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PARISH of fitzroy

Parish news

5th July 2020 Pentecost 5

green

Mission Statement

Serving God through Christ in Church and Community.

321 Berserker Street, Frenchville Office Phone 07 4926 1315

P O Box 10185, Frenchville, 4701 Web northrockyuc.org.au

TODAY’S READINGS Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67

Psalm 45:10-17

Romans 7:15-25a

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

DIRECTORY For pastoral care or urgent assistance please

phone the office on 4926 1315. For non urgent queries please email office@northrockyuc.org.au

HOSPITAL CHAPLAIN

Rev Ann Hewson – 0468 490 799

PRISON CHAPLAIN

David Horton – 0428 965 203

BLUECARE CHAPLAIN

Donna Muston – 0409 894 981

NOT AN EDITORIAL

Page 2 Devotional material and prayer

points

Page 3 Continued exploration of the

Basis of Union

Page 4 Marian’s Musings

Page 5 Kiribati news

Edith still has chutney for sale

Page 6 For kids

Page 7 A blast from the past

Even though church services are not being

held, the Parish still needs your financial

support. It may be that we don’t have to pay

a minister’s stipend, but the church still has

ongoing expenses. Once the Covid epidemic

eases we may have a supply minister or one

may be called. For our ongoing financial via-

bility, your offerings are needed either at the

ANZ bank or by electronic transfer. Please

give this your prayerful consideration.

BSB 014010 ; A/C 210834038 ; Fitzroy Par-

ish OR BSB 014010 ; A/C 210834046 ;

Fitzroy Parish Giving Direct A/C

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T he leaders and the wise are not always pleased when someone criticizes or chal-lenges them. This happened in the time of Jesus, and happens today as well. John the Baptist criticized people and was not accepted. They said: “He is possessed by the devil!” Jesus also criticized and was not accepted. They said: “He has lost his

head!”, and “Crazy!” (Mk 3:21). “He is possessed by the devil!” (Mk 3:22), “He is a Sa-maritan!” (Jn 8:48), “He is not from God!” (Jn 9:16). The same thing happens today. There are some people who hold on to what has always been taught and they do not accept anoth-er way of living the faith. They invent reasons for not accepting something new, saying “It is against God’s Law!” They invent some pretext in order not to accept the message Jesus announced. In fact, it is relatively easy to find arguments to refute those who think in a dif-ferent way from us in these matters. Jesus reacts to the people’s resistance to the Gospel. They consider themselves wise, but they are like children who wish to be amused, and they rebel when people do not move ac-cording to the music that they play. They only accept those who hold the same ideas that they hold. Because of their rigidity, they are condemned.

Each of us might ask ourselves in what ways am I rigid in my faith? Do I have a critical conscience concerning social and ecclesiastical thought which, at times, prevents needed change?

Please pray for

The world as countries combat COVID

-19, and for the people of Victoria as

they face fresh outbreaks of the virus

Those burnt out in the bushfires earlier

this whose lives are further stressed by

mandatory isolation

Countries of the third world as they

tackle the pandemic with limited re-

sources

The safety of health care workers, hos-

pital ancillary staff and those who come

in contact with the ill

Research workers trying to find a treat-

ment for COVID-19

Comfort for the bereaved in this time

Those struggling financially because of

unemployment including the QANTAS

employees soon to be retrenched

Our fellow Christians in this city denied

conventional worship and sacraments

Our Parish as we wait for the end to the

Corona virus shutdown so a new minis-

ter may be called

The people of Kiribati

Our partner parish of Clermont Capella,

the congregation and for the leadership

of Heather James

Lord our God, too often we are deaf to Your voice

and to the presence of Your Son among us, His people.

Inspire us by Your prophets and Your Spirit

that now is the right moment to change

and to commit ourselves

to the kind of life and to the justice

demanded by the kingdom.

Help us to make people see

that Your Son is alive among us

and that He is our Lord for ever

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Paragraph 3ii

Jesus of Nazareth announced the sovereign

grace of God whereby the poor in spirit

could receive the Father’s love. He himself,

in his life and death, made the response of

humility, obedience and trust which God had

long sought in vain. In raising him to live

and reign, God confirmed and completed the

witness which Jesus

bore to him on earth, he reasserted his claim

over the whole of his

creation, he pardoned

sinners, and made in

Jesus a representative

beginning of a new or-

der of righteousness

and love. To God in

Christ men are called

to respond in faith. To

this end God has sent forth his Spirit that men

may trust him as their

Father, and

acknowledge Jesus as

Lord. The whole work of man’s salvation is

effected by the sovereign grace of God alone.

.This part of paragraph three is extremely im-

portant as it takes over from where the Ni-

cene Creed leaves off. The Creed only deals

with the birth and death (and resurrection) of

Jesus as that benefits believers. There is a not

too subtle shot at the Arians who doubted the

divinity of Jesus. The creeds never mention

love.

This paragraph draws attention to the work of

Jesus, other than his teaching role with his

followers. Descriptors such as humility, obe-

dience and trust just don’t refer to Jesus’ no-

ble character, but are descriptions of his rela-

tionship with the One who has sent him.

His resurrection is not just a happy ending to

a tragic story. It is incredibly important. It re-

verses the totally unfair decision of a kanga-

roo court. Where humankind said no to Je-

sus, God has said yes to everything that Jesus

said and did.

The resurrection also marks a beginning ra-

ther than an end. It signals the beginning of a

whole reordering of creation. It also points to

a general resurrection at a future time.

There is a general call to all

people to respond to Jesus in

faith. This faith may be indi-

vidual and personal but by

the same token such a faith

is open to all. In Pentecost

we remember the arrival of

the Holy Spirit, the third as-

pect of Godself. By the Holy

Spirit all barriers to the re-

sponse of all people to the

call to love and righteous-

ness are removed.

The reality today is that very

few people know or care

about the significance of Jesus. Our mission

at Fitzroy is to reverse this trend. We can do

this, in part, through the love and reconcilia-

tion that we show each other. And the com-

munity during and post COVID-19

This is part of a

series on the Ba-

sis of Union

which it is

hoped, will be

published each

week.

Don’t have a copy of the Basis of Un-

ion?

No problem

You can download a copy from

https://assembly.uca.org.au/images/

stories/Regulations/2019/

ConstitutionandRegulations%

202018%20-%20updated%

20August%202019.pdf. Or search

with your favourite search engine.

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Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, Last night we held a “Visioning the Red-lands” Steering Committee meeting- by Zoom of course. I found it to be a positive meeting, full of hope and discernment that it is God’s will we move forward. So after the meeting I reflected on what it means to be the Uniting Church in Australia. On Sunday we celebrated the 43rd anniver-sary of our Church. What is it that deter-mines our DNA as we ponder the implica-tions of one ministry team for the UCA in the Redlands (as we decided last year) amidst the changes that are impacting us by the Covid 19 pandemic? Rev. Dr. John Squires sees these as the strands that form the essential DNA of the UCA. This is a summary1 1. At inauguration our founders declared that this union was both in accord with the will of God, and that it was a gift of God to the people of God in Australia. Since then, the Uniting Church has been a church which is committed to working ecumenically with other Christian denominations 2. The Uniting Church is a church which values the ministry of all the people of God and seeks to order itself in accordance with the will of God. 3. We are a church which is committed to equality and mutuality of women and men in ministry. 4. A very important dimension to being the church in this country is the fact that we are a church in Covenant with the First Peoples of Australia. 5. The Uniting Church declared in 1985 that it is a multicultural church, which rejoices in

the diversity of cultures and languages which are found across Australia. Uniting Church seeks a unity that transcends cultural, eco-nomic and racial distinctions. 6. Throughout the past 43 years, the Uniting Church has shown that it is a church which is prepared to engage in difficult discussions about contentious issues. 7. The Uniting Church inherited from its predecessor Churches a strong commitment to advocating for justice for all. 8. In like manner, the Uniting Church has always been a church which honours the en-vironment and supports a sustainable life-style. 9. Another contribution that the UCA has made has been to highlight the importance, when we gather in council, of seeking to dis-cern the will of God. We live this out in our councils by practising a process of consensus decision-making. 10. Finally, over the last 20 years, the UCA has developed a firm commitment to strong professional standards, for Ministers as well as for lay people who exercise leadership in the church. So: these are ten strands to our DNA, as far as my thinking is concerned. What about you? Would you add anything? Take any-thing away? What do you think are the es-sential aspects of our UCA DNA? Yours, thankful for the history and diversity for the UCA, Marian © Marian Zaunbrecher 2020

1. A full statement can be found here: https://assembly.uca.org.au/news/item/2611-the-dna-of-the-uca

Rev Dr Marian Zaunbrecher is minister at Trinity UC Welllington Point. She regularly pub-

lishes Marian’s Musings. These are lengthy but well worth a read.

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ADVERTISEMENT

Edith Plumb has for sale:

• Tomato Relish

• Pawpaw chutney

• Mango chutney

• Rosella jam

To make arrangement to

purchase please contact

Edith on 4928 3934

Proceeds will go to help

fund funeral catering

Sharon Dekkers has a bag

of crochet yarn that she

would like to donate for

anyone who would like to

use it for making objects

for fundraising.

She will deliver it if need-

ed.

Phone: 49220095

AN ACCOUNT TOUCHING ON

KIRIBATI

The Pacific Conference of Churches’ annual

Pacific Day of Prayer will be observed this

year on Friday 8 May.

The liturgy and worship resources for 2020

have been prepared by Kiribati Uniting

Church (KUC) with a reflection by KUC

Secretary for Mission, Rev Maleta Tenten

(pictured below left).

Under the theme ‘Christ our Living Hope’ (1

Peter 1: 3–12), the worship resources reflect

on the global challenge of COVID-19 and

the impacts of Severe Tropical Cyclone Har-

old, which recently devastated parts of Va-

nuatu, Solomon Islands, Fiji and Tonga.

Rev Maleta finds encouragement in Peter’s

letter to Christians suffering persecution un-

der the Roman Empire and encourages

Christians today to consider how COVID-19

has put more pressure on those who were

already suffering injustice before the crisis.

“There are existing empires in our midst and

from outside our regions who continue to

control and exert power over the powerless,”

says Rev Maleta.

“The Easter message speaks to us to ‘Rise

with Christ and not to be afraid’ to start

afresh. We have to examine ourselves and

our roles as Christians to see and to hear the

cry of those who continue to suffer, the op-

pressed, those deprived of their human rights

and dignity, the poor, women/girls and chil-

dren being abused and violated, those with

bleak future for their children and genera-

tions because of climate impacts…” Read Rev Maleta’s full reflection and find

the worship resources for the Pacific Day of

Prayer below

Website (Pacific Conference of Churches)

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Kids’ page ……...1

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A BLAST FROM THE PAST

In the 1970s the Methodist

and later Uniting churches in

Rockhampton conducted and

annual Floral Fiesta. This

was held in the old Munici-

pal Theatre adjacent to the

present library. The RCC al-

so had a display on the stage.

Proceeds went to Blue Care

and Lifeline. These photo-

graphs are nearly 50 years

old, partially restored by

Photoshop. Thanks to Marj

and Merv Brown for the

photos and for the oral histo-

ry.

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THE HAPPY PAGE

A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell.

He painted a sign advertising the 4 pups and set about nailing it to a post on the edge of his yard.

As he was driving the last nail into the post, he felt a tug on his overalls.

He looked down into the eyes of a little boy.

“Mister,” he said, “I want to buy one of your puppies.”

“Well,” said the farmer, as he rubbed the sweat off the back of his neck,

“These puppies come from fine parents and cost a good deal of money.”

The boy dropped his head for a moment.

Then reaching deep into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of change and held it up to the farmer.

“I’ve got thirty-nine cents. Is that enough to take a look?”

“Sure,” said the farmer.

And with that, he let out a whistle. “Here, Dolly!” he called.

Out from the doghouse and down the ramp ran Dolly followed by four little balls of fur.

The little boy pressed his face against the chain-link fence.

His eyes danced with delight.

As the dogs made their way to the fence, the little boy noticed something else stirring in-side the doghouse.

Slowly another little ball appeared, this one noticeably smaller.

Down the ramp, it slid.

Then in a somewhat awkward manner, the little pup began hobbling toward the others, doing its best to catch up…

“I want that one,” the little boy said, point-ing to the runt.

The farmer knelt down at the boy’s side and said,

“Son, you don’t want that puppy. He will never be able to run and play with you as these other dogs would.”

With that, the little boy stepped back from the fence, reached down, and began rolling up one leg of his trousers.

In doing so he revealed a steel brace run-ning down both sides of his leg attaching itself to a specially made shoe.

Looking back up at the farmer, he said,

“You see sir, I don’t run too well myself, and he will need someone who under-stands.”

With tears in his eyes, the farmer reached down and picked up the little pup.

Holding it carefully he handed it to the little boy.

“How much?” asked the little boy…

“No charge,” answered the farmer,

“There’s no charge for love.”

MORE SILLINESS

The church will host an evening of fine din-ing, super entertainment and gracious hostil-ity.

The ladies of the Church have cast off cloth-ing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.

A woman was overheard talking on the

phone. “Yesterday my husband found a

cockroach in the kitchen. He scrubbed the

floor and benches and cleaned the cup-

boards. He took all the dishes out and

washed them. Next week I’m putting the

cockroach in the bathroom.”