TO OUR BROOKLYN FAMILY

It gives us great joy at this Christmas-tide to wish you the whole parcel of gifts wrapped up in the Christ’s birth- the gifts of joy, hope, peace and goodwill. We have been truly blessed in our fellowship with you in this first year at Brooklyn and sincerely thank you for that. We are on a much anticipated break and will be back to share with you in our Christmas celebrations on Christmas Day.

We look forward to the New Year, to new beginnings, to journeying further along the road of faith and discipleship with you, as our Lord and God continues to make all things new.

May our Lord bless you and yours this Christmas.

With much love

Gary, Gail & family

Firstly, thank you all for the kind thoughts and for blessing us on Sunday. We are deeply privileged to be able to continue in ministry and we see it all as pure gift at this stage of our journey. We would like to share this advent thought with you this week.

There is a momentum in the air.   The nearer we get to the Holy day of Christ’s birth, the more we seem to scurry around with an unending list of things to do. TAKE A DEEP BREATH.  Some of those things are inconsequential and perhaps even unnecessary.   Take a pen and delete the unimportant.   Focus on the essentials of this holy season.

Mary and Joseph had to discard the things that did not matter, such as weariness from a long journey, the lateness of the hour and the lack of accommodation.   They had one single focus – the birth.   Let us not lose the blessing because we allowed ourselves to be caught up in the bewildered current of meaningless rush around us.   Come to the crib with a tranquil heart.

Peace to you all,

Paul and Lesley

The month of Christmas has arrived!  The following 3 weeks offer us the wonderful opportunity to prepare ourselves for this greatest of all celebrations, the Christ Mass – Immanuel, “God with us”!

We were blessed with a beautiful wedding last Saturday – everything, including the weather, was perfect.  Peter and Dom made a lovely couple and the ceremony was deeply significant for them.  They are currently honeymooning at a Mozambiquan coastal resort.   Thank you for all the expressions of interest and good wishes.

What a thoroughly heart-warming Carols evening we enjoyed together last Sunday – the ambience, the music, the eats and fellowship afterwards, even Father Christmas! – everything went off fantastically.  Furthermore, a generous offering, which was dedicated to Bramley House, was received.  Thank you to Taiki and many others who made this such a significant community event.

Today we formally express our gratitude and say farewell to Paul and Lesley after more than a decade of loving and faithful service, Paul on several occasions after his retirement stepping into the breach.  I am personally very grateful to Paul and thank him for his loyal, generous support and ministry in this past year and wish him God’s blessings in his work at East View.  We will still be in touch in terms of our Brooklyn arrangement with Paul for 2012.

Please notice the “extreme makeover” to our Pastoral Centre – and thank you to Joe Brown and others in this regard.

Gail and I are grateful to be away on annual leave from 9^th to 23^rd December, back in time for our Christmas Day services and look forward to celebrating with you there.

‘til then, Gary

What is it about the festive season that makes it one of the greatest times of year for some and one of the most dreaded times of year for others?  Sometimes the painful part of Christmas is knowing that our relationships are not what they should be and maybe even that we are not where we should be, either in terms of our familial relationships or our relationship with God.

I know what you’re thinking, what a sombre note to start a pastoral page with, but the wonderful thing about this time of year is that it reminds us that God did not leave us to our brokenness and our sad state, He sent His Son; and Isaiah 9:6 says:  “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Most of us have visited a Counsellor or a Psychologist when we’ve found that life is a little too much for us to cope with or to get us over a hurdle that looks too big for us to handle ourselves.  This scripture tells us that Jesus has come to be our “Wonderful Counsellor”.

Let’s all celebrate the coming of our Wonderful Counsellor, our Friend and our King this festive season and make Him the focus of the Season.  And as we do this we might find our Counsellor is healing some of the hurts, giving us courage to forgive or ask for forgiveness and is giving us the strength to make it over the hurdles that face us this Christmas.

Many Blessings,

Taiki

Greetings!!

I am this week going to use this page to bring folk up to date on our family news – it’s been a  hectic year of diverse events and emotions, and it aint finished yet!

On Saturday, 26^th November, our son Peter will be marrying his beloved Dominique (Dom) Davis at a lovely venue in Muldersdrift – Dad has the honour of conducting the ceremony.  We are very blessed to be welcoming Dom into our growing family.  Peter and Dom will be setting up home in Morningside, Johannesburg, the vicinity in which they both will be working next year.  An exciting new beginning in life!

Our eldest son, Jonathan, his wife Beverley and two babies should have arrived from London for the wedding by the time you read this.  We will be meeting baby Joshua, all of 5 or so weeks old, for the very first time!

My Dad, Raymond, who had a 3 month stay with us, is spending some time back in Richards Bay and will also be up here for the wedding and then going on to his brother’s, outside of Polokwane, for a stay up until just before Christmas.

Andrew, having completed his chemo-therapy returned to work probably nearly 3 months ago, and is doing well.  He goes for a check-up scan later this month.  His and Candice’s baby Amelia is about 7 weeks old and is coming along well.

David has been / is busy with his end of year exams.

Gail is busy with wedding preparations.

I am trying to take it all in!!

With much love,

Gary

How do we define vision?  I’ve heard dozens of definitions and so have you. But my best shot at a crisp definition is this: Vision is a picture of the future that produces passion today.

For Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. it was the picture of a future where two children, one black and one white, would sit across from each other on a seesaw, oblivious of the colour of each other’s skin. Dr. Billy Graham pictured thousands of wayward people coming forward to trust Christ as the choir sang “Just As I Am.”

For each of these people, their picture of the future made their hearts beat fast and their minds race. What picture does that to you?

Is it a picture of hungry children being fed and protected in a secure environment? Is it a picture of homeless people finding shelter or of abused women finding a safe place? Is it a picture of dying churches experiencing renewal?  Confused people coming to faith? People finding meaningful ministry opportunities? Does the thought of lonely people finding community in small groups or artists finally using their God-given gifts in church ministry bring a lump to your throat? I believe there are as many passion-producing pictures as there are people in Church.

Without a Vision, we aim at nothing, It is for this reason that our Church has decided to go on through a Visioning Process of its own so that we too can have a God-given Vision of the future of our Church that can inspire us to pray, to fast, to act today!  May we all be an active part of this process and ensure that God’s will be done in Brooklyn for us and for the future generations!

Many Blessings,

Taiki

PART TIME DIRECTOR OF PASTORAL CARE CENTRE

AT  BROOKLYN  METHODIST  CHURCH

The Post

The Brooklyn Methodist Church envisions a deepening of Pastoral Care to its members, as well as to the larger community through the Pastoral Care Centre. This post of part-time Director is currently vacant and an appointment is sought to be made for 1 January 2012.

Duties

The duties of the Director would be to further and fully establish the Centre, facilitate training and oversight of volunteer workers, develop programmes for the larger community, develop a leadership structure and deepen the pastoral care of our congregation.  The Director would work under the supervision of the minister, would serve on the Church’s staff meeting and be ultimately accountable to the Church Executive.

Requirements

The Director would be a mature, passionate follower of Jesus and have the spiritual gifts of leadership and oversight, as well as strong organisational skills. It would be helpful if the Director had formal education in pastoral theology and/or psychology, as well as experience in pastoral care, or at least had a significant affinity with healing ministries. The Director must have a heart for the Brooklyn Methodist Church and be a team player.

Applications are invited for the position.  The closing date for applications is Monday 5 December 2011.

For more information please contact Gary Molver on 012 460 3271

Well, the month of Movember has eventually arrived – just be on the lookout for the array of moustaches our men will soon be wearing to support the awareness of prostrate cancer!

Last week we, as an executive, went on retreat out at The Good Shepherd Retreat Centre at Hartebeespoort.  Thank you for your prayers as we met, shared, dreamt and prayed about the past, present and future life of BMC.  One of the significant truths about our church that struck us is the INTIMACY of our community – something we need to guard and build upon as a church.

As detailed on the flier insert, we have undertaken to enter a process involving all our members to re-envision our church’s unique purpose and lifestyle, especially into our second moving century of witness as we have just done this year.  I have a personal sense that this new beginning may herald a new season in Christ for Brooklyn Methodist, as God realises God’s Kingdom in us in increasing measure.

PLEASE NOTE – we postponed our Annual Society Meeting (ASM) from the initial October date – this will now take place on Sunday, 20^th NOVEMBER after the 09:30 service.  Please make every effort to attend.  Unfortunately, with the busy calendar at this time of the year, this is the best option available to us.

With much love

Gary

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”  Isaiah 9:6

While Christmas truly is my favourite time of year, I find myself venturing into the shops with trepidation as I already see Christmas decorations, ads, specials and the consumerism of the season getting an early start.  My prayer for all of us this season is that we will rein it in and try to stay focussed on the reason for the season.  Don’t get me wrong I love a good tree and a few great presents as much as anyone, but even I find myself often having to remember that this December is not just going to be about which present to get for whom or which Credit Card to use to be able to afford them all, it’s about the birth and coming of the Messiah.

Let’s determine to come together as a family and bring in this season in the best way we can, with Prayer and Worship.  Our Carols by Candlelight Service will be taking place on the 27^th of November 2011 at 18:30 in the evening service slot here at Brooklyn.  We urge all our members to pack a picnic basket and a blanket and to come and enjoy a meal together as family under the stars and then for us all to move into the Church for a special time of singing and community.  My prayer is to see you all there and my plea is for all of us to take stock of how we can best bless others this Christmas season with what we have.

Many Blessings, Taiki

Enter these doors in the freedom of Christ.

Sit in silence and discover new strength.

Laugh if your heart is bursting with joy.

Weep if grief and pain overwhelm you.

Talk with one another if your gratitude to Jesus is so strong you cannot but share it with others.

You have come into a family.

You are surrounded by love.

You are accepted as you are, for we are all seekers.

Let your prayers be honest, your praise be real and your soul be at peace in the Father’s presence.

AND THE JOY OF THE LORD BE WITH YOU!