Welcome To St Andrew's Church, Newlands, Cape Town

December 1st 2010 was the twentythird World Aids day. On the positive side in South Africa we can celebrate that there has been a huge change in political commitment from the government in fighting the epidemic. President Zuma launched the HIV Counselling and testing Campaign earlier in the year. Unsubstantiated figures claim 4 million people have been counseled, 3.7 million tested of which 598 000 are HIV positive.

It was with grateful thanks that generous donations have been received from parishioners, which have enabled plants to be purchased for both these special areas. Hopefully with the onset of autumn and cooler weather, the plants will respond with a pretty display at Easter. Unfortunately of late, there have been problems with vagrants sleeping in some areas of the gardens, leaving cardboard bedding & other matter lying around. Hopefully steps can be taken to prevent this situation from continuing as it is causing concern. With Easter approaching, we will soon, together with fellow Christians be gathering to sing our praises to
Our Risen Lord. May we all be blessed with a happy and Holy Easter.

Margie Barnard

The stories that we find in the four gospels of the first Easter day contain some surface discrepancies. How many women went to the tomb, and how many angels did they meet there? Did the disciples meet with Jesus in Jerusalem or Galilee or both? These discrepancies do not mean that nothing happened. They are a reasonable indication that something remarkable happened, so remarkable that the first witnesses were bewildered into telling different stories about it.

We live in a consumer society. Although we often don’t realise it our lives and our thinking are shaped by that society. Even our understanding of God and the church is affected by the milieu in which we live. For many people the product that is sold by the church is something that makes you feel good on Sunday morning and a ticket to heaven when you die. What more do we want? This is not the gospel of the kingdom of God which Jesus came to proclaim. Jesus came to announce that God is the world’s true ruler (king). The way that he rules is revealed in Jesus the messiah. He rules in love, love for all people and he rules through death and resurrection. We discover his resurrection life when we submit to him as our Lord and as we follow Jesus as his disciples. The Christian life is not about being entertained on Sunday morning.