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Response to the proliferation of Gambling in our city and country

Photo by Pavel Danilyuk: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-woman-sitting-on-the-couch-8057066/

In so many places in the Bible we are reminded that as the people of God we are called to strive for the best for the community as a whole. The people of Israel who were exiled in the strange land of Babylon were challenged by the word of the Lord that came to the prophet Jeremiah, (29: 7), to “… seek the welfare of the city.”

Jesus calls us to love our neighbour, whoever that neighbour might be.  And Jesus so often sought to bring healing for the broken, the rejected and the lost.

As Christians we thus cannot remain passive when we see deep hurts in our city and country. And clearly one such hurt is the damage caused by the currently uncontrolled nature of gambling.

At the Gambling Forum that St Luke’s hosted on the afternoon of October 9th, Rev. Tim Costello addressed questions related to what can be done in response to this scourge. Tim currently is the public face and voice of The Alliance for Gambling Reform. (The Alliance national advocacy organisation which works to prevent and minimize the harm from gambling.)

In introducing Tim and the theme at this Forum, I made the following comments:

The Mission Outreach Ministry Team of this congregation was meeting a few months ago; and Sue Anderson the convenor handed out an article from The Geelong Advertiser which detailed the most recent mind-numbing statistics related to the amount of money being fed into poker machines in this region.

The group responded in the way many of us have in recent days with a deep sense of sadness about the damage being done to individuals, families and the community as a whole by the industrial scale of gambling in this city. There was also a sense of powerlessness.

All right, we know the statistics, what can we do about this disease?

As a couple of people have asked me, “What can you say to young males (and it is so often young males), who are still at school, who attend a footy match and use their phones to gamble on every aspect of the game?”

“What do we do about the proliferation of gambling advertisements on television, advertisements shown right through major sporting events, advertisements which clearly seek to normalise gambling.”

In recent days there have been many voices seeking action from governments.

In NSW, Stu Cameron, CEO and Superintendent, of the Uniting Church’s Wesley Mission and Sandy Grant, Anglican Dean of Sydney wrote an open letter to that state’s political leaders. This letter reminds the political leaders in NSW of the damage being done by gambling, notes that Australians are the world’s most prolific gamblers and also asks for a unity ticket on this matter in that State’s politics … that all sides of politics would agree to do something.

A segment on the 7.30 program on Wednesday October 5th on the ABC underlined the strong tide of concern in the community about gambling advertisements and gambling Apps. 

The St Luke’s Mission Outreach Ministry Team at that meeting I have mentioned felt it needed to do something and decided to organise the forum: a forum that was about “Next Steps.” And the Team was therefore so pleased that Tim agreed to make the trip to Geelong to address this topic.

You can watch the Forum on the Congregation’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJAL8289CyXTVBd-Y8dvT6Q

You can find out more about the Alliance for Gambling Reform, with which the Uniting Church is formally associated, at www.agr.org.au   

Paul Stephens, Minister in Placement

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Uniting Barwon Emergency Food Relief – Please add these to your shopping list

Friends, our people who volunteer at the Emergency Relief Rooms at Grovedale and Corio-Norlane have sent a request to please add these items to your donation shopping list:

 

  • Small jars of Vegemite
  • Small bottles of cooking oil – Vegetable or Olive Oil
  • Small jars of coffee
  • 1 Litre full cream long life milk
  • Large tins of Tuna
  • Tinned Fruit
  • Flour – Self Raising and Plain

Donations can be left in the trolley at St Luke’s or taken directly to

Grovedale:

The Albert Renshaw Building, 272 Torquay Rd Grovedale

(Mon/Wed/Fri 9:30am – 12noon)

Norlane:

10 Wendover Avenue Norlane

(Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri 9:30am -12noon)

 

 

 

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Celebrating the Seasons of Creation through September

The World Council of Churches has declared 1 September to 4 October as the Season of Creation.

From September 1 to October 4, Christians around the world are praying and caring for creation.  It’s the “Season of Creation”. The beginning and the end date of Season of Creation are linked with the concern for creation in the Eastern and the Western traditions of Christianity, respectively.

The Uniting Church has developed some wonderful resources for us to use in our worship and devotional life which you can find here.

During September three Congregations in Geelong are working together to highlight the blessing of God’s creation and our call to care for it.

The Congregations are Wesley, Western Heights and ourselves at St Lukes. This idea was initiated by the environment groups of each congregation.

This will take the form of three services which will be shared around the three churches. In practise this means for us at St Luke’s as follows:

September 11th

Paul and our environment team will be celebrating the cosmos; and encouraging us to stop and wonder at God’s amazing universe of which we are a part.

September 18th

Rev. Denis Tomlins and the team from Wesley will visit and focus on caring for flora and fauna.

September 25th

The team from Western Heights will visit and be celebrating the gift of water and our need to care for it.

(The St Luke’s team will visit Western Heights on the 18th and Wesley on the 25th.)

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Helpers needed for Sunday Morning Worship – Sound, Streaming and Cleaning

Sunday morning worship services don’t happen magically – at St Luke’s we have a dedicated group of helpers to ensure that doors are unlocked, heaters turned on, microphones are set up and working, morning tea is prepared, people are welcomed to church, the offering is reconciled, the service is shared online for those unable to attend in person, and the cleaning is taken care of. (And many other tasks besides).

It’s a great example of the sharing of skills, gifts and time in the service of ministry.  So that the workload is shared and people don’t get burnt out, we are looking for some more helpers in the roles of:

  • Sound Technology
  • Streaming producer
  • Cleaning (COVID safe)

Training is provided and you might pick up some handy, transferable skills!

If you can give some time. please speak to Robyn, Christopher or Paul – we’d love to chat with you about what could be possible.

 

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Seeking expressions of interest in a playgroup at St Luke’s Highton

Are you a parent or carer of a pre-school aged child or children living in Highton or nearby suburbs?

St Luke’s is considering running a regular playgroup session for local families with very young children who are looking to make community connections and spend time with others who are also caring for young children.

The playgroups would also be an opportunity for newly arrived refugee and asylum seeker families to “meet the locals” and make friendships and connections in their new homeland.

Sessions would include unstructured play, circle time with singing and movement activities and morning tea, hosted by a qualified early childhood educator and supported by volunteers.

St Luke’s is committed to being a safe space for people to come together in community, and while we are a Christian community, we hope to include and embrace ALL people who seek community and friendship in the place where we live.

If this is something that would interest you or someone you know, please complete our expression of interest form, and stay tuned for more information.

Register your interest today