On Sunday 30th August at 9am, we will be looking at one of the 'Parables of Luke', a series that our sisters and brothers at South East Bendigo Parish are following at the moment.
The reading will be Luke 13:28-31, and I'm sure you will be familiar with it... the mustard seed grows into a great tree. The yeast leavens a whole measure of flour. What is the point? The comparison....
Jesus introduced these two illustrations with these words: "With what can I compare the kingdom of God?"

The kingdom looks humble, weak, even worthless from our perspective. Just like a tiny mustard seed amongst a thousand others in a bag. Just like a tiny ball of inert yeast in its container. But when they are given life, watch them work!
So too is the kingdom of God - it is living and vibrant, as yet unseen to the inhabitants of this world, and yet will be fully realised and known in power on the Day it is revealed to all people who have ever lived - the Day of the Lord.

Maranatha (Come, Lord Jesus!).

"Never stop asking questions". It's one of my (Steve) favourite sayings. Too often we are told to stop asking questions, to be quiet, or "that's a stupid question".

On Sunday 16th August, Karen is leading the service and the reading is quite confronting (John 6:51-59).  It leads to some serious questions about who Jesus said He was and is, what life truly is and how we are then to live. In fact, the following passage (John 6:60-69 which we will look at on August 23rd) reveals the offense taken and the division amongst His followers after He said these things.

The 'sermon' will be more informal and hard questions will be asked. There will be an opportunity for congregational members to write down and submit some of their own 'hard questions'. Often these hard questions have hard answers, other times they are simply misunderstandings or lack of knowledge. Therefore we will take up these questions, give them some serious consideration and seek to provide some thoughts, possibly even answers, in the coming months. We will advertise when these "answer" services will be on.

But I repeat - never stop asking questions. As soon as we lose the desire to know, to learn, to grow, we begin to die. And Jesus has died and rose again so that we may have life, and life to the full (John 6:63).