Paul continues to explore Tom Wright’s book “God and the Pandemic: A Christian reflection on the Coronavirus and its aftermath” this week. Today we reflect on the question of lament. When the Israelites were exiled to Babylon they wrote down much of the Old Testament we have now (previously it was an oral history). The readings from Lamentations and Job offer insight on how God’s people are called to respond in such challenging times.
This week we joined together with Belmont Uniting Church and Western Heights Uniting Church in this reflective service, to start exploring a recent book by N. T. Wright.
Following the insights of Tom Wright’s book “God and the Pandemic: A Christian reflection on the Coronavirus and its aftermath”, today we reflect on the question of God and suffering. As we are confronted with evil and suffering in the world, we should not be asking why suffering happens but how do we respond? The readings from Deuteronomy and Matthew’s gospel (the beatitudes) provide guidance in how the Christians should respond, with care and generosity.
And keep an eye out for Karen and the Western Heights puppets, and I think our first virtual choir!
This week we received information from the Belgrave Heights Convention Centre about their online women’s conference. As the conference is online this year, I thought there may be some St Luke’s women interested in attending.
The theme for 2020 is “Generation to Generation” and our guest speaker is Cathie Hillman. Although this is the year, we will remember for generations the theme is still relevant so On-Line we go. We will not be holding a physical convention at Belgrave Heights Convention and you need to pre-register for our online Convention.
Cathie will bring two messages and we have four interactive elective options that will be presented twice. The electives are to be chosen when you register which is why we ask you to pre-register.
The program commences at 9am and concludes at 12.45pm with breaks between sessions.
Our Electives this year are: 1. Mentoring-Helping others to maximise God’s grace in their lives with Vicki Mustafa 2. Parenting through the ages with Jenny Wraight 3. Grieving Well with Dot Hodge 4. Generations sharing their faith with Ruth Newmarch Please see the website for more information on the electives.
With the theme of Generation to Generation we are wanting to encourage the ladies in your church / organisation to bring their teenage daughter/s (15 years +) and we still encourage their participation as the registration covers the household.
Registration is available on-line https://belgraveheights.venue360.me/public/events/homepage?event=34 at a cost of $25 per household. $20 for concession card holders. It would be appreciated if you could advertise the Belgrave Heights Women’s Convention On-Line in your newsletters / weekly bulletin, on your webpage and in your notices. Below are some suggested words for you: Belgrave Heights Women’s Convention – Generation to Generation. Join us on-line with other women for a time of learning and fellowship. The program starts at 9am and concludes at 12.45pm. Registration is per household / device. We encourage mothers and daughters (15yrs +) to join in together. Our Guest Speaker is Cathie Hillman who fills her days with people, coffee and her 3 littlies. She started her career as a high school teacher, has a master’s in International and Community Development and worked in research at Monash University. Cathie is part of a house church network in the Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne and is passionate about seeing disciples make disciples. There will be 2 main messages and 4 electives presented twice. Register via the BHC Website. https://www.bhc.org.au/womens. – The electives are to be chosen when you register which is why you must pre-register. Please register by Wednesday 7 October 2020.
If you require more information, please contact me by phone: 9752 6855 or email: office@bhc.org.au.
Thursdays 1-2pm via Zoom – contact the office for the link
St Luke’s Book Group and members of the Trekkies study group are now meeting via Zoom to share their journey of reading various books and reflecting on the insights these books offer.
The first book they are tackling is “God and the Pandemic” by Tom Wright. He introduces the book here:
Rev. Paul will also be exploring themes from the book in upcoming online worship videos.
For those of you who have been missing your weekly Trek through the lectionary, the book group may be a good place to connect, however if you are looking for a weekly discussion on our Lectionary Readings, there are a couple of podcasts you may enjoy listening to:
Tea with Two Revs with Rev Amanda Nicolas from East Geelong UC and Rev Ann Key from St Andrews-St Alban’s congregations in Geelong’s Eastern side
And “By the Well” with Revs Fran Barber and Robyn Whitaker (featured in the latest edition of “Crosslight” here: https://crosslight.org.au/2020/08/12/double-take-robyn-whitaker-and-fran-barber/
Jean Daw would like you to know that St Luke’s has postcards available to sign and send asking the government to ban advertising for online gambling. You can pick one up from the office on Tuesdays and Fridays or ask to have one dropped in to you.
More information on the problems caused by online gambling can be found in the latest Just Act newsletter.
Recently we have been dipping into the epic story of the God’s liberation of the people of Israel as recorded in the book of Exodus.
This week we will be looking at perhaps the central event of this grand narrative … indeed perhaps of the whole of the Old Testament … the crossing of the Red Sea.
Did you notice in the text that Moses was dealing not just with the rampaging army of Egypt but those who were moaning and groaning in his own camp who thought whips and slavery did not seem to bad compared with the situation they were in? (Humans are humans … nothing changes in 3,500 years.)
Secondly, let’s be clear that the members of Pharaoh’s army are victims … real people with families … caught up in Pharaoh’s nefarious doings … sacrificed like so many before and since in a pointless battle.
Yet let me say it again core to this passage is an understanding that God overcomes the forces of chaos … represented both by Pharaoh and his army, and the deep scary Sea.
God is a God of new creation and liberation who confronts and deals with the dark forces.
This sisters and brothers is not a purely theoretical affirmation … to know that God will not allow evil to prevail is a statement of profound hope.
For an inspirational listening song, you might enjoy “Baba Yetu” – the Lord’s Prayer, in Swahili:
In our congregation we have people who have come to Australia via the UNHCR refugee program. We have others who came seeking asylum however they could, using all their resources to escape persecution. Happily, many of our people seeking asylum have had protection visas granted to them.
But there are still asylum seekers in our community who are being left behind. Here is Fatma’s story, produced by the Refugee Council of Australia, encouraging us to do what we can to urge the government not to exclude these people from the basic supports that others have taken for granted.
Perhaps this week if you are stuck at home alone with too much time on your hands, you can make contact with the Refugee Council and find out what you can do to help advocate for people in need.
Some of the music from our worship video today was composed and performed by a group called The String Contingent. If you liked their music, which they freely gave permission for us to use, I encourage you to visit their webpage and find out more about them here.
Our next Messy Church Zoom will be 4:30pm Friday 18th September – put it on the calendar!
We will be talking about “How Precious and Special we are to God!”
Some fun things are happening during our actual Messy Church Zoom Meeting- including craft, music and catching up and seeing all our friends!
Some things to have ready for our Activity Time
Think about something that is Special to you (adults too), and bring it to our Zoom time so we can share your special treasure. It might be a toy, or a special rock, just something that means a lot to you.
Print out the two attachments to this Invitation- one is a word search and one is a colouring puzzle page- so have some colouring pencils and pens ready too.
Your singing dancing selves for some fun games and music.
When we think of God’s Precious people in the world right now, and we know many are struggling in the strange challenging place due to the pandemic or life experiences. But we often feel- what can we do? Some organisations that do help: Uniting World, Save the Children, UNICEF or World Vision.
Maybe a suggestion might be to make it a family project to find ways, through these organisations, that you can help to show that others are precious too.
We miss you, we hope you’re well and safe, and we look forward to seeing you again on Friday September 18that 4:30pm.
Love from St Luke’s Messy Church: Barbara, Shaghek, Paul, Judy, Jean and Robyn
PS have you read this book before? We have a copy in the St Luke’s Library!
A timeless story, filled with the assurance of God’s love and offering insight into the ways in which we become anxious about our place and value in the world.
National Child Protection Week runs from September 6-12 and we’re inviting congregations to consider what it means to protect the children in our care. The National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect has produced a resources and an activity sheet to help you get feedback from children on what they enjoy about your congregation and what needs improving.
A Free Talk Each Tuesday in September at 11am via Zoom
1st Your Rights Your Safety
8th Your Home and Adult Children
15th Your Choices Your Values
22nd Your Medical Decision Maker
29th Your Powers of Attorney
Each talk will be for 30 – 40 minutes with 20 minutes for questions and discussion.
Book for one Tuesday, book for some, book for all.
All sessions are free. Numbers limited to 15.
To book or further information Email: or telephone Gary Ferguson 0407 329 290
Hosted by Seniors Rights Victoria
