Dear Friends,
I have written about the horrors of Bondi elsewhere this week in separate emails. Sundays service will of course include special prayers and there is the opportunity for you to light a candle as your personal contribution to driving back this darkness.
Last Sundays service for Celia was truly lovely and fitting and we thank Ray and his helpers for the bumper morning tea. Celia is now at rest in the embrace of the earth in our lovely garden and her soul with God. This Sunday there will be no morning tea, instead I am hoping you can spare a few moments helping to dust the church and place the Christmas decorations ready for the Carol Service at 6 pm. The pew sheet has been advertising a sausage sizzle following the carols – sadly this is incorrect and a printing from years past. We no longer have a bar be que so cannot offer sausages this year. We will look int9 this and hopefully find a way of doing this for next year.
As I do every year I commend our beautiful Christmas services to you, your families and friends, particularly this year in the shadow of Bondi as the celebration of the coming of God among us might bring new hope and meaning for a world reeling in horror from so many terrible happenings.
May we be even more thankful for this wonderful country, scarred now by dreadful violence, but still free with never ending potential to give us and all Australians a life only imagined by millions. We still are the most blessed and fortunate people who have ever lived on this planet. Hold onto that this week and always.
Grant
As we continue to struggle to come to terms with what happened at Bondi perhaps this short advent poem by John Bell provides a little hope.
Light looked down and saw the darkness.
‘I will go there’ said light.
Peace looked down and saw war.
‘I will go there’ said peace.
Love looked down and saw hatred.
‘I will go there’ said love.
So He, the Lord of Light,
The Prince of Peace, the King of Love,
came down and crept in beside us.
Advent is of course a time of waiting and preparation for our great Feast of Christmas but as our new Archbishop reminds us it is a time of waiting for the One who sends us. ‘Go’ Jesus says and make disciples of all nations. This transforms Advent from a passive action of just waiting into a period filled with potential action, dynamism and love. So why not invite a family member or friend to one of our Christmas services this year. What better gift could you give them than the celebration of Jesus being born.
CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS WITH US
SUNDAY 21st DECEMBER 6.oo pm Lessons and Carols
CHRISTMAS EVE Wednesday 24th December 9.00 pm Eucharist with Carols
CHRISTMAS DAY Thursday 25th December 9.00 am Eucharist with Carols
The gospel calls us to be people of Hope even in the darkest hour. Maybe you can find time to say an extra prayer for all those in such desperate circumstances in Australia and the rest of the world?
Our prayer for days ahead is for balance, consideration and listening
God of Comfort,
send your Spirit to encompass all those whose lives are torn apart by violence and death in Israel and Palestine and Lebanon.
You are the Advocate of the oppressed and the One whose eye is on the sparrow.
Let arms reach out in healing, rather than aggression. Let hearts mourn rather than militarize.
God of Justice,
give strength to those whose long work for a just peace might seem fruitless now. Strengthen their resolve.
Do not let them feel alone. Show us how to support their work and bolster their courage. Guide religious leaders to model
unity and reconciliation across lines of division. Guide political leaders to listen with their hearts as they seek peace and pursue it.
Help all people choose the rigorous path of just peace and disavow violence.
God of Love,
we lift up Palestine and Israel — its people, its land, its creatures. War is a monster that consumes everything in its path.
Peace is a gift shared at meals of memory with Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Let us burn incense, not children. Let us break bread, not bodies.
Let us plant olive groves, not cemeteries. We beg for love and compassion to prevail
on all your holy mountains.
God of Hope,
we lift up the cities of the region: Gaza City and Tel Aviv, Ramallah and Ashkelon, Deir El Balah and Sderot,
so long divided, yet so filled with life and creativity. Come again to breathe peace on your peoples that all may recognize you.
God of Mercy,
even now work on the hearts of combatants to choose life over death, reconciliation over retaliation, restoration over destruction. Help us resist antisemitism in all its forms, especially in our own churches. All people, Israelis and Palestinians,deserve to live in peace and unafraid, with a right to determine their future together.
God of the Nations,
let not one more child or elder be sacrificed on altars of political expediency. Keep safe all people from unjust leaders who would exploit
vulnerability for their own distorted ends. Give wise discernment to those making decisions to pursue peace.
Provide them insight into fostering well-being, freedom, and thriving for all. Teach all of us to resolve injustices with righteousness, not rockets. Guard our hearts against retaliation, and give us hearts for love alone.
Strengthen our faith in you, O God of All Flesh,
even when we don’t have clear answers, so that we may still offer ourselves non-violently for the cause of peace.
Amen.
© Rose Marie Berger Sojourners October 9, 2023
Words of Pope Francis
“You can have flaws, be anxious and even be angry, but don’t forget that your life is the greatest business in the world. Only you can stop it from failure. You are appreciated, admired and loved by many. Remember that being happy is not having a sky without storms, a road without accidents, a job without effort, relationships without disappointments.
“Being happy is to stop feeling a victim and become the author of your own destiny. It’s going through deserts, but being able to find an oasis deep in your soul. It’s to thank God every morning for the miracle of life. It’s kissing your children, cuddling your parents, having poetic moments with your friends, even when they hurt us.”
“To be happy is to let live the creature that lives in each of us, free, joyful and simple. It’s having maturity to be able to say: ‘I made mistakes’. Having the courage to say ‘I’m sorry’. It’s having a sensitivity to say ‘I need you’. Is having the ability to say ‘I love you’. May your life become a garden of opportunities for happiness… that in spring I can be a lover of joy and in winter a lover of wisdom.”
“And when you make a mistake, start over. Because only then will you fall in love with life. You will find that being happy doesn’t mean having a perfect life. But she uses tears to irrigate tolerance. Use your defeats to train your patience.
“Use your mistakes with the serenity of the sculptor. Use pain to tune into pleasure. Use obstacles to open the windows of intelligence. Never give up … Above all, never give up on the people that love you. Never give up on happiness, because life is an amazing show. “.
POPE FRANCIS
A PRAYER FOR GROWTH
God of mission,
Who alone brings growth to your Church,
Send your Holy Spirit to give
Vision to our planning,
Wisdom to our actions,
Joy to our worship,
And power to our witness.
Help our parish of Holy Trinity to grow in numbers,
In spiritual commitment to you,
And in service to this city and community,
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Worship at Holy Trinity each week
Sunday: 8am Eucharist; 10am Sung Eucharist and Morning Tea
MELBOURNE MARATHON WEEKEND – SUNDAY SERVICES will be held on SATURDAY 11th OCTOBER at 6PM
Wednesday: 10 am Eucharist followed by Morning Tea
Thursday: 8.30am Morning Prayer and scripture readings followed by Meditation at 8.45am.
On the First Wednesday of the month the 10am Eucharist has an emphasis on healing with the opportunity of anointing.
Wednesday: Playgroup 9.30am – 11am (during school terms) Contact: Julia Fox 0417 522 362
Parish Contacts
Vicar: The Rev’d Grant Edgcumbe 193 Hotham Street East Melbourne
T: 9417 3341
Website: www.holytrinitymelbourne.org.au Email: office@holytrinitymelbourne.org.au
Vicar’s Warden: Laurie Moore T: 0484 792 134
People’s Wardens: Lynne Mitchell T:0412 592 005;
Sue Moses-Critchley 9486 3598