PASTORAL LETTER

Dear friends
As we enter another year some do so with a sense of excitement and anticipation of good things others with a sense of foreboding and a heaviness of spirit. The extent to which one or other of these extremes applies depends on a combination of circumstances and temperament or  we might say a mixture of internal and external factors.  

We may be able to do little or nothing about the external factors but the internal factors - our emotions our expectations our mood etc. are more amenable to change.  The Bible teaches in a number of places that our feelings should not be determined by our circumstances but rather our feelings should rise above our circumstances. It can be very easy of course to glibly state such a truth but not nearly so easy to live it out  when we ourselves are immersed in vexing and painful circumstances.  Nevertheless it should be a comfort to all of us to know that our circumstances need not and should not determine whether life is worth living or not. What then does the Bbile actually say about this? First of all we have in Romans chapter 8 the great truth that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. " neither death nor life neither angels nor demons neither the present nor the future ...nor anything else in all creation" (vs 38,39).  There can be nothing greater than to be loved by God and nothing that happens to us can alter that.  Another truth from Romans chapter 8 is that the adverse circumstances of life are tools in Gods hand to form us into our true selves, in all things God (working) for the good of those who love him" (v.28). Finally, depending on the  adverse circumstances in question God may deliver us from them in answer to our prayers. The writer of Psalm 40 said "I waited patiently for the Lord he turned to me and heard my cry He lifted me out of the slimy pit out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock" Even if he does not deliver us from adverse circumstances he will deliver us in them - from the mud and mire of despair and self pity, if we will only cry to him in faith.

I trust that every Dalserf member will do the best they can throughout 2012 trusting in God's enabling power, to do his work
as an indivual Christian and as a member of Dalserf Church and see Christ's kingdom expand locally nationally and globally.

Best wishes for 2012

Cameron McPherson