FROM THE PASTOR

Home is the place we live, and the place we belong. But it’s not until our sense of home is impacted, that we realize how connected we are to it. This year ‘home’ has been in focus for a number of reasons. It's been hard for people unable to get home because of closed borders. Some have had to quarantine in hotel rooms before going home. Others have not been able to leave their home in lockdowns. For these and other reasons, our sense of home has been impacted in 2020.

Next year my daughter Christie leaves home to begin her first graduate position in Mt Isa as a Midwife. As her parents, Leanne and I will miss her dearly and our sense of home will change again. This reminded me that our sense of home is also impacted when someone leaves or is missing. As I reflected on the theme of home, I noticed the theme within the Christmas story for the first time. 

Mary and Joseph were required to return to their hometown for a nationwide census. They crossed the border and needed a place to stay. While Bethlehem was their hometown, it wasn’t their actual home. I doubt Mary would be travelling while heavily pregnant, unless her and Joseph had no choice. They would have stayed home to prepare for the birth, and remained in contact with a midwife! But instead they ended up in an animal stable, giving birth in the straw and using a feeding trough for a cot. 

The Christmas story in year 1, teaches us in the year 2020, that while home maybe a place we long to return to, or get away from, or the dynamics have changed, that it’s actually God’s presence that makes us feel at home. Sometimes it takes being unsettled to realize God is with us wherever we go, and how we can depend on his presence more than our surroundings. Our sense of home changes, but Jesus never does. Immanuel was born outside of a home, but his name means that God is with us. He is our home.     

This weekend over twenty of our teenagers are away from home on camp in Maleny. Bek Trevor couldn’t be more expectant about what God will do. Her own life changed when Jesus spoke to her on a youth camp, and she longs and prays the same will happen for our teenagers. Let’s be praying for Bek and the team, and for Pastor Dave Twigg who comes to speak. And let’s pray for all the precious young lives to encounter the presence of God with them, on this very weekend when they are away from home. 

From 2012 - 2019 The Grove were based in the house at 131, and we met in the school hall for Sunday services. It wasn’t God’s long-term plan for us, but it still felt like home. In 2020 we have been meeting in an office at Bridgeman Downs, and gathering for services in Mitchelton or watching online. Our sense of home as a church has been impacted this year, feeling more disconnected from the community we care about and are called to.   

Yet in this unsettled year, God’s presence has been with us regardless of our location. We are always the church, wherever we go. But perhaps it was important to feel more unsettled this year, to also gain a fuller appreciation of how important home is to the people we are called to reach. Our original call as a church was to resettle abandoned cities (Isa 54:3 MSG). It’s has to be God that the fulfillment of this calling and promise comes in 2021, following the year of greatest unsettling we have seen in our nation. 

131 Upper Kedron Road is the place Jesus chose to make his presence known in our community. Not because a building is able to contain God’s presence, but as a permanent home it stands as an invitation for people to come and belong. As they do come, we believe many people will discover that home isn’t a place, it’s a person, and his name is Jesus. Then they will go out knowing, that wherever life takes them, God is with them always. 

So church we have a calling to see people who feel abandoned and unsettled come home to God. In practical terms, we will use the building for that very purpose. There are many ways we can play a part in inviting people home.

• Letterbox drop a bundle or two of postcards to people’s homes, inviting them to come to Christmas Eve and the new building in 2021.  
• Come and plant trees on December 19 and sign up for the watering roster. Be part of making our spiritual home green and welcoming to everyone.
• We only need to buy another 65 chairs to reach our goal of 420! The chairs are for people to sit on and feel they have come home as they encounter God’s presence.
• Invite a family member or friend to watch or attend Christmas Eve, and to come to church next year. 
• Pray about how you can invest your time, gifts and resources for ministry in our new spiritual home in 2021. 

May you know God’s presence with you today.

Marty

MULLY CHILDREN'S FAMILY

This past Sunday, 8 November 2020, was Orphan Sunday.  Over the years different churches and organisations have used Orphan Sunday to raise awareness and stand up for orphans and children in foster care around the world.  There is probably no group of people more vulnerable than children without the protection of adults.  The Grove feels privileged to support the work of Mully Children’s Family (MCF), an organisation caring for orphans in Kenya.  Check out the attached 4-minute video to hear an update on how MCF is faring during COVID-19 and sharing God’s love in their corner of the world:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OVy9VlYrN9zgZjP_LsbfUQjFZiWElSJd/view?usp=drive_web

WYCLIFFE AUSTRALIA

Wycliffe World Day of Prayer meetings are taking place this weekend. You may be able to attend one of the following:

MANSFIELD (Southern & Eastern Brisbane): Sat 14th Nov, 9am until noon.  Christian Reformed Church,
421 Wishart Rd, Wishart. Hosted by François 0419623397. Numbers not limited. BYO eats. Or join us on zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2897549986  or Meeting ID: 289 754 9986

DECEPTION BAY (North Brisbane): Sat 14th Nov, 9:30 to 1pm. Richard and Linda Buchanan, 37 Leonie Street, Deception Bay. BYO lunch if you wish to continue fellowship. Limited to 20 – call Richard to confirm presence: 0402472786

The Gift of Pain 

Last Monday, our dear sister, Vivienne O'Sullivan went home to be with Jesus. Viv was a woman greatly loved by many, and a common thread in people's comments highlighted she was a compassionate and kind lady who uplifted people around her. No one knows that more than her husband Peter. So we mourn and give thanks for a dear member of our church family, and we pray for God's comfort for Peter and all his family. 

This is not the first time we have been through this as a church, and unfortunately it won't be the last. Over the last eight years we have farewelled five people from our church family who have died earlier than we would have liked. We have been through numerous seasons of mourning together as a result. On top of this is the loss many have experienced in their own families and among their friends. We have experienced a lot of pain as a small community.

As I reflected on this during the week, it occurred to me we have also experienced a powerful unity as a church over the years. It came to me in a fresh way that it's not only our vision to build that has formed this, but also our pain. While we don't choose pain and would prefer not to face loss, when we go through it connected into a community of faith, it deepens relationships and bonds. Maybe that's because pain brings the most important things into perspective, and as a result we tend not to sweat the small stuff. 

I have seen people in our church family experience such deep pain in our journey. Yet I have also seen this deeper love that is shared. An example is Peter O'Sullivan's connect group that includes Ros, Scott and Sandy, all who have experienced the loss of a spouse. These are friends who have not isolated in their pain, but walked together through it.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:3-4 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

It's worth reading the verses that follow to get the full picture, but Paul is writing to the church in Corinth who have suffered. And he is teaching that the suffering is not wasted when we use the comfort we have received from God, to comfort others. Jesus' church is his body, and the body heals itself. Much like a finger that is cut off a hand, if it is sown back on, it heals as the rest of the body's blood flows through it. That is how Jesus designed his church to work, as a comforting and healing body. 

So church family. Thankyou for the unity and love that endures, and the comfort and support that is shared. Thankyou for staying connected when life hurts, and for how God has worked through you to bring comfort and healing to others. We are mourning again, but not without hope and not without comfort. May we soon open the doors of the new building, as a place where many come and experience comfort through Jesus' body, a comfort we learned through painful seasons that has also grown us to love and trust Jesus more. 

In this way pain is a gift. 

Love Marty

 

FROM THE PASTOR

This week it's a joy to have Rev David Elvery coming to preach at our gathered service and live stream. David is the Director of Pastoral Services in our movement. His message on Sunday has formed the theme for week four of our twelve weeks of prayer - think big, start small. Jesus specializes in using the smallest of things, to pull off extraordinary Kingdom movements. All that’s required of us is faith in Jesus, expressed through placing the little we have in his hands. 

As a church we are not newcomers to big challenges that make us feel small. Our call to build was always something of a size, that without God, would be destined to fail. Yet the church have responded much like Joshua and Caleb did in the wilderness. When the other ten spies brought back a report that the giants in the land were too big to overcome, these two said no way, the Lord will give them into our hands. 

Fear can cause you to retreat, or it can motivate you to put your faith in God, and advance.  

David was in a similar position when up against Goliath. The Israelite army were afraid, thinking the giant was too big to bring down. David looked at God, picked up some stones and thought, he is too big to miss! It's always a matter of perspective whether the giant blocks out the sun, or the Son of God overshadows the giants.  

As we move closer to completion day, we could feel pretty small as a church compared to the challenge we are facing. Our debt is growing larger with each drawdown, and will reach $4 million by the end of December. Yet our weekly budget goal of $10,000 is showing a shortfall against our actual 'year to date' weekly giving. 

We also face the challenge of additional costs associated with our sewer line connection. It has been a large battle to gain approval to connect on our neighbouring landfill site, but God is mighty and we praise him for overcoming. However, the conditions of approval have come with some unexpected and unforeseeable costs. 

So with the giants of our budget goal and building completion costs ahead of us, how will we respond? 

First with thanksgiving. We can be so grateful to God for his amazing provision to date. 

We have raised almost $100,000 in addition to the initial $1 million breaking ground goal. Also, in our chair appeal we have bought the first 90 of the 420 chairs we need. God continues to provide beyond our budget giving, and its making a big difference. 

Even this week, someone from outside The Grove bought two chairs. And in the last couple of months, two others who love The Grove and our vision but don’t attend, gave $5,000 to Called to Build. 

The list of God's provision could fill a book, but with these in mind, how will we respond to the challenges ahead? 

As we have in the past, we will not allow fear to make us retreat, but let faith in God motivate us to advance. We might feel small, and wonder what difference each of us can really make? But Jesus is reminding us this weekend that he specialises in doing a lot with a little. Mustard seeds, yeast, loaves and fishes become large trees, and enough food for big crowds. Our call is to simply respond to what the Lord calls each of us to do. May we all pray and ask God what part he wants us to play.

I am so grateful to God for the faith of the body of Christ at The Grove. For all the Joshua’s and Caleb’s and Esther’s, who have not shrunk back in fear, but have embraced the challenges and ran into the battle. Who have been prepared to sacrifice much for the sake of Jesus and his Kingdom advancement. What a privilege this is to stand together, shoulder to shoulder, unified in faith and calling. To love and worship our great risen King. And to soon experience the unspeakable joy of witnessing the awesome work Jesus is about to do.

Faith and courage everyone, because our mighty God is with us, and for us, and is building his church. 

God bless you!

Marty

Our vision at Mainly Music each week is “to make Jesus visible – through our lives, through our words, through our actions, through our prayers. We seek to build deliberate friendships with families who attend.”  Over the past 5 years we’ve had over 70 families from the community and church come through the Mainly Music doors. Some have stayed only a short time, and some have been with us since the beginning as they continue with their third child!

We are in the ministry of sowing God-seeds and it’s been exciting to see what God it doing with those seeds years down the track. One of our team members has been accosted by a Ferny Grove High student who saw the Mainly Music shirt and remembered with fondness when she went to a Mainly Music at another church when she was young. Some of our Mainly Music kids are now coming to Grove Kids. We’ve had families come to church and our Christmas and Easter events and it’s wonderful to catch up with past Mainly music kids at our local Pancake Breakky.

God has blessed us with such amazing provision over these past 5 years – free child-proof fencing; a grant to buy a play fort; low-cost room hire at the Bowls Club when we’ve had to move; a matching low-cost hall hire at the Community Hall due to Covid room allowances. We’ve also been blessed with an amazing team – gifted people have come on board the team throughout these past 5 years just in the right season. He has truly provided everything we have needed.

We look forward to seeing what God has in store for Mainly Music in the new building. Our current families keep asking for building updates and are just as excited for the new building as we are!

It’s been a wonderful journey these past 5 years. On behalf of the current Mainly Music team – Kate Robson, Katherine Johansen, Glenys Reid and Jenny Wong we truly do ‘give thanks to our Lord with all our hears and tell of His wonderful deeds!’