Born of the Virgin Mary!

Here's a quote worth refuting:

"These nativity stories appear only in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. and their accounts are significantly different from each other. The differences are so marked that they cannot possibly be described as historical in the way we regard history today..."

But Luke in his own defence says:

Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. Luke 1:1-4

Luke 2 begins: In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David....

It sounds like history to me...that is what Luke thought he was writing.

The theological significance of the virgin birth is a key point of Anglican teaching:

II. Of the Word or Son of God, which was made very Man.

The Son, which is the Word of the Father, begotten from everlasting of the Father, the very and eternal God, and of one substance with the Father, took Man's nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin, of her substance: so that two whole and perfect Natures, that is to say, the Godhead and Manhood, were joined together in one Person, never to be divided, whereof is one Christ, very God, and very Man; who truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, to reconcile his Father to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for actual sins of men

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary...

GP

The death of freewill !

I have heard a fair bit of chat lately about the pros and cons on the Bible's teaching on election.

The Thirty-nine articles give us a good summary (excuse the ye olde english...)



XVII. Of Predestination and Election.

Predestination to Life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby (before the foundations of the world were laid) he hath constantly decreed by his counsel secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honour. Wherefore, they which be endued with so excellent a benefit of God, be called according to God's purpose by his Spirit working in due season: they through Grace obey the calling: they be justified freely: they be made sons of God by adoption: they be made like the image of his only-begotten Son Jesus Christ: they walk religiously in good works, and at length, by God's mercy, they attain to everlasting felicity.
As the godly consideration of Predestination, and our Election in Christ, is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort to godly persons, and such as feel in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ, mortifying the works of the flesh, and their earthly members, and drawing up their mind to high and heavenly things, as well because it doth greatly establish and confirm their faith of eternal Salvation to be enjoyed through Christ as because it doth fervently kindle their love towards God: So, for curious and carnal persons, lacking the Spirit of Christ, to have continually before their eyes the sentence of God's Predestination, is a most dangerous downfall, whereby the Devil doth thrust them either into desperation, or into wretchlessness of most unclean living, no less perilous than desperation.

Furthermore, we must receive God's promises in such wise, as they be generally set forth to us in Holy Scripture: and, in our doings, that Will of God is to be followed, which we have expressly declared unto us in the Word of God.

What do you think?

GP

The Ministry of Welcoming

“Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” (Romans 15:7, ESV)

God is building His church. It is a family, with Jesus at the head, into which our loving Heavenly Father is inviting people. He is actively at work in the world, calling people to himself, establishing and strengthening them in Christ.

Just as Jesus welcomes sinners and draws us to himself, so we seek to welcome all into the St Matthew's church community. When we turn up at St Matthew's, whether as visitor or regular member, our hope is that everyone experiences not just a warm greeting and kind gesture, but the invitation to continuing and growing relationship.

The welcoming ministry at St Matthew’s is a very important one which helps newcomers feel part of our community and regular members to express the love of Christ for all people. Everyone can share in this work of extending gospel hospitality: you don’t have to be on the welcoming team to look out for and look after our visitors.

The new TenAM Welcoming Team comprises three groups of people:
‘Greeters’ who are the first point of contact when people enter the church;
‘Seaters’ who are responsible for ushering people to suitable seating; and
‘Meeters’ who spend time (mainly after the service) following-up newcomers.

Hospitality is an important part of the ministry of welcoming. Thank you to those people who have offered to host a ‘TenAM Lunch’ next year, one of our regular events for newcomers. And thank you to those of you who already actively seek out and invite newcomers to your home (or a local café or food hall) after the service.

Look out for the new Welcome Desk in the church foyer, coming soon! It will double as a resource/information centre for regulars and a place for visitors to make contact with someone before they leave. In the New Year you will also be able to collect a Welcome Pack, which will include a new St Matthew’s information brochure.

Over the next 12 months we will be offering a number of training sessions on the Ministry of Welcoming. The first one will be tomorrow, Monday 26 November, from 7.45–9.00pm at the church. Although this will be specifically designed for existing members of the welcoming team, everyone is welcome.

Khim

Minute 4 Mission: AFES and Thailand

To-day our missions focus is on one of our mission partners - AFES or Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students. They work on university campuses to spread the good news of Jesus. At UWA the work has for many years been very ably led by Tim and Rosemary Thorburn. Now exams are finishing and the year is winding down.

But for a group of UWA students it is just winding up! In the midst of exams they have been preparing to go to Thailand to work on a University Campus there for four weeks. One of the team of six, is a member of St Matthew's, Amy Robinson, Jacqui and Bruce's daughter. Listen to what they have to say " At our preparation meetings we have been studying Philippians and we have been both challenged and encouraged by the words 'Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others' Please pray that this attitude would be ours."

But what will they do? They can't speak Thai, and they are new to Thai culture. And they will only be there for four weeks. Listen to what Kerri-Ann Choma, the OMF missionary they will be working with has to say "I have an AFES background, having worked with students in Sydney for years before joining OMF and coming to Thailand. I'm getting to the end of my first four year term in Thailand and am so happy to have the help of a bunch of keen Aussies to help in all our Christmas programmes. They can mix around and get to know the small group of Christian students, see how things are done around here, teach some English, and generally seek to build friendships through sport and participating in our Regional Camp which will run over a long week-end while they are here. Thai students are full of questions about Australia and with their limited English they can learn a lot from the six young people who are coming" Please do pray for us.

I would add as a postcript that in Central Thailand there are many universities of 20,000 or 30,000 students which have NO Christian witness AT ALL. The work at Naresuan University where these UWA students are going has only been going for five years. We need to pray for more workers for this harvest field. And now let us pray for this team as they leave on Tuesday and return just before Christmas.

Blodwyn Timms

Minute 4 Mission: North Korea

The focus of this M4M is on the land of North Korea. The Korean Peninsula was the scene of a great Christian revival in the early part of the twentieth century and the Church has remained very strong and evangelical. In the South, more Koreans go overseas as missionaries than any other nation on earth. But in the North, which remained Communist after the end of the Korean War in the mid fifties, most dreadul persecution of Christians has been going on for decades.

Let me share one story from a woman who survived a North Korean prison camp. It took place in a North Korean smelting factory.

"I saw eight Christian prisoners carrying a big metal kettle holding molten iron. An officer called to them ....'Tomorrow is a cleaning-the-mind day. You will go out and tell everyone that there is no God. Otherwise you will be killed. Do you understand?' Not one of the prisons responded to the officer. He became furious and began to curse at the men...'All eight of you come here and put your face down to the ground!' They came just as he ordered. They sat on their knees and then bent their heads down. The officer called over other male prisoners...'Bring boiling liquid iron from the furnace and pour it on them!' The frightened prisoners ran to get a kettle of molten iron. They then poured the boiling iron on top of the people of God kneeling so quietly. Suddenly, the smell of burning flesh assailed my nostrils ..I looked at their shrunken bodies and wondered in my heart, What do they believe? What could be more important to them than their lives? In the years I was in prison, I saw many believers die. Yet they never, never denied the God who is in heaven ...Their unbelievable faith brought a big question into my heart. "What am I missing?"

Let us pray for the persecuted church of North Korea.
BT

Postcard from Nigeria: Joan Mackie

With someone from here traveling to Australia at the end of this week, it is good to have the chance to send some letters with a little news from this end. Am grateful for your patience in waiting for replies to both emails and regular mail – bless you for your care.

Nigeria as a nation. Today Nigeria celebrates 47 years of independence and many are thanking God for his hand on this nation. Despite the challenges, our Lord has dealt kindly with this country in limiting power struggles as well as thwarting those who would seek their own way at any cost. God has been good and shown His mercy. Here in Kaduna, the community remains thankful for peace, though this is not the case in some locations elsewhere in the country. Sabotage and kidnappings continue against oil interests in the southern Niger River delta region, as well as political power struggles and a measure of instability persisting in the wake of elections earlier this year in other selected regions (e.g. Ekiti State, towards the south-west of Nigeria).

New academic year. The school’s new academic year has now been underway for two weeks, and matters are looking encouraging. We started as usual with a round of staff meetings before the students resumed in mid-September, the meetings including a staff seminar, this time on ‘problem ownership’. Several staff saw this tool as potentially helpful for classroom management situations as well as for their own lives in the community. Enrolment figures are looking healthy, with just a little less than last year and more enrolments still anticipated, especially into the most junior class (where the students are around 11 years of age). Interviews for staff have been held and three new teachers have commenced duties, maintaining previous staffing levels. The College is looking forward to these new staff significantly contributing to the lives of the students very soon.

Student activities. Plans are underway for some nine excursions and two seminars, scheduled to hold for the students over two days later in October. These are an excellent way for the students to see in practice what they have learnt about in theory in the classroom, and include the Fine Arts department at a university in Zaria (1½ hours north of Kaduna – for Visual Arts), the National House of Assembly parliament building in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital (2 hours south of Kaduna – for Government), granitic exfoliation on the Jaji rock formations near Zaria (for Geography), and an agricultural farm/ research station, also near Zaria (for Agricultural Science).

Encouraging results. Final touches are also being put in place for an Awards Afternoon at the end of this coming week, where student excellence achieved in the last academic session will be recognised. Results from one lot of external exams also reached the school last week – those from the oldest junior class, where students are around 15 years old – and these are encouraging. Results from the tertiary entrance exams for the most senior class are yet to be released to the school, but individual students have been downloading their own off the web, and so far, these too have been looking good. Our God is faithful.

Beyond Kaduna. It was a delight to get away over the long summer vacation, for a few weeks in Benin and Togo. This provided further valuable insights into where people in the region are ‘coming from’, especially with regard to the inherited effects of slavery and tribal rivalry, as seen today. Also recently, it has been a pleasure to meet two new CMS Australia missionaries – Alan and Helen Wood will be lecturing at a theological college near Zaria.

May the Lord continue to strengthen and give discernment to us all as we seek to serve Him.

Joan Mackie CMS Nigeria

The Golden Compass: Atheism for Kids

Atheism's version of Narnia for young people is about to leap from book to screen in the coming movie The Golden Compass.

The His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman that has received commendations from The Guardian newspaper, as well as becoming the winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Children’s Book of the Year from the British Book Awards.

It describes an alternative universe to our own that is in many parts the same, and yet disturbingly different. There is an Oxford University that is the centre of scholarship, but its lecturers have more in common with crusty courtiers and 19th century explorers. Witches inhabit the icy reaches of the far north but far from being horrible hags, they are the guardians of nature in the form of ageless, beautiful women. And religion is represented by the almighty Church, an organisation that somehow avoided the Reformation but still jettisoned the Pope, leaving the Magisterium in control, a religious council that oversees every political and scientific development.

Out of this world emerges the key character of Lyra Belacqua, a young girl born to great but indifferent parents who are themselves engaged in a battle for the control of not only their own world, but its myriad variations that are somehow connected. Lyra leads a collection of unlikely allies who represent the natural elements as well as the pure sciences – a witch queen, an armoured talking bear and a race of Gypsy wanderers – to stand against the adult forces that would decimate everything good in their quest for control. However her chief ally is the mysterious and unnamed wisdom that moves the golden compass she possesses, a device that can only tell the truth.

One Christian reviewer said this "I would be the first to admit that the church, that human organisation that represents Christ’s family, has in its humanity been guilty of some poor thinking and some worse actions. But Pullman’s attack is directed at the Church in all of its manifestations, including its claim to understand the nature of our existence and the root causes of the problems we face. What Northern Lights represents is a Dawkins-style attack written for a child’s eyes, but with no less vitriol. It’s not surprising that the Church he presents has no Bible to speak of, and no Lord to lead it. Pullman’s accusations would only be easily deflected by a flesh and blood Jesus. The only thing he can hope to do is pretend that in this world at least, the greatest example of love and concern for all children never existed at all."

Even such a brief description should highlight the romantic characters and elements that have made Pullman’s series a best-seller for the past twelve years. It might also go some way to explaining New Line Cinema’s decision to release Northern Lights as a film titled The Golden Compass. The feature stars luminaries like Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig and Eric Bana, and is timed for a Christmas release this year. Prudence would suggest, however, that some attention be paid to the book which has spawned this popular attraction, and is likely to gain increased attention as a result.

The movie will have all the granduer of Narnia, and Lord of the Rings

before your children ask to see the movie are you ready to watch it with them? Interacting with atheism is not all bad, It helps you articulate a Christian worldview but are you ready for the conversation with your kids?

Here are christian reviews of the books:

http://your.sydneyanglicans.net/culture/reading/the_subtle_knife/

http://your.sydneyanglicans.net/culture/reading/northern_lights/

http://your.sydneyanglicans.net/culture/reading/334a/

Let me know what you think!

Gavin

Postcard from Mexico

Dear friends,
It's been a long beginning to the semester but the cafe has held together and continued to grow. We decided to stick to selling only takeaway this semester with the plan to consolidate before growing any further. We continue with our goal to serve the student community, while at the same time giving a visible testimony of lives lived for God's glory. There are 20 of us working in the cafe now, which makes for a strong group; pray for us though, as things often get quite hectic, especially in the early mornings - and also when the weather is very cold, as we found out today. Each Daywe collect the empty milk containers from today's cappuccinos (nearly 200 litres!).
Thank you for your prayers!
Love
Robert, Shelley, Tom and Luis.

M4M: Postcards from Paris

Dear Friends

Thank you for your prayers, especially over the last few weeks of leaving Australia and arriving back in France. All went smoothly, and I was very aware that people were upholding me in prayer.

Thank God for:
a lovely time with family just before leaving Australia. We had a combined birthday/Christmas in July (but in September)/nephew's christening, with all the family there in Inverell.
a safe arrival back in France, and a warm welcome.
being able to come back to my old flat.
a students leaders' weekend last weekend - well-appreciated and helpful. God has given us some very good student leaders to work with this year.
encouraging initial meetings with Anne-Sophie, the ministry trainee I'll be working with this year. She's very keen!
Please pray with me:
for a smooth transition back into work. (I'm still unpacking all the stuff I had in storage etc., so haven't yet got back to work full-time.)
for wisdom about which Bible study group to be regularly a part of.
for our GBU launch weekend (7-9 novembre), that it would be well-attended and encourage students in wanting to know God better through His word this year.
for an enquirers' group we're starting up next week, that non-Christians would come and discover the great truth of the gospel.
Your partner in the ministry in Paris,

Libby Leach

Distributed by:
Church Missionary Society – New South Wales
Level 5, 51 Druitt Street Sydney 2000
ph: 9267 3711
fax: 9267 3703
email: prayerpoints@cms.org.au
web: http://www.cms.org.au/

Minute 4 Mission: Dongara

If you were a part of the worshipping community here at St. Matts at this time last year, you would have been caught up in us preparing to farewell Matt and Corinne Malcolm and their two children who were leaving the ministry team here to go to Dongara/Mingenew to serve in the North-West Diocese.

They have now been living in Dongara all of this year and are enjoying the life of the local community. When I spoke to him yesterday he was busy deveining prawns in readiness for lunch. But, as Matt says, while they enjoy living there and love the people in the town, Gospel work is really hard work. They find few who are interested in the Gospel and it is hard to attract new people into the Church community. He asks prayer for several specific matters. He is meeting with a young man, Mark, who comes often to enquire about faith issues and is currently reading "A Fresh Start". Let us pray for him. Then too, they are running two special Christmas events to reach out to others. One is a Gingerbread House Event for the ladies, similar to the ones we have held here, and the other is a "Beer, prawns and eternity" night for the blokes. Let us pray that God's Spirit will draw people to want to know more about Jesus.

Pray for Matt and Corinne with their very good friends Penny and Tyler Swartzentruber that they will keep growing in their love for Jesus and His Word and will keep fresh as they seek to share His love with others.

Blodwyn