The Friendly Church
As we face a New Year
To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
A time to keep,
And a time to throw away; (Eccles. 3:1,6)
We look back on the year 2022 with gratitude and look forward with hopeful anticipation. The Year 2022 has, for many of us, been a year which presented us with multiple experiences.
Losses of life
The themes of Advent are very real, Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. They address issues that were not only current for the early Christian community but continue to impact us in this century.
Advent HOPE.
For a people who were exiled for 70 years, losing their land, their homes, their temple, and their national leaders, hope of the restoration of these losses and a political leader to defend them against their enemies was a real project. The words of hope offered by the prophet Isaiah were welcome and timely,
Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. (1John 3:18); Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. (Rom 12:9)
Dear Family and Friends,
I greet you well as we enter another church year. It marks the end of one year and initiates another.
It’s a good time for reassessment, for re-evaluation and renewal.
As you make your assessment it is useful to ask, what did I promise the Lord that I would do in His name and for Him in the outgoing year?
Did I promise to use my gifts more faithfully and fervently?
Did I promise to give more and sacrificially?
Did I promise to speak to more persons about Christ?
A lot done, but still more work to do
By Deacon Douglas Levermore
When you grow up a fatherless son, in many ways you have to raise yourself. No one tells you what looks good on you, how to carry yourself, or provides the approval. Without a father, you grow up never knowing what you didn't have. There is no intimate model of who you want to become, so it's as if you're always guessing. John Hickenlooper
There is no way to be a perfect parent, but a million ways to be a good one. - (Anonymous)
The months of May and June usually hold special interest for families. because we celebrate special days for mothers and fathers. It is also months in which we should think about parenting as a number of activities usually take place which revolve around parenting.
The recent visit to the Caribbean of Their Royal Highnesses Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, to the Caribbean, and Jamaica, Bahamas and Belize in particular, brought mixed reaction.
Vladimir Putin seem to fit the profile of a bully;
A bully is one who insists on death before dishonour. Even when the action seems unpopular, inappropriate and irrational, it will still be pursued as to back down would be dishonour. Putin has taken on a medium-size country and is beating them up not because of any great resources they have, because they are one of the poorest countries in Europe, but because of its location and history and geopolitical significance.
What are the issues behind this war?
Dear Friends,
I greet you well. It is almost two years now since Jamaica experienced patient zero infected with the Coronavirus. Since then, life for us has been completely transformed, disturbed or different. One of the ways we have all been affected is through reduced face to face activities and an almost dependence on online technology namely zoom, Facebook, YouTube etc. for worship and other meetings.