Letter from the Church Council
On Sunday September 18th we heard the Gospel reading of the rich man and Lazarus – a deeply touching reading.
Dr. Derrick Matthews gave us lots of food for thought in the sermon he preached that same day. He sent me searching for new meanings on being rich or poor or both and then I heard the following sermon on the same topic. ‘This rich man dies and goes to Heaven and St. Peter shows him where he will spend eternity. He walks past many houses. Some ordinary, some humble, some mansions.
The rich man is quietly choosing one for himself. Then St. Peter takes him down this lonely road and shows him a miserable old shack and explains – this is yours. He protests and explains that he was a very important rich man on earth, a person that everyone looked up to and that he expected to find a much better place in Heaven. But St Peter shrugged his shoulders and explained: when you were on earth you only sent up very little, enough to allocate this shack to you!
The message is simple: God wants us to live a full life here on earth and in the process to help those around us especially the poor. But, how do we recognise the poor, are they the unfortunate people who cannot earn a living for themselves andend up begging the crumbs from the rich mans table, or, are they the children who cannot go to school because they have no shoes or no uniform.
Yes, they are all of these people and the list is endless.
In Arusha Community Church we have a Projects and Benevolence fund to support people with a little finance in times of dire need.
Can we support this committee by giving of our time or finances or by sharing the surplus we may have.
There are other committees too that also need support of personnel like Worship Committee that plan our weekly services, Christian Education Committee whosupport our Sunday school programme and Confirmation class and they all need committed people to help with teaching our young people. Our Evangelism and Outreach committee needs support to continue spreading the Christian message.
There are other possibilities of helping during our Sunday service; Ushering which ensures that everyone is greeted and that they have a seat during the service. Creche where children under two have a safe place to rest while parents are attending the service and Library where all of us can benefit from the huge volume of books available for reading.
I urge each of us to ask ourselves;
‘How can I help those around me and in the process live out my Christian life to the full’
Moira Brehony,
Council member.