St Mary’s Anglican Church Sunday 9 June 2019

We acknowledge the Dja Dja Wurrung people, the custodians of this land where we gather.

We pay our respects to their elders past and present as we pray for reconciliation.

Sentence: God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy

Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:5

Collect: Everliving God, your Spirit made us your children, confident

to call you Father. Increase your Spirit within us and bring us to our

promised inheritance in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Pentecost

with

Rt Rev’d Dr Matt Brain

Bishop of Bendigo

Regular Services held at

9.00am & 11.00am Sundays

9.00am Hymns

TiS 152 Joyful Joyful

TiS 447 Lord Your Almighty Word (V1, 3, 4)

TiS 658 I The Lord Of Sea And Sky

TiS 675 Shine Jesus Shine

Please advise Rev Tracey or Alison by 5.00pm Thursday if you wish to add someone

to the prayer list below. Thank you.

Please hold in your prayers: Julie Abella, Dave Bell, Baby Ella, Lorna Britton, Kathleen, Lauris

Hopkins, Di, John, Pat, Shirley & Ron, Yvonne and family

Important Dates

23 June—Bunnings Fundraising BBQ, 9.00am to 4.00pm

26, 27 & 28 July—Winter Art Show, 10.00am to 4.00pm

26 July—Official Opening of Winter Art Show, 7.30pm

27 Sept—Chaplaincy Chortle and Converchino, 2.00pm, St Mary’s

A Pentecost Thanksgiv ing

I can never escape from your spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the place of the dead, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night – but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. (Psalm 139 :7 -12a NLT) For Your invisible Presence revealed in the unexpected moment For your silent power surprising in its irresistible challenge For Your unlikely people carriers of the wonder-filled message of Jesus; We give you thanks and praise, O God, our Lord. Amen.

Not ices

Offertory Collectors—It would be greatly appreciated if those who

are rostered on to collect the offering each week, if you could

also count how many communicants and non-communicants are

present at the service and record this in the Service Register.

Please also record the amount received in the register. Thank you,

your support and ministry is much appreciated.

Confirmation & Reaffirmation Service—A Very BIG Welcome to

Bishop Matthew Brain, our confirmees; Skyla Frugtniet, Lewis &

Phoebe Lonsdale, Chie Cooper, James Kiir, Joanne Phelps and

Lillian Holland. We are excited to share this special occasion with

you, your sponsors and family today. A huge welcome also to

June Prior who will also be reaffirming her faith today. We give

thanks to God for each of you and pray God's richest blessing

upon each of you as you seek to follow him in your lives.

Safe Church Workshop—the next safe church awareness workshop

is to be held at Holy Trinity Flora Hill on Saturday 15 June. It will

commence at 9.30am and conclude at 4.00pm. Please bring your

own lunch. Cost is $34.70 per person, includes morning and

afternoon tea. Registration is through the diocesan website. Please

go to http://www.bendigoanglican.org.au/safe-church-

awareness-workshops/ to register. A credit card is needed to

complete registration.

Help Wanted—It is time again to prepare our next roster, for July,

August and September and we need helpers. People willing to:

do the flowers at church

take up the offering

read

be a welcomer

work in the booth

Please consider taking a turn and being a part of the rosters. As

the old saying goes, many hands make light work. Whether it is

praying, reading or doing a behind the scenes thing such as

emptying the bins or washing dishes, it is important. All is ministry in

one form or another. If you are not sure about a particular task or

require more information regarding what is involved, please see

Tracey or Alison or, place your name down on the existing lists on

the welcome table in the Narthex.

Bunnings Fundraising BBQ—Thank you to those who have

volunteered to run the BBQ on Sunday 23 June. All parishioners are

welcome to head along after church and devour a snag or two.

Musical Icons Through the Ages—performed by Bendigo & District

Concert Band, Sunday 16 June, 2.00-3.30pm, gold coin donation

includes afternoon tea, at St Mary’s Anglican Church.

Les Martin—13 June Elaine Young—10 June

Colin Clark—12 June

The Rector Wri tes

Pentecost and the Presence of God’s Spirit With Us

Yes, I admit I am guilty of one of perhaps the oldest mistakes we

make in regards Pentecost. I along with many have spoken of the

Spirit’s “coming” – as if God’s Spirit was absent from the world before

this. How untrue this is! In our Gospel reading today we see Jesus

gives us a clue to a different understanding regarding the Holy Spirit

when he says that “the world cannot receive him because it isn’t

looking for him…” In other words, our human capacity to see God’s

Spirit is often limited. We can be blind to the presence of God. We

can fail to apprehend or acknowledge God’s Spirit in our midst.

However, at Pentecost we learn to look for God’s Spirit – we open

the eyes of our heart to see God’s presence in our midst. It is this

awareness that there is nowhere that God is not that walls of division

come tumbling down. In receiving the new awareness of God’s Spirit

we find that we all speak a common Spirit-enabled language – the

language of God-imaged, Spirit-filled, humanity. Once our eyes are

opened to see God’s Spirit in all things (including those who are

different from us), things change. We know ourselves (and all

creatures) as God’s children and we willingly share Christ’s suffering

(as Paul says) to bring God’s creation into awareness of this unity

and community in God’s Spirit.

Across the globe human beings suffer from a blindness to the Spirit’s

presence and activity. When we use the earth as nothing more than

a resource to enrich ourselves, we have failed to recognise the Spirit.

When we justify killing, exploiting, marginalising or dehumanising

others, we have failed to see the Spirit in them. When we embrace a

rampant individualism and consumerism, we have failed to

recognise God’s Spirit and the community of all things in God’s Spirit.

Pentecost is a wake-up call for our world – how different might our

politics, economics and environmental policies be if we recognised

God’s Spirit in all things, and if we took time to really learn our

common language?

How would this consideration impact how you pray, speak, act,

advocate and play? How can you and our St Mary’s community

participate in the Spirit’s work and help others to recognise God’s

Spirit in all things?

It is all too common among Christians to speak of God’s Spirit being

“with” us and “not with” others who believe differently from us.

Whenever we fall into this trap, we have missed the gift of Pentecost,

and have made our God too small. But, when we realise that God’s

Spirit is everywhere – although we and/or others may not be looking

for or able to recognise God’s Spirit for whatever reason – we find

our view of these others changes. We suddenly discover that God

can be encountered in every person, and every place – from

untouched places of breath-taking natural beauty to slums and

disaster areas. And, once we have seen this, we discover that, like

Jesus, we would rather suffer than inflict suffering on these Spirit-filled

ones. We would rather sacrifice than exploit Spirit-filled people and

the Spirit-filled world for personal gain. We would rather listen for the

language of our common humanity than deny the humanity of a

single person – even if they deny ours. What would it mean for you

and our community to take Pentecost seriously? What defences

might have to come down? What hands might have to be offered

to others? What beliefs might have to be released? What actions

might have to become obsolete? What people might have to be

welcomed and embraced?

Food for thought? Blessings. Yours in Christ. Rev Tracey

P a r i s h C o n t a c t D e t a i l s

Rector: Rev Tracey Wolsley, Ph 0423 263 401

Email: traceywolsley@gmail.com

Rector’s Warden: Colin Clark Ph 1443 9383

People’s Wardens: Dennis Robinson Ph 1443 4031

Shirley Austin Ph 0413 123 068

Postal Address: PO Box 1369, Kangaroo Flat VIC 3111

Street Address: 193-191 High Street, Kangaroo Flat

Office email: anglicankf8@bigpond.com

Website: www.stmaryskangarooflat.com

Parish Office: Ph 5447 7427

Parish Secretary: Alison Niven Ph 0409 326 491

PEW SHEET—If you have an item for the Pew sheet please forward by 12 noon

Thursday to Alison Niven on 0409 326 495 or Email anglicankf@tpg.com.au

Sunday Roster To volunteer for a task, please contact Alison Niven on 0409 326 495. All swaps to be arranged amongst yourselves and advised to Alison for amendment in Pew sheet.

Time 09/06 16/06 23/06 30/06

Welcomers 9.00am T & G Woods N & S Austin B & I Guest C & J Clark

11.00am Nil A Niven A Niven A Niven

Eucharistic Assistants

9.00am C Clark L Waasdorp

C Clark J Clark

G Turpie W Stewart

E Young S Austin

11.00am Nil G Turpie E Young R Aitken

Offertory 9.00am

M Stewart B Guest

N Austin M Fryer

B Guest D Robinson

C Clark J Scott

11.00am Nil A Niven A Niven A Niven

Booth 9.00am A Niven D Robinson A Niven W Stewart

11.00am Nil A Niven A Niven A Niven

Reader 9.00am E Dunnicliff S Davey L Corrie S Austin

Intercessor 9.00am R Stone C Clark G Turpie E Young

Morning Host 9.00am B Austin J Leech D Carlson D Addlem

Flowers L Pearce M Shay J Phelps R Penna