{"id":9864,"date":"2022-01-15T05:19:32","date_gmt":"2022-01-15T05:19:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/?p=9864"},"modified":"2022-01-15T05:19:33","modified_gmt":"2022-01-15T05:19:33","slug":"ccuc-family-a-call-out-to-please-honour-your-brother-and-sister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/?p=9864","title":{"rendered":"CCUC Family – A call out to please honour your brother and sister"},"content":{"rendered":"

The season in which we find ourselves in is most unusual.\u00a0<\/span>It is also distressing for many and a time when anxiety levels have risen dramatically.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It is a season to \u2018rest\u2019 in our faith in a faithful Father (as we have with young Elijah). To rest in our faith is to worship God wholeheartedly, trust in Him, to live our lives as Jesus lived His, to be faithful and obedient to the word.<\/span><\/p>\n

We live in a community divided in its practice and belief about COVID. That reality is reflected in our faith community. Some adhere strongly to the health directives given by the government. Some believe strongly that it is dangerous to do so. And there are many who sit somewhere in between.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the past, through announcements in the newsletter, at church during services and in special letters (like this) I have asked that you honour one another – that is, take regard for your brother and sister. If we don\u2019t we run the danger of being arrogant in our faith and not loving our brother and sister.<\/span><\/p>\n

Consider Paul\u2019s plea to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 8<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

I know it’s about \u2018food sacrificed to idols\u2019 and we don\u2019t do much of that – but for me there is a powerful principle embedded in Paul\u2019s argument. That is, \u2018concern for people who believe differently than you but who follow the way of Jesus\u2019. That is, exercise concern for those who you might consider weak in their faith.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is according to Paul, a dangerous thing if what we do and say\u00a0<\/span>causes another brother or sister to falter.\u00a0Paul says, \u2018we need to do what we need to do\u2019 to hold them up.<\/span><\/p>\n

Remember what was said of Jesus in Isaiah 42:3<\/a> \u201cA bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out\u201d.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus himself quotes this in Matthew 12<\/a> when the Pharisees are questioning the actions of Jesus and His disciples. This is the life Jesus lived!\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I raise all this, for I see tension rising in our faith community that is leading toward division (factionism). I raise this, for some, in particular some of our older believers and some with compromised health, have expressed to me that they feel unsafe coming to church. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, they also feel that about moving around the community – but if one person does not feel safe coming to church for any reason – we have some work to do.<\/span><\/p>\n

I like to believe that we have been establishing a \u2018culture of honour\u2019 in our community. That whatever we do we \u2018keep our love on\u2019 toward the people we worship with. That we consider the \u2019smouldering wick\u2019 and the ‘bruised reed\u2019 before we consider ourselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

To that end, when you are coming to gathered worship\u00a0<\/span>please do that which will give strength to those around you.<\/span><\/p>\n

Monitor your own health – stay home; get your health checked if you are crook; and let us know so we know how to pray and care for you.<\/span><\/p>\n

Check in when you come to church – use the QR code or paper check in<\/span><\/p>\n

Wash your hands<\/span><\/p>\n

Apply social distancing practices to your sitting<\/span><\/p>\n

Wear a face-mask unless you are eating, drinking, or leading the worship.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

If you have a valid health reason for not wearing a mask we will honour that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vaccination is not mandatory to attend worship<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of all \u2018care for one another\u2019\u00a0<\/b><\/span>Ask Holy Spirit to ‘guide your care’ and ‘direct your speech\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/span>so that the \u2018love of Jesus\u2019 triumphs.\u00a0<\/b><\/span>Let us spur one another on into faith in Jesus!<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Ps Mark<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The season in which we find ourselves in is most unusual.\u00a0It is also distressing for many and a time when anxiety levels have risen dramatically.\u00a0 It is a season to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,71,20,45,47,12,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-honour","category-kingdom","category-love","category-mindset","category-relationships","category-unity","category-witness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9864"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9865,"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9864\/revisions\/9865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}