Saint Andrews

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Dear Friends,

The four evangelists, Matthew, Mark Luke and John put their own distinctive mark on the particular gospel attributed to them. Each evangelist spends a disproportionate amount of time telling the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Once again there are differences in the way that each writer tells this part of the Jesus story, but here are common themes that all of the evangelists wish to convey.

Firstly, Jesus death was predicted. It is clear from the gospels that Jesus knew that he would suffer and die. In Luke’s gospel we find Jesus warning his disciples ‘The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life’ (9:22).  Jesus himself has a clear sense of his own messianic identity and a consequence of his self-understanding was that he understood the prophet’s Isaiah’s Servant Songs predicted his own particular suffering and death on the cross (see 52:13 -53:12).

Secondly, Jesus death was historical. In the ancient world crucifixion was the cruellest form of execution. The gospel writers go to some lengths to convey the fact that Jesus died on the cross. There was no mistaken identity. The Sanhedrin who falsely tried Jesus, Peter in the courtyard of Caiaphas’ residence and the bystanders at the foot of the cross had no doubt that it was Jesus’ of Nazareth who was condemned to death. The gospels are careful to describe the actual death of Jesus.  God the Son incarnate in human life experiences the full reality of human death. While the synoptic gospels emphasise that Jesus took his last breath, John says he gave up his spirit. John goes on to tell us that when soldiers come to Jesus, he was already dead and they proceed to pierce his side with a spear. The burial of Jesus in the tomb, provided by Joseph of Arimathea, is described in all four canonical gospels. The gospels are careful to record that Jesus did not survive crucifixion and make his Easter appearances after being revived in the coolness of the tomb.

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Dear Friends

In our Sunday sermons on Paul’s letter to the Christians in Ephesus, Paul gives clear guidance about behaviour in the Church. In particular that worldly behaviour must not creep into the life of the local congregation. Paul uses two metaphors to highlight the distinctive nature of the Church. He describes the Church as a people under new management (4:20-24) and he calls us to ‘live as children of the light’ (5:8). If we turn to his first letter to the Christians in Corinth we discover that worldly and destructive behaviour has already taken a hold of the believers there. Of course there are some very positive pictures of the Church presented in the New Testament from which we should also learn (see Acts 3:42-47 & 5:32-37).

On Sunday 25^th March we will hold a congregational survey. This is requested by Presbytery and all of the congregations will participate so that Presbytery may glean information and observe trends from previous surveys (completed 4 years ago and longer). What has changed at St Andrew’s over the past four years?

There has been plenty of coming and going of people during that period. The nature of our congregation is one of a high turnover of people, reflecting the lives of the expatriate community in Brussels. Our mission is to make newcomers warmly welcome in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and offer fellowship and pastoral care. Our aim is provide Christian nurture and worship that is biblical, meaningful and relevant to the challenges of living as a Christian in our context and time.

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