Posts by John Stasse (Page 3)

Dear Congregation, Once again tomorrow I will look across the distinctly empty pews of the church, and yes I will remember that most of you are watching via YouTube – remembering, how important that is, and none more so than in terms of the grace of God to us through Jesus Christ in whom He is gathering  and establishing a people as His people, a people of faith, a…

Dear Congregation, Someone recently described living under the covid-restrictions as running a race we didn’t want to run, only to find that it is a marathon no one is happy about. He said: ‘It’s like we were all signed up for a marathon we didn’t want to run, and as we approach what looks like the finish line, we are told, ‘Just keep running!’” Here in Victoria this week…

Dear Congregation, This morning I heard a question I’ve never heard asked before, which is probably saying a lot about the finiteness of my experience. It was introduced as a bonding type question: ‘Does anyone here come from a family?’               Now I’ll let you in on the context, it was asked by Fred…

Dear Congregation, Alec Motyer asks the question, ‘How far back in your life can you trace the hand of God?’ He adds ‘If you have never done this, I venture to think you will be surprised!’ Well that is a challenge too good to pass up on, don’t you think? Perhaps we will discover that we are not, and have not been as conscious of the hand of God on our lives as we ought.…

Do remember the contemporary Christian hymn by Leonard E Smith, ‘How lovely on the mountains…” that has the chorus repeating the simple yet profound phrase “Our God reigns”? This is how it starts…               How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him Who brings good news, good news Announcing peace,…

Dear Congregation, Earlier this week I was reminded of the hymn “Count your blessing, name them one by one…” It is so easy to be overwhelmed by the restrictions on movement and its impact on life… but are their blessings? Surely. I decided to keep an eye on at least one each day this week. Day by day I have noted the blessing discovered and enjoyed that day. Monday: A…

Dear Congregation, I’ve just done the unthinkable – no, calm down, I am not talking about sin – I just added ‘covid’ to my computer dictionary. The spell checker keeps flagging it, and I have been matching that with the ignore option. In adding it in to the dictionary it seems like a tangible acknowledgement that this is not only an increasingly frequent word in our day…

Dear Congregation, On Friday towards the end of the memorial service for [one of our congregant’s] sister, we sang “Jesus loves me, this I know…” and you know how that incredible statement is supported. It is not supported by my ego, nor by the compassion of my friends who treat me kindly and warmly. Nor is it undermined by my failures or inconsistencies. It is a…

I’ve been staring at this spot for some time… What do I write? Earlier today I received the message that someone close to me was ‘POSITIVE’ – no, it was actually a total mistake. But it gave pause. How challenging that word ‘positive’ has suddenly become! None of us should think we are immune from the possibility, that one day… It is a sobering thought. It was a…

This morning we learnt of the death of Dr J I Packer, whose work is known to many of you and whose influence reaches many more. Having benefited greatly under the ministry of Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones he along with John Stott were key instruments used of God to bring about a resurgence of biblical and evangelical ministry in the Church of England in the latter half of the…