Janet must be the longest serving secretary of the WA in history

Beate, Jane and Janet (standing) ... Jane thinks Janet has set some kind of a record. We of St Mark's at most grateful for what you have done for us over an incredible 3 decades

Janet Drysdale resigned as secretary of the W A at our recent AGM.  She must surely be the longest serving secretary in the history of St Mark’s W A.  Every year she puts together an interesting and entertaining annual report which really inspires us to continue.  When our yearly activities are summarized so well it makes us all realize how much our small but committed group of ladies does.

Janet just gets on with things in her own quiet way and the smooth running of the W A over the years has been due largely to her commitment and dedication.  Thank you so much for your loyalty and efficiency, Janet.  We hope that you will enjoy being an ordinary member of the W A without all the added responsibility that you have carried over a considerable length of time. (Can it be more than 25 years?)

The fact that the secretarial side of things has run so smoothly is entirely thanks to Janet and the whole of the W A, past and present owe her a tremendous debt of gratitude. Enjoy your well earned rest and please use this time to gird up your loins for the next 25 year stint!!

Thanks also to Beate for running our accounts this year.  We haven’t even noticed the transition from Chris to you which explains your great organizational and financial skills. You have put in much effort and we are really lucky to have such an efficient treasurer – thank you very much.

Tribute by Jane Henderson

Men for the Master will focus on the Spiritual life

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The executive of Men for the Master ... standing is Samuel, Solomon, Roger and our smiling chairman Giyani.

The executive of the Men for the Master met at Geoff' and Marianne's home this week to finalise plans for the first three months of 2010.

Chaired by Giyani Matampi the Fellowship signed off on the following:

1. A Mission statement
2. Long term objectives, with the focus on enhancing the spiritual lives of the Men of St Mark's.
3. A short term implementation plan or to do list, which will take us to March next year..

The above will be presented to the full Men for the Master meeting  at 09h00 at St Mark's on Sunday morning.

We don't want to let the cat out of the bag, but Giyani, Samuel and Irvine will open a Group Account at Standard Bank on Saturday. We already have sufficient funds to achieve this.

Then we want to buy those nice smelling blocks for the men's loo and fix the pipe problem, which sees us having to dance away from the jets of water.. Fixing the church sign is high on the agenda and , having an official launch for the Men for the Master with a Men's Service and a Retreat are all on the to do list as we strive to build our spiritual lives.

And yes we want to build links with the Women's Association, so all of us at St Mark's work as one for the Lord.  God blessed our fellowship and we look forward to the challenges of 2010 with optimism.

The St Mark's Editorial team.

A "twinning" partnership begins

Faith Presbyterian Church in North Alabama has partnered with Kennsington Church of the eGoli Presbytery, South Africa for the coming year!

Faith and Kensington have joined with 22 other churches as part of North Alabama and eGoli Presbytery's Partner in Prayer Twinning initiative.

St Mark's has also benefitted from this association with our friends from the Southern States. To find out more copy the hyperlink below in your web browser, which will take you straight to the Faith web site or better still scroll down the right hand column until you come to church links. Click on Faith and all will be revealed.

http://hs.presby.org/pages.php?page=09/07/03/8044296

Give generously this Christmas!

This is just a reminder about the pending "retiring" and "thanksgiving" offerings after the Carol and Christmas Day services on the 20th December and the 25th December. The proceeds will go to support the Johannesburg's Children's home and the United Church Schools.

And note the new door duty and vestry duty lists are available either on e-mail or in print format.

Dawn and Joan back in the pews - may the Lord be praised

It was grand to see Dawn Bowman and Joan McKay in church today. Both have health issues, but were on hand to celebrate Holy Communion with us on Sunday. Joan still has a lot of pain, but is coping and it was just so special to see Dawn and John together in the Bowman "spot: in the pews. May the Lord continue to bless their recovery.

The "God of surprises" is at work at St Mark's

A letter from the Interim Moderator Moshe Rajuili ... who looks at the positives coming out of Yeoville

The God of surprises
Luke 1:26-38

In May 1994, Gerald Hughes gave my mother a book entitled ‘God of Surprises’.  Mom being who she was, must have asked Gerald to autograph the book.  He obliged and wrote ‘Ellen, may God always surprise you more and more. With best wishes, Gerry Hughes’.

In Luke’s Gospel, Mary’s encounter with the angel was a complete surprise.  Why would the chief angel, Gabriel, visit a simple peasant girl who lives in a province less than 5000 sq kms in extent, inhabited by a multicultural population, largely gentiles who were held in scorn by their southern neighbours? The angel’s message baffled Mary.  She was said to be highly favoured of the Lord and the Lord would be with her (v29).  She was to be the mother of the Son of the Most High, one who would be an heir of David and would rule over the house of Jacob forever (v32).

What might just have further thrown Mary off was that she knew she was a virgin, engaged to be married to Joseph.  By the way, Elizabeth, her relative, long past her child bearing years, declared barren by the local gynaecologists, was six months into her pregnancy!  Ours is indeed a God of surprises.

May our response to God’s actions, whether we understand them or not, echo Mary’s words that nothing is impossible with God (v37).  For instance, who would have thought anything good could come out of Yeoville?  The same question was asked of Nazareth.  Remember that God in his wisdom chose Nazareth, not even the better town of Sepphoris,
a few kilometers in the north, as a place where Jesus preached his first sermon.  It was the home of his disciples and Jesus grew up there and performed his first miracle in Cana in Galilee.

This year we have seen a few firsts for St Mark’s.  The Lord has raised an enthusiastic integrated group of Men for the Master; a cool interactive blogspot (marksmanonline.blogspot.com); a new choir; the numbers of those who come to Sunday worship has improved, and the list goes on.

While we marvel at what God is doing in our midst, let us not allow the excitement of going on holiday or welcoming our friends and family distract us from receiving anew the greatest gift that God has given to humanity, Jesus the Christ.

We do well not to forget that:
“Jesus being in very nature, God made himself nothing, identified himself  with humanity, became obedient to death so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father”.

Christmas time, and not what the world has dubbed the festive season, comes as a powerful reminder that Christ entered our world, lived, taught, died, rose and will come again to reign forever.  The angel put it to Mary that Jesus’ kingdom would never end (v33).  Let us therefore form choirs of angels singing in exaltation, declaring God’s glory in the highest heaven above.

Have a blessed Christmas and revel in God’s many wonderful surprises.

Shalom

Moshe.

Jesus is da winna!

The late Rev Moshe Rajuili .... a man, who impacted so many lives at St Mark's/

26 February 2012

In honour of the late Moshe Rajuile, who was killed in a tragic accident on 6 March 2011. His legacy is one of hope and enthusiasm. His message below is as relevent today as it was then. Bless you Moshe."

The St Mark's Editorial team.

Moshe wrote:

?For the past eight weeks we have focused our attention on hope. We have looked at passages which show that in God’s economy there are no cul-de-sacs; no hopeless situations in which his children find themselves trapped.  God provides a way out for those who trust him. In the New Testament, Paul teaches that hope based on Christ is not illusory. Jesus, according to the Caribbean poet and song writer,‘Is da winna, mon, ol’de time’.

When we follow in Christ’s footsteps, we become winning women and men, because Jesus us indeed ‘da winner, mon’. He has promised to continue to complete the good work he has begun in every Christian (Phil 1:6). We will certainly encounter defeats and failure along the way. We may lose individual battles, but we are assured that the war has already been won. So we do not lose hope: we continue to look upwards.

Christianity is sometimes criticised for offering little in this life, but promising ‘a pie in the sky when you die’. I trust we’ve been reminded that Jesus offers us hope in the cut and thrust of everyday life. But what of hope beyond the grave? Paul is emphatic, ‘If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pities more than all men’ (1Cor 15:19). Indeed, any religion or philosophy that does not take death and its consequences into account is hopelessly inadequate. Paul argues forcefully that because Christ was raised from the dead we too will be raised (vs12-19). The final fulfillment of our hope, the glorious resurrection life with Christ, is yet to be. Praise him!

Shalom,

Moshe."

Note: There is a slideshow of Moshe elsewhere on this blog.