MU Diocese of Sydney - Festival
Service 2008MU Diocese of Sydney - Festival
Service 2008“What does our spiritual footprint look like?” was the question asked by speaker Margaret Hudson at the MU Diocese of Sydney Annual Festival Service of Prayer and Thanksgiving at St Andrew’s Cathedral on Friday 28th March.
There was a lot of talk about the footprints humans were leaving, our carbon footprints, but our personal footprint, our spiritual footprint, was the most important, she said.
“What do I want my Christian life to look like in five or ten years?” she asked. “What would we want to be known for as Christian women? What would those looking at us think are our priorities?”
It was easy to be side tracked, always looking for the next best thing. “Sometimes we can be looked down on for being simple Christians, even feel inferior. “But we need to ask God to help us keep on growing in our understanding of Him We need to keep our faith alive and growing, firmly grounded in Jesus. We can’t base our Christian life on what we learnt 30 years ago, we need to keep growing.” In hard times, when God’s presence seemed to be absent, He was very present.
“Paul says we can endure joyfully because if we know the Lord Jesus, we qualify for heaven. And if God has qualified us, nobody can disqualify us. When we surrendered our life to Jesus and accepted his gift of forgiveness, we qualified. ”When we keep our eye on Jesus, we keep hope alive through the toughest times. We can endure, when we know what is coming,” she added.
For the first time, there was no parade of MU branch banners, but instead they were placed in groups in the cathedral before the start of the service. It was a change from tradition that upset many members, but a decision was taken for safety reasons.
The service was led by the Rev Alison Napier. Diocesan President Christine Jensen welcomed members to the service and also introduced Margaret Hudson. Christine also enthusiastically launched the MU prayer diary, which will be going out to all members shortly.
The Bible readings were given by Beulah Gray, vice president North Sydney, and Judith Johnson, vice president Parramatta.
Sally Jackson
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Members, |
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Margaret Hudson |
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Christine Jensen and Margaret Hudson |
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Launch of Prayer Diary |
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MU Sydney Choir led the singing |
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Rev Alison Napier |
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Jan Livingstone Senior VP |
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The prayers were led by Jan Livingstone (snr vice president / vp Wollongong) and Tricia Graham (vice president South Sydney). |
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Banners were on display |
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