Do you think that these … were worse sinners? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish (Luke 13 2,5)
When bad things happen to someone, is God punishing them for their sins?
Some people told Jesus about the Galileans killed by Pilate when sacrificing to God. Jesus responded to their unasked question, ‘Do you think that these… were worse sinners? … No …’ (Luke 13:2,3a).
No, they were not worse sinners than anyone else – the same for those killed by the collapse of a tower. No, they were not more guilty than others.
All of us are sinners. None worse than any other.
We can all say with Paul, ‘the good that I want to do I can’t, instead I do the evil I don’t want to do’ (Romans 7:19).
All are sinners inside – some can hide it better than others, but we are all turned in on ourselves, egocentric, hard-hearted – building walls, cutting ourselves off from each other by our thoughts and actions, working towards the final separation, death. ‘The wages of sin is death’ (Romans 6:23).
‘But unless you repent, you too will all perish’ (Luke 13:5).
To repent is to be sorry, to admit your selfishness and inability to change. Jesus started his mission with, ‘Repent and believe the good news!’ (Mark 1:15). Confess your sinfulness, and turn to the good news that you have been forgiven.
Jesus came to die for you – to take your death, to forgive you. And he rose again to live in you. He gives his goodness, holiness and love for all helpless, hopeless sinners.
This is the time of grace, the time to decide –stay in the power of sin and perish, or receive what Jesus has done for you, so his Spirit can produce good fruit in you. Lord Lord, we admit that we sin – we hurt others, ourselves, and you. Have mercy on us, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
Prayer Points
We give thanks for everyone in our community who is helping to form our strategic plan, and pray God would shape it to reflect his plans for us
We pray for the people of Ukraine and all people around the world facing war and conflict
We pray for the Gheysar, Hlawnceu and Ho families
Micah Award
To Jerome for showing courage in trying new things
To Joshua for showing service, compassion and appreciation
Ms Clarke and the Year 1-6 students have been very busy over the past weeks preparing a display for the Sunshine Garden Club annual show. This year the students created a colourful display at the entrance to the show.
The school also entered some school-grown cherry tomatoes in the show. The tomatoes won first prize for Tomatoes in the Fruit, Nuts, Vegetables and Herbs division.
Even though our grounds are small, we have been able to grow an abundance of vegetables in our garden. We look forward to planting our winter crop soon.
SRC News
The SRC recently held their second meeting for the year. Congratulations go to Bawi H for being elected chairperson, Joyce as secretary, and Rebekah as treasurer. The SRC discussed possible fundraising activities and various projects that could be organized throughout the year. We look forward to our first special day, an Easter Day, to be held in the last week of term.
Peer Mediation
Va Ngia and Bawi K, our Peer Mediator coordinators, have been busy organizing the school’s Peer Mediation program under the guidance of Mrs Truong. We will soon see our team of Year 4, 5 and 6 students supporting the other students to problem solve issue they may be having in the playground. We are really excited to see the positive impact the peer mediators will have.
