Psalm 23

Hans Heysen's Droving into the light (1914-21)

We’re going to spend some time this Sunday, (18/2) reading and meditating on Psalm 23 -- and then concluding with Communion together.

Psalm 23 is a great psalm to ‘paraphrase in your own words.

I wonder how you might paraphrase the Shepherd Psalm?

Here’s some examples:

Psalm 23 #1  

My God is in control

And I have everything I need.

He makes my life abundant and my way secure.

My soul is turned toward home.

I travel his path and

Even in the darkest night I am not afraid,

Because You, my God, go beside me.

Nothing can match your strength and no one cares for me like you.

You are my protector,

My Healer,

My everything and more.

All is well because you are my Savior

And I am your child

Forever.

Psalm 23 #2 A Sailor’s version   

The Lord is my pilot, I shall not drift.

He guides me across the dark waters.

He steers me through deep channels.

He keeps my log.

Yea, though I sail ‘mid the thunders

and tempest of life,

I shall dread no anger, for He is with me;

His love and His care, shelter me.

He prepares a quiet harbor before me.

He anoints the waves with oil

My ship rides calmly.

Surely sunlight and starlight

shall guide me on the voyage I take,

And I will rest in the heaven's port forever.

Psalm 23 #3 

“The Lord is my guardian and guide… Because of that I have everything I need!  He leads me to places where I find bounty,blessing and peace.  He restores and refreshes me when I am physically, emotionally, and spiritually spent!  He leads in the way I ought to go so that my life is honoring to Him.

“Even when I face challenges and circumstances in my daily walk with Him that seem as dark as death itself… I don’t have to be afraid!  I know that You are with me Lord!  You are there to what a shepherd does… guiding and guarding all the way.

“Even when enemies surround me you have a wonderful way of providing a table filled with bountiful blessing!  If I’m wounded you have just the salve I need to bring healing!  My cup of blessing overflows!  And I’m confident of this fact… Your goodness and steadfast love (yes, your covenant love) will be there for me every day I live… and beyond this life?  The confident hope of spending eternity with you in Heaven!”

HAVEN TERM 1 2025

Haven's on again for this term! You are welcome to come and participate

This is an overview of the term's activities.

For more detail, there will be separate posts about each activity.

23/02 — 4:30pm-5:30pm: Worship Focus

Gather around the Communion table

Draw strength as we reflect on Psalm 23 

Includes  refreshments. Venue: UCA, 97 Schotters Rd, Mernda

02/03 — 5pm-6pm: Pre-Shrove Tuesday pancakes! 

Bring your fav fillings & join in pancakes for tea & conversation. 

Venue: UCA, 7 Schotters Rd, Mernda

09/03 — 3:30pm-5:30pm: CHOCOLAT (PG-13)

Join us to watch this charming Lenten fable. 

Bring a sample of your favourite chockys to share! 

Venue: M&E’s place, 13 Kylie Place Montmorency 

NB: Long Weekend, some may be away

16/03 — 4:30pm-5:30pm: What if God was one of us? 

A discussion about the meaning of Easter for week:2 of Lent. 

Includes refreshments. Venue: UCA, 97 Schotters Rd, Mernda

23/03 — 4:30pm-5:30pm: “I’ve got questions…!” 

A Q&A discussion on faith stuff around Easter.

You can send questions in beforehand if you wish. 

(See contact details below). Includes refreshments. 

Venue: UCA, 97 Schotters Rd, Mernda

30/03 — 4:00pm-5:30pm: Note - No Haven for ‘regulars’ this week. 

Instead there will be an orientation session for those interested in 

starting their own local version of Haven. includes light refreshments. 

Let me know if you are interested.

Venue: UCA, 97 Schotters Rd, Mernda

6/04 — 4:00pm-5:30pm: Worship Focus: Contemplative Nature Walk. 

A contemplative walk is an invitation to slow down & spend time in the outdoors enjoying God’s amazing creation. Set in the beautiful Plenty Gorge Parklands we will spend time engaging our senses; connecting with nature, our bodies and God. 

Meet at Brinawa Reserve, Cnr Brinawa Drv & Goolgung Grv, Greensborough. 

BYO refreshments (NB: Check FB/Blog if weather is inclement)

13/04 — 5:00pm-6:00pm: Palm Sunday

Bring a plate to share for tea, as we remember 

the last seven days of Jesus life. 

Venue: UCA, 97 Schotters Rd, Mernda

20/04 — 10:00am-11:30am: Easter Sunday (Times to be confirmed)

Join in with our friends at Diamond Valley Baptist Church

to celebrate Easter. 

Venue: 309 Diamond Creek Rd, Plenty

Note: Activities this term are not all at the same place or time. 

Check blog or FB for more info

SMS  0418 382449 | therevhead@icloud.com | haven-community.blogspot.com | Facebook  

Haven | Afternoon Tea | 3:30pm Sunday 9th Feb 2025

Hey everyone,

Just a reminder that you are each most welcome to join us for afternoon tea NEXT Sunday as we  get ready to  start Haven again for 2025. (Details below)

Looking forward to seeing you soon!

Grace and Peace 

Martin and Esmae

================================

Greetings friends,

As I write this I’m looking out at the Ovens river babbling along, watching some ducks enjoying the cool water and a large black Labrador playing in the shallows with some little kids who are squealing with delight!

The old year, 2024, with all of it’s challenges is over and a brand new year, bursting with possibilities has begun - A joy and peace-filled 2025 to each of you!

I’m reminded of Jeremiah musing on the stressful times he and his people had faced and looking forward and penning these hope-filled words:

    "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
    his mercies never come to an end;
    they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness."
    (Lamentations 3:22-23 NRSV)

I'd like to invite attendees and friends of Haven to afternoon tea at our place.We want to do three things:

• Give thanks for God’s blessings through the year just past and ask God’s strength for the year to come.
• Have a bit of a review on how Haven’s been going
• Share how we might move forward in 2025 

This wouldn’t be a long afternoon, and even if you are not sure what your commitment might be going forward, you're welcome, if you are free! Your insights on the journey till now will be most valued.

Haven Afternoon Tea

3:30pm-5:00pm 

Sunday 9th of February 2025
13 Kylie Place Montmorency.
Please RSVP: 0418 382449 or  therevhead@icloud.com 

NOTE: We're not meeting at Mernda Uniting church this time.

Looking forward to seeing you.

Grace and Peace 

Martin and Esmae

We drew a circle that took him in

Edwin Markham 1852-1940, USA

 

Power is not a means; it is an end.

An perceptive observation by George Orwell, spoken by the character O'Brien in the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (p.173):

"... The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. 

We are different from the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. 

We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me.” 

― George Orwell, 1984

A Happy New Year to One and All!

 Psalm 23 - A Paraphrase

You, LORD, are my guide in the wilderness;     ........there is nothing more I could need.

You set up camp in places of beauty and shelter;
........you lead the way on secluded tracks
................beside creeks of cool clean water.
I feel my spirit breathing freely again;
........your reputation puts me at ease;
................I leave the navigating to you, and follow.

Even if we hike through a perilous valley,
........where crows keep a menacing watch,
................fear will still not get the better of me.
As long as I stick with you
........I know I’ll make the distance;
with a knife and a bit of rope
........you seem able to tackle any challenge.

You cook up a feast for me,
........as those who wanted to feed on me watch, frustrated.
You pamper me like an honoured guest
........and constantly top up my glass.

My life feels charmed, each and every day.
........Love, mercy and all good things
................keep falling into my lap.

I’m with you for life, LORD,
........where you go, I’ll go;
................where you live, I’ll live.

Source: ©2001 Rev Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

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NOTE: Haven will recommence in term one 2025. We’re going to take this next while to prayerfully reflect on the journey so far and consider the best way forward. Stand by for the details for 2025. 

Christmas Benediction

By the tender mercy of our God love  has broken upon us!

Light is given where once there was darkness

and hope where there was only death.

We go into this season knowing

that God will guide our feet into the way of peace.

(Source: Carol Penner, Leading in Worship)

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NOTE: Haven will recommence early in term one 2025. We’re going to take this next while to prayerfully reflect on the journey so far and consider the best way forward. Stand by for the details for 2025. 

Third Sunday of Advent

The third Sunday of Advent is referred to as “Gaudete Sunday.” The name comes from the the Latin word -- "Rejoice!"

Paul writes: “Rejoice in the Lord always! I say it again, rejoice!” (Phil 4:4-6), and we we are reminded that while we wait, we rejoice for the Lord is near. He loves us, saves us, and leads us to life. 

Isaiah writes:

"The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom. They will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with joyful song. The glory of Lebanon will be given to them, the splendour of Carmel and Sharon; They will see the glory of the LORD, the splendour of our God.

Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak,

Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; With divine recompense he comes to save you.

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared;

Then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the dumb will sing. Streams will burst forth in the desert, and rivers in the steppe.

Those whom the LORD has ransomed will return and enter Zion singing, crowned with everlasting joy; They will meet with joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning will flee."  – Is 35

Haven will recommence early in term one 2025. We’re going to take this next few weeks to prayerfully reflect on the journey so far and consider the best way forward. Stand by for the details about when we kick off for 2025. 

A JOYFUL & PEACE FILLED CHRISTMAS TO ONE & ALL!

We had our last meeting at Haven for year this last Sunday — the second Sunday of Advent.  The four Sundays leading up to Christmas are called ADVENT. Every Sunday, in many traditions, one of four candles is lit. Each candle has a meaning to remind us about Christmas 

The first candle represents the Hope we have in Christ. The second candle reminds us of the Prince of Peace who is in our midst. The third week’s candle speaks about the Joy of Jesus' coming, and the fourth candle points us to he Love of God in Christ.

This last Sunday we lit the second Advent candle and reflected on the Prince of
Peace born at Bethlehem.

The angelic host cried out to the shepherd in the fields: “…“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.” (Luke 2: 14)

“Peace” would have been the Hebrew word “Shalom.” Shalom isn’t just the absence
of war -- it’s far richer than that. It speaks of wholeness and reconciliation. It’s about the shattered vase being put back together and restored. 

Walter Brueggemann puts it:“Shalom is about wholeness, prosperity, well-being, harmony, and goodness in the face of adversity. It is about when our world is as God would have it, everything is complete, all is as it should be, and nothing is missing.” (Living Toward A Vision: Biblical Reflections On Shalom, p. 19)

We believe, we have hope, that the Prince of Peace has come and one day this broken world will be put back together, and one day, the broken fragments of our lives will be made new.

Our prayer is that each would experience the peace and the power of the one born that first Christmas.

Haven will recommence early in term one 2025. We’re going to take this next few weeks to prayerfully reflect on the journey so far and consider the best way forward. Stand by for the details about when we kick off for 2025.

In the meantime may this beautiful blessing be true for you this Christmas!

Christmas Blessing

May God bless you, this Christmas, 

with discomfort at easy answers, hard hearts, 

half-truths,and superficial relationships. 

May God bless you so that you may live
from deep within your heart
where God's Spirit dwells.

May God bless you with anger...
at injustice, oppression,
and exploitation of people.

May God bless you so that you may work 

for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with tears 
to shed for those who suffer from 

pain, rejection, starvation and war.

May God bless you so that you
may reach out your hand
to comfort them and turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with
enough foolishness
to believe that you can make a difference
in this world, and in your neighbourhood,

so that you will courageously try
what you don't think you can do, but,
in Jesus Christ you'll have all the strength necessary.

May God bless you to fearlessly
speak out about injustice,
unjust laws, corrupt politicians,
unjust and cruel treatment of prisoners, 

and senseless wars,
genocides, starvations, 

and poverty that is so pervasive.

May God bless you that you remember 

we are all loved and called
We are blessed to be a blessing
for love and healing

in God's place, in and through God's name,
in God's Spirit, and through God’s forgiveness
and breathing new life and grace
into everything and everyone we touch. 

AMEN

A JOYFUL AND PEACE FILLED CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL!