Sunday 23rd Feb 2014 - StAY's Moving Day for Refugees

 By Daniel Pua

It was a day we deliver the donated furnitures to the refugees households. Graced with a glorious day of 24 Deg C, it was the perfect weather for the event.

As we fully loaded 2 trucks (with one sponsored by 'Man with a Van') we embarked on the mission with purpose, it was perhaps like, in a articulated sense, a bridge of light leading to the illumination of each household.

We were warmly welcomed by the occupants of the households, many of whom not having much in the home as they have only recently resettled in Australia. One can only imagine the ordeal most of them had to undergo, after an perilous journey & settling in a foreign land with nothing, except clothes. I read somewhere previously; "The human spirit is the strongest force there is. As long as the spirit remains unbroken, there is no defeat. The deeper the dark, the closer the dawn. However profound the suffering that envelops, never forget the inner spark of hope and courage. Never lose the capacity to wait with patient enduring" - I felt a sense of realization that I'm in the company of such.

Following the first few trips, we were concerned that there may be insufficient furnitures to give to the remaining households. In what seemed like the work of Him, a phonecall from a household in the vicinity offered to give out furnitures as they were vacating their premises. The furnitures were good quality, IKEA make & had a good variety, fit for an empty household.

Picking up our new load, we headed to the next stop, where we were greeted with warm hearts by 2 gentlemen. As we loaded the furnitures into the house, I noticed there were no other furnitures in the house except a 4 seater dining table with no chairs. Perfect fit for the furnitures we brought, I thought. Also, the table had been laid with plates, glasses, 2 bottles of soft drinks, 2 bunch of grapes & a large plate of chicken Nasi Biryani (fried rice).

I recalled one of the Stay members had previously visited the home a week earlier & in the midst of conversations with the occupants, had casually touched on the topic of Nasi Biryani, one of which both our cultures shared in common. The occupants said they will cook us some when we return.

The table was mindfully laid out, each plate came with a spoon which were deliberately wrapped in a fashion that clearly exhuberate thoughtfulness & care. They have been looking forward to our visit!

I love grapes. Being a student many years back, I recall how I usually buy cheaper grapes, in a bid to be frugal, I have learnt to differentiate good quality grapes. Here we have been offered very good quality grapes, such generosity!

"You should each give, then, as you have decided not with regret or out of a sense of duty; for God loves the one who gives gladly (2 Corinthians 9:7)" A touching sight & true testament of giving all when there is none.

This 23rd day of February, 2014 was truly a day of friendship, & the reflection of the Australian people in general, reaching out to the refugees-no-more whom have come to call this vast, beautiful, land of Australia, Home.

It was indeed a blessing to have been involved in this event organised by Stay, a strong reminder that "Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself (Mark 12:31)" that sometimes the simplest acts of love goes a long way in uplifting the human spirit & transcends culture, language & differences.

Signing off, a little request that you could say a prayer to lift up our new neighbours whom have resettled here in Australia; may the Lord grant them the peace, strength & reconciliation.

May peace be with you; God Bless.

Firebrandz Worship Night - The Body of Christ

February 26, 2014

Speaker: Adam Cooper

What better way to end February than to learn about Human Love in the Divine Plan - that in order to understand our body and sexuality, we have to see it in this context.

Our human body, in its sexuality, is to be a sign of the divine mystery in the world, and this is what Theology of the Body is about; not a set of authoritative rules nor a coercive moral code. It is a freeing and empowering reality wherein we discover human dignity and human love, and gain an insight into our own temptations.

Not only did he talk about the human body, but more importantly, Christ's body as well. All of us need a renewed heart; one that is transformed daily by grace, and it is Christ's body that serves as a place of this healing and renewal. As the poet George Herbert said, "Christ's body is like a garden where we can gather herbs to heal our wounds."

Our bodies, despite all the sins, can be healed through the body of Christ.

This month's special:

But strive FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

So DO NOT WORRY about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. 

Today's trouble is enough for today. 

- Matthew 6:33-34

On Genesis 28:15 (and washing machines)

By Pat Pagulayan

I often see Genesis 28:15 as a summary of God’s three great promises to me: Psalm 121, Isaiah 41:10, and Jeremiah 29:11. It serves as God’s constant reassurance to me that He is always with me, watching over me wherever I go, whatever I do - even as I slumber. And that through all these things, He will never leave me until He has done what He has promised me.

And oh dear, God really never leaves until He’s done with me.

In the past couple of weeks (maybe even months), I feel like I’ve been thrown into a washing machine, just being tumbled left, right, and centre. And just when I thought that all is good, at peace, and that I’ve successfully gone through a difficult “cleaning process”, another one begins (you know that brief pause your washing machine makes before it moves on to the next cycle, yeah, something like that). It drains my strength; it breaks me down; it sucks the abundant energy that I have out of me; it makes me feel weak and helpless; it confuses me, drives me crazy, and shakes my very core.

And it’s a beautiful process - something I’d go through cycle and cycle and cycle again.

Yes, it does make me suffer. But the amazing thing is I suffer knowing that He who makes me go through all these things is a God who only has my best interest in His heart. That He who is doing all the washing, is not someone who’s outside just pressing the buttons, but is the soap and water that is with me in the cycle as well, never stopping until He has soften, broken, and removed all those stubborn stains.

I tell you, I am one tough and stubborn stain to remove, and God is working on me full-time, day and night, 24/7. And like a layer of oil in a stain that repels water, my flesh is fighting and resisting, latching on to me, opposing the Spirit. It is the flesh that is causing all this pain, heaviness, mental and emotional turmoil. A battlefield in my head.

One thing I am learning through this process is that I cannot win this without God. If you put a stained linen in a washing machine and run it without soap nor water, the stain remains, becomes harder, and tougher to remove. In this process I am learning to trust God more instead of my own “water-less” and “soap-less” wisdom - to trust the God who is always with us and never leaves us until He has done what He has promised for us.

Come, let us tumble God’s washing together.

On Mark 1:40-45

By Pat Pagulayan

It has made me wonder why when Jesus heals the sick and casts away demons, He tells them not to tell anyone. He even told His disciples not to tell others about who He is (Mt 16:20).  I initially thought it is because during that time when He was doing His healing, it was still too early for His true identity to be revealed. After reading this verse, it became obvious to me how critical is was for Jesus that they do not go out and tell anyone about Him -in fact too critical that when the leper told others about Jesus healing him of his leprosy, this prevented Jesus from going into that town.

Can it be because when the leper told others about Jesus and his healing, people were just going to gather in large crowds with their sick to be “physically” healed but not actually listen to His Word? Yes, healing the sick and casting out demons are some of the things He did out of His love, but these are just some of His ways to make people believe Him. His Word - the Good News that He brings with Him, is far more important than the “physical” healing. For man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God (Mt 4:4)

Jesus also told the leper to “say” nothing to anyone, but to just “show” himself to the priest. This reminded me of when John the Baptist was in prison and he sent his disciples to ask Jesus if He is the Chosen One. In response, Jesus sent His disciples to John to tell him what they have “heard” and what they have “seen”. This has highlighted to me the importance of actions/deeds, compared to just words alone. As John Duiker said, we cannot profess God with our lips and deny Him with our lives. I could go on and on telling people about Jesus and may even quote the Bible to my advantage, but if I don’t live a life of love according to Him, I may end up like the leper who may hinder Jesus from coming to other people’s lives.

Some people may be called to proclaim Jesus by being “heard”, whilst others by being “seen”, or may be even both.  I still don’t know what God has called me for. All I know is that God wants me to focus on my relationship with Him - on being a “good soil”, so that when I receive His Word, it will bear fruit in my life for others to partake of.

On John 15:12

By Pat Pagulayan

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

I’m just starting to realise the magnitude of understanding required to be able to even slightly comprehend this verse. Shocks. I thought I knew what love meant; and now the word “shallow” is not even apt to describe my definition of love.

I grew up believing that in order to win love and acceptance, I have to be good - even perfect. I studied hard, I worked hard, and true enough, I won the love of my parents, the compliments of my teachers, the approval of my friends. But I knew I deserved it, because I bloody well worked hard for it, that’s for sure! And because of that, I expected others to do the same: to strive to win love.

Wrong.

That attitude became a breeding ground for pride and self-righteousness, envy and jealousy. When I work hard on something and give my all to it, I expect love and acceptance in return. After all, I bloody worked hard for it so I deserve it, right?

Wrong again.

And when other people are not as hard-working, not as good, not as righteous as I am, why will they reap the same rewards that I bent over backwards for? But God’s blessing is for all; He sends rain to the righteous and the unrighteous (Mt 5:45). And when they do get the same love and acceptance (or even more) as I do, there starts envy and jealousy slowly creeping over, and there I am, whining on why they deserve such love when I’m the one who bloody works hard for it.

But the beautiful truth is, I didn’t need to work hard to win God’s love, thus I shouldn’t expect others to work hard to be loved by me.

I didn’t need to be good to be loved by God. I didn’t need to be perfect, or righteous, or faithful to win his love. And oh dear, I didn’t even need to do the right thing to be loved by Him. I am a sinner and yet He loves me. The Father’s love for me preceded everything, regardless of what I do and do not do. His love and acceptance was not based on my actions, but on what His Son has done for me, for all of us.

Thus, I must do the same: to love without prerequisites, to love without expectations, to love generously.

And learning to do so is one thing I should bloody work hard for.

But I can do all things through Him who strengthens me (Phil 4:13).

God Breathed New Life Into Me

By Jean Cheng

Hello from Singapore, STAY:)

Been hearing and reading about all the amazing things that has been happening at STAY and am in constant awe of what God is doing!

Hope that I can drop by STAY one day when I visit Melbourne again, 

See old friends and the many new STAY brothers and sisters .=)

Jack has been asking me to share my farewell testimony that I shared in Melbourne last year and I will (Sorry Jack! It will happen! :P), 

In the meantime, I would like to share my Baptism by the Holy Spirit on 9 Feb 2014.

I went for a talk yesterday by Maria Vadia, from USA.

I heard about how effective she is in bringing the Holy Spirit close to the people,

And the miraculous healings that she administers in Christ’s name.

But I went not expecting anything,

Just hoping that perhaps through listening to her,

My wearied heart would find some revival to keep me going on this thesis journey.

Some of you might know that I’ve been quite down in the last few years.

It’s as though a cloud of heaviness, dysphoria, and depressive state came over me.

Accompanying that, I’ve lost my sociable nature and energy I used to have around people.

There are moments of respite and it has been getting slightly better,

But more often that not,

The heaviness remains.

And I’ve never quite felt the same as I used to.

Somehow living each day has been an effortful process compared to what it was many years ago.

One of the things we are called to do as Christians is to bring the good news and share the joy that we have with those who do not know Christ.

It is through our joy, that others might then be curious about the source of our joy.

I felt deeply ashamed that for the “strong Christian” I appear to be to others and to myself,

Joy was probably only 10% of my life.

Worries, despair, and fears 90%.

It was quite disheartening to know that even after 8 years of following Christ,

This is where I am at.

But what has always kept me going is that such judgments, I knew, came from my own pride,

Not from God.

In His eyes, I am but a baby.

He doesn’t think more or less of who I am today,

As compared to who I was before I knew Him personally,

Or even 10 years down the road when I’m hopefully even closer to Him.

If anything, He just sees each day as it is:

A brand new day to love and help me.

With that said, I want to have a spirit of joy to glorify Him,

so that has been my recent prayer.

A few days ago,

I was walking and wearing my usual glum face.

And I thought back to some moments in my past when God came to me powerfully (i.e., I knew without a doubt that God is real and close to me).

It has been so long since I have experienced Him that way.

And I judged myself as weak for asking this,

But I asked anyway –

I asked God to pour out new life into me,

To come to me powerfully,

To grip my heart once more,

To revitalize me.

I didn’t think much of that prayer (which felt more like a thought)…

… until what happened yesterday.

From the moment praise and worship began,

I was in tears… tears of despair, of weariness, of darkness, of loneliness.

When Maria started talking,

I started judging her and raising an eyebrow.

She spoke in such a “GOD CAN DO THIS. GOD CAN DO THAT” manner,

That I was like… erm… ok this feels like one of those seminars for positive thinking.

But what kept my heart still open was that she was sharing testimonies of God’s healing and saving power over people.

Somehow, I believed that she wasn’t lying about those.

Her presentation style might not be something that appealed to me,

But the evidence for her faith and convictions, I believed.

After sharing, she started to pray over us and people started to be healed – physically.

“There is a young woman in those room with problems with her right ovaries… God is healing you right now… claim it… where is this woman?”

One hand raised. 

That’s when my eyes widened.

That is just but one example.

Then she asked people who hadn’t had a personal relationship with Jesus to come forward (even if they have been baptized, they might not know who Jesus is).

And she said 3-4 people in this room at least.

My goodness.

3-4 people went up.

I wanted to go up too… not because I didn’t know Him personally,

But I don’t know… I was hungering for something.

Yet I knew that it wasn’t my invitation.

Then she asked people who haven’t been baptised by the Holy Spirit to go up.

And I wondered whether that meant me.

I have gone through confirmation (Catholic Church’s rite of baptism by the Holy Spirit) but I’ve always doubted my confirmation for boring reasons I shall not delve into here.

I continued to sit down, however.

Partly because I wasn’t sure whether or not I have been baptized by the Holy Spirit,

But mostly because I was afraid of what people might think of me if I went up.

I was afraid people would think, “WHAT? Jean who is supposed to be spiritually strong hasn’t even been baptized by the Holy Spirit?”.

My vanity and pride kept me sitting,

Meanwhile, something was tugging at my heart,

There was a desire to go up.

And I knew from experience that such heart - tugging is usually from God.

Yet, pride (i.e., fear of being thought as less) kept me sitting.

Until Maria said, “Have all of you been baptised by the Holy Spirit? Can all of you speak in tongues?”

That’s when I knew that I could no longer deny the tugging in my heart.

I have been praying and asking for the gift of tongues for 8 years now.

I’ve always wondered why God never gave me this gift,

While it came easily to some others.

I wondered if I was not open enough to Him.

At times I believed that it will happen in His time.

At other times, I believed that it will happen for others,

But not me.

(Sometimes when you wait for something for so long and it still hasn’t happened,

You want to know why and when no explanation is given,

You start to come up with reasons for it.

For me, those reasons often become self-attacks,

Such as having to do with some badness or impurity inherent in me.

But faith kept me still hoping that God will one day give it to me too.)

So when she said that,

I felt that was my invitation.

I went up immediately.

Between my desire to look good and my desire for the gift of tongues,

I choose the latter.

Up there, I still didn’t quite like her style and how she prayed over people.

People around me were getting slained when she prayed over them,

And when she prayed over me I felt her push me!

And I was thinking “!!! You push me!?"

So I stood my ground and refused to fall unless I knew for sure that it was God and not her who made me fall.

I didn’t fall.

I didn’t feel anything. 

I went back to my seat thinking, "okay, I don’t have the gift. 

Oh well. 

Back to square one.

No loss I guess."

  

But then she called us back up again saying we have the gift of tongues and the Holy Spirit in us.

And we have to practice speaking in tongues.

I was like, “NOOOOOO! That is so embarrassing!”

What if people are looking at me and I look spastic?!

And in any case, what was I supposed to do?

Make the same sounds she was making?

I didn’t want to just imitate her.

But at this point she said we all speak tongues in our own unique language with God.

And everyone’s is different.

And that made me feel that okay… I can be me.

I don’t have to imitate anyone.

I was curious enough to want to know what my own language of tongues would sound like.

And so, feeling self-conscious and silly,

I started to just say “alleluia” over and over again,

And she told us not to think but to focus on God with our hearts…

And so I did and after awhile... 

Yes. 

My mouth and my tongue took a life of its own and I was no longer saying alleluia.

It was going in all directions and I was crying (no longer out of despair and dysphoria but in awe of the sacredness and holiness of the space I was in).

The more I focused on God,

The faster and more vigorous my prayers in tongue went.

When she made us pray over each other in our new language,

The more I focused on the person I was praying before me,

The faster my tongue went and I couldn’t stop crying…..

….Me.

Jean.

After 8 years.

I have finally received the gift of tongues and used it to pray over someone.

And just when I thought that this gift was incredible already,

She suddenly asked for my name and said she had a prophesy for me.

She said I will go around testifying and talking about God to people,

And I will travel nations doing that.

Her words shot through my heart and moved me to more crying (yes, more).

Because whenever people ask me what my career or passion is,

I know that I love psychology and want to do it.

But if you ask me what my deepest deepest desire is,

It is to speak about God to people, to testify to Him.

AND to travel to different countries to do that.

I don’t even know why the travelling is a part of this desire but it has always been.

Yet, with the PhD these last few years,

As well as an impending marriage and thoughts of “settling down”,

I buried that dream, and thought of focusing on the “practicalities of life”.

(And don't get me wrong,

there is nothing less but everything sacred and beautiful about the daily routine of life that many of us have been called to- 

if we have been called to it.)

To justify why testifying and travelling wouldn’t happen,

I told myself that maybe I was being impure and vain when I dreamt it.

But all this time, even as I fell in love with psychology,

If anyone asked me what my deepest passion was, 

it was exactly that which this woman who did not know me proclaimed.

I went into the talk,

Rather empty, lost, and soul-less.

I came out not just with a gift of tongues but with a vigour and passion that I used to have when I allowed myself to dream this dream.

It was as if God was not only reassuring me that this dream is good,

But reminding me that the key to my joy is to follow my heart’s deepest longing.

I don’t know how it is going to happen.

But I have faith that at the right time,

Certain doors will close and certain doors will open.

May I entrust and grow closer in discerning His voice in my life.

Meantime, I will finish this thesis.

I don’t know how,

I am most likely engaging in some positive-talk now to psyche myself,

But it will happen.

Because God is with me. 

And together, we will live my heart’s dreams.

“So if anyone is a new creature in Christ, what is old has passed away.

Behold, all things have been made new.” (2 Corinthians 5: 17)

P.s. Please keep me in your prayers.

For while I am renewed in strength,

The cross remains and I will need much prayers and support to get to the finishing line.

Although I am convicted,

Doubts will come and there will be days where I will be weak and need to be carried by your faith to dispel those lies.

At the end of my life,

I know that who I am will not be by my own making,

But by the making, giving and love of God and the people around me.

May my life be nothing but a testimony that God is real, good, 

and that with the same love He has for me,  

He has for every person in this world.

Firebrandz Worship Night - God's Will

January 29, 2014

Speaker: John Duiker

The first Firebrandz Set Free Worship Night for 2014 was filled with singing to Akekho Ofana Nojesu and receiving our spiritual cookie from our speaker, John Duiker.

John spoke of the importance of conforming to the will of God and living in His will. In giving our lives to Jesus, we have to keep surrendering to Him, keep walking in the light, and not hold back. We cannot profess God with our lips and deny Him in our lives, said John, and that God is with us wherever we are, we just have to turn to Him.

This Month's Special:

For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, 

plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with HOPE. 

- Jeremiah 29:11 

On Sunday Luxuries and Moving Days

By Pat Pagulayan

Being able to come to the Moving Day last Sunday, January 19, has been a humbling experience and a huge blessing for me. Doing shift-work usually means having to work on weekends, and having a Sunday off is considered a luxury. Might I say, last Sunday was definitely a luxury well-spent.

I have heard quite a lot about what occurs during Moving Day, but none of what I’ve heard reflects the magnitude of the time, effort, and dedication that is being put into making these Moving Days even possible. From renting a van, picking up items from houses, organising the cars, gathering people and directing them, to the non-stop ringing of phones, flipping through different addresses, determining the routes to be taken, deciding which items go to which family, and a whole lot more going on in the background that I’m not even aware of. The list goes on and on; and regardless of how thorough I describe the events that occurred prior to us even leaving the church, it doesn’t do justice to the extent of what needed to be done on that day. It was even more difficult last Sunday as we had to do it without the help of Man with a Van, a removalist company that volunteers their time and resources in helping deliver these goods to the refugees’ homes.

As I stand there in the middle of the chaos, I got reminded of how amazing God has provided for this cause. He not only gathered strangers (well, majority of us only met that day), but He has also found a way to appeal to people’s hearts to donate their mattresses, couches, and other household items. I honestly never thought they’d be able to fill up a van and a trailer to the brim! Although we “first-timers” were like headless chickens running around, not knowing what to do, we were able to effectively work together, under the guidance of the people who know what they were doing. All of these material and human resources combined, we were able to successfully deliver mattresses, couches, clothing, kitchen items, etc. to 12 families!

And oh my, are these families grateful! They would let us in their humble abodes, offering us whatever food or drink they have (one family even gave us cordial to drink from wine glasses!). They’re very welcoming and hospitable. They delight on whatever we had to give them, even if at times, it may not be enough. Their gratefulness humbled me. There they were, thankful with what they could receive, while I whinge about mundane things. There they were, grateful that 6 of them would no longer be sharing a single electric fan on these 40°C hot summer days because we’ve given them more fans, while I complain that the air conditioner in my unit is not cool enough. This Sunday, God taught me to be mindful of the many blessings that He has showered upon me, and that maybe, it’s time to give back.

Indeed, a Sunday day-off is a luxury to me, but it is not a luxury for me to have, but a luxury for me to give. And by the looks of it, that Sunday is the first of many more Sundays to come.

Ambitious

By Jack Chui

Last Tuesday at our first STAY cell group for the year I asked the few members that were able to come (young adults seem to take long holidays over Christmas/NY...) what they would like to do for our ministries in 2014. It was an opportunity to hear and take on board a new way of doing things that would be better than my own way - because it can seem that I have asserted my own way of doing things as the seemingly sole leader of STAY. Now that we have an army of willing members, we can do so much more than just me leading everything. So below, I'll summarise our ministries and our aims for 2014 - and includes some other items which I had not brought up on Tuesday.

STAY Cell Group (Fellowship, Discipleship)
*IMPORTANT* - we are trying a new start time of 6:30pm - 8:30pm to better fit the working schedule.

The format for cell groups will remain before but with a few additions:

• 6:30pm - 7:00pm -- Open sharing / Check in + a song or 2 in praise & worship leading into Opening prayer
• 7:00pm - 8:00pm -- Alternating weeks of bible sharing and topic. The topic can be a video teaching with sharing afterwards
• 8:00pm - 8:30pm -- Closing prayer with more intercessory prayers, annoucements and pack up

I'll need to encourage the members to take turns to lead/facilitate especially when the group needs to be split up for the middle sharing section. Nothing discussed about period dinners or about male/female split of sharing now and then.

Friends of Refugees Outreach (Service/Ministry)

Normal schedule of activities to remain over a 5 week Sunday afternoon cycle:

• 1st Sunday -- Detention Centre Visit
• 2nd Sunday -- Rest
• 3rd Sunday -- Refugee House Visits
• 4th Sunday -- Moving Day
• 5th Sunday -- Rest

Moving Day will continue as long as there is a need for large material items to be given to the new settlers but his may with the reduction of refugees entering Australia wind down such that the larger charities can meet the needs.

In addition or replacement if needs be to the above, we wish to start English tuition/classes for the refugees nearer to their homes. We tried this once including employment services at St. Augustine's but it did not get off the ground after a reasonable first week. This will require learning materials development but also more consistent support that is weekly rather than monthly for the English learning to be of best use. To meet this I am thinking of garnering the support of the local parishes in the areas where the refugees live to find more laborers for the vineyard.

Firebrandz Worship (Worship, Evangelisation, Discipleship)

Monthly Wednesday evening Worship nights will remain as is with the format to be led by the Spirit. This has in the past included P&W followed by a talk or testimony. To enhance the worship the following 2 ministries will be set up:

• Choir - Firebrandz/STAY will start a choir to ultimately play for Firebrandz worship nights and also at Sunday masses at St. Augustine's. This has kicked off before even writing this with the debut to be on Sunday 12th January to fill in for the regular musicians taking a break after Advent.
• Dance - A new initiative to bring a little known ministry of liturgical dance back into action. Starting practice after Choir practice becomes less regular, this ministry will help lift the Firebrandz worship nights.

Communications / Marketing (Evangelisation)

We have started several channels of communication over the last 6 months so here is a list with their initial strategies:

• Email - the formal channel for annoucement of events/ministry
• Website/Blog - the official website to store information which can be shared to the public. I wish to promote more sharing of reflections/events to be written by different people
• Facebook Group - secondary to the website but allows members to share online material
• Whatsapp - for quick more personal-wide messaging

Did not talk about adverstising or maintaining existing notices in bulletins or on the AOY website.

Pray for STAY (Corporate Intercessory Prayer)

This was not discussed on Tuesday but was a monthly gathering over Skype for the leaders to intercede for STAY and its members along with other personal intentions. After a prayer session on Wednesday night, it was decided to make this a more regular opportunity because the spiritual growth and fruits of STAY and its related ministries all stem from prayer.

PRAY for STAY will now be open to anyone who wishes to dial in and pray, every Monday evening over Skype with the possibility of improvement such as meeting in person and praying in the park.

STAY & Firebrandz Retreats (Fellowship, Discipleship)

Father Victor the parish priest of St. Augustine's has offered to lead a retreat for STAY and we are looking to take this opportunity with a retreat over the weekend during Lent or Easter season. My tentative date for this is late May as there is also plans for a Firebrandz retreat around November 2014 and so space the retreats apart. A team will need to be formed organise such one off events.

Helping in Mass / Church BBQs (Service)

To give back to the wider community, it is desired to have more young people participate and help in mass. The Firebrandz choir is the start of this and there are some helping out as readers and Eucharistic ministers. The aim is that one and no more than 2 Sunday's a month, the STAY group will bless with Sunday mass with its aid by serving in the mass.

Another service to the church which STAY used to support was BBQ lunches after morning mass. We did not host any BBQ's last year but it is something the group can do to build the parish community by gathering people after mass over food. My plans for this would be to host 2 and no more than 3 such BBQ's. The dates we have used in the past is Pentecost Sunday (early June) and St. Augustine's Feast Day (nearest Sunday in late August). A BBQ early on in the year to welcome people to STAY/St. Augustine's or a BBQ during Advent to celebrate the year could be options for the 3rd BBQ.

-- END LIST --

That is a lot to do... and at times it seems daunting to me when I see everything that we do and are going to do all laid out like this. I also forgot to ask whether there was anything else we can do...

But lets remember Matthew 9:37-38

"Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

Gift Boxes!

By Aaron D'Souza

This is a reflection I had after listening to the homily by Fr. Vella. 
Fr. Vella told us a parable of the man who died and met St. Peter in heaven. I have typed a shorter version of the parable and a reflection .

Parable:
St. Peter showed him around and the man noticed a store house. In the store house he saw a number of boxes stacked up which had his names on them.  Out of curiosity, he asked St. Peter why were there boxes with his name on it. Peter replied ' These boxes contain the gifts which our Father wanted to give you during life on earth. But whenever he came to meet you. You were never there to receive it. So He came back to heaven and stored these gifts in the warehouse. These boxes symbolise all the gifts you did not receive ur entire life'

Reflection:
What I like about this parable is that God never threw the boxes away even after the man died.

I am sure there are boxes with our names written on them. The exciting part is , it's not thrown away.. Which means they ready for delivery even now when we turn to The Lord.

In the past one year how many boxes has he stacked ?.. I wonder?. Can we get our hands on those boxes?Of course we can!! That's the best part... When we turn to Him .. He will be the most excited to give away all those boxes. But, in his time!

Each one of us are special and our gifts from him are unique to us.. He will never share or divide the boxes with others.. So you can be rest assured whatever God has kept for you.. Is meant only for you because you are unique and special to Him.

Therefore wait on The Lord. His timing is perfect. :) ' Patience with God is Faith' . 

Receive those boxes . That will make you and I the 'BEST VERSION OF OURSELVES ' in the likeness and image of God.


Don't you wanna know whats in those boxes? Turn to the Lord! :)