Reflections on the move into the new auditorium

Reflections on the move
into the new auditorium
at the Mt. Martha Centre

In an earlier blog I reflected on the constancy of change.  The Greek Philosopher Heraclitus, some 2500 years ago, coined the phrase “nothing is constant except change”.  Author Alvin Toffler, in the 1970s, wrote the book “Future Shock”.  In the book he postulated that the generation then living had experienced more change than the previous 899 generations that had lived, up to that point in the world’s history.  When you think about it, history is change.

Our Mt. Martha Centre morning congregations face a significant change as they move into the new auditorium in October.  Two congregations worshipping as one.  A new time for the start of the service. Other changes resulting from this significant change.
                                                                                                                                                                          In the lead up to the recent Special Church meeting, at which there was a report on the new worship arrangements, Pastor Duncan asked me to present a reflection on the move into the new auditorium.

At the time I happened to be reading a book entitled  “Ä Little History of the World” , written by a German author E.H. Gombrich.  In reflecting on history and memory, in a chapter entitled “Once Upon a Time”, the Author uses two metaphors:
(i) a shaft representing history; and
(ii) a lighted taper representing memory.
The taper is lit and dropped down the shaft.  For a start the taper is clearly visible  and the
light is clearly reflected on the walls of the shaft, representing the memory of significant
events, people etc.  As the taper spirals further down the shaft both the light and the reflections
gradually diminish until the reflected light on the walls of the shaft virtually disappears and the
light of the burning taper is barely visible.

So,, in looking back on world history, we can say: “once upon a time……”.

History, change and New Peninsula

There is a difference in applying the metaphors to the history of New Peninsula – our history as a church is not long enough for the light of memory to diminish to the point of obscurity.  But we can still say “once upon a time…..” as we look back on a relatively short history as a church.

• Once upon a time some Christians in Mornington and Rosebud decided to start a Baptist fellowship;
• Once upon a time each fellowship bought land and  built facilities;
• Once upon a time (in 1998) MBC sold their Moomba Street property, in faith, without knowing their future property location;
• Once upon a time MBC bought the Craigie Road facility and moved in (in 2000).
• Once upon a time (in 2006) the two churches united, as one church.

When we reflect on that short history, we can be thankful that the fellowships, when they were constituted as churches, did not include a clause in their Constitutions specifying that, under no circumstances, was anything allowed to change!

Fifty years from now the future generation of New Peninsula Members will look back on our church’s history.  The “history shaft” will be twice as deep as it is now.  As the lighted taper of memory spirals past the year 2012, what will be the “memory reflection” on the walls of the shaft?
Will it be a reflection of a picture of a positive, vibrant, faith-filled response to the continuing change and development as God leads us into His planned future for us, as a church?  Or will the reflection be a picture of negativity and fear of change, with an expressed desire that everything should remain the same, as we individually prefer it?  I trust that it will be the former, positive, response.

What keeps us stable in our commitment to our local church?

Pastor Duncan also asked me to reflect on the things that have enabled Sylvia and me to remain stable and committed as we have served as Members in nine churches, as we have moved geographically from place to place.  Some things emerged from the process of reflection.  We have consistently had:

• a love for God’s universal church;
• a  love for each local church in which we’ve served, as the particular localized expression of God’s universal church;
• a  love for the people, particularly those with whom we associate most;
• a  love of the ministries of each church;
• a strong sense that our local church membership is a significant part of God’s will, and call to serve Him.

Wilbur Ratcliff, the Treasurer of the Hughes Baptist Church, in Canberra, where we were Members for 14 years, had a way of saying that our commitment to our local church was like the commitment made in marriage – for better or for worse.  In which ever local church we worship and serve there will be the things we like (the “better” …and the majority!) and the things we don’t like (the “worse”) .  Change churches and all you’ll do is change the mix!

May we be a people who celebrate change, as God leads us forward into the future He has planned for us as a church, and who remain stable in our individual commitment to New Peninsula, the local expression of His universal church, into which He has called us to worship and to serve.

Brian GOOD
August 25th, 2012

The hope that is within us (May 2012)

One dictionary definition of “hope” is “what one expects”. Today’s usually-understood definition of the word, however, is not as certain as this definition, which should be the expectation of Christians.There are more than 350 seniors in New Peninsula – around 40% of our Church Directory numbers – and a substantial proportion of these are 80plus years of age. So we have plenty of experience, in our Church, individually and collectively, of dealing with the vicissitudes that we experience in the later years of life. In this reflection I’d like to focus on hope, one of those certain expectations that will give us a good and hopeful perspective, as Christians, as we move inexorably towards the end of this earthly life.

In April 1948 I attended a church service in Oakleigh Methodist Church, one of a class taken there by a wonderful Sunday School teacher, Bert Bache. An American Evangelist, Hyman Appleman, was the preacher. That day I made a personal commitment to Christ. A week after I made that commitment, Bert took his Sunday School class to a Sunday evening church service at Brunswick Street Methodist Mission, where Pastor Walter Betts was the Missioner. An evangelistic organization called Open Air Campaigners (now OAC (standing for Outreach and Church Ministries), formed in NSW in 1890, was commencing its work in Victoria. There was a call for volunteers to become part of the new outreach ministry. As a young Christian, I decided it was a good opportunity to get involved, and express my new-found faith in service. So I became a voluntary worker in OAC.
One of the early activities of OAC was to conduct a a three-hour open air meeting, every Sunday evening, on the corner of Bourke and Russell Streets, in Melbourne. During those meetings we often sang a chorus, the words of which I still remember:
Some think so, some hope so, some trust so, some guess so,
But I know, I know, I am saved.
Some think they’ll reach heaven, reach heaven at last,
But I know, I know, I am saved.
For I’ve opened my heart’s door and Christ has come in,
And I know that He saves me and keeps me from sin,
And the Spirit Himself beareth witness within,
For I know, I know I am saved.

The regular singing of this chorus imbued in me, in the early days of learning my new-found faith, a deep sense of the hope that should be the expectation of every Christian, as we are told by the writer to the Hebrews when he said: “This certain hope of being saved is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls, connecting us with God Himself, behind the sacred curtain of heaven” (Living Bible). The Apostle Peter also speaks to us of hope, when he says, in 1 Peter 3:15: “Sanctify the Lord in your hearts, and always be ready to give an answer, to every person that asks you, a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” (KJV). When he was President of World Vision, Tom Houston had this to say: “The worth of the Bible will be startlingly evident when those who speak about it are the most hopeful people in the eyes of the world”.

May that old saying “hope springs eternal” encourage and motivate us, as seniors, for whatever time we have left in life on earth, as we look forward, with hope, to life in the presence of God, in eternity.

Blessings & shalom
Brian