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Moving Forward Together - Devotion 9

16/5/2022

Devotion 9

Romans 12: 3-5
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.

Today's thought from NT Wright

Paul wants all Christians to have their mind renewed, so that they can think in a different way. We all face many challenges... It won’t do simply to go into autopilot and hope to get through somehow. ... that requires careful and disciplined thought in this new mode, probably over some time. We have to be able to think about what to do – what to do with our whole lives, and what to do in the sudden crisis that faces us in this very minute. Being trained to think “Christianly” is the necessary antidote to what will otherwise happen: being, as Paul says, “squeezed into the shape dictated by the present age.”

Lord Jesus, may I be a vessel of God’s grace given by the work of your power.
To you be glory in my life, in the church and in Christ Jesus, to all generations,
forever and ever. Amen.” (adapted from Ephesians 3: 7, 20)

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Moving Forward Together - Devotion 8

15/5/2022

Devotion 8

Colossians 3: 12-17
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful.

Inspired by Desmond Tutu

Ubuntu is a highly sought-after attribute meaning someone who is generous, magnanimous, hospitable, welcoming, affirming of others. It’s a Southern African word which could easily be applied to Nelson Mandela, who emerged from 27 years’ incarceration preaching forgiveness and reconciliation.
Throughout the rest of his life, he exemplified graciousness, concern and caring. And it’s that care for others - that none of us can be totally selfsufficient - that points us back to the second creation story in Genesis when God declares that it’s not good that man should be alone. We are made for togetherness, created for a deliberate network of interdependence, of complementarity, of family - the human family, God’s family. It was Martin Luther King who said: ‘Unless we learn to live together as brothers and sisters, we will perish together as fools!’

Lord Jesus, may I be a vessel of God’s grace given by the work of your power.
To you be glory in my life, in the church and in Christ Jesus, to all generations,
forever and ever. Amen.” (adapted from Ephesians 3: 7, 20)

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Moving Forward Together - Devotion 7

14/5/2022

Devotion 7

Ephesians 4: 22-32
.. be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbours, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

Todays' thought from Nadia Bolz- Weber

My spirituality is most active when:
I am confronted by the mercy of the gospel so much that I cannot hate my enemies, and when I am unable to judge the sin of someone else (which, let’s be honest, I love to do) because my own crap is too much in the way, and when I have to bear witness to another human being’s suffering despite my desire to be left alone, and when I am forgiven by someone even though I don’t deserve it and my forgiver does this because he, too, is trapped by the gospel, and when traumatic things happen in the world and I have nowhere to place them or make sense of them but what I do have is a group of people who gather with me every week, people who will mourn and pray with me, and when I end up
changed by loving someone I’d never choose whom God sends my way to teach me about God’s love.

Lord Jesus, may I be a vessel of God’s grace given by the work of your power.
To you be glory in my life, in the church and in Christ Jesus, to all generations,
forever and ever. Amen.” (adapted from Ephesians 3: 7, 20)

devotion_7.pdf
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Pew News

13/5/2022

05_pew_sheet_15th_may_2022.pdf
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Solid Rock

13/5/2022

Moving Forward Together - Devotion 6

13/5/2022

Devotion 6

Mark 11: 20-25
Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”

Today's thought from Tim Keller

The gospel calls us to keep an equal concern (a) to speak the truth and honor what is right, yet (b) to be endlessly forgiving as we do so and (c) to never give up on the goal of a reconciled, warm relationship.
First, God requires forgiveness whether or not the offender has repented and has asked for forgiveness. This does not say “forgive him if he repents” but rather “forgive him right there—as you are praying.”
Second, God requires speaking the truth. We must completely surrender the right to pay back or get even, yet at the same time we must never overlook injustice and must require serious wrongdoings to be redressed.
This is almost the very opposite of how we ordinarily operate... we are to speak openly about what has happened with a desire to help.

Lord Jesus, may I be a vessel of God’s grace given by the work of your power.
To you be glory in my life, in the church and in Christ Jesus, to all generations,
forever and ever. Amen.” (adapted from Ephesians 3: 7, 20)

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Moving Forward Together - Devotion 5

12/5/2022

Devotion 5

Taken from Jesus' parable in Matthew 18: 23-35 v28: But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?

Today's thought from Tim Keller

Christians inwardly give up the desire to get even. To forgive is to give the perpetrator a gift they do not in any way deserve. While the perpetrator has been sinfully unfair to you, now you are mercifully unfair to them. You give them something not fair—it is better than fair. It is mercy. This “attitudinal forgiveness” is something you can do whether or not they have repented. It is a promise not to constantly bring the wrong up to others, to yourself internally, or to the perpetrator for the purpose of payback. It is a commitment to refrain from nursing your grudge and rooting for the person’s unhappiness. It is something you can do regardless of the behaviour of the perpetrator, for it is done in and from the heart.

Lord Jesus, may I be a vessel of God’s grace given by the work of your power.
To you be glory in my life, in the church and in Christ Jesus, to all generations,
forever and ever. Amen.” (adapted from Ephesians 3: 7, 20)

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Pentecost Lunch and celebration

11/5/2022

For catering purposes please visit https://nativityblenheim.breezechms.com/form/pentecost

Children and Youth Ministry at Nativity!

11/5/2022

It was so great to kick off our children and youth ministry again this Sunday after the time away. Thanks to the team – the kids had a great time.”

Chalk art from our youth, Mothers' day freeze and surprise team drawings by the Nativity Kids!

Moving Forward Together - Devotion 4

11/5/2022

Devotion 4

2 Corinthians 5:16-21
From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So, if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.
So, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

Today's thought from Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“Those who follow Jesus’ commandment entirely, who let Jesus’ yoke rest on them without resistance, will find the burden they must bear to be light. In the gentle pressure of this yoke they will receive the strength to walk the right path without becoming weary.…Where will the call to discipleship lead those who follow it? What decisions and painful separations will it entail? We must take this question to him who alone knows the answer. Only Jesus Christ, who bids us follow him, knows where the path will lead. But we know that it will be a path full of mercy beyond measure. Discipleship is joy.”

Lord Jesus, may I be a vessel of God’s grace given by the work of your power.
To you be glory in my life, in the church and in Christ Jesus, to all generations,
forever and ever. Amen.” (adapted from Ephesians 3: 7, 20)

devotion_4.pdf
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