‘I am doing a new thing, let my people rejoice’ – this is the first line of a song we are singing quite a lot at the 9.30 service in January, which seems to fit the mood as we settle in to routine after the Christmas celebrations. God with us, Emmanuel, the Christ child, was the fulfilment of our longings of Advent (the start of the Christian year, back in November). During the present season of Epiphany we have been learning more about the life and ministry of Jesus and how this impacts us here and now. Meeting Jesus involves change – the Wise Men travelled a long way to worship the new king, Peter, Andrew, James and John all left their families and their jobs to follow Jesus. We are called to repent, believe and follow, and the gospel of Mark makes it clear that there is no time to waste. We must live like it matters, now. On Sunday 4th February we will have an opportunity to renew our Covenant with God at all our Sunday services, where we will also share in Communion.

How has this season challenged you? How are you responding to God’s call on your life to participate in God’s work? Are you approaching the ‘new things’ of God with joy or anxiety?

At St Mark’s there is no shortage of ‘new things’ on the go! You will notice two new Society Stewards serving our congregation (Leah de Jager and Sue Ann van Niekerk), and we are looking forward to welcoming to the staff Richard van Schalkwyk as Families Pastoral worker from the beginning of February. Kids’ Church has a new leader in Andre de Jager, and a wonderful team of volunteers are using their gifts to bless our youngest, most important members. To all the people who have filled in Connection Cards at the Info Desk at Sunday services – Welcome to St Mark’s! Look out for your invitation to join James and the leaders for pudding and coffee soon. (But in the meantime, save the date: 22nd Feb!)

We began the year in prayer, with our first Prayer-feast on Saturday the 13th January. The theme was Dreams and Longings and we distilled our prayers down to simple words in four categories: myself, my family/friends/colleagues, my church and my country. It was beautiful to hear the words that we lifted to the heart of God around the breakfast table. These Prayer-feasts will take different forms but are going to be a regular occurrence this year as we bring our lives and world to God in prayer.

You may have seen the big red Alpha banner on the side of the church and are hopefully considering joining us on Tuesday evenings from the 27th February as we explore issues of faith together. Invite a friend, and bring your children – there will be supper, and childcare is available while the grown-ups are busy in the sessions. You can sign up via the website. And speaking of the website, it has had a facelift and is where you will find current news and happenings at St Mark’s. You can listen to Sunday’s sermon if you miss out or want to share it with someone else – it is usually uploaded by Tuesday afternoon.

God’s love has reached out to us and God’s love reaches out through us. God is doing a new thing – let’s join in!

Photo by Vladislav Klapin on Unsplash (Hello)