This week at St. Mark’s we are starting our new series of talks on the topic of ‘Finding our Pattern of Life’. We’re going to be looking at how Christians might develop a plan for how their whole life can be centred on God. One of the biggest problems that our churches experience at the moment is the way in which the normal lifestyle in Australia has no place in it for the kinds of activities and priorities that lead to our spiritual growth. The church used to be very much at the centre of the community, but not any more. Rather than being discouraged by that, it is an opportunity for us to do what many Christians have done over the centuries in similar situations, which is to live more ‘intentionally’ as a follower of Jesus and to encourage each other to do the same.

This week we start with the fundamental question of what we are seeking when we come to God for purpose in our lives. The story of Elijah in 1 Kings shows us the point at which this prophet, tired and discouraged, came to the desert to seek God’s words for him.

God spoke to him ‘out of the silence’

and gave him a new mission and a new hope. We will think about the role and practice of prayer in our own faith and how to put this foundational building block in place in our plan of discipleship.

-Andrew-