1 May 2022
The Dean's Message
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
We have recently celebrated the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. Jesus rose again bodily, showing that he really is the one whom God promised would bear the sins of God’s people and reign eternally as king. As God’s people, we not only rejoice in the resurrection of Jesus but also look forward to our own resurrection to glory that God has promised to those who trust in his Son.
Our hearts are also gladdened by the restoration we are experiencing in our nation, and in our church, as we move from the pandemic phase to the endemic one. It has been so good to see people come back to church and to share the joy of fellowship once again.
As you know, the Government’s Covid SOPs are being significantly relaxed from today onwards. This will have significant impact on our ministry at St Mary’s.
From next weekend, you won’t need to book to come to church for any of our weekend services. We plan to maintain our current seating arrangements until services become so full that we need to sit some people a little closer - in which case we will do that. We expect that this won’t need to happen at all in the 7am service so those who wish to retain social distancing are encouraged to attend that service.
The Government has also lifted all vaccination requirements for coming – so all can come regardless of your vaccination status. People who are not vaccinated, including children, won’t need to produce an RTK test before coming. They can just come. According to Government SOPs the only people who can’t come are those who are Covid positive or under a Home Surveillance Order. Please be prepared to allow this to be checked on your MySejahtera app if required.
If you think you’ve been exposed to Covid, can I advise you, in love and concern for others, to check your RTK or stay home. But we won’t check. Likewise, if you have symptoms can I advise you to stay home out of love and concern for others – and if your children have symptoms to keep them home as well. But we will not be checking, we will not be enforcing, it’s up to you to be responsible for yourself, your children, and your effect on your brothers and sisters.
We will need to keep wearing masks when indoors: that is a must. And I’d encourage you to do so outdoors when you are near other people.
The rules for social distancing are gone as well, but again, please be mindful of how comfortable other people may or may not be. And lovingly look out for others. Please especially look out for the older people, and the more vulnerable people: please don’t go and hold hands with them and give them a hug unless they make the first move. Let’s be careful to be thoughtful and loving to each other in that way.
The fact that we don’t need to book to come to church from next weekend will affect a couple of other things. Up to now, you’ve been getting a copy of the order of service emailed to you after you book to come to church. Since there are no more bookings, we need to find another way of sending you the order of service. We will put a link to the order of service for all our English services in the email we send out to everyone each Friday. So, you can just click and download the one you plan to come to. So please make sure you are signed up for our regular emails by going to stmarys.my/subscribe. Of course, if you forget to do that, you can still download the order of service when you arrive on Sunday by using the QR code at the Cathedral. And that’s how our visitors will download the order of service as well.
The next thing is parking. Parking is free and will be in the Dataran Merdeka Car Park (there are some services for which there is also an option to book parking at the Royal Selangor Club, for now). If you don’t need a car park, or you are parking in Dataran Merdeka, you just need to turn up.
Parking in the cathedral car park itself is only for those who need it. If you are elderly, ill or disabled, and would find it hard to walk in, or if you are a single woman travelling alone, or if you have young children and would struggle to bring them across the road – then the car park is for you, but you have to book it.
You can book a spot in the Cathedral car park in the same way as you used to book to come to church – at stmarys.my/booking (if you don’t have internet access you can call the office on 011-5760-3484 during office hours and we will help you.) Bookings close at noon on Fridays. If you book a car park, the guard will be given your car number so when you come, he will check your number and let you in. If you plan to come each week, then you can book for up to 3 months at a time, so you don’t have to have the hassle of booking each week. But please only do that if you intend to come each week – otherwise your spot may be wasted.
For those who are able to park in the Dataran Car Park, let us do that so that there is room for people who really need to park in the Cathedral car park to do so. If you have any questions, please email office@stmaryscathedral.org.my or send us a connect card at stmarys.my/connect.
During the week, the Cathedral will also be opening its doors for private prayer and for visitors after the public holidays this week. It will generally be open from Tuesday to Friday (9am-4pm) except during public holidays. We are already hosting small group meetings. The Cathedral Office is also open from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday.
As we move towards ‘normality’ let us remember that what we are experiencing is still abnormal. The whole world has been abnormal since the fall and continues to be abnormal – just in different ways at different time. ‘The whole of creation has been groaning together in pains of childbirth until now’ (Romans 8:22). The real return to normality will come when Jesus returns to raise the dead, judge the world, and restore creation to the way it was meant to be. On that glorious day, we will be truly free, not just from Covid-19, but from all the effects of sin. May the Lord grant us grace to keep trusting his Son, believing his Gospel and walking with him in faith until he brings us to that Day.
Your brother in Christ,
Andrew
Past Updates
(Updated 9 October 2021)
The Dean's Message
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
We are thankful to God that the pandemic situation is improving in our country. Our vaccination rate is very high and this has led to the rate of infection dropping, and the rate of very serious infection dropping still further. We are thankful to God for the technology that has enabled this. I would personally encourage everyone to be vaccinated unless there is a medical reasons why that is not advisable for you.
At the same time we cannot be complacent. It is still possible (though less likely) for fully vaccinated people to fall ill and to pass the infection on, and it is still possible (though less likely) for fully vaccinated people to die from Covid-19 – especially those who are elderly or have comorbidities. We have had elderly people in our own Cathedral community who have died from Covid-19 despite being vaccinated. So while we are glad that things are heading in a positive direction, we cannot let our guard down yet.
Our physical safety is important but our spiritual well-being is even more vital. Our brothers and sisters who were faithful to Christ but have died in the pandemic are with him now, which is better by far, and will rise again when Christ returns. But those who have turned away from Christ are lost forever, unless they repent, even if they survive the pandemic. So as much as we are careful with our physical health, we must be even more careful with our spiritual health.
Let us therefore remember that Christ has done everything needed to bring us to the Father. He has died for our sins, taking the penalty on our behalf so that we can be forgiven and reconciled to God. He has risen from the dead to be the King who loves us, and leads us by his Spirit through his word. He changes us now, by that same Spirit, into his likeness. And one day he will come again to bring us to glory with him.
Let us therefore never neglect Christ or be complacent about all that he has done for us. As we emerge from the lockdown, let us not allow the world to crowd Christ out of our lives. Let us keep loving God and loving our neighbour in response to God’s love shown to us in him. Let us keep seeking to live lives of holiness as he is holy. Let us keep making him known to those who don’t know him, and let us keep helping each other to press on in loving him and serving him, even when things are tough. Let us keep reading his word and coming before him in prayer. And let us keep looking forward with hope to the future we have with him in glory. And whether we meet onsite or online, let us not give up meeting together, to encourage one other and to spur each other on to love and good works as we wait for his return.
While online ministry will certainly continue into the foreseeable future, we are now taking steps towards opening the Cathedral building for onsite ministry while still observing careful limitations to minimise risk. As always, the motivation for all this is love.
Main Church Services
We are planning towards having our first onsite regular services this weekend (Mandarin on 9 October and English on 10 October). Livestreaming of onsite services will commence the following week.
On the English side, we will start with a liturgical service this Sunday at 10.00 am, and then add a Contemporary Service next Sunday at 5.00 pm. So in the first phase of reopening, from 17 October onwards, there will be 2 English onsite, livestreamed services. More services will be added later. You can book to come for these services at stmarys.my/booking from 2.00 pm the previous Sunday until noon on the Friday beforehand, unless they are booked out first. Our BM and Iban services, God willing, will begin next month.
Our own strict SOPs will be followed for the onsite services, as they were previously, to maximise the safety of our brothers and sisters who are there. To manage the numbers, those who intend to come will be required to book online beforehand.
We will also ensure that we comply with the relevant Government SOPs at the time. At the moment, this would mean that only people who are fully vaccinated are allowed to come. We have suggested through the CCM that in the future SOP revisions, the Government should allow unvaccinated people who have done a negative RTK test within 24 hours of the service to come as well, as with that, they will provide less risk to others than people who are fully vaccinated without an RTK test. We will wait for the outcome of that suggestion. People who have fever, cough, or other Covid-19 symptoms will not be allowed to come for the safety of others. We will all wear masks and keep sanitising our hands. Toilets will be open but only one person at a time will be able to use them. All our staff who will be at the Cathedral for services will be RTK tested the day before to minimise any risk to the congregation from interacting with them. Nevertheless, we still advise people who are elderly or have significant comorbidities to wait a little longer before coming. The decision, however, is with them.
Onsite services at the moment will be different from what we remember from before the pandemic. We will all need to wear masks whenever we are on the Cathedral grounds and keep physically distanced. We won’t be able to eat and drink together (apart from at Holy Communion), we won’t be able to sing together and we won’t be able touch each other. So it still won’t yet be the way it was. We won’t be using the air-conditioning for now so as to maximise ventilation. And we won’t be able to linger inside the building to chat after the service. Do be aware of that and temper your expectations. What will not change is that we are God’s people, gathered in his presence, around his word, in love for one another. Where we previously expressed love in facial gestures, physical touch and shared meals, we now express it by minimising the Covid risk to each other. We still look forward to the time when we can do the former.
Over the next few weeks, the number of services at the Cathedral will slowly increase. However, we are very aware that in any given week, there will still likely be more people meeting online than onsite for a significant time to come. If you are not able to come for the onsite service in any given week, may I urge you to keep the discipline of meeting online? It would be best if you followed the service in real time from your home – and can I encourage you to set the time aside each week to do that – so that whether you are physically at the Cathedral or in your home, you are still gathered with God’s people. As was the case previously, those who wish to share in the Lord’s Supper from home may do so in real time, preserving the temporal aspect of meeting together for the meal, even though they are not physically present in church. Those who prefer to keep the element of eating and drinking to when they are able to be physically present are also free to do that. Either way, we will continue to feed on Christ in our hearts by faith as we remember his death for us together.
May I also encourage you to be thoughtful and kind when you are booking to come for an onsite service? Places are limited so please make every effort to book early in the week. However, if you have already been onsite in any given month, may I suggest you wait a few days before you book to come again so that those who have not had a chance to come in are able to do so? I know that is what some of our people were doing last time we had a window of onsite services, and I am most grateful.
Small Groups & Auxiliary Bodies
All our Small Groups and auxiliary bodies are currently meeting online. If you would like to join an online Growth Group, you can do so by filling in this form: stmarys.my/smallgroups.
The Multi-Purpose Hall will be available on Thursday and Friday nights for our own small groups to take turns to come in and occasionally meet safely in a physically distanced way. Special arrangements can also be made for small groups that meet at other times. There will be strict SOPs around this as well. It is up to the small groups and their leaders if they wish to take advantage of this. Most of the meetings will remain online. Details of how to book will be forwarded to small group leaders in due course.
The Multi-Purpose Hall or Cathedral or even the garden will also be available for small Auxiliary body meetings, if needed. These will also be subject to strict SOPs. Auxiliary body leaders may contact the Cathedral office for details.
Other Services
The last time the Cathedral was open we had a number of people who were baptised. This time, we will also some baptisms but we will also have multiple services of confirmation. We have not had confirmations since the beginning of the pandemic and we have a lot of catching up to do. The Bishop has kindly given us multiple slots in November and December and we are a planning our confirmation services then.
Weddings are allowed according to Government SOPs. We are now awaiting new SOPS that will soon be released by the Government.
Funerals are now also allowed with numbers limited according to our capacity.
Kids’ Church
Kids’ Church will remain online for the moment. If you would like to find out more about it, please visit stmarys.my/kids for more information or email kidschurch@stmaryscathedral.org.my to register your child or if you need support in discipling your child. While the discipling of their children is primarily the parents’ responsibility, it is made more difficult without onsite Kids’ church. We are grateful to our Kids’ church teachers who have been faithfully teaching God’s word to the children online and look forward to the time when they can meet in person.
Office & Book Corner
The office is officially open again with staff taking turns to come in and to work from home. You will need to make an appointment beforehand if you wish to come into the office to pick up something or drop it off. In the meantime, the office continues to function and you can still contact the Cathedral office on office@stmaryscathedral.org.my or call 011-5760-3484 during office hours. You can also contact the office to make arrangements to visit the Book Corner.
Tourism and Visitors
The Cathedral has been officially closed for tourism since the beginning of the outbreak. However, you can book an online tour from stmarys.my/tours. The Cathedral remains closed to visitors.
Pastoral Visitation
Pastoral care will continue to happen mainly by phone or online. However, where needed, pastors and pastoral visitors are now able to do visitation. Any pastors visitors who have not been fully vaccinated will do an RTK test before visiting. Do feel free to contact the pastoral team about arranging a visit if there is a need to do so.
Communication
If you are not already getting regular emails from us, please sign up to our emailing list. You will get updates, links for services, weekly Bible studies and more. You can subscribe at stmarys.my/subscribe.
Building Safety
The Council has asked the Building Board to look into what we might need to do to help improve the safety of our building from a Covid-19 perspective. Consultants have been appointed and we are looking into increasing ventilation as well as installing Upper-Room Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation (UVGI) where needed. Utmost care is being taken to prioritise the safety of our congregation in all this. We would like to be able to grow the number of people who can meet at the cathedral and also to be able to eventually renew congregational singing in a Covid-safe way. In the meantime, we may need to raise funds for this project.
Summary
We are beginning the process of moving onsite for various ministries and, God willing, this will grow. At the moment, most ministry remains online. In the medium term, we see that ministry is likely to continue in a hybrid of online and onsite activities. Either way, our role is to speak the truth in love as we seek to glorify God together in response to his grace by making disciples of Jesus Christ.
Concluding Thoughts
As we move into hybrid mode, we are thankful for the many people who are so lovingly working very hard to make this possible for us as a church together. We will need to continue to build an army of volunteers as the onsite ministry grows. We are grateful for the many people who have been loving and supporting each other through the pandemic. Please do continue to do this. We are grateful to have had the opportunity, as a church, to show practical love to our brothers and sisters from the refugee community. We continue with that. And we are grateful for the opportunities God has given us to lovingly speak the gospel to others during the pandemic. Online, or in person, let us continue to be a people who proclaim the glory of our risen Saviour who died for us, and call on everyone to turn to him.
Your brother in Christ,
Andrew
(Updated 29 April 2021)
The Dean's Message
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
In the past few weeks, we have, in many of our congregations, been looking at the risen Christ in John’s Gospel. We have seen him reveal himself to his disciples and recommission them for service. We have heard the call to love him and to follow him, even unto death. And we have been assured that we have been given, in his word, all that we need to believe in him and therefore have eternal life.
The conviction that Christ has died for our sins and has risen again, and that we have eternal life by faith in him is fundamental to all that we do. It is especially important to hold fast to that assurance of eternal life in Christ and appropriate to share it with others in trying times like these.
We are currently facing a major upsurge in Covid-19 cases in our community. Some of our own members have been exposed to the virus outside our services. We hear reports that ICU beds in our local hospitals are full. We are bracing for the situation to get worse before it gets better. And we are praying for wisdom for those in authority to take the appropriate action.
In light of the current situation, the Cathedral Council has decided to move our weekend services to be fully online until further notice. This is part of seeking to love one another as well as loving our neighbours in the broader community that would be affected if the virus spreads among us. It was not an easy decision to make as we all know the benefits of physically meeting. But I believe it was a necessary one.
We will therefore go back to fully online services from this Sunday onwards. The English service will be a combined online service at 10.00 am while the other services will be at their usual times. Details of all our services are at stmaryscathedral.org.my. If you have booked to come for a service at church this weekend, please change your plans and join us online instead.
While we are no longer meeting in person, we will still be meeting. The word of God will continue to go out among us, and we will continue to seek to encourage each other and build each other up in love. Please continue to make every effort to do so online or by phone call or WhatsApp. Let us show our love for the risen Jesus by loving and serving one another, and then showing that love to the people around us.
Your brother in Christ,
Andrew
(Updated 13 March 2021)
The Dean's Message
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
We are thankful to God that he has continued to sustain us through all the trials and tribulations of the pandemic. There have been many among us who have found things really hard over the past year. Some of us have suffered emotionally, and some of us have suffered financially. Some of us have been ill, and some of us have lost loved ones but have not been able to grieve in the usual ways. For many of us, this has not been an easy year.
In the midst of it all, we trust a sovereign God who loves us, and continues to rule the world for our good and his glory. We serve a Saviour who was willing to face an unjust trial and go the Cross to bear our sins, in obedience to the Father and love for us. We have been given a Spirit who points us to the Risen Saviour and reminds us that there is great joy at the End, even if there is sorrow on the journey. So let us continue to encourage each other to press on in trusting Christ and doing good to others.
As we come to the next chapter in this saga, we are planning, God willing, to open the Cathedral building for various activities while still observing careful limitations to minimise risk. In opening, as in closing, the goal is love. I am writing to share some of these plans with you.
Main Church Services
We are planning towards having our first on-site Sunday service for 2021 on Sunday, 28 March. Livestreaming of on-site services will commence the following week. Details of the services and how to book for them will be coming out over the next week.
Our own strict SOPs will be followed for the on-site services, as they were previously, to maximise the safety of our brothers and sisters who are there. To manage the numbers, those who intend to come will be required to book online beforehand.
We will also ensure that we comply with the relevant Government SOPs at the time. At the moment, this would mean that people under 15 and over 60 are not encouraged to come for their own safety, while people who have fever, cough, or other Covid-19 symptoms will not be allowed to come for the safety of others.
Online services will continue, although there will be some adjustment in service times due to the livestreaming of the services. Details will be announced closer to the time and will take effect from the weekend of 4 April.
In the meantime, please continue to join us online for our weekly services in English (Sunday 10.00 am), Bahasa Malaysia (Sunday 11.00 am), Iban (Sunday 8.00 am), Mandarin (Saturday 5.00 pm) and Nepali (Sunday 10.00 am).
Small Groups & Auxiliary Bodies
All our Small Groups and auxiliary bodies are currently meeting online. If you would like to join an online Growth Group, you can do so by filling in this form: stmarys.my/smallgroups
The Multi-Purpose Hall will be available on Thursday and Friday nights for our own small groups to take turns to come in and occasionally meet safely in a physically distanced way. There will be strict SOPs around this as well. It is up to the small groups and their leaders if they wish to take advantage of this. Most of the meetings will remain online. Details of how to book will be forwarded to small group leaders in due course.
The Multi-Purpose Hall or Cathedral will also be available for Auxiliary body meetings, if needed. These will also be subject to strict SOPs. Auxiliary body leaders may contact the Cathedral office for details.
Smaller Services
We are also thankful to God that we now have a long list of people waiting to be baptised at the Cathedral. In the past week or so, we have already begun small services to baptise them. The Iban congregations have started first and the English ones will start soon. We will share information about these baptisms with the relevant main congregations as they happen so we can thank God together for his grace towards those who are being baptised and to us as a community.
Kids’ Church
Kids’ Church will remain online for the moment. If you would like to find out more about it, please visit stmarys.my/kids for more information or email kidschurch@stmaryscathedral.org.my to register your child.
Office & Book Corner
The office will be officially open again from Monday, 22 March. You will need to make an appointment beforehand if you wish to come into the office. In the meantime, the office continues to function and you can still contact the Cathedral office on office@stmaryscathedral.org.my or call 011-5760-3484 during office hours. You can also contact the office to make arrangements to visit the Book Corner.
Weddings & Funerals
Weddings will be allowed according to Government SOPs which limit them to 20 people in total at the moment. Pre-registration of all attending is necessary.
Funerals are now allowed but are limited to 30 mourners. Pre-registration of all attending is necessary.
Tourism and Visitors
The Cathedral has been officially closed for tourism since the beginning of the outbreak. However, you can book an online tour from stmarys.my/tours. The Cathedral remains closed to visitors.
Pastoral Visitation
Pastoral care, including routine ministry to the ill and housebound, will continue to happen by phone or online. This helps us protect our congregation members, who may already be sick and vulnerable, from having the virus brought into their homes unintentionally.
However, in cases of special pastoral need, pastors and pastoral visitors are now allowed to do visitation although they cannot do multiple visits on the same day without bathing and putting on fresh clothes. Do feel free to contact the pastoral team about arranging a visit if there is a need to do so.
Communication
If you are not already getting regular emails from us, please sign up to our emailing list. You will get updates, links for services, weekly Bible studies and more. You can subscribe at stmarys.my/subscribe.
Help Needed
We all serve God and each other in different ways. At the moment, one big need is for people to volunteer for our Logistics Team and our AV Team. The logistics team welcomes people, takes their temperature as they come in, checks attendance, ensures SOPs are complied with and helps with cleaning and disinfection. The AV team helps with everything to do with the Audio-Visual system and livestreaming. You need not know how to run an AV system to be on the team, but you do need to be willing and able to be trained.
While people on these teams will be expected to comply with the SOPs themselves, they will necessarily be exposed to more people than others at church who are not serving in these ways. For that reason, we are asking the lower risk group, those aged 15-50, to take the lead in serving the rest of the community. If you are willing to help, please do sign up at stmarys.my/volunteer. If you are able to help, please do volunteer. The more people are willing to volunteer, the more services we can open.
Concluding Thoughts
As we look forward to the resumption of on-site services, please do be mindful of those who are unable to attend and be making a special effort to reach out to them.
Please pray for us as a community that as we continue to recall our Lord’s suffering, death and resurrection over this season, we would be drawn to love him more, obey him better, and so better love and serve him and others. And pray that the Lord would continue to sustain us as his people, no matter what the next chapter in this saga brings.
Your brother in Christ,
Andrew
(Updated 24 December 2020)
The Dean's Message
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
2020 has been a very unusual year. And it’s been a hard year for many of us. Though, as we come to the end of the year, we see vaccines rolling out and we hope that at least some things will be better in 2021.
If we do have safe and effective vaccines, they will help us a lot. But the Bible teaches us that our real hope is not in vaccines but in Christ. For even when this pandemic is past there will still be problems in the world. That is inevitable because this is a fallen world. It’s a world that’s heading for God’s final judgment because we’ve sinned – we’ve fallen out with him. And all the problems we face are warnings of that bigger one.
But the message of Christmas is a message of hope. Because Jesus was born to solve that bigger problem. When he lived on earth, he always did the right thing by God his Father. When he died on the cross, he took the judgement we deserve for our sin against God on our behalf. So that God can forgive us without saying what we’ve done is OK. When Jesus rose again on the 3rd day, he showed himself to be the one whom God promised would conquer death. When he comes back, he will raise the dead, judge the world and save his people.
And when that happens, the world will be as it was meant to be. Death and mourning and crying and pain will be no more. Pandemics will be no more. Loneliness will be no more. Hardship will be no more. And God’s people will enjoy his loving rule forever.
And so, my friends, this Christmas, put your hope in Jesus. Turn away from sin and trust him as your King. He is the true hope for this broken world.
Christmas Services
This year our Christmas services will be mostly online. Government regulations have restricted the number of people who can be at church to a very small number. This is understandable as we are in a red zone. They have also restricted the times of our services, so that our 11.30 pm Christmas Eucharist will now be celebrated at 8.00 pm.
Despite the small numbers allowed, and the high number of Covid-19 cases in our wider community, we will still have one on-site service for each language group for Christmas. This is a calculated risk we are taking so that those at home are able to see the Cathedral and, more importantly, so that we can have a small congregation together in person to share in the Lord’s Supper for Christmas and to stream it to those participating from home. We will, as usual, operate strict SOPs to protect those on-site as best we can.
Nearly all of us however, will celebrate Christmas online. Here are the online services for Christmas.
Kids’ Church Christmas Eve Service
This is our online Christmas service for children. It premieres at 6.00 pm on Christmas Eve (Thursday, 24 December 2020). Do join us and bring your kids along too!
Cathedral Christmas Eve Eucharist (Luke 2:1-7)
If you would like to take part in the Lord’s Supper at the 8.00 pm Christmas Eucharist in English, please prepare some bread and wine (or grape juice) beforehand and make sure you are watching and participating in the service live. You can eat and drink in remembrance of Christ’s death for you at the same time as everyone else, so that we are eating and drinking together – even if we are physically apart. Here’s the link to the livestream.
Cathedral Christmas Eve Eucharist (Luke 2:1-7)
There are two ways you can participate in this service.
(a) Cathedral Christmas Day Family Service (‘normal’ online service)
You can stream the online service in the usual way at this link. Do join us and invite your friends as well.
(b) Cathedral Christmas Day Zoom Service
This service will be conducted by Zoom as a Christmas special so that we can see each other for Christmas. Many of us miss seeing each other in church so some of our team are making a special effort to help us with that on Christmas morning. The service will be similar to the ‘normal’ online service above which will run simultaneously except that in this zoom service, some elements will be conducted live from leaders’ homes, there will be the opportunity for interaction with each other as part of the service and we will take a Zoom photograph together at the end of the service. You can log in at stmarys.my/ChristmasDayZoom
Christmas Services in other languages
Christmas Services in other languages are as follows:
Bahasa Malaysia
Christmas Eve, 8.00 pm
Christmas Day 11.00 am
Iban
Christmas Eve 10.00 pm
Christmas Day 8.00 am
Mandarin
26 December 5.00 pm
Nepali
Christmas Day 10.00 am (with online Nativity Drama)
Please follow the links to the respective language pages for more details.
Christmas Videos
If you missed it, here are our Christmas videos again: The Dean’s Christmas Message, When Christmas Isn’t Christmas, Christmas Bytes. All our videos are on our YouTube channel. Videos of some of the carols at our services will also be available later.
New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day
We plan to have a simple time of prayer, reading the Scriptures and a message to help us prepare for the New Year that we can join in from our homes at 11.30 pm on 31 December 2020. This will be on Zoom at the following link: stmarys.my/NYEZoom
For those who can’t use Zoom or who don’t stay up late at night, we will release a simple New Year devotion on the same passage using the normal channels at 10.00 am on New Year’s Day.
Life Explored
Life Explored is a course designed to help people explore the meaning of life and introduce them to the God who is revealed in Jesus Christ. This course will run online for 7 sessions at 2.00 pm, beginning 3 January. Getting to know God, through the Bible, would be a wonderful way to start the new year and indeed a new chapter in life! Please invite your friends or family members to do the course. They can sign up for the course here: findoutmore.stmarys.my
Zoom Background
If you like, you could download some zoom backgrounds featuring Christmas elements at the Cathedral you can do so from here. You can use these at the Cathedral Christmas Day Zoom Service or at any other time you like.
Vaccines
A few people have been asking about how we should think about a vaccines in the context of this pandemic. Here is an article that I think is a helpful summary from a theological (not medical) perspective. Some of the applications are made in an American context but many of the principles are applicable to us as well. An important principle to remember as we consider all our responses to the pandemic is the command to love our neighbour.
Looking out for each other
Christmas can be hard for some people even in ‘normal’ time, and even more so during a pandemic. If you or someone you know is finding this a particularly challenging time, or would like someone to pray with you, please do call one of your leaders or congregational pastors. Please also remember that you can use our Emergency Pastoral Care Hotline on 011 5762 8524. Please also remember to be looking out for each other and calling each other – especially the elderly and those who are living alone. Do have a think about who might appreciate a call for Christmas and reach out to them.
As we prepare to celebrate Christmas under very different circumstances this year, let’s remember that the real reason we celebrate has not changed. God, in his love, has sent his Son into the world to save us. That is news that gives us joy beyond our circumstances, peace with God in the midst of our turmoil, and hope for a brighter future than the world could ever imagine – with or without a pandemic in between.
May the Lord bless and keep you this Christmas and always.
Your brother in Christ,
Andrew
(Updated 16 October 2020)
The Dean's Message
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
This week, the Government imposed a new CMCO in the Klang Valley that affects us all. We have once again been restricted in our movements and in our activities in order to help stem the rising numbers of people infected with Covid-19 and to flatten the infection curve. In particular, we are not able to meet on-site for church for at least the next 2 Sundays.
Each of us are experiencing these changes in different ways. They are a grave disappointment to some, and a welcome relief to others. Many will be affected economically and many who are already feeling disconnected from others will find things even harder. Different ones of us will have different opinions, not only about the CMCO, but about many things that have to change because of it – whether at work, in the family or at church. Let us be all the more careful to be patient, and to love and support each other as we navigate these changes.
In the midst of all this, let us also be thankful for the stability of knowing, trusting and relying on a God who never changes. His love for us is constant and expressed especially in Christ’s death in our place. The eternal future of those who trust in him is assured by Christ’s resurrection and ascension. In times of rapid change like these, it is important to remember that these things, the things of ultimate importance, do not change. Here is a good prayer for each of us to reflect on and to make our own:
Merciful Lord, you alone can order our unruly wills and affections.
Teach us to love what you command,
and to desire what you promise,
that, among the changes and chances of this world,
our hearts may surely be fixed
where true joys are to be found,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(Based on the BCP Collect for the 4th Sunday after Easter)
In the meantime, we are thankful to God that we can still meet together online even though we are not able to meet in person for another season. If you are in one of our English language congregations, please note that we will only have one combined English online service of Morning Prayer which will be at 10.00 am. Service times for other languages are unchanged but they will also be fully online.
Please keep praying for each other and helping each other through these days. Please especially think of people who may be living alone and give them a call or a WhatsApp message to see how they are doing. Please do contact the pastoral team or other church leaders if you or the people you are serving need particular spiritual or other care.
May the Lord continue to comfort, preserve and keep you as you love and trust him.
Your brother in Christ,
Andrew Cheah
Online Services
Saturday, 17 October
- 5.00 pm Mandarin (2 Samuel 23)
Sunday, 18 October
- 8.00 am Iban (Revelation 2:1-7)
- 10.00 am English [download service order] (Mark 7:1-13)
- 10.00 am Nepali (Mark 12:13-27)
- 11.00 am Bahasa Malaysia (Revelation 2:1-7)
Contacting the Cathedral Office
Our Cathedral office is also closed but our staff are working from home and you can call the office on 011 5760 3484 during office hours.
(Updated 3 October 2020)
The Dean's Message
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
As we look back on the months past, we are thankful to God that he has continued to look after us and sustain us as his people. We continue to seek to glorify God together, in response his grace, by making disciples of Jesus Christ. And we continue to seek to love one another as Christ has loved us.
This week, we have experienced another spike in our nation’s Covid-19 numbers. Please continue to pray about this matter. In the meantime, we, together with other churches in our nation need to act with love and thoughtfulness. Last week, we asked those who had been to Sabah to only come to church online for the first 14 days after arriving back. This week, we asked any small groups or auxiliary bodies meeting at homes to move back to online meetings for the next 14 days until the situation is reassessed. Our plans to open the cathedral to small groups or auxiliary bodies were also put on hold temporarily.
Yesterday, the Council of Churches of Malaysia, to which our Anglican Diocese belongs, issued an advisory to do the following as temporary measures:
- Revert to one-third capacity for worship
- Bar over 70 and below 12 of age from attending church activities
- Restrict number at weddings and funerals
- No house gatherings
- Strict SOP observance
We had already been complying with 1,3,4 and 5 but not with 2, which we will now be complying with as well. Our pastoral team is contacting people over 70 and the parents of those under 12 who are booked to come in tomorrow to explain this to them and invite them to join us online. This is being done in loving concern for those who are vulnerable.
In addition to the above, we also urge those with chronic illnesses, those who have been exposed to a known case of Covid-19 and those who have symptoms, however slight, to remain at home and join the service online. If you have any concerns or worries about coming, please also remain at home, even if you have already booked in to come. If you are on the volunteers list for tomorrow and you have decided not to come, please let Ramesh know. We will continue to monitor the situation over the week ahead as well as comply with directions from the Government and the Diocese.
Whether onsite or online, we will be looking tomorrow at 1 Samuel 13-14 in our English, BM, and Iban services. As we do that, we will see Saul’s failure to trust God and obey him – and how that played out in Israel’s history. And we will be encouraged to love and to follow our true King who trusted and obeyed his Father perfectly.
On-site Services
Saturday, 3 October
- 5.00 pm Mandarin Service (2 Samuel 20-21)
Sunday, 4 October
- 8.00 am Iban Service (1 Samuel 13:1-14:46)
- 9.00 am English Liturgical Service (with Holy Communion) [download service order] (1 Samuel 13:1-14:46)
- 10.00 am Nepali Service in Puchong (Micah 6:1-16)
- 11.00 am English Contemporary (SMACC) Service [download service order] (1 Samuel 13:1-14:46)
- 11.00 am Bahasa Malaysia Service (1 Samuel 13:1-14:46)
- 4.00 pm English Contemporary (SMACC) Service [download service order] (1 Samuel 13:1-14:46)
- 6.00 pm English Liturgical Service (with Holy Communion) [download service order] (1 Samuel 13:1-14:46)
Online Services
Saturday, 3 October
- 5.00 pm Mandarin (2 Samuel 20-21)
Sunday, 4 October
- 8.00 am Iban (1 Samuel 13:1-14:46)
- 9.00 am English Liturgical [download service order] (1 Samuel 13:1-14:46)
- 11.00 am English Contemporary (SMACC) [download service order] (1 Samuel 13:1-14:46)
- 11.00 am Bahasa Malaysia (1 Samuel 13:1-14:46)
Tomorrow we will also welcome Deaconess Yit Ching Li to our Cathedral Community. Dss Ching Li has been transferred to St Mary’s by our Bishop primarily to serve at St Mary’s Agape Mission School. We are thankful for her and look forward to her ministry among us. She will be officially licensed here shortly.
Thank you to all who have prayed for our Diocesan Extraordinary Synod as it deliberated on the needs of the Diocese and nominated 3 people to be our next Bishop. Please pray for the Archbishop’s Advisory Board as they receive the nominations and compile the comments made at Synod. Their report will be presented to the Provincial Bishops who will interview the candidates, and prayerfully choose the new Bishop. As we pray for God’s will to be done, we do so mindful of the fact that Jesus is the Head of his Church and that in the end our hope is in him.
Your brother in Christ,
Andrew
(Updated 11 July 2020)
The Dean's Message
We are thankful to God that we were able to have our first ‘live’ service last Sunday since the start of the MCO while continuing with our pre-recorded Online Services. Last week, we also finished our series in the book of Colossians with a helpful reminder about the importance of gospel partnerships.
God has taught us so much as a community through this epistle over the past few months and we are grateful to him. Let’s always remember the summary statement in the book and make sure we keep to it:
Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. (Colossians 2:6-7)
This Sunday
This week, we will continue with the ‘live’ 10.00 am English Liturgical Service and the 4.00 pm English Contemporary (SMACC) Service. Our services are necessarily different from what we were used to before the pandemic, with various measures being taken to minimize the risk of infection in compliance with the directions of the authorities or in love and concern for people in our congregations. We are thankful to God for the team who have been working hard to ensure a safe environment for us.
From this week onwards, English Online Services will be livestreams of the service at the Cathedral. We are thankful to God for our technical team who have been working hard to set up a good quality livestream. As such, we will have 2 online English services from this Sunday: a liturgical service at 10.00 am and a SMACC service at 4.00 pm.
We will also be sharing in the Eucharist or the Lord’s Supper in our ‘live’ services at the Cathedral on Sunday. Some at home who are watching the service in ‘real time’, may like to participate in this fellowship meal. If so, you are invited to prepare some bread and wine (or grape juice) beforehand and to eat and drink in your home at the same time as everyone else who is participating at church. In that way, we are still preserving something of the ‘fellowship’ aspect of the meal although it is admittedly diminished as we are not all physically together. Others may feel more comfortable to wait until they can come to church and share the meal ‘live’ together and would be understandable as well. Either way, we will all feed on Christ in our hearts by faith as we remember his death on the Cross for our salvation and put our trust firmly in him. And that is the most important thing.
This Sunday we are also starting a new sermon series on 1 Samuel. You would have received some Bible Study questions by email earlier in the week to help you prepare for this. The sermon series for our English, Bahasa Malaysia and Iban services for the next few weeks is as follows:
12-Jul-20 1 Samuel 1
19-Jul-20 1 Samuel 2:1-10
26-Jul-20 1 Samuel 2:11-36
2-Aug-20 1 Samuel 3
9-Aug-20 1 Samuel 4
Next Sunday
Next Sunday (the 19th of July) we will, God willing, add an Iban Service at 8.00 am and a Bahasa Malaysia Service at 11.00 am in addition to our 10.00 am English Liturgical and 4.00 pm SMACC services. Please remember to book a place to come for these services. Bookings close at noon on the Friday before or when the service is full, whichever comes first.
Our ‘live’ services thus far have not been filled to capacity. Many of our people are not able to come for the ‘live’ services due to age, health and citizenship restrictions. I have also heard that some people who want to come have been holding back to allow others to go first as they expected there to be a rush. May I commend the godly intentions of those who have done this, but at the same time assure you that there is still room for more at the moment. If we end up being overbooked next week, we will let you know, but at the moment this is not an issue. So please go ahead a book for next Sunday if it is advisable for you health-wise – you can do so at stmarys.my/booking
AGM
Last week I mentioned that our Annual General Meeting is scheduled to be held on Saturday, 1 August at 11.00 am in the Ballroom of the Royal Selangor Club which is just opposite the Cathedral. We need to have this AGM according to our constitution. However, we will seek to make it as short as we can and will abide by social distancing guidelines at the time.
You are invited to come for the AGM if you are on the electoral roll. (You can check your electoral roll status by calling the office during office hours.) If you are planning to come for the AGM, please register by 30 July by sending a simple email to office@stmaryscathedral.org.my stating your name and your intention to come for the AGM. Alternatively, you can send a WhatsApp message to the Hon Secretary (012-2885057) or fill in a connection card at connect.stmarys.my indicating that you are planning to attend. We will then make sure a place is set up for you in the hall. Do feel free to call the Cathedral Office for help if this will be hard for you to do for any reason.
AGM reports will be available from 18 July to electoral roll members in soft copy. If you are on the electoral roll and would like to have a copy emailed to you, kindly contact the office by phone (03-26928672) or email (office@stmaryscathedral.org.my). If you have questions that arise from the reports, accounts or budgets, or you have any other business that you want to raise at the AGM, please let us know before 24 July 2020 by emailing secretary@stmaryscathedral.org.my. Questions and answers will be prepared beforehand to keep the meeting as short as possible.
Giving
We thank God for all of our gospel partners who continue to faithfully contribute financially to the ministry. Details of how you can do so are on give.stmarys.my
Sunday Service Volunteers
We are thankful to God for our teams of volunteers who are helping in the health and safety area of our physical Sunday gatherings. If you are 21-40 years old and healthy and would like to join a team, please let us know at stmarys.my/volunteer.
As we enter a new phase of our church life together, let’s continue to look out for each other, encouraging each other and helping each other press on in godliness. And let us keep our eyes on the Lord Jesus who died for us and rose again, remembering always that we live to love and serve him.
‘Grace be with you.’ (Colossians 4:18b)
Your brother in Christ,
Andrew
(Updated 3 July 2020)
The Dean's Message
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
As we look back on what the Lord has been teaching us over the past 3 months, I am sure each of us will be able to speak of different things. But as a church, he has been teaching most of us some wonderful truths in the book of Colossians and how to respond to these truths in the way we live our lives.
God has been showing us more and more of the glory of Jesus, his beloved Son – perfect image of God, the one by whom, through whom, and for whom all things were made. He has reminded us how he rescued us from the Kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his Son. Through his death on the Cross, Christ has paid the debt of our sin on our behalf, taking the punishment we deserved so that we can be forgiven. He has reconciled us to the Father – to present us holy and blameless before him, if we keep trusting him to the end.
And so having received the risen Christ as our Lord, we are now to walk in him. We are to live in a way that is consistent with our new status in him. We are to put away sinful ways – getting rid of sexual immorality and selfish ways of relating. Instead, as God’s loved and forgiven people, we are to cultivate love, forgiveness and peace, and letting the word of Christ, the Gospel, dwell among us richly. Whether at church, at home or at work, we are to do everything in the name of Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. And by our prayers, words and actions, we are to commend the Gospel to outsiders, and partner with others who are proclaiming it as well.
This Sunday, we will wrap up our series in Colossians by considering Colossians 4:7-18 where we will meet a number of people who are also living this new life and seeking to promote the Gospel in their situations.
Online Services
Links to our online services are below.
Saturday
5.00 pm: Mandarin
Sunday
09.00 am: Iban
10.00 am: English
10.00 am: Nepali
11.00 am: Bahasa Malaysia
We hope that you will be able to come and also to invite your friends to join us for these services.
‘Live’ Services
This Sunday also marks the first time we will have a ‘live’ option for church since the start of the MCO. There will be 2 services, a Liturgical English Service at 10am and a Contemporary (SMACC) English Service at 4pm.
I am thankful to God for the teams that have been working very hard and proficiently to prepare us for this transition on both the physical and technological side and in preparing our procedures, as well as those who have been preparing the actual services.
You can see some of the physical preparations for the services in the photos below:
Please pray for the various organizing teams and for the congregations that gather. Pray that it would be an edifying, joyous and safe occasion; that all the operations run smoothly and that the word of God dwells among us richly.
Those who might wish to come for the live services must register beforehand. Please remember this and please remind others. It would break our heart to have to turn our own people away because they have not registered.
Registration for a Sunday service will normally be open up to noon on the Friday beforehand, or until we reach our capacity – whichever comes first. You can register at stmarys.my/booking after doing a Risk Assessment there. There are strict rules as to who can and cannot come for the service and they are stated at the link as well. They are there to protect our elderly and vulnerable and/or to comply with the written as well as verbal instructions of the authorities.
Live Streaming Online
We hope that in a near future, we will be able to stream the live services in a way that is helpful for those who are at home. At the moment, our tech teams are upgrading our equipment as well as testing our systems so that we are able to get a good quality live stream. When we are confident of being able to do that, we will switch from having a pre-recorded service to a service that is live streamed from the Cathedral. In the meantime, our online services will continue in their current format.
Our ‘live’ and ‘live streamed’ services will still have a component from people at home, for example a Bible reading or a prayer. This is to help us all remember that whether we are at home or at the Cathedral, we are still gathering together as one congregation.
Annual General Meeting
This year’s AGM was postponed due to Covid-19 but is now scheduled to be held on Saturday, 1 August 2020 at 11 am in the Ballroom of the Royal Selangor Club.
We will abide by the social distancing guidelines that are operating at the time and will try to keep the meeting as short and safe as we can. More details will become available over the next couple of weeks.
This year, we will only be inviting electoral roll members and a few non-voting helpers to attend the AGM. You are entitled to vote at the AGM if you joined the electoral roll before it closed on 31 December 2019.
If you would like to check your status, please call the office to make sure your name is there, and your details are up to date. It is especially important that people who think they enrolled last year check that their names are actually there. (While a copy of the electoral roll will be displayed as usual in the main church foyer, this will not be accessible to most of us due to the current circumstances.)
Newcomers Zoom Meeting
This Sunday afternoon, we will have a Newcomers’ Zoom Meeting at 2:30pm.
If you’re someone who has started joining us regularly over the past few months, or even if you’ve been with us a little longer but never had a chance to come to a newcomer’s event, then please do sign up.
At the meeting, we will tell you more about St Mary’s and you can ask any question you like about the faith or about the church.
You will need to register online at stmarys.my/newcomers and we will send you the Zoom link closer to the time.
Other Ministries
Our Children’s Ministry and Youth Ministry remain online. All our Growth Groups, training, courses and classes remain online. Current Government regulations do not allow any of these to function at the Cathedral.
Caring for each other
Please continue to call, WhatsApp or Zoom each other to check on each other, to encourage each other and to pray for each other. Please do be in touch with the pastoral team or one of our other leaders if you need help to do this or if you find someone who needs additional pastoral care.
Work Care Panel
Please continue to pray for those among us who have lost jobs or who are finding it hard to find work due to the current situation. If you are in that situation and you need some help looking for work, please feel free to email lilacat116@gmail.com and someone from our Work Care Panel will be in touch. If you know of genuine job opportunities, please also send them to our Panel so that they can help put people in touch.
Prayers
Please continue to pray for those who are doing Life Explored. Do pray that God would use that course to help people see how good he really is and to trust in his Son. Please also pray for our staff and other leaders who are working very hard to help us restart ‘live’ ministry while maintaining online ministry at the same time.
Above all, please pray that we as God’s people would walk in a manner worthy of him: being fruitful in good works, growing in our knowledge of God, and being strengthened by his power for endurance with patience and joy. May we always be thankful to our Heavenly Father who has given us a place among his saints in the kingdom of his Son.
Your brother in Christ,
Andrew
(Updated 21 June 2020)
The Dean's Message
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
We look forward to our online service this morning where we will continue see from Paul’s letter to the Colossians how it is we are to walk in Christ. A key verse in today’s passage says this: ‘And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him’ (3:17).
Indeed we have much to be thankful for. Paul thanked God for the Colossians (1:3) and we thank God for each other. We are especially thankful that God has enabled us to share in the inheritance of his people by rescuing us from the kingdom of darkness and transferring us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (1:13-14).
Today, I would like to share something else we can be thankful for. We are thankful to God that he has answered out prayers and that the Covid-19 situation in our country has been improving such that we are now in a position that we can begin the process of coming back to live church services. I am pleased to be able to inform you that, God willing, we will have our first live services at the Cathedral since the lockdown on the first weekend of July. This will be in addition to rather than in replacement of our online services.
Online services will continue for a significant period of time as most of us will not be able to attend the live services each week. We will start with a very small number of live services on the first weekend and slowly increase them over the month of July. There will also have to be age and health restrictions on attendance, based on government SOPs and our own concern for the vulnerable in our community.
In the initial period, people will only be able to attend a live service if they register and book a seat beforehand and receive confirmation of that registration and booking. This will be online (but with special provision for people who are not able to access the internet). So please don’t turn up without booking – our volunteers would be very sad to have to turn anyone away. Over the course of the week, we will send out another email to let you know when registration bookings will be open and how you can book a place. Please do look out for that. There will be strict SOPs which we have to follow that will make our church experience different from what we were used to before. All these are necessary but temporary measures that have been placed there for our good.
In the meantime, please make sure you are subscribed to our mailing list so that you receive emails from us in a timely manner. You can also check back on our website for further information.
Please continue to pray for our pastors, our staff, our leaders and all the members of our congregation as we navigate these changes together. Pray that the word of truth, the Gospel, would continue to bear fruit among us, that God would continue to open doors for the Gospel whether online or live, and that we would make the best use of this time he has given us. And pray that online or offline, we would bring glory to him as, together, we seek to make disciples of his Son, our Saviour.
Your brother in Christ,
Andrew
(Updated 12 June 2020)
The Dean's Message
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Last Sunday we marked Trinity Sunday in our online services. We were joyously reminded that we worship one God in three persons, eternally existing in loving relationship. And that underlines the importance of relationships and love for us who are made in his image.
Mike Reeves, in his book ‘Delighting in the Trinity’, speaks about the character of our Triune God:
“Here is a God who is not essentially lonely, but who has been loving for all eternity as the Father has loved the Son in the Spirit. Loving others is not a strange or novel thing for this God at all; it is at the root of who he is.”
This week, we will go back to our series on Colossians in our English, BM and Iban services and we will be looking in particular at Colossians 3:12-15. There we will see more of how it is we should love one another.
The links to services are as follows:
Saturday, 13 June
5.00 pm: Mandarin
Sunday, 14 June
09.00 am: Iban
10.00 am: English
10.00 am: Nepali
11.00 am: Bahasa Malaysia
The Current Situation
Many of you will be aware that the Government SOPs for reopening churches have been released and that some churches in our country are re-opening under strict conditions. At this stage, we are not one of the churches which is allowed to have services in our building.
However, we have been proactively preparing ourselves to have services again when the time comes. To this end, we are now looking to establish a pool of healthy young adults (age 21-40) who would be willing to volunteer to form teams which will help in the health and safety area. Duties would include checking temperatures of people who come in, taking attendance, ensuring SOPs are complied with, as well as cleaning and disinfection. As more congregations open up, we will need to multiply the teams. Until the SOPs are revised, only Malaysian citizens will be utilized for the teams, but non-Malaysians in our church can still sign up and we will allocate you to a team when this is allowed.
If you are a part of the Cathedral community, and you are willing to serve in this way, could you please let us know by filling in a form on our website? The link is here.
When we do start having physical services again, they will, by necessity, only involve a very small percentage of our congregation. We will probably have to take turns to come while the rest of us continue to meet online. Rest assured that online services will continue for a considerable time to come.
Some of you may be wondering what is or isn’t allowed to happen at the moment. All our people ministry continues online or by phone. Currently, there are to be no baptisms, weddings, small groups in homes or pastoral visitations. Funerals are subject to strict SOPs. While the Cathedral itself remains closed, the administrative office is now functioning under strict protocols. From Monday, people will be able to drop things off and pick things up from the office but by prior appointment only.
In the meantime, the Word of God continues to grow among us. I have been heartened to see that a number of people who have been ‘missing’ from church are now regular at our online services. We have also had new people joining us and we welcome them. Our Growth Groups continue to meet online, and more people have joined since we made the move. More people have signed up for our online Life Explored group than we had in our physical groups and our online seminars, classes and trainings have been well attended. People also continue to read the Bible and pray together regularly online or by phone. Members continue to contact and encourage each other and have been showing God’s love in different ways to the community around us. And God’s people continue to be faithful in supporting the ministry through financial partnership. We are thankful to God for his mercies to us in this period.
At the same time, we know that God has made us physical beings and that physical interaction is an important part of church life. Online is good but it is third best. We look forward to the day when we can gather as God’s people, hear his word and pray together, share in the sacraments together and encourage one another – face-to-face – to press on in Christ. But even that is second best. The best will be the Day when we gather around the Throne with all God’s people, down through the ages, giving thanks to our God and to the Lamb for his wonderful salvation (Revelation 7:9-10).
SMC Work Care Panel
These are difficult time economically for many, and especially for those among us who are looking for work. There have been a number of people among us who have lost their jobs recently or who were looking for work beforehand and are finding it even more difficult to do so now. We now have a small panel of people who are willing to help those who are looking for work – by being a sounding board, helping with your CV, giving advice, pointing you to training opportunities etc. If you would be willing to allow the SMC Work Care Panel to serve you in this way, please email Dr Chong Su Lin on lilacat116@gmail.com and let her know.
Careers and Calling Seminar
This Sunday, at 2.00 pm, we will be running a seminar on ‘Careers and Calling’ to help us think Biblically about work. It will address questions like “Should Christians have careers? Are we called to specific careers? How do we glorify God at work?” Rev Tim Nicholls is leading the seminar. May I encourage you to be a part of it, particularly if you are in the workforce? You can register for the free seminar here.
Life Explored
Life Explored continues on Sunday afternoons at 1.30 pm. Leaders tell me that although the course has already started, they are still open to taking more participants. You can find out more and register here.
Online Services
Links to our online services for this week are at the top of this page or on our website. The online preaching program for the next few weeks is as follows.
- 14 June Colossians 3:12-15
- 21 June Colossians 3:16-4:1
- 28 June Colossians 4:2-6
- 05 July Colossians 4:7-18
Our next series after Colossians will be on 1 Samuel.
Prayer
Please continue to pray for St Mary’s and for all who are part of our church. May we be a people who are centered on Christ and empowered by his Spirit to live in a way that pleases him. And may we be a people who are marked by overwhelming thankfulness to God for saving us through the death of his Son in our place, and who look forward in hope to the return of our Risen King. And may we be a people who are characterized by love: love for God, love for each other, and love for others, in response to the love that God has shown us in Jesus.
Your brother in Christ,
Andrew
(Updated 3 May 2020)
The Dean's Message
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Many of us joined together again to start the new week in our online services this morning. We are thankful to God for all who have been involved with this and especially for our technical team who put it all together.
Today, we looked at the greatness of Christ in a wonderful passage - Colossians 1:15-20. As we continue to reflect on the passage, let’s pray that God would open our eyes to love and appreciate our Lord Jesus all the more.
We heard on Friday that there will be a relaxation of the MCO conditions for many businesses in our country. Some people have been asking what this means for the Cathedral ministry. The Cathedral building will remain closed this week and all our services, small groups, classes, and meetings will remain online. Ministry will continue online and by phone as it has done since the MCO began.
We don’t know when we will be able to safely go back to our physical church gatherings although it is our desire to do so at the appropriate time. While we wish we could gather, we know that the Government has been wise in not allowing religious gatherings to take place as yet. We do not expect it to be safe to gather in large groups any time soon.
Eventually, it will be appropriate for us to go back to church. Even then, unless things are dramatically different, we will need to exercise great care that we do so in a loving and safe way. Among other things, it may mean booking in to come in order to limit the numbers in each service, taking hygiene and social distancing very seriously, and encouraging those who are most vulnerable to patiently wait until it is safer. All this, of course, depends on the situation at the time.
Whatever happens, our online services will need to continue for some time to come, even when we initially re-open. Our Online Preaching Program for the month of May is as follows:
- 03-May-20 Colossians 1:15-23
- 10-May-20 Colossians 1:24-2:5
- 17-May-20 Colossians 2:6-23
- 24-May-20 Colossians 3:1-11
- 31-May-20 The Holy Spirit (Pentecost)
We continue to learn how to do ministry in an ‘online’ way. And that includes ‘Ministry of the Pew’. ‘Ministry of the Pew’ is ministry we all do when we come to church even when we are not rostered to do any other ministry. We know that we are meant to come to church with an attitude of seeking to serve God and his people in love. And so we pray and look for opportunities to encourage others by our words and our actions when we come. But with online church it is much easier to slip into ‘consumer’ mode. I would therefore like to commend 2 articles for us to read that that help us think about what we do: the first one is about what we do before and during online church, and the second one what we do after online church. I’m sure they will be helpful for many of us as we consider our own personal ministry.
Do sign up for our online small groups if you have not done so already. You can also sign up for online Tuesday Night Training, for our online Adult Baptism and Confirmation Class or our online Marriage Seminar at our website. I am thankful that many of you have moved to online giving. Details of how you can do that are also on our website.
Please continue to pray that we as God’s people will grow in Christ through these times and that he will be drawing new people to himself as we share his word with others. Pray also that God would provide for those in our community who are hardest hit economically by the shutdowns and that love and care would be shown to them by his people. Above all, pray that we would all continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the Gospel of Christ (Colossians 1:23).
Your brother in Christ,
Andrew
(Updated 8 April 2020)
The Dean's Message
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Last Sunday we saw from God’s word that Jesus is true King.
In his love for us, he was willing to go to Jerusalem to suffer and die in our place so that we could be forgiven and made part of his Kingdom. We love him in return and hail him as our risen King.
He was willing to go to Jerusalem to suffer because that was part of the Father’s plan for him. And he willingly obeyed the Father, fulfilling the prophecies of his Old Testament word. God’s plan for us is to make us more and more like Jesus in our characters. We should likewise be willing to suffer if that is God’s plan for us, trusting that in all things he is working for our good and his glory.
You can watch the English service again here, or listen to the sermon audio here.
Easter Weekend
This weekend we will observe Good Friday and celebrate Easter Sunday in our online services together. Details of the services are as follows:
Good Friday (April 10)
- Iban: 9.00 am
- English: 10.00 am
- Nepali: 10.00 am
- Bahasa Malaysia: 11.00 am
Easter Saturday (April 11)
- Mandarin: 5.00 pm
Easter Sunday (April 12)
- Iban: 9.00 am
- English: 10.00 am
- Nepali: 10.00 am
- Mandarin: 11.00 am
- Bahasa Malaysia: 11.00 am
You can access the services by going to https://stmaryscathedral.org.my/easter-and-passion-week-services/ and clicking through to the respective pages. The services will be a little different in format from our usual online services to mark the special occasions.
If you have children age 0-12 you can sign them up for English language online Kids-church here or email kidschurch@stmaryscathedral.org.my with enquiries. Kidschurch will meet on Sundays. There will also be a children’s segment in our English Easter Sunday service.
Our Bible study in English for small groups or individuals to use this week is available here.
As we head towards Easter, one of the things we will really miss is sharing in the Eucharist (or Holy Communion or Lord’s Supper). For many of us this will be the first Easter for many years in which we have not been able to remember the Lord’s death together in this way. And so that will be a grief for many. Let me share some thoughts with you about this as well as a recommendation from our Bishop.
Feeding on Christ By Faith
Whenever we share in Holy Communion, the bread and wine point us to Christ and his death for us. As we remember his sacrifice on the Cross, we put our trust in him as Saviour who died for us. When this happens, we are spiritually feeding on him, not with our mouth but in our hearts. We do this by faith[1]– that is by trusting in Jesus and his death on the cross for us.
The Book of Common Prayer (1662) envisages the occasion where we are not able to participate in the Lord’s Supper. But it reminds us that if turn from sin and trust in Christ we can still feed on Christ by faith, even if we are not sharing in the bread and wine. Look carefully at what it says in the section about communion of the sick:
But if a man, either by reason of extremity of sickness, or for want of warning in due time to the curate, or for lack of company to receive with him, or by any other just impediment, do not receive the Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood, the Curate shall instruct him, that if he do truly repent him of his sins, and steadfastly believe that Jesus Christ both suffered death upon the Cross for him, and shed his Blood for his redemption, earnestly remembering the benefits he hath thereby, and giving him hearty thanks therefore, he doth eat and drink the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ profitably to his Soul's health, although he do not receive the Sacrament with his mouth.
This can be done as an individual. It does not replace the Lord’s Supper because the Lord’s Supper is a fellowship meal in which we proclaim the Lord’s death together until he comes. And so, it lacks the corporate aspect of the Lord’s Supper. Nevertheless, the spiritual benefits of feeding on Christ in our hearts by faith are there, whenever we are reminded of his death on the Cross for our sins and respond in faith and thanksgiving.
May I encourage you to do this regularly whether you are living alone or with others? Every day we acknowledge we are sinners, every day we remember that Jesus died for us, every day we are thankful for his death. And so, every day we can feed on him.
Agape Meals in the New Testament and the Early Church
The idea of an Agape meal is to have a fellowship meal together. The word ‘agape’ means ‘love’ and from earliest times Christians have expressed love by meeting for meals together. The word is mentioned in Jude 12 where false teachers were a blemish on these meals. In New Testament times, it seems that the Lord’s Supper would have been celebrated as part of one of these meals (1 Corinthians 11:17-22). We see believers meeting to break bread in a number of places (Acts 2:42-46, 20:7). We cannot tell whether all these meals included the Lord’s Supper or just some of them. But we do know that after New Testament times, in the early church, the Lord’s Supper became distinct from the Agape Meals.[2]Even today, we are used to sharing in community meals that are a significant part of our life together but distinct from the Lord’s Supper.
Current Situation
Our Bishop has written to recommend us to have small Agape Meals where that is possible. He has given us some suggestions of how we can do that.
In light of this, may I suggest that if you have other believers in your household, you may choose a meal at some time this week or weekend, share in that meal with them, and to do as our Bishop has recommended. Alternatively, you could meet a small group of believers and eat the meal together online with them using Zoom or another application.
Whether or not we are able to do this, we can all feed on Christ in our hearts by faith whenever we remember his death, turn from sin and trust in him.
Looking Forward
If we share in these smaller meals now, or we feed on Christ alone now, we do so in ‘waiting’ mode – waiting for the day when we will be able to share the Lord’s Supper with our wider church family and feed on him by faith together.
But even when the time comes when we will share in the Eucharist together, we will still be waiting. For even as we look back to the Cross in the Lord’s Supper, we are also looking forward to the Day, pictured in Isaiah 25:6-9, when we will feast with him and his people in the New Creation. For whenever we share in the Lord’s Supper, we remember his death together ‘until his coming again’ (1 Corinthians 11:26).
Christianity Explored
We are planning to start a new online Christianity Explored course using Zoom on April 26th. If you or one of your friends is interested in being part of it, please fill in the form on our website .
Preaching Program
After Easter, we will commence an online series in the book of Colossians. The Preaching Program for the next few weeks is as follows:
- 19-Apr-20 Colossians 1:1-8
- 26-Apr-20 Colossians 1:9-14
- 3-May-20 Colossians 1:15-23
You may like to read the book of Colossians beforehand.
Other Matters
Our sister who was in hospital with Covid-19 has now been discharged. We thank God for her recovery and for all who have been praying for her.
Thank you to all who have been forwarding or sharing the short evangelistic Easter video message that was sent out. Please pray that God would draw people to our Saviour. And please pray that this will trigger good conversations with our friends who don’t yet know the joy of trusting Jesus.
Other matters concerning online small groups (you can join one from here) , online giving to the Cathedral (details here) and helping those in need (details here) are in my previous letter.
If you are not on our email mailing list, please do subscribe to it here.
Please continue to pray about Covid-19. Pray for those who are at work, for those stressed at home, for those in health care facilities as patients or staff, and for those who are struggling to make ends meet as a result of the crisis. And do keep praying for wisdom for those in authority as they make decisions for many, and for those who are researching ways to contain the virus.
As we approach Easter, let us continue to fix our eyes on things eternal. Let us pray that the message of Christ’s death in our place and his glorious resurrection would resound across the world this Easter. Pray that even in this time of turmoil, the Lord would draw many people to himself. And that many people across the world would one day be able to look back with thanksgiving for the new life they found in Jesus during this difficult time.
Your brother in Christ,
Andrew
[1] Article 28 of the 39 Articles
[2] Coates, R. J. (1996). Love Feast. In D. R. W. Wood, I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer, & D. J. Wiseman (Eds.), New Bible dictionary (3rd ed., p. 702). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
(Updated 4 April 2020)
The Dean's Message
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Last weekend, when we met online, most of our congregations looked at Psalm 130.
We saw that even when we are in the depths of despair, we should cry to the Lord. We should plead with him to help us in his mercy, and to wait patiently for his answer.
We also saw that our biggest need is not deliverance from the Coronavirus but forgiveness of sins. For all the disasters that happen remind us that we live in a world that is broken because of sin.
We recalled the Good News that Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty of our sins and reconcile us to God. And we were urged to seek God’s forgiveness though Jesus, if we had not done so already.
We rejoiced in the wonderful, plentiful redemption that God offers us through Jesus. And we were reminded that when we know God’s forgiveness, we will respond by fearing him: giving him the honor and obedience that he is due.
We were urged to look forward to the day when Jesus returns to put an end to sin and all its consequences, and to bring us to glory. And we were encouraged, for now, to continue to wait, trusting in God’s precious promises and hoping in his steadfast love.
You can watch the English service again here, or listen to the sermon audio here.
This Weekend
This Sunday, commonly known as Palm Sunday, we will recall Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem to bring in the promised redemption. And we will see the implications of that for each of us. Our main reading will be from Matthew 21:1-11.
You can access our weekend services from the links below:
Saturday
Mandarin: 5.00 pm
Sunday
Iban: 9.00 am
English: 10.00 am
Nepali: 10.00 am
Bahasa Malaysia: 11.00 am
We thank God for the technology that enables us to meet online. But we also recognize that this is not as good as gathering together in person. We really look forward to the day when we will gather with all God’s people, in person, around the throne. But before that, we also look forward to the lesser day when we will gather with God’s people, in person, in our local church community.
Easter Weekend
Our online services over the Easter Weekend will be as follows:
Good Friday (April 10)
Iban: 9.00 am
English: 10.00 am
Nepali: 10.00 am
Bahasa Malaysia: 11.00 am
Easter Saturday (April 11)
Mandarin: 5.00 pm
Easter Sunday (April 12)
Iban: 9.00 am
English: 10.00 am
Nepali: 10.00 am
Mandarin: 11.00 am
Bahasa Malaysia: 11.00 am
Bible Study
A Bible Study on Matthew 21: 1-11 (our preaching passage for this Sunday) has already been emailed out to everyone so that you can use that to prepare if you so wish – whether it be in online groups online or individually or with members of your household. If you missed it, you can get it again here.
Small Groups
It’s been great to hear of our online small groups growing and people fellowshipping together in those groups. We are especially thankful for our small group leaders who are bringing people together in this new way. Keep up the good work!
If you want to join an online small group – do let us know by filling out a form here.
Kids-Church
If you are in our English congregation, there will online Kids-church on Sunday. For security reasons, you will need to register beforehand on our Kids-church page. There are also links to resources on that page to help you disciple your children.
Daily Services
Our friends at St Ebbe’s have been broadcasting daily online services over the past couple of week. Can I encourage you to follow them each day if you are able, especially in during Passion week? Here is the link for their Youtube channel. The service is broadcast each day at 3:45pm Malaysian time.
If you want to read the passages for next week beforehand, they are as follows:
- Monday 6th – The Servant King (Mark 10:35-45)
- Tuesday 7th – The Triumphal Entry (Mark 11:1-10)
- Wednesday 8th – Jesus Anointed at Bethany (Mark 14:1-11)
- Thursday 9th – The Last Supper (Mark 14:12-25)
- Good Friday 10th – The Cross (Mark 15:21-37)
I’m sure there will also be daily services available from other churches as well next week.
Evangelism
I am thankful to hear that our people continue to share the Gospel with others online. Please keep lovingly doing that.
Last week I encouraged you to sign up for the online Christianity Explored course here. This week, I’d like to ask those of you who may be able to run your own Christianity Explored course in English to think about inviting friends to meet you online to do the course with you. You can find out how to do that from the CE website. A link to download the videos and other material is there as well. CE are making the videos available for free during this time. However, you will still need to buy guidebook in e-book form.
Our Mandarin and BM congregations have also used CE in their ministry. If you would like to run you own Christianity Explored course in Mandarin or Bahasa, the materials (video as well as e-books) are available for free to people within St Mary’s during this time. Just send an email to sueyee.lee@christianityexplored.org to request them.
As usual, I am planning to record a brief Easter message to share the Gospel with others. If you think it is helpful, please feel free to forward or share with your friends when it comes out next week. That can be part of our partnership in making Christ known together.
Dates
I noted earlier that we will observe Good Friday (10th April) online and celebrate the resurrection of our Lord on Easter Sunday (12th April). The baptisms and confirmations that were planned for that weekend will be postponed.
We will also plan to join the rest of our Diocese in celebrating together in person later on. The tentative date our Bishop has given us for Palm Sunday is 10 May 2020 and Easter is 17 May 2020 though he noted that there may be reasons that another date would have to be chosen. Much will depend on what happens in our country over the next few weeks. If you did not get a chance to read the Bishop’s letter to us last week, you can still access it here.
Our Bishop has also given his consent for our Annual General Meeting, which was scheduled for 19th April to be postponed to a later date. We will work out the details when the situation becomes clearer.
Generosity
We are thankful to God for all who have been lovingly supporting each other in our church in so many different ways through these hard times. We are also thankful for the people from our church who have been helping in various ways to support the relief effort to provide food for those in need in the wider community.
Our team at St Mary’s Agape Mission School is providing help to the refugee community associated with that school. We are thankful for the people who have been working hard in that effort. Last week, I asked if you would be able to help financially with this and shared details of how you can give which are at the bottom of the Agape page on our website. We are thankful that we now have enough money in the fund to help the people in that community until the current MCO period is over. However, we may need to ask for funds again if it is extended or only partially relaxed.
In the meantime, I still want to commend the Food for Hope program to you. REACH, our Diocesan Relief Agency, is working with Malaysian Care and CREST to provide food for those who need it in the community. Details of how you can give to the program are here.
I am grateful to God for the generosity of his people who have also been supporting the Cathedral in an ongoing way. Our Stewardship Chairman tells me that a number of people have switched to online giving at this time and we are thankful for that. If you would like to do so as well, details to help you can be found on our website.
Keeping in Touch
If you have not signed up for our regular emails, please do so here. That is the best way we can keep in touch with you at the moment.
Prayers
Please continue to pray for those who are unwell and for those in essential services. I am thankful that the sister that I wrote to you about last week is recovering although she is still in hospital. Please continue to pray for her. Please also give thanks for all the people in our cathedral who are loving each other in practical ways through this time.
As we’ve been talking with various people in church, we have found that one of the groups of people who are struggling are families with young children. It’s hard trying to work from home, work at home, look after kids and do online school all at the same time! Smaller children don’t understand why they can’t go out and get cranky. So even as we continue to pray for the elderly, the unwell, the refugees, the lonely and the poor, let’s also pray for families with young children.
Above all, pray that people would hear the Gospel and trust in Jesus. The troubles we face today will pass and all of us will depart this life sooner or later. What people need above everything else is the eternal salvation we are offered in Christ. Let’s keep praying for those who don’t yet know him and lovingly sharing the hope that we have. And let’s hold fast to that hope, in the midst of these troubles, knowing that God is faithful. And let us encourage each other to do so as well, in whatever way we can, as we see the Day approaching.
Your brother in Christ,
Andrew
(Updated 14 March 2020)
The Dean's Message
Dear Sisters and Brothers at St Mary’s,
The Covid-19 Coronavirus reminds us how frail and susceptible we human beings are. God is eternal but our lives are short and precarious. We are not really in control of our own lives, even though we like to imagine we are. Whether or not we realize it, our lives are in his hands, not our own. That realization should lead us to humility and, where needed, repentance.
In times like this, believers are thankful that we serve a sovereign God who rules the world in love for our good and his glory. If some of the ‘experts’ are right, it is possible that the virus may indeed affect many of us. On the other hand, it may not. Either way, our times are in the hands of the One who loved us and gave his Son for us. And that is what matters.
Sisters and brothers: Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sins so that all who turn from sin and trust in him have forgiveness and eternal life. This gives us great assurance in times like these. When we know that our sins are forgiven, we can have confidence in the face of sickness and death. When we know that God loves us so much that he was willing to make that sacrifice, then we know that we can trust him with whatever lies ahead.
The fact that Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven also gives us great assurance. His resurrection, in fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy, assure us that he really is God’s promised King – and that we are safe as God’s people under his rule. And it also assures us of our own resurrection on the last day. We know for sure that we can trust him with our futures even as we face the threat of the virus, or any other threat. Our ultimate future is secure. And whatever happens tomorrow, we know that he is fulfilling his good purposes. And so, for us who believe: to live is Christ and to die is gain.
The fact that God is sovereign, and our ultimate future is secure, means that we need not be crippled with fear, but can live in confident hope. However, it does not remove our responsibility for the actions we take. In fact, God’s love for us compels us to love others. And so, in times like this, we need to take action, individually and together as God’s people, in a loving and responsible way.
Current Cathedral Policy
We are thankful for the leadership of our Bishop and Diocese in these matters and for the helpful Pastoral Advisories he has issued to guide us. We are also thankful for the team of doctors, led by Dr Chong Su-Lin, who have been appointed to proactively look at our specific situation at St Mary’s and make recommendations to Exco and myself on implementation at a local level. We are thankful for the Bishop’s consultative approach which has involved the seeking, receiving and taking into account specific local feedback from our Council and Pastoral Team, and for tailoring his general advice for our specific situation. We are also thankful for our staff and volunteers who have willingly been mobilized to help in many different ways.
The risk of getting infected with the virus cannot be eliminated. However, in love for one another and for the wider community, we seek to reduce the risk, where possible, in responsible ways.
In light of that, all services and public meetings at the Cathedral will be suspended for the rest of the month of March with immediate effect. This includes all events where there is a crowd: services, public seminars, Tuesday Night Training, etc.
Small groups and classes may continue to function at their discretion except where they all meet together at the Cathedral creating a larger crowd. Please check with your leader before you come who will in turn discuss, where needed, with the relevant pastor. It may be that some small groups will meet electronically using Zoom or other technology. Even in small groups, we would advise that:
- People who have travelled to identified ‘high risk’ countries to quarantine themselves for 14 days before coming to church. The list of countries is updated each week. Countries on the list at the moment are China, Italy, Iran, Japan, Denmark, Spain, Germany, France and Korea.
- People who have been at special risk of being exposed to the virus (for example if they have had contact with someone who was infected) to quarantine themselves for 14 days.
- People with cold or flu symptoms or have a fever should stay at home.
- People should maintain good hygiene including sanitizing and social distancing (keeping 1 meter apart).
- People who are elderly (above 65) or have young children or who are otherwise vulnerable to stay at home to minimize risk of transmission to them.
- People who have any reservation about attending, should do not feel obliged to do so and should stay away.
Maintaining Fellowship
Links to online services are on the top of this page.
Please gather with your family or a small group to watch together at the times stated, or watch it prayerfully by yourself, knowing that others are doing so as well. We would also like to encourage families to use the opportunity to read the Bible and pray together.
We will also seek to keep you up to date as we move further in an online mode. Please subscribe to our mailing list. This page will also be updated regularly as our Bishop as well as our local team will be monitoring things closely and will review the situation each week.
Please continue to fellowship with each other and encourage each other to press on in love and good deeds. You can do so online, by phone, in one to one meetings where you just read the Bible and pray, and in small groups. We also have a repository of sermons and bible studies on our website that have been collected over a number of years that you can also use for your edification.
Personal Requests
In the meantime, please make sure you look after yourself and your family. Please make sure you get enough sleep and hydration, as well as any immunizations your doctor recommends. Please avoid bodily contact with others as well as crowded places, maintain social distance and hygiene and keep up to date with recommendations from the Ministry of Health.
Please continue to pray for wisdom for us all, for the Lord’s protection– especially of the elderly and the vulnerable, and for his will to be done. Please also pray that God would use this pandemic to help those who don’t share the same confidence that we have in Christ to realise their own frailty and their need for him. And please pray that we would be given the opportunity to lovingly share with them the reason for the hope that we have.
We serve a God who brings good out of evil. Evil men put Jesus on the Cross – but God used that to bring about our forgiveness. And in the end, he changed the whole situation by raising his Son to life – and not even death could stop that. As God’s people, we know he will bring good even out of this present pandemic. Let’s keep praying that he would do so, trusting him to answer that prayer and waiting to see the answer – whether it be in this life or in the one to come.
Your brother in Christ,
Andrew
(Updated 27 March 2020)
The Dean's Message
Dear Sisters and Brothers at St Marys,
Last Sunday
As we observe the situation around the world, and indeed in our own community, let us recall what we saw in God’s word in our online services last Sunday.
In many of our services, we were reminded from Psalm 46 that God is our strength and refuge, a very present help in trouble. For if we trust in Jesus as our risen King then we belong to his eternal city. And we are secure.
We also heard God’s call for those outside the city to surrender to God. Every disaster in the Bible and every disaster we face serves as a warning of the final judgement. And when the day of judgement comes the only place of refuge will be in the city. For only Jesus can save us from that final judgement because he is the one who bore our judgment for us when he died on the cross.
We also saw that beyond the final judgment, the glory of city will be seen. And those who are in city will enjoy God and glorify him together, forever. For death and mourning and crying and pain will be no more.
So, whatever happens now, we have the security of being part of that city.
Weekend Services
We will meet online again this weekend at the same times as last week:
Saturday
Mandarin: 5.00 pm
Sunday
Iban: 9.00 am
English: 10.00 am
Nepali: 10.00 am
Bahasa Malaysia: 11.00 am
This week, we will be looking at Psalm 130 in our English, Iban and Bahasa Malaysia services. If you are in one of those congregations, may I encourage you to read the Psalm beforehand? We have produced a simple Bible Study on the Psalm that you can do before the service by yourself, with the people in your household or with someone online. That will help prepare you even better for the sermon. (For next week, you can check back at our website so that you can download the relevant study earlier in the week.) Some of our online small groups are already using the study. Downloading the order of service beforehand for the English service will further prepare you for the service.
Please note that because most of the services (with the exception of Mandarin) were recorded beforehand, the points for prayer in the service may not incorporate the most recent events.
During the Week
In my previous message, I mentioned that our small groups have moved online. I’m so encouraged by the news I’m hearing about our online groups. People who have been away are now meeting together and more groups are coming online. If you are not in an online small group but would like to be, you can let us know by filling in a form here. We will try to connect you with an existing group or start a new online group where we can.
We have also been working on ways to help children and families to continue to learn about God together at this time. Do look at our Kids’ Church page on our website for ways to connect with teachers and other families and for ideas for children’s activities and lessons.
Can I also encourage you to keep connecting with each other by phone, WhatsApp, Zoom etc? Please keep thinking of the old and vulnerable in our community and checking up on them. Our Pastoral Team and other leaders have been checking up on people but it’s great to see that the whole church body is lovingly doing this. Please also be looking out for people who live alone. Making a phone call to someone who lives alone to encourage them through this time is an act of love. Please keep doing that. Please also let your pastors or other leaders know if you have a special spiritual need or if you are in need of food aid or other practical help.
Our friends in St Ebbe’s in Oxford are broadcasting a short daily service every day from Monday to Friday. Rev Vaughan Roberts who has preached at our Cathedral a number of times is the one who leads it and I would like to commend it to you. You can access it from this link. A new service is put up each weekday at 3.45 pm Malaysian time (they advertise it as 8.45 am as they are working on GMT daylight savings).
Christianity Explored is a course that we usually offer people at the Cathedral who want to find out about the Christian faith. It is now available online for free through the Billy Graham Association and you can access it here. Can I encourage you to spend some time doing this course? It is a really good and clear way for us to learn the Gospel ourselves or to be better prepared to explain it to others. If you know someone who would benefit from that course, please do share this information with them. And do let us know how it goes ☺.
Generosity
We love others because God has first loved us and given his Son to die for us. As most of us remain at home, one way we can show love is through generosity to those in need.
Our Diocese has a Relief Emergency and Crisis Help (REACH) ministry, which is working with CREST and Malaysian Care to provide food for the poorest in our society at this time. If you are able to support this effort financially, we would encourage you to do so. You can find information on how to do that here.
Our own St Mary’s Agape Mission School is also helping to give food aid to families of the refugee children in the school. You can help that effort by contributing directly to the school. The bank account details of the school are on our website here. If you send money for this purpose, please put the reference as “MCO Aid”. Otherwise the money will be used for the general running of the school.
Can I also remind you that if you usually support the ministry at St Mary’s Cathedral itself by your giving at a service, we would be grateful if you could switch to online giving for this period. (Even though physical services are not happening, many of our operational expenses continue.) Details of how to do that are on our website here.
Working Outside and Staying at Home
Please pray for those who are unable to stay at home because they have to work in essential services. We have a number of people like this in our congregations. They are risking their lives for the sake of the rest the community and we are grateful to them. For the rest of us, the way we show love to our neighbor is to stay at home so as to minimize the potential spread of disease. That is a good and godly thing to do. I urge you to be diligent in doing so.
Keeping in touch
If you are not on our email mailing list, please do subscribe to it. We are sending emails each week to update you with important information. If you are on the list but have not been receiving emails, please check your junk/spam folder for them and if you find our email there, indicate to your email client that they are not junk/spam. You can still contact the office at office@stmaryscathedral.org.my if you have any enquiries. Our Bishop has also written to the churches in our Diocese. Please do read his latest letter to us here.
The Weeks Ahead
As we prepare for the weeks ahead let us make sure that we are not only ready physically and emotionally but spiritually as well. Let us make sure that we have repented from all known sin, that we are trusting in Christ alone to save us from our sins through his death on our behalf, and that we are seeking to live our lives under him as our Lord. My prayer is that all of us will be ready to meet the Lord at any time.
Prayer
Finally, would you join me in a prayer?
Father we thank you that your love for us never ends.
We thank you that you loved us in Christ before the world began.
We thank you that you have shown us your love in the death of Jesus in our place.
We thank you that you raised him from the dead and that you will raise us too.
We thank you that in all that we face, we know that you are in control.
We thank you that you are with us, by your Spirit, and that you will never leave us or forsake us.
We pray for all in our community who are unwell.
Please heal them.
Please reassure them of your presence and love.
Please help them to trust in you.
And we pray that you would help us all as we respond to this situation.
May we turn to you in prayer.
May we repent of our sins.
May we trust your promises to us in the Gospel.
And may we be people who show your love to others and point them to your Son.
We ask this in his name. Amen.
May the peace of God continue keep you in Christ Jesus.
Your brother in Christ,
Andrew
(Updated 20 March 2020)
The Dean's Message
Dear Sisters and Brothers at St Mary’s,
Since I last wrote to you on Saturday, things have progressed rapidly.
What has Changed
Last Sunday we had our first online services. Many of you joined and also sent words of encouragement. Thank you for doing so. We are thankful for all who worked hard for those services and especially the technical team who worked around the clock to record, edit, process and broadcast them at short notice. We are grateful to God for such a servant hearted people.
On Monday night, our Prime Minister announced the national measures we are taking to restrict movements in order to seek to slow the spread of the virus. In compliance with these measures, our office is now closed, and the cathedral is fully closed to all activities. We were already in the process of moving all our small groups, classes and meetings onlineand that is what we have now done. Please discuss details with your group leader. (If you are a small group or auxiliary body leader, you can ask your pastor, chaplain or pastoral advisor for a document they have been given to advise you on how to conduct online meetings).
What has not Changed
As believers, we know that God still continues to rule the world for our good and his glory. Our confidence remains in him. We know that he loves us because he gave his Son to die on the cross to pay the penalty of our sins on our behalf. We know that Christ is risen from the dead and will raise us up as well. We know that every crisis like this is but a small warning of the judgement that will come when Jesus returns. But we also know that if we trust in Jesus, we will be safe from that judgement and be with him in glory forever. And so whatever happens in the next few weeks, we know that our ultimate future is secure.
We also know that the right response to something like this is humility, repentance where needed and prayer. We will seek to love God and love our neighbor in the midst of this crisis. Loving our neighbor, in this instance, involves playing our part in keeping community contact low, to slow the rate of virus spread. And it also involves helping each other cling to the hope that we have in Jesus, and helping others come to enjoy it as well.
Continue to Fellowship
Please continue to fellowship with each other and encourage each other to press on in love and good deeds. Can I especially encourage you to do so online, and by phone? The heart of ministry is speaking the truth in love to one another. Let’s continue to work out new ways to do that. If you have been reading the Bible with someone one-to-one, can I encourage you to continue to do that online. If you have been in a LE group or Growth Group, please try to get to the online version of that. We will try to keep developing our online ministry over the weeks ahead. But please don’t forget those who can’t get online for one reason or another. You can still encourage and connect with them by phone.
I am so encouraged by the way people in our Cathedral Community have been caring for each other, and especially checking on the elderly. Please continue to proactively do that by phone and by message. The Pastoral Team and other leaders have also been seeking to do that through the networks we have. If you discover that there are people in our Cathedral Community who need special assistance through this time, please let us know so we can all work together to help.
Please do respect the Prime Minister’s call to ‘Stay at home’ and the Restricted Movements order that the government released. People with no symptoms can still spread the virus and the only way we as a Malaysian community can prevent our health care system from being overwhelmed is by slowing the spread. ‘Staying home’ if we are not part of essential services is part of loving our neighbor.
This Weekend
We will have online services again this weekend in English (combined), Bahasa Malaysia, Iban and Mandarin. People leading will be in their homes rather than at the Cathedral, and we will share in them together from our own homes. For the English service, please visit the website beforehand to download the order of service. Our people are working hard to prepare these online gatherings for our mutual edification.
The times of our weekend services for this weekend (21-22 March) are as follows:
- Saturday, 5.00 pm Mandarin
- Sunday, 9.00 am Iban
- Sunday, 10.00 am English
- Sunday, 11.00 am Bahasa Malaysia
Our Nepali congregation will also be meeting online at 10.00 am on Sunday at the St. Mary's Cathedral Anglican Nepali Ministry Puchong Facebook page.
I would like to encourage us to all watch together at the broadcast times of our relevant language service. For the main Sunday services, you can participate from our website (which is linked to YouTube) or via Facebook Live on our Facebook page. (The advantage of the latter is that you can post live, thoughtful comments to encourage your brothers and sisters during the service.) Please also invite interested friends to join us online as you share with them the reason for the hope we have.
Prayers
Please continue to pray for the situation worldwide, for our Government and health services, for our Bishop and other church leaders and for our local church. Pray especially that the measures to reduce the rate of spread in our country and around the world would work so that the health services do not get overwhelmed. Pray especially for those on the front line of serving. Pray especially for protection for the elderly and the vulnerable. And pray that people would use this time to turn and trust in Christ who alone can give eternal life.
Please pray that God would strengthen us as his people at St Mary’s for the days ahead and that we would be salt and light in a dark world. Pray that God would keep all of us loving him, trusting in his promises, and persevering in the faith as we journey through these days. And pray that he would be glorified as we seek to make disciples of Jesus, in response to his grace, in our present situation.
Your brother in Christ,
Andrew