A Very Good Place To Start
“Let’s start at the very beginning,
A very good place to start…”
This has been a week of beginnings. One week ago was the first night in my unit on campus. Mum and Dad came up from Tassie to help with the move.
Thursday was a welcome evening for new students at the college. I’d spent the day unpacking my books.
Friday was the induction service for the new principal of the Presbyterian Theological College, Rev. Peter Hastie, at Hawthorn Presbyterian Church. The Moderator-General, Rev. David Jones of Hobart, preached on Hebrews 13:8 with the title “All Change, No Change”. David Jones made the points that Jesus is unchanged in His own person, in the message which we must teach and to His people. People do not need ethics or values. They need Jesus. “There is the same water in the well still, and if we have not drawn it, it is our fault,” Charles Spurgeon (audio of the whole service is available here). It was great to see the place much fuller than normal (even if the singing made it hard to hear the organ hard even for the organist) and to catch up with people from across the church.
Sunday was my first Sunday living in Melbourne and attending a local church. The folks at Hawthorn have made me welcome. It’ll be great to spend the next few years with them before I get assigned somewhere to do ministry placement.
Monday night was the Commencement Service at Canterbury Presbyterian Church, celebrating the beginning of new academic year. The faculty assembled and awarded the degrees, followed by a heartfelt response by Ken McClimont and seemingly-obligatory interviews with students which have happened at all three college events I’ve attended in the past few months. Peter Hastie preached on John 15:1-17 under the title “Union and Communion with Christ”. He drew out of the text that Jesus expects His people not only to be fruitful, but to be more fruitful and to bear much fruit, v8. The fruit is not success or religious activity (Jeremiah 7), but a Christlike life (Galatians 5:16-26), praising God with thankfulness (Hebrews 13:15), helping the needy (Philippians 4:17), communicating truth to others (1 Corinthians 13) and Christian conduct in general (Colossians 1:9-14). We can only bear fruit if we abide in Jesus. The true outcome of a theological education is a Christlike life.
Today was the first day of lectures. Along with the other first year students, I began learning Hebrew. I’m ruing the fact I haven’t had time to learn the alphabet before the first lecture. There’s something to work on. I suppose I should be trawling Youtube for a musical setting of it. The word construction seems to make a bit of sense.
For a start to the year, this seems like a good one.
