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October 2015

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November 2015 Letter

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Dear congregations

So there I was getting myself ready to go to Aviemore with my family for the October break… And we ended up in Corfu! What a lovely surprise! André planned it all to the finest detail (behind my back!), and we had an amazing week of unexpected sunshine, leisure and exploring on the island.

Now that’s the kind of surprise everybody likes to get – sunshine instead of rain; swimming in the sea instead of walking around in your thermals… But you know what the most rewarding thing of this whole holiday was? To see the sheer delight on André’s face when the boys and I enjoyed everything he planned for us. It gave him so much pleasure to know that he was making us happy.

And this made me think about our relationship with God. Sitting there on the beautiful beach, looking at the sun setting, I thought that God gives us so much… Very often he surprises us in good ways too, but apart from that he takes care of us every single day. That is the one thing we can always rely on in our ever-changing lives – that God is always there. But does he ever see joy on our faces for that? Or do we ask for our daily bread and expect a huge big slice of chocolate cake? (Matthew 6:5-13)

How happy would it make God if he could see that we appreciate everything he does for us – the big things as well as the small things?

Let’s challenge ourselves to say thank you to God for one thing every single day this month, so that by the time there are no leaves left on the trees, we will realise that in contrast to that we have more blessings than we can count.

May God bless you all,
Nanda

The Link - Issue 79

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Monthly Bible Class for older children

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Starting Sunday 8th November, there will be a monthly Bible Class for older children from both congregations and communities, taking place at West Kirk.

As with Sunday Club for the younger children, the young people will be in church for the first part of morning worship, then leave to follow their own path in the Session House with leaders Nik Bethune and Kathy Black.

No doubt the young people will come up with a name for their special time which will take place on the 2nd Sunday of the month

 

Sermon 25th October 2015 Woman at the Well

Sermon 11th october 2015 Harvest

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Sermon 4th October 2015 Genesis 32

The Link - Issue 78

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Sermon 27th September 2015 Hosea

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nanda.groenewald's picture

October 2015 Letter

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Dear Congregations

It’s beautiful outside at the moment. The sun is shining brightly on the red, orange and yellow leaves on the trees…

I know lots of people don’t like autumn very much – because autumn is the sign that winter is just around the corner. I always find it quite amusing that the warm colours of autumn, the reds and yellows and browns, signifies that the colder weather it on its way! It’s as if the green leaves change into something spectacular before they fall off and die.

To me it almost feels as if nature is reflecting something that is going on in my heart at the moment. Because this past month has been difficult – there have been so many funerals in our two congregations.

I visited somebody a couple of evenings before she passed away. I’ve seen her lying in that hospital bed many times before, but when I walked into her room that night there was a radiance about her that I’d not seen before. Her skin looked soft and smooth, her cheeks were glowing a healthy red. And I thought: she’s getting ready to meet her Maker. The green leaf has turned yellow. And that made me realize that something we dread, dying, is just a part of life, and it can be beautiful too.

Although staying behind after someone you love has passed away is possibly the most difficult thing anyone here on earth will ever have to go through – it feels like being dropped in the middle of winter without a coat on – I think being blown off that tree in a gentle breeze and landing in the arms of God, must be quite spectacular.

In Ecclesiastes 3 we read: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance…” May God help us to find the beauty in the difficult times too.
May God bless you all, in all the different seasons of your lives.

Nanda

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