ST KIARAN'S

CHRONICLE

October 2018
 Thanksgiving

Sunday 4 November 2018

At both services
This is a special,
St Kiaran's gives all the sacrificial offering over
monies received directly and above your normal
towards the projects and tithes and your regular
people listed below. disciplined giving.

We propose R25,302.00 be raised for the projects and people we would

like to support from 1 November 2018 to 31 October 2019

Missionary Support
Mark and Lorraine Liprini 21 420,00
Eugene and Tina Wessels 14 830,00

Social Outreach Projects

Joyce Chevalier Centre 1 500,00
Happy Valley 2 000,00

Masiphumelele Church 2 000,00

Phumlani Creche 2 000,00
Mission Sunday Gift 500,00
44 250,00
LESS THE FOLLOWING
Interest on R50,000 investment 4 051,40
Approximate current balance in account 14 896,00
18 947,40

TOTAL REQUIRED R25 302,60

Give Prayerfully !!! Give Cheerfully !!! Give Generously !!! Please use the envelope provided
for your Thank Offering.
Hand it in during a Special
Offering on 4 November
 Dear friends and family of St Kiaran’s

Our current theme is “Thanksgiving.” It is

appropriate for two reasons. First, because
we have a special service coming up, with
that topic as our theme – with a view to
raising funds for the work of our Mission
Group. Secondly, Christmas is almost upon
us – and what better, than to reflect on the
most important reason to be thankful, than
Christ who came to make atonement for our
sins, so that we may have eternal life.
My favourite synonym for thankfulness is
gratitude. Gratitude seems to go deeper
than being thankful. It is to be thankful for what I can only describe as an
intervention, without which we would be the poorer for it. From a biblical
perspective, gratitude is a “natural expression of thanks in response to
blessings, protection, or love1” received from God.
Gratitude is not a false emotion or expression used to influence God’s
will. Nor does God force us to be grateful and to “count our blessings.”
Rather, there is nothing more wonderful than the spontaneous, joyful
acknowledgement of God’s covenant involvement in our lives. This is a
learned attitude, just as much as it is a learned thing to only see the
negative in any situation.
How is it learned? By knowing the God who reveals himself in
scripture. The more we see of God’s faithful and just commitment to his
Word and his Covenant and his people, the more we are able to see his
hand in everything. This is why Job could say: “The Lord gave, and the
Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21)
It is clear that, in the Old Testament, gratitude to God was the only
condition in which life could be enjoyed. Every detail of life in society and
ceremonially was filled with gratitude. I don’t think this should be any
different today.
In the New Testament, “the object of thanksgiving is the love of God
expressed in the redemptive work of Christ1”. Because our expression of
gratitude is tied so closely the Cross and our faith, we are encouraged to
give thanks in all things (Rom 14:6; 1 Thes 5:18). As we live…and
breathe…and pray.
Gratitude, or thankfulness seeks God out in every situation. And as
we practice this, we will never be disappointed by God.
As we approach the end of this year, let’s look for God in every
situation with a heart filled with gratitude.
Much love
Your friend and pastor, Mike.

1Elwell, W.A. & Comfort, P.W., 2001. Tyndale Bible dictionary, pp.551–552.
 It is with sadness that
we note the passing on
the 13th of August
2018, of JUNA
SHIRLEY, who was
resident at Nerina. Our
sincere condolences
are extended to her
family.

St Kiaran's Womens Fellowship

Will meet during October when Christmas Gifts
will be the topic. In November there will be
a special Breakfast.
Meetings are held on the 4th Wednesday of each
month. For more information call May van
Rensburg at 0604912971

St Kiaran's Morning Market

Saturday 29th September
Our market was a great success, with amazing
preparatory work done by Dawn Fish and Joan
Muller, along with many other willing helpers on
the day.
Thank you to all who participated in any way.
All this effort led to the raising of R10,269.40
In CONVERSATION WITH …………
May Janse van Rensburg
We are mostly unaware of the many ways in which our
members have contributed their time and effort to Church
organisations and activities here in Fish Hoek and South Africa in
general. May is one of our members who has been active in
service to others within and without our church over a long
period of time since arriving in South Africa in 1970.

May was born in Scotland (the land of my birth) so it was a

real pleasure to talk to her. She
arrived in Witbank on a three year
contract and like myself fell in
love with the country, people and
the South African way of life. She
married her late husband Nic in
1973, had two boys, Frikkie and
Alexander, who have given her 4
grand- children, 2 boys and 2
girls. (Chelsea is known to many
here at St Kiaran’s). May became
quite a successful business
woman running her own company
in Witbank. She is fluent in
Afrikaans but also wishes she had
learned at least one other African
language. Her great achievement
in my eyes was that she was
instrumental in setting up the 1st
Witbank Boys Brigade Company and eventually became its first
lady Captain. (I was actively involved in the 21ST BB Company in
Greenock, Scotland but only managed to become an officer!).
May arrived in Fish Hoek four years ago and joined our
Church just as our present minister Mike Muller arrived. The
warm welcome she received from our door duty personnel
impressed her so much she joined our congregation. Since then
she has become an active member of our Church and is presently
Chairlady of our Woman’s Fellowship and in addition is
responsible for our present flower arrangements.
 My time with May was a real eye opener; she’s a -
straight talker is our May, and I loved every minute of our only
too brief conversation. I was thoroughly amazed and impressed
at the life she and Nic have had together, and her achievements
in life, in general.
John McDermid

THE UNEXPECTED
Some people know that I often fall asleep when seated in a
comfortable chair. Because the seats at St Kiaran's
are so comfortable, I fall asleep during a service. This
is highly embarrassing for me: it is nothing to do with
the ‘quality’ of the sermon: it’s due to advancing age
and to the fact that night after night I sleep only in
‘snatches’ of a few hours at a time.

When I was asked for a contribution for this month’s

CHRONICLE and that the theme was THANKSGIVING I realised
that good, unexpected happenings made me say, “Thank you,
thank you” to the person concerned as well as to God. So....

My most recent “Thank you” happened at church just the

other Sunday. There I was, listening to Eleanor Gaunt’s excellent
sermon, and drowsiness overtook me.
Suddenly I was conscious that someone had WHO GAVE
entered ‘my’ pew, was stretching out an arm JESUS GIFTS
and was holding a glass of water. I took it
gratefully and sipped the lovely cool water, WHEN HE
remembering Jesus’ words about giving WAS BORN?
someone a cup of cold water.

Once the service was over, I turned to the man behind me

and asked who it was who’d offered me the water. “It was Vic,”
he said. Evidently Les had seen and heard someone coughing
and asked Vic to take a glass of water to her. Vic had chosen the
‘wrong’ person but I was very thankful.

Many years ago I was travelling all alone on a very cold

English winter’s day, on my way to France on a “missionary
assignment” which entailed three changes of transport on the
way, when suddenly, as I was getting into the train, two women
approached me. I had met them for the first time a few days
before. “We thought you might like a packed lunch for your
journey”, one of them said. Wow ......... I thanked them profusely
and praised God for their kindness. They had got up very early to
see me off. Although I don’t know their names, I will never forget
them ...... Many instances of unexpected kindness in my life have
led to my thanking God every time I remember them .... What
about you? Lucy Centlivres

x x x x x x x x x

In All Things
Give Thanks

4-year-old boy who was asked to return thanks before Christmas

dinner. The family members bowed their heads in expectation. He
began his prayer, thanking God for all his friends, naming them one by
one. Then he thanked God for Mommy, Daddy, brother, sister, Grandma,
Grandpa, and all his aunts and uncles. Then he began to thank God for the
food. He gave thanks for the turkey, the dressing, the fruit salad, the
cranberry sauce, the pies, the cakes, even the Cool Whip.

Then he paused, and everyone waited--and waited. After a long silence,

the young fellow looked up at his mother and asked, "If I thank God for the
broccoli, won't he know that I'm lying?"

    
The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful
and has nobody to thank. ~ Dante Rossetti
KID'S PAGE
 Dietreich Bonhoeffer

He was no stranger to the

struggle. His adult life was lived in the long,
dark shadow cast by Hitler’s Nazi regime. He
wrote and taught at an underground
seminary, training pastors until the school
was closed by the Gestapo. He resisted the
path of acquiescence taken by many of
Germany’s churches in the face of Nazi pressure. This
commitment to community through Christ and in Christ would
eventually lead to his execution and martyrdom less than a
month before the end of World War II.
For Bonhoeffer, the path to gratitude in Christ-centered
community was submission. We must first submit our own
agendas and dreams entirely to create the space for gratitude:
“We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the
ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts. How can God
entrust great things to one who will not give thanks daily for the
Christian fellowship in which we have been placed, even where
there is no great experience, no discoverable riches, but much
weakness, small faith, and difficulty; if, on the contrary, we only
keep complaining to God that everything is so paltry and petty,
so far from what we expected, then we hinder God from letting
our fellowship grow according to the measure and riches which
are there for us all in Jesus Christ.”

It is interesting to note his

thankfuless in spite of the dire situation he was in - expressed in
his well-known challenging book – The Cost of Discipleship:
Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without
requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline,
Communion without confession, absolution without personal
confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace
without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and
incarnate.
 Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake
of it a man will go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great
price to buy which, the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the
kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye
which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at
which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

Reaching out to the homeless in Fish Hoek

“If you have a roof over your head and a car, you are rich.”
Eleanor Gaunt challenged us with those words in church on
16 September. How blessed we
are to have roofs over our head!
Worldwide there is a growing
population of homeless people,
Fish Hoek being no exception.
Simonstown and Kalk Bay have
shelters, but here in Fish Hoek,
despite all its churches, we
present no concrete solution of
rehabilitation. Once someone is
on the streets, it becomes
impossible to pull yourself up by
your bootstraps: you have no resources left, no dignity.
The causes of homelessness are as complex as the people
living on the streets. The worst thing to do is to assume they are
a homogenous population who are basically responsible for
getting themselves into this predicament and staying that way:
“They all abuse/sell drugs or alcohol”, “They are all criminals”,
“They don’t want to go to a shelter” etc. By blaming them we
wash our hands of the problem, think that it could never happen
to us, feel a little uncomfortable when we see them, look away
and walk on.
Of course there are those among them who have made
wrong choices and who break the law, and who are downright
criminals. There are many unpleasant characters among the
homeless. But a few months ago I read a very disturbing
statement that many South Africans are two to three salary slips
away from destitution as they are unable to save money in our
current economic climate. I heard that schools in the valley are
needing to introduce feeding schemes; not just for children
coming from Ocean View or Masiphumelele, but so-called middle-
class Fish Hoek families are struggling to make ends meet. If
you lose your job, how do you pay the rent? How easy is it to
land on a downhill slide until you find yourself on the street?
Since June I have been part of an inter-church discussion
group on matters pertaining to the homeless, trying to find
solutions for this very difficult problem. The purpose of this
article is to give feedback to the church on any progress made.
Initially, the focus was on coordinating feeding schemes, but
it soon proved to be but a fraction of what was needed. Our first
objective was to hold a workshop, inviting all the churches in the
valley and other interested parties, including the homeless. This
was held on 25 August and about 30 people attended. Many
points (and at times tempers!) were raised, but most importantly
were the short term needs of safety, dignity and employment for
the homeless, the medium term need for a shelter in Fish Hoek
and the long term need for rehabilitation services to enable
reintegration back into society.
The discussion group is at the moment focussing on the
following:
- The placing of 24 hour toilet facilities around Fish Hoek,
possibly eco-friendly ones.
- A “dignity day” run in conjunction with False Bay College
students, where the homeless can get services such as
haircuts and laundry, as well as an opportunity to interact.
- A social worker is presently engaged in assessing the
situation of the homeless in Fish Hoek. Once she reports
back to us on the size, distribution, problems and needs of
the population more concrete action plans can be made.
- An anthropologist is presently researching the root causes of
homelessness, and her feedback should enable us to lobby
for more support.
The solution to the problem? I honestly don’t know. I am
learning, grasping at straws – in faith. I know that the worst
thing to do is to do nothing, I know that hand-outs just prolong
and worsen the situation. When God nudged me to get involved
with this, I wanted to do a Jonah and find a ship heading to
Tarshish. It is tough and there will be plenty of mistakes and
disappointments. But I believe that I am doing God’s will, and
his will will prevail!
So how can you help, apart from getting involved directly?
Firstly, through change of attitude and an attempt to change the
attitude of our neighbours. God’s Word exhorts us to love the
unlovely and to serve the poor. This doesn’t mean accepting bad
behaviour or indiscriminate handouts, but it does mean
acknowledging them as fellow human beings. Secondly, through
prayer: prayer for a change of heart of our community and that
we find the best way forward for this seemingly insurmountable
problem, that with God we can make the impossible possible.

“If you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and

satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise
in the darkness and your night will become like the
noonday.” Isaiah 58:10
Eva van Belle
 Martina de Wit felt this extract of our church banner should
feature here as a firm reminder of our how great our God is. It
also gives an opportunity to discuss the meaning of two Christian
symbols which are included.

The Chi-Rho (pronounced "KEE-roe") is a Christian

symbol consisting of the intersection of the capital
Greek letters Chi (Χ) and Rho (Ρ), which are the
first two letters of "Christ" in Greek (ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ,
Christos). The Chi-Rho can represent either Christ
or Christianity and is also known as a Christogram.

Alpha (α) and omega (ω) are the first and last
letters of the Greek alphabet. When used
symbolically in Christianity, they signify that God is
"the beginning and the end," meaning that God is
eternal.

Another well-known symbol, not on the banner:

From Greek ikhthus ‘fish’, an early symbol of

Christianity: the initial letters of the word are
sometimes taken as short for I esous Ch ristos,
Th eou U ios, S oter (Jesus Christ, son of God, saviour).
“God loves each of us as if there were only one of us”
St Augustine
St Kiaran's Presbyterian Church
Cnr. Central Circle and Recreation Road
P.O.Box 22146, Fish Hoek, 7974
Phone: 021 782 6118

Minister: Rev. Mike Muller

All are welcome at our

Regular Sunday Services
Sunday Worship Services at 9.30a.m. & 6p.m.
Holy Communion is served on the
st
1 Sunday of the month at both services

CHURCH PRAYER MEETINGS

• Tuesdays: 11.45 a.m. in the Craig

Room
• Prayer is offered after services for
healing or other needs, by members of
our Prayer Ministry
• Prayers with our young people: as
arranged .... or whenever you wish to
arrange times with fellow Christians.