June 2014
Dear Prayer Partners,
I have a new view from my office desk! Alyson,
Penny, Bernhard and I have all moved into the Resource Centre for a while and I
now look out onto the Volmoed fields instead of across to Hamilton-Russell
vineyards. Our office renovations are under way thanks to a generous blessing
of building materials from a house which was being renovated,
and Volmoed received the old stuff! We have glass sliding doors which are going
to close in the stoep area of our old offices to become the reception area and
the old offices are changing. We are all being moved around into new spaces
which can be exciting but also a challenge for some! We feel as though there is
an “umbrella” over Volmoed and we are being especially blessed during the building
operations - we have had little rain compared to other areas that have been
under water!
This morning when the bell rang at 10 o’clock
for Prayer Time, Alyson and I wrapped up warmly and took umbrellas for our walk
to the Chapel. It was one of our first winter mornings and the wind was blowing
and black clouds threatened. Almost all the leaves had been blown off the Pin
Oak on our way to the Chapel and sadly the carpet of brown leaves cosily
arranged in a circle around the sloping branches was gone. I loved the sight of
them and told everyone please not to rake them up but the wind had other ideas!
Walking along, taking in all the colours and sights of the season, I was
thinking about my June prayer letter and what the theme would be....and there I
found it in our prayer time – again through the book “Running over Rocks” by
Ian Adam. I, and many others, have been so blessed through the chapters. This
morning the chapter was on “Blessing (Become Blessing)” and it started with a
poem which spoke into so many situations we find ourselves .....and then, the
reminder of how awesome blessings can be .......
LET’S GO!
Let’s go, let’s grow, let’s go for a walk,
let’s not settle for talk
Let’s imagine new worlds, let’s see fears unfurl,
let’s listen to dreams,
let’s paint the town green
Let’s spike guns with
flowers, let’s confront tyrants with prayers,
let’s meet abuse with blessing
Let’s
hear people singing, let’s nurture our wonder, let’s pause to ponder, let’s
stand amazed Let’s fall down dazed, let’s love this place, let’s be flooded
with grace,
let’s meet hate with love
Let’s fly Picasso’s dove, let’s honour
our labour, let’s love God and neighbour,
Let’s eat bread and drink wine, let’s
kiss and give time,
Let’s grow, let’s go!
I returned back to my desk energised and
grateful for what I had heard from the reading and the blessings seen along the
path back and forth to the Chapel and above all the blessing of Volmoed in my
life, in the lives of the team and community and the wider community out there.
Wow! We know in a small way what Volmoed means to our visitors when they share
with us. The month of May was busy with people coming for personal and led
retreats and church groups running programmes. Give grateful thanks with us.
In his book Ian shares ...”A blessing is
more than words that are voiced, greater than any gesture made. Possibilities
are opened up in an ever-moving cosmos. It’s about nurturing the act of
blessing in our daily lives. And it’s about letting the act of blessing change
both the giver and the receiver so that we become blessing in our very being.
True blessing is never a power game. It’s never a gift of the haves to the
have- nots. A true blessing has a reciprocal quality. Blessing changes the one
who receives the blessings. The act of blessing someone engages the spirit of
compassion within the person offering blessing. And the receiving of blessing
helps the person being blessed to step into the future that is waiting for
them. True blessing gives dignity and worth to the person being blessed. When
the person offering the blessing looks into the faces of the people being
blessed with compassion and care, even if she or he doesn’t know them as
individuals, the blessing can be one of integrity, bringing change.”
We have been praying for Anna, one of our
Volmoed team, who has been battling with life recently. We have asked you to
pray for her previously as she and Gustav have been trying for a baby. This has
put a lot of pressure on the couple and they were seriously thinking of
splitting after 11 years of marriage but wonderfully Anna shared that they had
thought and prayed and have decided against it and are now looking into
adopting a baby. Anna’s Mum was very ill with cancer but on her last doctors appointment
they could find no more growths for which we give such grateful thanks and
share Anna’s relief and love to see her smiling face again! Please continue to
pray for Anna and Gustav.
Di Miller, our UK agent, was out in SA again as
her Mum, Mary Stanford, died. Mike and Alyson went to the funeral in Somerset
West and it was a celebration of a wonderful lady’s life and all she did in the
different places she lived over her 92 years. Please give thanks for Di and all
she does for Volmoed.
June is holiday month for many at Volmoed –
Penny (our bookkeeper) and her husband Wim are off on holiday on the 3rd June
for two weeks. They will be connecting with family and friends in Pretoria and
Graskop. Pray for a time of refreshment, relaxation and happiness. John and
Isobel will be on holiday from 28th June – 13th July. They will be meeting up
with their daughter Jeanelle and her friend Heidi and taking their
grandchildren David and Kate to discover the “de Gruchy roots” in Jersey. John
was away in Canada in May where he received an honorary doctorate from Knox
College at the University of Toronto. A week later he received the Andrew
Murray-Desmond Tutu book-prize for 2014 for his recent book “Led into Mystery.”
Wendy will be away from the 27th June – 14th July and Anna and Serghay are back
from their leave. Please pray for all travelling for safety, good health and
wonderful times . Molly is back from having a couple of weeks in Kloof helping
to babysit their new grandson Fynn – she loved every minute of it!
VOLMOED JUNE HAPPENINGS:-
2nd
– 6th David Newton retreat
5th Steve
de Gruchy memorial lecture
6th
– 8th Olivia Kate
Anderson Christening
6th
– 8th Cape Town International Convention Centre-
wedding expo
10th – 11th Friday Means Fellowship – George Johnson
10th Hermanus Ministers
11th – 13th Peninsula Schools Feeding Association – Mark
Walker
13th – 15th Fynarts Festival – Alyson giving painting
demo’s
16th Sword
Truths seminar for ladies
17th – 19th
College of Moderators – Barry Brown
26th – 28th Commonground Church
28th
Quiet
day for lay ministeries in Anglican Chapelries of Hermanus
30th
– 4th Volmoed
childrens' camp
As we go into June may we all receive blessing
upon blessing. May we realise the power to bless, to encourage, to heal
relationships and renew one another as Our Lord blesses us.
May Jesus shower you with His love and
blessings, God bless and love,
Jane and the Volmoed family
No comments:
Post a Comment