sometimes we feel or see them coming and then they are upon us…but sometimes they…
by Donna Hill | 2021 Apr,23 | Pastor's Desk
I’m not sure about you, but one of my great wrestles in becoming more Christlike is that sinful tendency to see my time, my resources, my life as belonging to me. I like to control it. I like to own it. I like to decide what happens and when.
God, in His great grace and wisdom, seems to work in our lives reminding us how little we truly control and that it all truly does belong to Him. So often these reminders come in the way of hardship and loss with the call to surrender ownership and control.
If our Heavenly Father was a despotic God, a cruel, tyrannical God who acted arbitrarily and selfishly for His own ends, knowing we belonged to Him would cause us to tremble and live in fear and apprehension.
But praise Him that this is not our God!
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies your with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Psalm 103:2-5
by Donna Hill | 2020 Jul,14 | Pastor's Desk
I suspect I was born with an over-developed sense of justice. From the time I was a child, if I didn’t think something was just or right, then it really upset me. Break the rules? Then you deserve the consequences that come your way, I thought – even if I didn’t verbalise it. I still vividly remember my annoyance in highschool at the teacher who told us we couldn’t wear jackets or coats over our school uniform in class (in snowy weather, mind you) – whilst he was wearing a fleecy lined jacket. “Unfair!!” my teenage-overdeveloped-justice screamed internally. Similarly the teacher who reminded us not to rock on our chairs, despite his own habit of doing so. Clearly perfection was a standard I unfortunately held teachers to, even if I didn’t meet that standard myself.
by Donna Hill | 2020 Jun,19 | Pastor's Desk
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by Donna Hill | 2020 Jun,5 | Pastor's Desk
“I am about to – or I am going to – die: either expression is correct.” These were the last words of French grammarian and Jesuit priest, Dominique Bouhours. While his last words clearly demonstrate his passion for grammar and devotion to language, I’m not so sure that I would choose them to be my last words.
Do you ever wonder what your last words will be? I would like to think mine will be profound, or memorable. I’d like to think they would honour Christ and leave a lasting impression on those with me. But who knows what they will be? Will I even have a choice? Maybe I’ll tell Stephen to make sure he tucks his chair under the table when he gets up.
In the lead-up to Easter, I spent time considering Jesus last words on the cross. There are seven sentences uttered by Jesus on the cross, collated from across the four gospels.
One thing that struck me was that three of the seven sentences He uttered were expressions of love and care for others. He hung on the cross in excruciating pain and agony. He had been betrayed, deserted, beaten, humiliated, stripped, flogged, had a crown of thorns placed on His head, and then nailed to a cross.
Did He rail against the injustice? Did He curse those who crucified Him? Or those who betrayed Him? Did He exhibit self-pity?
No.
Jesus asked His Father to forgive those who were crucifying Him. He assured the criminal on the cross next to Him that he would be with Him in paradise. He commended His mother and His disciple John into the care of each other.
