New staffing arrangements at St Luke’s Preschool

Some of the learners enjoying time together at St Luke’s Preschool

Cathy Coles, the Early Learning Co-ordinator at Uniting, has written to advise that there are new staffing arrangements at St Luke’s Preschool:

“With the resignation of our permanent team leader and early childhood teacher, Tanya Henry, Uniting has undertaken a recruitment process and it is with great pleasure that we can announce the outcome.

We are delighted to announce that Emma Lane has been appointed and will be stepping into the St Luke’s Highton Team Leader role in an ongoing capacity.

In addition, we are further delighted to announce that Caroline Davies has been appointed to our permanent early childhood teacher role at St Luke’s Highton Preschool. 

 In the past months both Emma and Caroline during the challenges of COVID-19 have shown resilience and compassion while navigating the daily challenges this has presented.  They have collaborated with the team at St Luke’s Highton and demonstrated all of Uniting’s values. We are delighted that they are now both permanently part of our Uniting team.

Please join me in congratulating both Emma and Caroline to their roles at St Luke’s Highton Preschool.

It’s great to hear that this ministry of caring for and education young children and supporting their families continues at the St Luke’s Preschool and we give thanks for the skills and dedication that Emma and Caroline bring to their roles.  It has been a very challenging year and these two educators have met the challenges with grace, commitment and compassion.

We give thanks also for the many years of care, education and leadership provided by Tanya Henry and we wish her the very best in her future activities.

Be sure to give the St Luke’s preschool team a smile and wave if you see them in the yard when you’re visiting St Luke’s!

 

Mission Outreach Ministry Team and Environment Action Group Meetings

Here’s a quick update regarding these ministry and mission teams.

Mission Outreach Ministry Team

  • The team is not meeting monthly but rather staying in touch via the phone.
  • Material support for refugees is still available but now happening by appointment and with contactless pickup.
  • Bread deliveries are not happening at the moment as Ken has “retired” as the organiser.  This wonderful connecting ministry has been deeply appreciated by many refugee families over the years and we are grateful for all the volunteers who have helped to make it happen.  There is certainly an opportunity for another leader to take up this ministry, should you feel a call and have a van – though we will need to navigate our way through protocols needed to keep everyone safe during the COVID19 pandemic.

Environment Action Group

  • Is not meeting monthly but group members are keeping in touch with one another and doing what online action that they can
  • Recycling can still be dropped off at the church during open times
  • Repair Cafe is suspended until it is safe for groups to meet again

 

Progressive Christian Network now gathering online

Many participants in St Luke’s House Church have an interest in the Progressive Christian Network.  Like many organisations, the PCN has moved their in-person gatherings online.  This means that people who might not have been able to attend events in Melbourne can now join in on Zoom.

For more information about the Progressive Christian Network, head to their new website here:

Progressive Christian Network

 

Worship Online Sunday 9th August: Trust in the One who calls you

Today our theme is “Trust in Jesus who calls you”. In this challenging time for all in Victoria, and particularly our friends and family in Melbourne, we can be tempted to feel like we are caught in a storm. We may even feel like we will go under at any moment!  But our Gospel story today from Matthew 14:22-33 is full of reassurance.

Many thanks to Hadeel Al Badran who helped Lloyd with the filming and edited today’s service. You can see more of Hadeel’s work at Humans in Geelong – in this post about Mental Health.

And thanks also to our trusty fishermen, Ken Anderson, Noel McMillan and Ian Peterson!

A great song to watch before the service is Ocean’s  by Hillsong United  and performed here by Will Gittens.

(Songwriters were Joel Houston, Matt Crocker, Salomon Lighthelm and it was released in 2013).

We’ve put two songs for reflection and courage after the recorded worship.


Worship Youtube

Lauren Daigle has a lovely acoustic version of her son Trust in You (3:43min)

 

And one written and performed very recently by Stephen Abraham called “Come to me when you are weary”

Don’t forget to join us on Zoom for sharing time at 10am – link in a separate email.

Grace and Peace go with you into the week,

Lloyd

 

Days for Girls Group are selling masks as a fundraiser

Photo by Vera Davidova on Unsplash

The Days for Girls sewing group (which would normally be meeting at St Luke’s to sew reusable pads for girls in countries where feminine hygiene products are difficult to source) is now making reusable fabric masks and selling them to fundraise for the organisation.

If you would like to purchase a mask for around $10-15, please contact Deb by email geelongwaurnpondsvic@daysforgirls.org

If you would like to know more about the Days for Girls group, check out their website here:

https://www.daysforgirls.org/australia

 

Stay well folks!

 

Sunday 2nd August 2020: Worship online – A God of compassion

Photo by Youssef Naddam https://unsplash.com/photos/iJ2IG8ckCpA

Greeting friends!

Our hearts go out to you especially if you are watching this from a nursing home, or a situation where you are totally isolated perhaps because of your own vulnerabilities or perhaps because you are awaiting the outcome of testing for COVID-19 or perhaps because you are not at all well.

Today we are going to explore the significance for us of an event in the ministry of Jesus that is reported by all the Gospel writers (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), so clearly it was important to the early church,: Jesus feeding a huge gathering of people.   (By the way, the importance of Jesus feeding many is further underlined by Matthew and Mark who both describe Jesus feeding crowds on two occasions.)

You can find today’s worship service here:

For listening, Paul especially wanted to highlight the recording we mentioned last week, “Shelter Me” by Michael Joncas, Recorded by Spiritu during the time of COVID-19:

And for singing along with, a lovely version of “Goodness is Stronger than Evil”:

Take care in these difficult days. And remember that God is the God of compassion.  As Jesus had compassion on the crowd, he has compassion of us!

Here the words of Desmond Tutu as words of real hope:

Go in peace, and remember:

goodness is stronger than evil;

love is stronger than hate;

light is stronger than darkness;

life is stronger than death;

victory is ours

through Christ who loved us.

Amen.

And the ancient words attributed to Aaron, brother of Moses:

May the Lord bless you and keep you;

may the Lord make his face to shine on upon you

and be gracious to you;

may the Lord lift up his countenance upon on you

and give you peace.

 

Amen.

 

Mask Makers needed for Uniting

Photo by Vera Davidova on Unsplash

Dear Friends,

Uniting Vic.Tas is calling on volunteers to make reusable, fabric face masks.

Victorian health authorities have made it mandatory for people in Metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire to wear a face mask when outside their home, and recommend that people from regional areas also wear a mask if physical distancing is not possible.

An increase in demand for face masks is making it hard for many vulnerable and marginalised people in our communities to access them.

By having cloth masks available for low-risk situations, we can ensure our supply of surgical masks can be used where they are needed most.

If you are handy with a sewing machine or needle and thread, we’d love your help in making face masks, which will be distributed across our services.

Our community in Canberra have already begun sewing up a storm, you can read about it here.

To register your interest or obtain more information, please visit our website or call our team on 1800 668 426.

Once you’ve finished sewing the masks, please mail them to our Dallas Warehouse, which is using COVID-19 safety measures to receive and store items

Uniting Vic.Tas
38-40 Phillip Street
Dallas, VIC 3047

Any contributions will be gratefully received. Masks will be distributed across Uniting Vic.Tas and Uniting AgeWell services.

Thank you for your help during these trying times as we support people in need.

Best Regards

Dale

Dale Barker-Harrington

Community Fundraising Coordinator

Community & External Relations

Sunday 26th July: Online Worship – God in the everyday

Photo by Joshua Lanzarini on Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/@jlanzarini

Friends greetings!

Grace and peace be with you.

A particular greeting to you this week if you are watching at home but not at all well or watching from a nursing home … perhaps with tight restrictions limiting who can visit you in person.

In this week’s worship we will explore a key aspect of Jesus’ teaching about the way God works in the world; and hear the radically hopeful words of Paul that nothing can separate us from the love of God.

Big thanks to Beth for recording the reading for us this week!

As we look for God in these days COVID-19 let us remember the simple and powerful teaching of Jesus’ parable of the yeast … and so look for God in in the apparently small things. The small things that change the whole …

Expressions of love, care and respect …

Moments of grace, undeserved favour …

The wonder and beauty of a flower …

A smile or a prayer …

A song that stills anxieties …

People who put their own wants and needs aside for the sake of others …

Where is God?  Right there in the everyday things of life that reflect the love of God poured out in Jesus … those things which while apparently small can change the world …

[Jesus] told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”

Having listened to Paul’s sermon, you might be inspired as I was, to remember our favourite Messy Church Song “I see God in You” by Heather Price.  You can pop over to her website and have a listen to track 5 in the music player:

I am Loved album

And you can find out a bit more about Heather and her connection to Messy Church here:

And a Blessing to carry with you into the week:

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 faint-hearted;

support the weak;

help the afflicted;

honour all people;

love and serve the Lord,

rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Sunday 19th July: Online Worship – Spiritual resources in the time of COVID-19 “Grace”

Friends greetings!

Grace and peace be with you.

We are truly known by God from the top of our heads to the tip of our toes … there is not a thought we have ever had that is not known to God …

And rather than this being something to fear … this is so liberating!

God knows us, loves us, accepts us … as we really are!  There is an old word for this, Grace!  Grace… Undeserved favour.

Thanks to Nilu and Sahar for helping out with readings and prayers this week!

You can watch the service here:

If you are after some more listening music, you might enjoy this offering “Shelter me” from “Spiritu”:

Those of us in the areas of Victoria that are not at level 3 restrictions want to assure those of you who are that you are very much in our thoughts and prayers.

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 faint-hearted;

support the weak;

help the afflicted;

honour all people;

love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

 

Messy Church this Friday 17th July

Hi Messy Church Friends!

 

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?

Jonah 1

*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