The evening gathering concludes its look at the end times with an overview of the book of Revelation. We will be thinking about themes of transcendence, standing up to the dominant powers and, above all, hope. (It would be helpful if you read it before church!)

The evening gathering looks at (wait for it!) Intertestamental Pseudopigraphal Apocalpyses. And I may even have spelled the words correctly! We’ll be thinking about movies and books that portray a view of the future that motivates us to act to prevent that Dystopian vision. We’ll be using a clip from GATTACA.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be thinking about Apocalyptic and the Bible, The End Times and other such related areas… We’ll be using contemporary depictions in movies, pictures and songs.

Sunday 22nd April – The Day of the Lord

This is a common theme in late OT prophecy and in the NT. We’ll start by looking at contemporary depictions of the end of the world in movies, and will start off with (obviously enough!) 2012!

Sunday 29th April – Heaven (Community Meal)

There are few descriptions of what happens after… but in Isaiah 25:6-9 there is a depiction of a great feast. So we’ll be worshipping at the St Columba Centre with a community meal. Please bring along some food to share, and we’ll celebrate communion.

Sunday 6th May – Apocalyptic Literature

There are other ‘apocalyptic’ works in existence, a few little pieces in the bible, but most of them are between the Testaments. The books of Enoch and various Apocalypses attributed to OT figures were all written 2000 years ago. We’ll have a look at the strangeness, because if we are to any hope with Revelation we need to know what went before

Sunday 13th May – Symbolism

There are some people who claim to treat the Bible as literal, including the Book of Revelation. This seems incredible and is not backed up by their interpretations. They do not believe in a literal beast with ten heads, rather they believe that it refers symbolically to something else. So we’ll look at the use of symbols.

Sunday 20th May – Revelation

We finish this series by having a quick look at the Book of Revelation itself – what does it say and why is it helpful to day.

We have two services each Sunday. We have a traditional gathering at 9.15am, which has a sermon and a variety of music. There is a usually a children’s talk. The service is followed by morning tea. The evening gathering starts at 6.30pm, and is focussed on young families. It is quite a noisy service! There is usually a children’s activity for those between aged 4 up to year 6.

So what were the outcomes from the meeting?

• The Council determined to not pursue a preschool at the Fisher Street site for the foreseeable future.  It was acknowledged that this was part of our mission plan as determined several years back, however given the uncertainty in gaining DA approval with the preschool included, coupled with the high cost of development and no obvious source for funding, it would not be the best stewardship of our resources.  Thus the preschool will continue to operate from the St Columba centre.  This was acknowledged as being a disappointing outcome, but the most responsible way forward.
• Further it was decided to work with the current plans for the church and hall, but modify as appropriate to achieve the same objectives in a more economical way.  This comes about from a need to improve accessibility of the current buildings for some of our congregation.  There is a strong desire to minimise any debt that may occur to a responsible level to not burden future generations.  There is also a desire to minimise further delays in timing.
• The large amount of work the redevelopment committee has conducted was acknowledged.  The same committee remains passionate to achieve an appropriate outcome for the current and immediate future needs of the congregation, in as quick a time as possible.
• A Project Funding committee will meet to discuss funding sources – possibly a building fund, community/government funding, or other sources.

This was a positive meeting in working together to follow Jesus in sharing life’s journey with faith, hope and love.  Thank you for your ongoing prayers and support of the Church Council.