On Saturday 18 November about 100 people gathered for the Thanksgiving Service and Decommissioning of The Summit Uniting Church. The next day nine people walked ten kilometres to Stanthorpe carrying the symbols of worship while three senior members of the congregation caught a ride with Lincoln McPhee in his Citroen Light 15.

 Two years ago a similar crowd gathered for the Centenary. In the era when the church was built many families lived in the region growing apples, stone fruit and vegetables for market. Having many children to pitch in with planting, pruning, picking and packing meant that even a small holding could support a family. The produce was carried on the Sunday afternoon train to the markets at Rocklea in Brisbane. Then the families would go to church. Only the liveliest preachers could keep weary people from dozing off on a summer afternoon! Bert Abraham was the Sunday school superintendent for 37 years and prepared the students to sit the Sunday School exams. A solid timber hall was built in the 1960s to accommodate 50 students but by the end of the 1990s the Sunday school closed. A Monday afternoon children’s club ran for few years but then that closed. The Ladies organised fetes, markets, luncheons and catered for many events in the community. There were several lay preachers who volunteered across the district.

But times have changed. Farms have been aggregated and the many hands needed to prune, harvest and pack fruit now belong to back packers and seasonal harvest workers from elsewhere. The remaining members of the congregation are seniors and they want to be able to visit their family and friends in other places. Getting into town to worship is an easy car journey. Old buildings take a lot of maintenance and complying with new standards can be expensive.

So the decision was made to amalgamate with the church in town. Other amalgamations happened around the time of Church union so some of the people and furniture are moving again. There is grief and sadness in letting go. Yet there is also a hope that we are pilgrims carrying forward the abundant grace of God into the future. We are custodians of the memories and stewards of the riches of God for each generation.

As people at The Summit Church invested themselves in God’s mission locally in ways that matched the needs and opportunities of their time, so we are called to be God’s people in our own time, listening to the community and responding with fresh words and deeds.

Kaye Ronalds

The parables of Jesus often relate to the work of the people. Farming was familiar, and the listeners could relate to the situation that not all seed would sprout and some, after sprouting, dies for lack of water or good soil in which to grow. The interpretation provided later in the chapter helps us understand that not everyone who hears the good news about God’s kingdom will embrace it, believe it and live by it. As followers of Jesus we can become discouraged that not everyone chooses to follow him.

This parable puts it in perspective that faithful witness leads to fruitfulness for the kingdom. Even though when we are planting seeds we cannot imagine which seeds will thrive and which ones will not. That is up to the choices that individuals make in response to what they have seen and heard of the gospel. So let us recklessly and prayerfully scatter the seeds and leave the results to God.

Grace and peace, Kaye

Today at Severnlea the congregation will be using the worship service prepared by Frontier Services. In Queensland now there is the Cunnamulla-Burke and Wills Patrol (based in Cunnamulla and Charleville) and on Cape York the  Kennedy Patrol is being re-developed. Patrol Padres have a well-equipped 4WD vehicle and supplies for the journey. The Gospel reading from Matthew 9 recounts the adventure of the disciples who were sent on mission to minister boldly while depending entirely on God for their needs. They did not arrive with a car load of possessions and supplies, nor with a contract or stipend arrangements in place. It was an era where people had few personal possessions, but Jesus even instructed the people to leave everything at home and just set off in their sandals and the clothes on their back. Maybe their physical dependence on God enabled them to practice the same trust which allowed them to ask God to bring wholeness to the ones whom they met on the way. The instructions given by Jesus emphasised the urgent nature of the mission. When we allow ourselves to be moved with compassion for the people who do not yet know Jesus, the importance of the mission becomes clear. The disciples, the ones who learn, become the apostles, the ones who are sent. In what ways might your “stuff” be holding you back from getting out and being Christ to others?

Grace and peace,

Kaye Ronalds

Love is the theme for the fourth Sunday in Advent. Love is more than a feeling. Love is something you do. Much has been written about the role of Mary as the mother of Jesus, but what about Joseph’s situation? A few verses in the first chapter of Matthew explore what was happening for Joseph.

He is described as a righteous Jewish man who was to marry young Mary. All the arrangements were in place, and then there was a ‘spanner in the works’. Mary was pregnant. The law gave Joseph two options, either to publicly divorce her on the grounds of adultery or to quietly call off the engagement. Either decision could be justified for he was certain that he had not fathered that child. A messenger of God helped him see another option. Mary may have been blessed among women but Joseph was embarrassed among men. Joseph made a loving choice and that gave a measure of protection to Mary and the child.

God’s plan to take on human flesh was full of vulnerability and risk. As Charles Wesley put it, ‘Our God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man.’

Grace and peace, Kaye.

In the early church the good news was spreading… towards the west…and today’s story from Acts 16 comes from the east coast region of modern day Greece. The apostle Paul is travelling west and at Philippi they went out of the town to the riverside where they hoped to find the Jews gathering. Amongst the women listening to them that day was Lydia. Lydia, a business woman, was a dealer in purple cloth, who worshipped God. Paul’s words about Jesus helped her to a deeper relationship with God and then Lydia and her whole household were baptised. She put herself, her home and her business at God’s disposal. Lydia, the first convert in Macedonia, offers hospitality to Paul and his fellow travellers. What aspects of your life have you offered to God out of thankfulness for the new life in Christ?