Come and join us on Friday night for Youth groups when they begin on 10 February 2012.

Fixes meets at 6.30-8pm for those in year 5 & 6.

Impact meets at 7-9pm for those in year 7-12.

See you there.

Sometimes in this world we can think that God is not in control of all things.  Psalm 2 reminds us that the Lord sees everything that goes on in our world and that we should serve the Lord and take refuge in him.  It can be easy to be discouraged by the circumstances of life but we must remember that God is powerful and loving and that he longs for us to trust in him and flee to him particularly when things may be hard.  We must also encourage and support those who find themselves in hard times as God uses his people to bring comfort to others.  May we look to God’s Son Jesus and trust in him and not be controlled by our current circumstances only.  God is with us whatever we may be going through.

Colin Watson

Giving praise to people comes easily for some people and not so easily for others.  Psalm 145 sees David giving praise to God his King.  He says, “Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom”.  David continues to speak of the attributes of God that means that we can trust him at all times and should also take time to give him thanks and praise.  David says, “The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.”  So much of this Psalm recognizes what God is like and I commend it to your reading.  Hopefully it will lead you to vs.21 that says “My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord.  Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever.”

Colin Watson

If you could have anything at all what would it be?
Did you think of a thing, a person or a feeling? That is, would you want something that money could buy or would you want a relationship
restored? Or would you just like to feel better or less tired? While we may have a number of things that would make us feel better, God actually knows what it is that we need the most. It is being in relationship with him. He makes this possible by sending Jesus into our world and Christmas is the time we celebrate this fact.
What’s the problem?
Someone once answered the question of what’s wrong with the world with the words, “I am”. We like to blame everyone else for the problems in the world but the truth is that we are all responsible for not living the way that God wants us to. We have all ignored him and wanted to live our lives our own way and not his. The Bible calls that sin and so when the little girl on Santa’s knee on the back of this card asks for the taking away of the sins of the world that is exactly what God gives to us at Christmas time.
What’s the solution?
Jesus Christ came into our world to die for us on the cross and to take the penalty that we deserve for our sins. In Luke’s Gospel we are told the story of the angel going to the shepherds to tell them of the birth of Jesus, but more importantly he tells them who Jesus was and what he came to do. This is what the passage says:

But the angel said to the shepherds, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. Luke 2:10-11

A Saviour is someone who saves people. Jesus saves us from our sins and the Bible says that when we put our faith and trust in Jesus we are assured of eternal life. This Christmas we would love you to join us at one of our Christmas services. Last year we started two new Family Carols services on Christmas Eve at 5.00pm and 6.30pm. They were very popular with families so we have decided to repeat those services again and hope that you and your family may be able to join us then or at one of the other services that we will be holding at St Stephen’s. We look forward to seeing you this Christmas to celebrate Jesus coming into our world, the one who takes away the sins of the world.
Colin Watson, Rector

It has been heartening to read that a lot of the requests from the recent feedback forms from our four services is the desire to mix a little more with each other. The 90th Anniversary service we had last year was a great time to achieve that purpose and the picnic at Ruddock Park next Sunday is an opportunity for members of the four services to again meet together. We have booked the oval and ask you to bring something to sit on and some shade as hopefully the sun will be shining on us that day. There will be games for the children to enjoy so please come and share this time together and get to know some of the people who call St Stephen’s their home but just might attend a different service to the one you usually come to.  Colin Watson