As you pray -10 January 2009

My dear friends

We thank the Lord again that Onkel Friedel and Tante Rita are back safely from Europe. Dare we take safe travelling mercies for granted? Dare we take for granted the golden opportunities of ministry with Onkel Friedel and Tante Rita, in South Africa, Europe and beyond? We thank God and commit them further into His care.

Last Sunday Ross and Margot Brownrigg came by to sing for us. We had precious moments. May the Lord keep blessing their singing ministry together with their daughter and son-in-law, Shelah and Louis Engelbrecht. The last song the Brownriggs sang stayed with me,

"Who am I that the King should bleed and die for?

For pro-lifers in South Africa Sanctity Life Sunday this year falls on 1 February. By now, preparations for events at various centres have already started.

CFT member Nina McNeil is leading the initiative by pro-life groups and churches that are organising a Life Chain at Ballito for Sunday afternoon, 1 February. They will value your prayers.

Mario Rocha left for Mozambique again on Thursday. He hopes to assist in getting the last obstacles out of the way for the opening of DFL's Zavora Clinic. He requests our prayers.

In a traditional Zulu wedding clear lines are drawn between the bridal procession 'umthimba' and the bridegroom's 'ikhetho.' The two sides compete in singing and dancing; the spectators judge their performance.

Now, at Hendrik Combrink and Sharon Stegen's wedding tomorrow which procession would I join?

I count it a privilege that I am part of the Stegen family for almost forty years now. On the other hand the Combrinks, whom I got to know much later, will tell you how close we have become over the years.

So, I can honestly say that I belong to both processions. Ultimately, this all boils down to the precious tie that binds us together as God's children.

"Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above."

It is from the heart that I sing the song,

"I love this family of God."'

A New Way of Living

Sarah Jo Sarchet is a Presbyterian pastor in Chicago. A 10 year-old boy in her congregation named Cameron, walked into her office and said he needed to talk to her. Fresh from soccer practice, and wearing his Cincinnati Reds baseball cap, he had a request for her. "I'd like to be baptized," he said. "We were learning about Jesus' baptism in Sunday School. The teacher asked the class who was baptized, and all the other kids raised their hands. I want to be baptized too."

Using her best pastoral care tone of voice, she said, "Cameron, do you really want to be baptized because everyone else is?" His freckles winked up at her and he replied, "No. I want to be baptized because it means I belong to God."

She was touched by his understanding. "Well, then," she said, "How about this Sunday?" His smile turned to concern and he asked, "Do I have to be baptized in front of all those people in the church? Can't I just have a friend baptize me in the river?" She asked where he came up with that idea. "Well, Jesus was baptized by his cousin John in a river, wasn't he?"

Caught off guard, she conceded, "You have a point. But, if a friend baptized you in the river, how would the church recognize it?" Realizing this was a teachable moment, she climbed up on her foot stool to reach for her Presbyterian Book of Order that was located on the highest shelf. But before she placed her hand on the book, he responded.

"I guess by my new way of living" he said.

She nearly fell off the foot stool and left the Book of Order on the shelf. Cameron's understanding was neither childish nor simple. It was profound. Baptism calls us to a new way of living.

From a sermon by Sarah Jo Sarchet preached at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago

Have a blessed weekend.

Pressing on!

In His love

Fano Sibisi