Malcolm Potts January 22nd 2017 ~ Families Ministry

I have appreciated the sermons this January - personal reflections on psalms.Jane's talk last week was a timely reminder of staying present to who I am and who God is in the midst of everything that is way too grand for me to ever comprehend.It reminded me of our community mantra: fix your eyes on Jesus and open your heart to him, especially when things are too much for us.  My default position is too often to scrabble my plans together and to ask God to join in as an afterthought.  Beware, he probably won't.  Then I blame him for not getting with my programme. Humans are just so human, aren't we?As a church we legislate making January a time of abiding.  The best picture of that is a vine in deep winter, pruned back, nothing apparently happening.  You may be surprised to know that the roots of a vine keep growing in that state.Stopping is really important.  This month for me it has been really hard to do. . .  not much abiding for me.  I have the responsibility to appoint a new Families Minister and, God willing, before too much of 2017 flies by.Last week after church, a group of concerned people had a good chat about what had been great about Liz's ministry and what we absolutely don't want to lose.I have also been canvassing widely for who might serve us and provide oversight in this really important family ministry into the future.  As well, we have begun advertising for a dedicated 2-day-a-week youth pastor.  Families in all their forms are a priority.Next Sunday [29th January] anyone who is interested is invited to a debrief of where we are up to in this process, what we are thinking and how it might unfold.  It will be after church with a BYO BBQ sausage sizzle type lunch afterwards.  Please make it a priority, since it will impact us all.My sense is that we need to develop the wonderful resource we are for each other.  Following the ‘more’ theme of last week's musing, families yearn for more space, support, friendship, cohesiveness, love and, above all, time.Unfortunately, the time we have is all there is - the challenge is how we allocate it. . .  and how we share our lives with each other so that we get more of what we really need without making more pointless demands.This is the question I have been pursuing with Jesus.Jesus said to his wide-eyed followers, "The time is now."  More of the good stuff, less of the pointless stuff and, somewhere in there, the rest for our souls that we actually cannot live without.What might a holistic ministry to families look like that grows on Liz's fine workand that adds a 'what’s next?' value to our lives together in Jesus’ shaping love?Blessings,Malcolm