To the wonderful people of the parish of South Darebin,

Grace and peace to you from the Lord Jesus Christ.

I had so hoped that this Sunday, 17 November, would be a wonderful opportunity of thanksgiving and fond farewell for me as your Acting Vicar.  It was to have been my last day in the parish, but due to my unexpected, sudden and serious illness, it cannot be so. I have thoroughly enjoyed the last eight months with you.  I feel like each member of the congregation has become a friend and I am going to miss you all. However, I rejoice that God has answered our prayers in sending Mother Linda to be the new pastor of the parish and I know that God has led her to you and that God will bless her ministry amongst you.

Expecting to be with you today, I had chosen special readings on which to preach: Micah 6: 6–8; Psalm 136: 1–9; Romans 12: 1–2; 9–18; Matthew 22: 34–40. Here are some key verses from each reading.

He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6: 8)

O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. (Psalm 136: 1)

I appeal to you therefore, beloved, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12: 1–2)

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honour. (Romans 12: 8–10)

When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, he said: “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22: 37–40)

These are wonderful verses that remind us that we are people who belong to the loving God. Through the death of his son Jesus, he opened the way to new life and a new way of living. God calls us to do justice and love kindness as we walk humbly with him. Why? Because the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. Thus, St Paul urges us to present ourselves to God as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. He urges us to ‘let love be genuine, hate what is evil and hold fast to what is good’. And finally, he says, love one another with mutual affection.

All this is crystalised in Jesus’ summary of the law: love God with all that you are and love your neighbour as you love yourself.

As you continue to journey together – worshipping, encouraging, helping, loving – with Mother Linda as your spiritual leader, may these verses be true for each of you, just as I hope they are true for me.

Be assured of my prayers for each one of you. Please pray for me as I begin a long course of treatment for what has been described as a ‘very rare’ disease (very serious aplastic anaemia) and which will require me to alter several aspects of my life. Yet I remain at peace in the love of God, and I rest in God’s promise to us in Jeremiah 29: 11:

For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

With much love,

Chris