Dear Friends

A few weeks ago I spoke on Paul’s greetings to the Church in Rome at the end of the book of Romans (Chpt 16).  What really struck me was the personal nature of the greetings and the implied relationship behind them.  Paul greeted friends and family whom he loved, who had supported him, who shared a common vision to extend God’s kingdom and who worked with him in his ministry.

We are a church that is full of life, but as individuals we often haven’t been that great at sharing our stories widely amongst the congregation.  If we don’t share our spiritual walks, how can we support each other on them, learn from them and celebrate progress together?  How can we be a loving family?

There are many ways we should be doing this, and it needs all of us to be involved.  One small way of sharing our faith that we have started in recent weeks is an “Introductions” slot in the combined Sunday morning service.  I’ll ask a different person each week will spend a few minutes introducing themselves to the rest of us and sharing something of what God has been doing in their lives.  A big thank you to Norma and Yvonne who kicked us off; I have had many comments from people saying how much they appreciated hearing your stories.

On the subject of sharing lives, I’d like to give a huge thanks to John Good who has led us as Session Clerk for 35 years.  John’s strong leadership, wisdom, diplomacy and spiritual direction has made an immeasurable contribution to St Andrews.  Although John has felt the time is right to step down from the role of Session Clerk, we are thankful for his strong desire to remain as an Elder and to continue to play an active part in our Church family.

Paul

Youth & Kids Club are about to kick off for term 3!