Praise God for St Matts as it is where I became a Christian some 24 years ago in November 1984.
My husband, Jerry and I decided, for family traditional reasons, to have our first son Scott baptised. We tried one church with family links but not in our area, which suggested we go to a church close to home. Although St Matts wasn’t our closest church, as we lived in Leura St Nedlands, we did have some family links through my grandmother so booked an appointment to see David Seccombe. David warmly welcomed us and happily agreed to do the baptism. We were given a leaflet about the process of bringing a child for baptism. The leaflet explained that during the lead up to the baptism, it was expected that the parents attend church. The date that the church then gave us for the baptism was 3 months away. So, I attended church for 3 months. I can still remember being sought out and welcomed by Margo and Betty (McSkimming) most weeks.
The gospel of Jesus Christ was faithfully proclaimed by David and others each week and I was captivated. I had grown up without much Christian influence though I had walked to Sunday School as a young child and loved it. Then at 14 I joined confirmation classes and was confirmed. I remember loving to hear about Jesus but I don’t remember that anyone ever told me that I could or should have a personal relationship with him.
A number of things happened during the 3 months leading up to the baptism which drew me to Jesus. I can still remember Alice reading the passage about Jesus turning the other cheek and it was as if a key opened my heart.
On another occasion, I was sitting in the pew with just one other young woman up the other end of the pew. The pew bible was in front of me. I remember panicking about the upcoming need to find the bible passage which would be read out so that I could then share the single pew bible, opened at the correct passage, with this other person. There were 2 readings that day as normal. The first reading was from John and I breathed a sigh of relief because I knew where to find John in the bible (from my confirmation classes of years earlier). I found the passage and gestured towards to the other lady with the open bible indicating that we could view the passage together. That all went very well but I knew I wasn’t yet ‘out of the woods’ because there was undoubtedly another bible passage to go. My heard sank when the second passage was ready out. ‘2 Thessalonians 1’. The thought ran through my head that my cover was blown. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to find this passage and I was worried that the lady sitting next to me would know that I wasn’t a bone fide church goer. I picked up the bible and was ready to make some pathetic attempt. I opened the bible and the page it opened on was 2 Thessalonians 1. I couldn’t believe it. I proudly pointed the open bible in the direction of the other lady and we again shared the bible to silently read the passage together. When the reading of the passage was complete, the sermon began. I didn’t hear a word of the sermon on this particular day because I spent the next 30 minutes opening and closing the bible at random to see if it would again open at 2 Thessalonians. I thought that perhaps it was a much-read passage and that the book was conditioned to always fall open at this page. But in 30 minutes of trying, it didn’t ever open at that page again. I suspected the hand of God.
Geoff and Cynthia Dixon were appointed to sponsor us during the baptism proceedings. They showed us lovely hospitality and went through the wording of the baptism service with us. I learned that I had to make vows during the service and knew that I needed to make a choice about my heart attitude to these vows. The vows were....I renounce the devil and I will follow Christ.
As the baptism drew nearer I contemplated the choices in regard to the vows that I needed to proclaim during the baptism service. I could choose one of 3 different courses of action. I could either stand up the front of the church and say the vows and perjure myself, or I could say the vows and mean them or I could cancel the baptism. The way my thinking went was that the last option wasn’t possible because I had 30 family members coming to the service and lunch afterwards so cancelling the baptism was out. It seemed down to the first two options.
I did think about whether I should wait for my husband Jerry to come to the same conclusion as me....that Jesus needed to be acknowledged and followed. But in the end I decided to go ahead without him and chose the path of saying the vows and meaning them. Looking back, I believe that this was the point of my conversion.
My life with Jesus since then has been full of much joy and delight and of course the normal dose of refining-type difficulties as well. But I am so thankful that Jesus drew me to himself and used many at St Matts in that process. Thank you so much. Bless you as you celebrate this milestone.
JUDY KAY
Now living in Sydney
My husband, Jerry and I decided, for family traditional reasons, to have our first son Scott baptised. We tried one church with family links but not in our area, which suggested we go to a church close to home. Although St Matts wasn’t our closest church, as we lived in Leura St Nedlands, we did have some family links through my grandmother so booked an appointment to see David Seccombe. David warmly welcomed us and happily agreed to do the baptism. We were given a leaflet about the process of bringing a child for baptism. The leaflet explained that during the lead up to the baptism, it was expected that the parents attend church. The date that the church then gave us for the baptism was 3 months away. So, I attended church for 3 months. I can still remember being sought out and welcomed by Margo and Betty (McSkimming) most weeks.
The gospel of Jesus Christ was faithfully proclaimed by David and others each week and I was captivated. I had grown up without much Christian influence though I had walked to Sunday School as a young child and loved it. Then at 14 I joined confirmation classes and was confirmed. I remember loving to hear about Jesus but I don’t remember that anyone ever told me that I could or should have a personal relationship with him.
A number of things happened during the 3 months leading up to the baptism which drew me to Jesus. I can still remember Alice reading the passage about Jesus turning the other cheek and it was as if a key opened my heart.
On another occasion, I was sitting in the pew with just one other young woman up the other end of the pew. The pew bible was in front of me. I remember panicking about the upcoming need to find the bible passage which would be read out so that I could then share the single pew bible, opened at the correct passage, with this other person. There were 2 readings that day as normal. The first reading was from John and I breathed a sigh of relief because I knew where to find John in the bible (from my confirmation classes of years earlier). I found the passage and gestured towards to the other lady with the open bible indicating that we could view the passage together. That all went very well but I knew I wasn’t yet ‘out of the woods’ because there was undoubtedly another bible passage to go. My heard sank when the second passage was ready out. ‘2 Thessalonians 1’. The thought ran through my head that my cover was blown. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to find this passage and I was worried that the lady sitting next to me would know that I wasn’t a bone fide church goer. I picked up the bible and was ready to make some pathetic attempt. I opened the bible and the page it opened on was 2 Thessalonians 1. I couldn’t believe it. I proudly pointed the open bible in the direction of the other lady and we again shared the bible to silently read the passage together. When the reading of the passage was complete, the sermon began. I didn’t hear a word of the sermon on this particular day because I spent the next 30 minutes opening and closing the bible at random to see if it would again open at 2 Thessalonians. I thought that perhaps it was a much-read passage and that the book was conditioned to always fall open at this page. But in 30 minutes of trying, it didn’t ever open at that page again. I suspected the hand of God.
Geoff and Cynthia Dixon were appointed to sponsor us during the baptism proceedings. They showed us lovely hospitality and went through the wording of the baptism service with us. I learned that I had to make vows during the service and knew that I needed to make a choice about my heart attitude to these vows. The vows were....I renounce the devil and I will follow Christ.
As the baptism drew nearer I contemplated the choices in regard to the vows that I needed to proclaim during the baptism service. I could choose one of 3 different courses of action. I could either stand up the front of the church and say the vows and perjure myself, or I could say the vows and mean them or I could cancel the baptism. The way my thinking went was that the last option wasn’t possible because I had 30 family members coming to the service and lunch afterwards so cancelling the baptism was out. It seemed down to the first two options.
I did think about whether I should wait for my husband Jerry to come to the same conclusion as me....that Jesus needed to be acknowledged and followed. But in the end I decided to go ahead without him and chose the path of saying the vows and meaning them. Looking back, I believe that this was the point of my conversion.
My life with Jesus since then has been full of much joy and delight and of course the normal dose of refining-type difficulties as well. But I am so thankful that Jesus drew me to himself and used many at St Matts in that process. Thank you so much. Bless you as you celebrate this milestone.
JUDY KAY
Now living in Sydney
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