Ephesians 6:10-24 in the NRSV, the translation of the Bible we use in church.
A directory of resources on Ephesians 6:10-20
Ian’s sermon:
Ian’s front page essay:
Hello and Goodbye
At All Saints we seem to always be saying “hello” and in the next breath “goodbye”. We do this again this weekend as we say “Hello” to the Ruth, Esther, Hannah, Olwyn and Jon Cox and say a sad goodbye to Daniel, Linda and Simon Platt.
The Cox family have come among us to serve Christ and us as we serve them. The Platts have served Christ and us and we pray that we have served them well. Notice the common theme in my last sentence – serve. Chruch is not a passive place where we just sit and listen/pray/fall asleep and then go home, church is about being there, participation, involvement and the Platts, as a family have certainly been active participants at All Saints at many levels and many ways. They will be missed, as you have felt the loss of others leaving.
But please don’t give up on saying ‘hello’ to new people and forming meaningful relationships with new people even though, more than likely, they will leave All Saints at some stage for forming meaningful relationships is part of serving.
We have a God who is powerful and loving and so will look after the Platts and All Saints’ members wherever they/we are in the world. God is working out his purposes for his people in Christ including the Platts, the Coxs and All Saints and so we can entrust those who leave us to him.
Saying ‘goodbye’ is hard. BUT saying ‘hello’ is great. We get to meet lovely people and that is who we meet as we get to know Jon, Olwyn, Hannah, Esther and Ruth better. They come to All Saints with call to serve with us in the work of the gospel in Indonesia and beyond.
Please this weekend say “hello” to someone you don’t know, say “hello” to one of the Cox family and say “goodbye” to someone who is leaving soon, say “goodbye” and “God bless you” to the Platt family.
