Happy New Year! Or – Akemashite omedetō gozaimasu – in Japanese (my new year’s resolution has been to resume studying Japanese on Duolingo). Or as today is actually the start of the Lunar New Year – Gong hei fat choy!
Today (as you can see!) our weekly ‘Sunday to Sunday’ emails resume! The purpose of these emails is to keep people connected – especially if you’ve missed a couple of Sundays – with what is happening at CBC.
The words are slightly different, but the final verse of one of Easter hymns begins, “Sunday by Sunday, as the first Easter, Jesus comes to us, makes himself known…” This is my prayer, each time I sit down to type, that we might know more of Jesus/that Jesus might make himself known in our worship on Sundays or small groups discussions, or in the building of caring, inclusive community or in our sharing, in words and actions, God’s love and justice with others.
That was certainly the case last week as we welcomed sixty children here at the church for Kids@CanBap! We had a wonderful time playing games, singing, learning new skills (playing Amazing Grace as a kazoo choir!) and hearing stories about God’s love. Our extraordinary bunch of young leaders were brilliant – Saskia Blackburn, Abigail Collard, Zach Downey, Emma Grocott, Aniqa and Pritika Haran, Melissa Harper, Ciru and James Nganga, Bryan and Hannah Reid, and Chloe and Josh van Dam – and the older ones – Steve Coster, myself, Mitch Joyce-Griggs and Leonie Walker – were pretty brilliant too! 😊 It was really great to have so many of our young people as leaders in this programme!
The Sunday before that (19 January) was Aboriginal Sunday and it is worth going back to the Canberra Baptist YouTube to hear Steph Evans’ (pictured here) deliver her moving and powerful Acknowledgement of Country https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5IIhA-pZ2U&t=5s. And the Sunday before that (12 January) we had Rev Dr Christine Redwood, pastor of Seaforth Baptist, another Open Baptists church, preach and she was also amazing.
It might have been Christine’s excellent sermon on wilderness, or it is just the zeitgeist, but I’ve been looking for a book we could work through – as a church – at the start of this year and have settled on Sarah Bessey’s Field Notes for the Wilderness.
Sarah Bessey is the New York Times bestselling author of Jesus Feminist and editor of A Rhythm of Prayer. In this book she provides ‘field notes’ for a collection of practices that have helped her to navigate through the wilderness of Christianity. The quote in the reviews that resonated with me (and sounded most like CBC) is that those she writes for are, “still devoted to Jesus, deeply rooted in the gospel, fascinated with Scripture and committed to reimagining their faith.”
So, this Sunday we are beginning a series, a series that will take us through Lent and onto Easter, guided by Bessey’s Field Notes for the Wilderness. Questions will be provided each Sunday – which you can use for personal reflection or for group discussion in a small group. Some of our small groups will be taking a deeper dive into the material in the book – so check out the range of small groups in this week’s bulletin and service!
Finally, our Christmas Offering – supporting the work of Canberra Refugee Support, Hagar Australia, and church-based community development through Baptist World Aid – is closing in a few more days!!! If you have not donated yet (or want to donate again before it closes) the web-based accessible form is here. Otherwise, you can make a cash donation in the box in the church foyer (please label it) or a direct deposit (see details below):
Account name: Canberra Baptist Church
BSB: 062901
Account number: 10157437
Description: Surname Christmas Offering
Let me close this first ‘Sunday to Sunday’ for 2025 with these words from Isaiah 43:18-19:
Do not remember the former things
or consider the things of old.
I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth; do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
May God go with us as we travel this year. Grace and peace,
Belinda