Psalm 103

Our church lost two heroes this year. Chad Wescher was a deacon and a 34 year old father of three small children. Long term disease took his life. Dot Tropiano’s three children are a bit older. Her brave struggle required wrestling against cancer. To have known either of these warriors was to know a hero.

Virtually Alone? by WRF Member Leah Farish, MA, JD

Occasionally I have the privilege of surveying church congregations to find out how to improve ministry.  In surveying the women of a PCA church recently, I felt the most intriguing response was the answer to this question:

In his book The Presbyterian Way of Life, published in 1960, John A Mackay described Presbyterians as ‘a theologically minded people’ (p 34).  For Presbyterians and all Reformed Christians, theology addresses the human mind.  But Calvin’s crest testifies that Reformed Christians also experience theology as energising the heart. 

WRF members know why this is a special year: It’s the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s nailing of the 95 Theses to the Wittenberg church door.  This milestone offers Reformed congregations around the world a chance to shine a spotlight on the grace of God and the value of reading the Bible.  

Lord, Grant Us Your Salvation

Psalm 85 is tailor-made for prayers on behalf of the various nations represented in the World Reformed Fellowship.  It is a heartfelt prayer for a nation – specifically for the nation of Israel in the aftermath of returning from Babylonian exile.  Yet the psalm is general enough for the people of God to pray it in all ages and on behalf any nation.  In many ways it’s a remarkable fit for ANY nation today and offers us a great prayer template.

What does Jesus mean to you?

I have heard people in Africa say: “Oh. He is our first Ancestor. Thus he is very far. You cannot approach him or talk to him. He is not really concerned about us.”

I belong to a very ordinary Australian family, albeit with two obvious differences. First, compared with the stereotypical sports-loving, tough Aussie, some of us are quite weak and physically frail, thanks to a mutant gene. Second, my family has resisted the secularism that is a dominant feature of modern Australian life.

"But how insensible and unmoved are most men, about the great things of another world! How dull are their affections! How heavy and hard their hearts in these matters! Here their love is cold, their desires languid, their zeal low, and their gratitude small.

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We need to learn and grow from God’s Word. As that happens our faith will be active in our lives. But it isn’t easy for that to happen. Our Bible reading and meditation are becoming less and less important to us. We hear too many sermons that only describe the gospel and do not bring it home in our lives.

The Problem: Once children pass the Sunday school age of about twelve, little by little they trickle away from the church. Pressures from the world mount up, including tuition classes to excel in studies and night courses to move up in the career ladder and financial income.

As Christian believers we share together the one Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit’s ministry in bringing Jesus into our lives today—but where each one of us is in life very different. We have differing challenges, many so deep that we have to rethink and re-evaluate just what our faith means to us now. Unity with diversity, that’s more than a philosophical or social concern, that’s where we are in our Christian faith.

 It is always challenging to approach a new year and to realize again and afresh that our days upon this earth are so rapidly passing. Here is the full text of Dr. Buys' 2016 New Year's sermon: