
Church Billboard
At the front of St Mark's building there is a billboard which normally gets changed each month.
People may wonder what the meaning of particular posters are.
Every month we will provide an explanation so there is no confusion.

What do you like to do on the Easter long weekend? Most of us get two extra days off giving us the opportunity to go away, spend time with friends or family, relax at home or do something a little different to our normal weekends. Our family tradition is to spend the weekend in the beautiful autumnal Blue Mountains of New South Wales, staying with friends, eating, drinking and playing together.
The Easter long weekend has come to an end this year and most of us are back to our normal busy lives. Yet what was done on the very first Easter weekend 2000 years ago has not ended.
“We… see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” Hebrews 2:9
The cross and crown of thorns Jesus suffered on that first Easter was temporary. He submitted himself to their horror on our behalf. He tasted death to take away our eternal death. Then he rose again. And his victory over death and sin continues to this day. He is now crowned, not with thorns but glory and honour.
While our Easter long weekends come and go, how Jesus spent that first Easter long weekend has eternal consequences. Have you accepted Jesus’s substitute death on your behalf? Do you trust that his Easter suffering means you are forgiven for your sins and can share in his eternal glory? Don’t let Easter end with a couple of extra days off work, receive the everlasting rest and peace Easter really brings.
PRAYER
Dear God,
Thank you for Jesus' suffering and death on my behalf. Because of what Jesus did that first Easter, forgive me for my sins. May I trust Jesus is now crowned with glory and honour and live with him as my King.
Amen

What does the death penalty have to do with love? The crucifix was a brutal means of capital punishment in the ancient Roman empire. Death by crucifixion could take between 6 hours and 4 days resulting from excessive bleeding, dehydration or progressive suffocation. It was an extremely painful and shameful way to die, inflicted upon those considered repugnant. And yet today we hang pretty crosses from our ears and necks, tattoo them into our skin, hang them on our walls - bejeweled, ornamental, celebrated.
The cross, the shape of a gruesome death has been infused with something greater and more powerful and has captured the hope of billions over millennia.
The apostle Paul explains to Christians in ancient Colossae:
“Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” Colossians 1:21-22
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Though many have died by crucifixion, one person, Jesus Christ, transformed the painful, shameful cross into an act of supreme love. On the cross Jesus willingly took our punishment to bring us forgiveness and reconciliation with God.
The cross shows us our sin, our just punishment for ignoring and rebelling against God. And it shows us the depth and breadth of God’s love for his rebellious people. It is the interchange of death and life, horror and hope, guilt and forgiveness, punishment and purity. And so the brutal cruciform is also the shape of supreme love, worth remembering and celebrating.
What is your response to the gruesome gracious cross? Do you trust it as the place where God’s love has been poured out on you and your sins paid for and forgiven?
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PRAYER
Dear God, Help me comprehend and trust the paradox of the cross and what Jesus did for me when he died on it. Amen

Have you seen those images comparing the size of the earth to the sun and then comparing the sun to other supergiant stars? The size of our galaxy, the size of the universe is beyond human comprehension.
In comparison, we, our lives, our whole world, are minuscule… tiny, microscopic specks floating in infinity. It’s the kind of stuff that may bring on an existential crisis. But the Bible makes a different point.
Psalm 147 shows God the creator commanding the universe with the ease of a master conductor.
“He counts the stars
and knows each of them by name.
Our Lord is great and powerful.
There is no limit to what he knows…
He gives a command to the earth,
and it quickly obeys.
He makes the snow fall until the ground is as white
as wool.
He makes sleet blow through the air like dust.
He makes hail fall like rocks from the sky.
No one can stand the cold he sends.
Then he gives another command, and warm air
begins to blow.
The ice melts, and water begins to flow.”
Psalm 147: 4-5, 15-18 (ERV)
In this image it is the universe that is dwarfed by God. Yet there is more. While skillfully orchestrating the universe like a divine symphony, God is also attentive to the minuscule likes of us.
“He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds” (verse 3). He is even described as causing the grass to grow on the hills and providing animals with their food (verse 8 & 9).
Similarly, in Psalm 139, God is described as knitting together the unborn child in the womb. The God who holds, names and commands the gas giants that are bigger than our mind can comprehend, also leans in close and personal to the smallest amongst us. He deliberately and carefully handmakes each human body. He sees every detail of our being and our lives. Nobody is a nobody to God.
What does it mean to you that the creator and commander of the universe sees and knows you? How does God’s loving attentiveness to the macro and the micro challenge your perception of Him or bring you comfort?
PRAYER
Dear God, I praise you. You are more mighty than I can understand. You command the universe yet care for my every need. May I trust in your power and goodness today and everyday to come. Amen.

Sometimes getting dirty can be fun. Painting, cooking, gardening, sport, can all be activities we do for fun that may get us a little messy. Sometimes getting clean can be fun. Having a shower and putting on fresh clean clothes after a sweaty, muddy, soccer game feels great.
But there are also times when getting dirty is downright disgusting. I remember watching horrified as my dad cleaned out a blocked sewerage trench - reaching down into the stinky sludge with his bare arms. And there are times when the dirt just won’t budge. The stain on a beloved piece of clothing. Or much worse a psychological or spiritual sense of being tainted, guilty, that just won’t go away.
While most dirt, even sewage sludge, can be scrubbed away with a good cake of soap, spiritual
cleansing doesn’t come that easy. The bible describes spiritual cleansing, the washing away of all one’s wrongdoings and moral guilt, as something that can only be done by Jesus Christ.
“Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” Ephesians 5:25-27
Jesus Christ sacrificed his life to make us spiritually clean forever. By dying on the cross he paid the price for our wrongdoings and guilt. All who trust in Jesus’ loving act of cleansing will stand before God “without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish” and even better be considered “holy and blameless” in God’s sight.
The dirt and mess in this world is inevitable and temporary, but eternal purity through Jesus Christ will last forever. Read God’s word the Bible, see what Jesus is offering you and get clean forever.
Prayer
Dear God, I want to be spiritually clean, holy and blameless in your sight. Thank you for loving me so much that Jesus sacrificed himself to make me clean. Please help me to trust this everyday. Amen.