CRU Update

At CRU this week, we continued looking through the letter to the Colossians. After a quick introduction and the Bible reading from Colossians 1:15-20, Charlie Corbett-Jones spoke, beginning with some context. Charlie helpfully explained how Paul was writing a letter to the church in Colossae, a church he had never visited before, but a church that he was still encouraged by. Despite this, he was aware of some false teachers who were speaking a false gospel. In this section of the letter, Charlie presented two main points. The first was that Jesus has power over everything and the second was God’s plan to reconcile all creation to Himself. Charlie emphasised Jesus’ power, pointing to verse 16, where Paul writes that even thrones, powers, rulers and authorities were created by Him and for Him. While all of God’s creation is amazing, this specifically displays that no matter how powerful someone is on earth, Jesus is more powerful, with supremacy over all things. Charlie also spoke about the great plan for salvation, and how God planned to reconcile all things to Himself through Jesus’ death on the cross. Through placing our trust in Jesus, we are promised eternal life because He died the death we deserved, being resurrected on the third day so we may have life with Him. We will be continuing with CRU next week with Juniors (Years 7 to 8) on Thursday and Seniors (Years 9 to 12) on Friday in the Christian Studies area. 

InterCRU

On Friday afternoon, Shore hosted InterCRU, which is a gathering of the CRU Christian groups of schools from all over the North Shore. This Term, we were joined by Arden, Barker, Knox, Ravenswood and St Andrews Cathedral School. Josh Gallant began by leading a Kahoot game followed by a watermelon challenge. Our band then led us in song as we praised God with the song This is Amazing Grace remembering how amazing it is that Jesus laid down His life for us. Kieran Old then boldly shared his testimony and the way God has taught him that Jesus loves him, which was really encouraging for all of us listening. After this Caleb Schmidt brought us the Bible reading from Philippians 3:12-21 before Will from Knox spoke to us. 

Will urged us to encourage one another in our walks with Jesus as we press on towards the prize of heaven, where our citizenship is. He suggested different ways we may be able to do this, like meeting one another to read the Bible, praying for one another or keeping each other accountable. It is so easy to be distracted by the things of this world, but Will pressed us to continue to support one another because living for Jesus will not always be easy. Through continuing to meet, having fellowship, and helping one another, we will know our citizenship is ultimately in heaven. We press on towards the goal of heaven, where Christ will have authority, and we will see God face to face. The great promise of Philippians 1 is that God, who began a good work in us, will carry it on to completion. Through our struggles, when we encourage one another to keep living for Christ, God reigns over all, shaping us towards maturity in Him. 

One student from each school in attendance shared prayer points for their CRU group, and we prayed in small groups for the various CRU groups there. Following this, we sang Only a Holy God, and the CRU staff wrapped the afternoon up by advertising the Summit programme. We look forward to MegaCRU in Term 4, where CRU groups form across Sydney will gather to encourage one another in Jesus.

Top image: CRU Year 12 leavers

Daniel Becker
Year 11