You’re invited to an intergenerational Nature Walk with Messy Church friends!
As we soak in the beautiful natural surrounds of the Barwon River, we’ll explore what it means to walk with Jesus toward Jerusalem as Holy Week and Easter approach. This walk is for people of all ages, children, parents and grandparents are welcome!
Meeting Point:
Buckley Falls Lower Carpark, accessed from Buckley Falls Road in Highton.
Wear: Comfortable shoes for walking and clothing that can be easily adjusted to suit the weather. (Be ready for rain!)
Bring: Hat, waterbottle, insect repellant, sunscreen, snacks
After a short gathering time, we’ll head off to explore the wilder parts of the Barwon River, coming together for afternoon tea and an Outdoor Messy Celebration, finishing by 5pm
Let us know you’re coming by Monday the 7th of April—
Messy Church is one place we can mark special transitions. Photo credit: Elizabeth Stoel
From Barbara and the Messy Church Team:
Welcome Back to Face-to Face Messy Church at St Luke’s Highton!
We really can’t wait to see you all again as it has been a while since we met in person and had fun at Messy Church! We are starting cautiously due to the ever-changing COVID restrictions regarding numbers allowed inside.
So ….here are our plans so far…………
Messy Church in February
Friday 19th February 5-7pm At Drewan Park
CANCELLED DUE TO COVID RESTRICTIONS
Our first meeting will be outside at Drewan Park, City View Drive, Wandana Heights – just up the hill from St Luke’s and where we had our picnic last Sunday. It’s a great park with a good view and plenty of facilities.
Theme: The Good Samaritan- we will be planning our usual bundle of fun Messy Church activities outside amongst nature. BYO food and chairs.
Here’s a kid-friendly version of the story:
And here’s a perspective on the Good Samaritan parable from one of the First Nations Christian Leaders – Brooke Prentice of Common Grace – and where she sees the situation of Aboriginal people in this story.
Messy Church Dates for the remainder of 2021 – put these in your diary!
Friday 19th March– Back at St Luke’s Church , 5-7pm- Easter themes including a Labyrinth and New Life activities- sounds intriguing! Stay tuned!
Friday 16th April -St Luke’s Church , 5-7pm
Friday 21st May -St Luke’s Church , 5-7pm
Friday 18th June -St Luke’s Church , 5-7pm
Friday 16th July -St Luke’s Church , 5-7pm
Friday 20th August -St Luke’s Church , 5-7pm
Friday 17th September – St Luke’s Church, 5-7pm
Friday 15th October -St Luke’s Church, 5-7pm
Friday 19th November– St Luke’s Church, 5-7pm
See you soon!
Love from your Messy Church Team: Judy, Shaghek, Paul, Barbara, Jean and Robyn xxxxx
What to bring: Everything for a picnic (food, drink, tables, chair, rugs, kid’s games…)
THE PARK HAS A PLAYGROUND, TOILETS, BBQS AND SHELTER
Who can come: Young and older – you just need to come with an open heart to have fun and be inspired.
NOTE: COVID SAFE REQUIREMENTS APPLY … PLEASE PLAN TO PHYSICALLY DISTANCE, AND WEAR MASKS WHEN THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE. If you are feeling unwell, let us know and we’ll be thinking of you, but please don’t come – see your doctor or get tested if you have COVID symptoms.
Our next Messy Church Zoom will be 4:30pm Friday 20th November- put it on the calendar! Our theme will be “God’s Promise to his People” as told in the story of Noah’s Ark. Think Rainbows and Animals!
Some fun things are happening during our actual Messy Church Zoom and you need to get a few things together before our fun time.
Before the meeting have ready:
*Lego- we are going to be building an ark to hold the animals or maybe make an ark out of an old box and make lego/crafty animals to fit inside.
*Some textas, crayons or pencils to colour a big rainbow to stick in our windows to remind us of God’s promise
*Have a look around the house/laundry basket for items that are either Red/ Orange/Yellow/Green/Blue/Purple/Pink we can use in prayer time.
*if you have a bright /tie died/rainbow coloured shirt- lets wear them when we meet up on the night! Our Zoom will be bursting with colourful people all gathered together to praise God- how wonderful.
We miss you, we hope you’re well and safe, and we look forward to seeing you again on November 20th.
Love from St Luke’s Messy Church Team- Paul, Shaghek, Barbara, Jean, Judy and Robyn
Our next Messy Church Zoom will be 4:30pm Friday 23rd October- put it on the calendar! Our theme will be “Paul and Silas in Prison” which you can read in Acts 16 v25-34 in your Bible. Its an action packed story.
Paul and Silas in prison – image by Sue Bentley https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Some great things are happening during our actual Messy Church Zoom and you need to get a few things together before our fun time.
Before the meeting have ready :
Lego- we are going to build a prison or a jail and we also need some people- Paul, Silas and the jailer and his family
Plus, think about what you could use in your house to create a big noise- the sort of noise that might sound a bit like an earthquake!!
Sounds an exciting story exciting doesn’t it? There is also a Baptism in this bible story which makes it special.
Ask about your Baptismal day, or think about some Baptisms you have seen- what happened? You might have something from that day – a candle maybe or a photo or even the outfit you wore that you can share with the rest of our Messy church family.
Contact the office for the Zoom link if you haven’t already received it in the email.
We miss you, we hope you’re well and safe, and we look forward to seeing you again on October 23rd.
Love from St Luke’s Messy Church Team- Paul, Shaghek, Barbara, Jean, Judy and Robyn
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.
Our next Messy Church Zoom will be 4:30pm Friday 21st August- put it on the calendar! The story we will be reading is from Matthew 14 v22-33 about Peter walking on Water towards Jesus.
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 craft
Before our get together have ready a couple of sheets of square origami paper and some sheets of A4 or small rectangles like A5. We are going to be folding them in our craft time. They can be any colour you like.
have a bible handy– if you have one with pictures that would be great
Our next Messy Church Zoom will be 4:30pm Friday 17th July- put it on the calendar! The story we will be reading is Jonah and the Whale.
You can read it in the Old Testament part of the Bible. The book of Jonah is small enough to read the whole story if you would like, or you might have a story book about it.
Some fun things are happening during our actual Messy Church Zoom Meeting- including catching up and seeing all our friends!
Some things to have ready for our craft:
*Before our meeting could you print out the attached drawing of Jonah praying inside a whale?
*Find an empty shoe box, or recycled box or piece of paper to make an underwater scene you can put your decorated Jonah and the whale in
*maybe a torch to shine in your box when we show everyone – you might have some of these kind of lights to stick inside your box:
Here’s a quick little video on making a diorama which might give you some ideas:
*coloured pencils, textas, glue sticks, scissors. You could also cut out pictures of fish, seaweed or shells to decorate your underwater scene – let your imagination go wild!
*dancing and singing too!
We can’t wait to share together with you the story of Jonah and the Whale and what it means for us in today’s world. Teens and adults might like to take a look at this overview of Jonah ahead of time:
We miss you, we hope you’re well and safe, and we look forward to seeing you again on Friday July 19th at 4:30pm.
Love from St Luke’s Messy Church: Barbara, Shaghek, Paul, Judy, Jean and Robyn
Our next Messy Church Zoom will be 4:30pm Friday 19th June- put it on the calendar! Our theme will be “Do not fear- Just have Faith”
You can read it in the Bible in Mark 5 v21-43 as well if you want.
Some fun things are happening during our actual Messy Church Zoom including an Obstacle course- but more on that later!
You will need:
*a play script which we will need volunteers to act out during our session- so have a look, print it out and see what part you would like to play before the session starts.
A Piece of cloth or card big enough to write on and decorate for a book mark or even a wall hanging.
Some felt tip pens , glue and flat things to decorate your craft , zig zag scissors or you might even try sewing on your cloth.
Your best acting voices
Plus, think about what you could use in your house to create an obstacle course – maybe under chairs, over cushions, under a blanket- you might even create a tunnel??
Sounds exciting doesn’t it?
The ZOOM link has been emailed, if you didn’t receive it, please email Robyn at info@stlukesuca.org.au and she will send it to you.
We miss you, we hope you’re well and safe, and we look forward to seeing you again on June 19th.
