From Rev Iain Baxter, All Saints Chiang Mai
Dear Friends,
There is much talk of “brokenness” in some Christian circles. Some people argue that we actually need to be broken as we come before God. There is some truth in this as we sometimes have to overcome pride and even self-righteousness, but in my three years as pastor of All Saints, Chiang Mai, I have become more aware of how fragile we all are.
We may often try to appear strong, but underneath we are often easily hurt and damaged. Far from needing to be broken, we need to come to the Jesus who said he was sent to preach the gospel to the poor and to heal the brokenhearted. This will be the theme of our sermon this week, please come!
Last week’s church offering, plus some additional money from church funds, will be devoted to beginning a program to install smoke detectors in dormitories in Thailand.
I have already spoken to the administrator of the Karen Leadership Development Program dormitory. It houses poor Karen students from remote villages who are studying at college in Chiang Mai. She is very happy for us to supply and fit smoke alarms in their dorm. Bill Moeller has also spoken to an orphanage in Doi Saket, and they would like smoke alarms and also fire extinguishers for their dorm.
If you were unable to give last week there will be an additional chance to give to this project this week, in addition to our regular church offering. Lets hope that this small project helps to save many lives.
Meanwhile, Chris has taken over the job of compiling the church directory. This will give names, addresses, and phone numbers of people in the church. (we will not publish emails because of the danger of general spamming!) If you arrived in the last year, or your details have changed, please fill in a form at the back of the church on Sunday.
This Sunday’s readings are 2 Samuel 11:26-12:10, 13-15, Galatians 2:15-21, and Luke 7:38-8:3, and we will be singing the hymns All My Hope on God Is Founded, O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go, And Now O Father Mindful of the Love, and Amazing Grace. The readings can be found via this link!
God bless,
Iain
All Saints' Chiang Mai 