Category: Worship

Dear friends,

This video service focuses on the theme of hope as we mark the beginning of the season of Advent.

And Advent is the beginning of the church’s year which concluded last week with the marking of Christ the King.

Over the four weeks of Advent we will be reflecting on the four themes of “hope, peace, joy and love” and lighting an Advent Candle to mark each theme. On Christmas Day our theme will be “Faithfulness.”

As someone said to me the other day “hope, peace, joy and love” surely they are words that we need to hear in these times.

Today we return to that theme that I believe is central to the Christian faith and indeed for living a healthy life: “hope.”

Stay tuned for information about our first in-person worship services back at the church, with midweek returning on the 10th of December, and our first Sunday service to be held on the 13th of December.

For listening and singing along, you might enjoy this version of “O Come Emmanuel” – our waiting begins.

May Jesus Christ,

Whose coming again in power and great glory we await

Empower you to be steadfast in faith,

Joyful in hope

And constant in love,

Amen.

Hello friends!

Our first ever Podcast is ready for your listening ears:

You might choose to listen while going for a walk, or doing the dishes, or weeding the garden – a more “active” way to worship and spend time with God!

Dear friends,

So, a funny thing happened today.  We decided to test out some of the new technology we will be using to stream our services once we are meeting again in person, and recorded today’s worship “live” at the church this afternoon.

We thought it went pretty well, but as often happens when you are trying new things and learning how to use new technology, there were glitches.   

This meant that this week’s service will be – delayed – and delivered as a “podcast” to listen to, rather than a video, within the next day or so.

In the meantime, we invite you to visit another congregation for worship today – and there are so many places and people to choose from!

The Presbytery focus service will be live-streamed to YouTube from Leopold Uniting Church and led by Presbytery Minister Narelle Collas – you can find their channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi2OzTW4P2OHoi0nNse_Jjg

I’m not sure of the time there.

The Macedon Ranges partnership has their service ready to go here:

or if you want to stay closer to home, you could pop over and visit our neighbours at Belmont Uniting here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6mXx6ryp1AegGlrhv3W2Lg

And Terrigal Uniting is a congregation we are watching as a great model of how to include people at home with people at church in worship – their 8am worship service will stream here 

https://youtu.be/Pe4cFKH_9jw

So hopefully you’ll find some different opportunities to worship this Sunday.

Here’s the song that Lloyd, Deborah and Robyn sang today (but the sound didn’t record!) – you can sing along with another version here:

With thanks for your understanding and wishing you all the Blessings of the Kingdom for this coming week,

Lloyd, Paul, Christopher and Robyn.

Today’s service is jointly presented by St Luke’s Highton and Western Heights Uniting Churches – the westernmost of Geelong’s Uniting Churches, straddling both sides of the Barwon River.

Today we encourage you to celebrate All Saints’ Day by remembering and honouring those who have gone before us, giving thanks for their love and leadership.

Thanks to Paul, Mike, Karen, Alison, Jan and everyone who helped prepare today’s service for sharing your gifts to help connect us all to God through worship and prayer.

Younger ones might enjoy this short summary of what All Saints day means to us as Christians:

Blessings go with you into this week!

Hello Friends!

This video service has been created through the shared leadership of the Western Heights and St Luke’s Uniting Church Congregations.

And this video is the last in a series of videos delving into the themes of Tom Wright’s book, “God and the Pandemic: A Christian reflection on the coronavirus and its aftermath.”

Bruce Waldron, supply minister for the Western Heights Congregation, will be helping us to put together some of the key Biblical insights that we have highlighted over the last five weeks with a particular focus on how following the way of Jesus gives particular shape to the response we offer in a world impacted by the coronavirus.

A fitting song to carry the message about being part of the healing on this week comes from the Watoto Children’s Choir – We will Go:

And if you like the dance there is even a tutorial on how to do it here:

And if you’re looking for a little more worship this week, you might like to pop over to the Presbytery Focus Service this week led by Rev. Jeanne Beale:

https://eastguc.org/2020/10/24/worship-sunday-25th-october-2020/?fbclid=IwAR2AC7XD3jVXY64UUVBnrU-0WhXvph_niHh5R7dp7fXCqWVoWM0NyTZ7FfQ

Go forth into the world in peace;

be of good courage;

hold fast that which is good;

render to no one evil for evil;

strengthen the fainthearted;

support the weak;

help the afflicted;

honour everyone;

love and serve the Lord,

rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit;

and the blessing of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit be with you all, evermore

Amen!