Author: Robyn Hodge

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Everything in Common Gift Stall NOW OPEN

Australians received 20 million UNWANTED gifts last year for Christmas.  The gifts in the Everything in Common catalogue represent gifts that people really want and need very much.  

  • $10 can provide chickens for a family to breed and sell at market, using the profits for school or medicine
  • $25 can help kids in Timor-Leste get the nutrition they need so they can grow up strong and healthy
  • $50 can get families like Kadek’s (see catalogue cover) a goat – and with it, time in school or even university

Last year, with your help, our partners worked with 202,305 people to bring light and hope – well beyond the Christmas Season.  See Jean and her team after church every Sunday in Advent to purchase your gifts directly from the stall, or head to the website: https://everythingincommon.com.au/

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Uniting Barwon need Volunteers – Can you help?

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR UP TO 15 HOURS VOLUNTEERING PER WEEK?

Uniting Barwon urgently needs motivated, reliable NEWSTART clients to join our passionate team of volunteers.

Uniting Barwon (formerly UnitingCare Geelong) is an emergency relief agency providing assistance to individuals and families in our local community who need practical support during times of financial and personal struggle.

We need more volunteers to join the retail teams based at our Op Shops in Point Lonsdale, Drysdale, East Geelong, Hamlyn Heights, Corio, Norlane and Highton, and our welfare teams in Grovedale, Norlane and Winchelsea.

URGENT vacancies include:

  • Saturday 10am-12pm retail shifts at our Highton Op Shop
  • Saturday 10am-3pm retail shifts at our Hamlyn Heights Op Shop
  • Monday and Friday 9am-1pm interviewer shifts at Norlane

Other vacancies include:

  • Weekday 10am-4pm shifts at our 7 Op Shops (customer service, merchandising etc.)
  • Weekday morning and/or afternoon shifts:
  • Receptionist (organising client appointments, phone and face to face)
  • Clothing and food distribution (assisting our clients)
  • Pickups and deliveries (van crew member or driver)
  • Grounds and maintenance (mowing, weeding, cleaning etc.)
  • Interviewing (assisting our clients)
  • Sorting of donations (clothing and bric a brac etc.)
  • Assisting with our monthly book sale (sorting and selling books)
  • Welfare all-rounder (Reception, Interviewing, Food and Clothing distribution and Sorting at Grovedale and Norlane)
  • Admin, finance and business related roles

If you—or someone you know—would enjoy being part of a can-do volunteer team, please contact Elizabeth Hopkin on 4210 1113 or email Elizabeth.Hopkin@vt.uniting.org

 

Support vulnerable people in the community and help make a difference.

*Volunteer appointments are subject to satisfactory Working with Children Check, criminal history checks and reference checks prior to commencement.

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Advent Study Resource – “Our Hope” and other things

The Equipping Leaders for Mission Unit has produced a resource for Uniting Church folk to use in devotions for the Advent season.  You can download it here or pick up a printed copy from the office.

2019 Advent booklet final

Other resources for you to use at home include:

“In light and darkness” – an Illustrated Advent for Families

Advent Conspiracy 4-7 years

Advent Conspiracy 8-11yrs

There are many more home based resources from the Advent Conspiracy folk which you can find here

We hope that this time leading up to Christmas is one where you can make time to worship fully, spend less, give more and love all!

 

 

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Weekly Update Sunday 17th October

Weekly Update 17th November 2019

Photo credit: Ash Hogan, Flickr

PRAYER FOR THOSE INVOLVED IN BUSHFIRES

God of life and death,

our prayers today are where our hearts and minds

have been during these last days

and where they have been drawn so early in this season;

with those communities and individuals

whose lives have been damaged

in differing ways by the bushfires.

 

We pray for all those who have been affected;

for the families and friends of those who have been killed.

We pray for those who are missing,

for their safety, for the fears of those who love them;

bring each one safely home, we pray.

 

We pray for those who have been injured and survived:

for physical and emotional trauma;

for the fear and helplessness experienced;

for the anger and frustration at the injustice

of unavoidable disaster.

 

We pray for those who have lost their home and property

or are facing such loss:

for those who have been forced to leave

their memories and belongings;

for the fear & disorientation of all involved;

Heal them from their nightmare memories.

 

We are aware of those who have lost stock,

or are watching their stock suffer

sometimes with inevitable consequences;

we are conscious of those

who are struggling to find feed and water

for the stock under their care.

 

We pray for all involved in fighting the fire:

for our Rural Fire Service and their leadership

and all those we know and those we do not know;

we pray for courage in a place of fear;

for new strength in the face of exhaustion;

for people who have travelled distances

in order to resource those who experience fatigue.

 

We pray for all who offer support and care at this time:

for the various agencies, churches and community groups;

for disaster response chaplains;

for government services as they are activated;

for friends and neighbours, known and unknown;

for providing a shoulder upon which to lean, or weep;

we give thanks, too,

for the generosity of many, in small and large ways,

towards those who are struggling.

 

We are mindful of the days, weeks and months ahead,

for many dangerous days yet to come,

for seasons of recovery and rebuilding,

of homes, farms, lives and communities;

we pray for strength, courage, patience and hope

as grieving continues,

as frustrations rise

and inevitable changes occur.

 

We pray, too, knowing that we are entering a harsher climate,

less predictable and more volatile;

as we care for each other, help us to care for your creation,

to be worthy stewards and advocates

of all which you have made.

 

Keep us faithful and alert

in our praying and our action;

in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Rev. Simon Hansford, Moderator of the Uniting Church in NSW and ACT