Category: Community

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Uniting’s Winter Appeal is underway – donate online today!

Uniting VicTas is the welfare arm of the Uniting Church in Victoria and Tasmania.  They recently held their Annual Meeting online – check out the stories of the work being done over the past year by dedicated staff and volunteers – you might even see some familiar faces amongst the presenters.

You can support the ongoing work of Uniting by donating to the Winter Appeal – follow the link to do this online here:

https://www.unitingvictas.org.au/appeal/

Or you can pick up a donation envelope from our table in the foyer at church.

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Coronavirus update and contact tracing at St Luke’s

News this week from Synod:

Two important changes from May 28, 2021:
The Victorian Government has announced density limits will lift on small to medium-sized venues, including places of worship.

From 28 May, venues including places of worship with less than 400m² can  have up to 200 people per space without any density limit, provided
COVID marshals are on site ensuring all patrons are checking in to each space using the QR Code system.

All venues must use the Government QR Code Service to maintain electronic record keeping.

How do QR codes work?
1. Register for a FREE QR code service from the government at  https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/register-to-use-vic-gov-qr-codeservice.
2. Once you have your QR Code, you will need to display this prominently, eg at all entry doors.
3. Everyone entering the building can then scan this QR Code using the camera on their smartphone or tablet device. This automatically opens the registration app, which knows that they are registering at your building.
4. They will then be asked to enter their name, phone number and residential postcode, and have the option of providing details of other individuals in their party.
5. When using QR codes, every gathering will require a designated greeter at every door by which the public can enter. Each greeter will need to have a smart phone or tablet device.  The role of the greeters is to ensure that
everyone entering the building registers using the QR code, to assist with registrations as required, or to use their own phone or tablet to register any attendees who do not have the capability of registering themselves.

How do older people, or those without a smartphone sign in using the QR Code?
The government QR code allows you to sign in another person. By having event greeters at every entry door, they can sign in any attendee who is
unable to register themselves. The requirement for every attendee to be signed in using the QR code method is a government requirement as of April
23, 2021.

What does this mean for St Luke’s?

Currently we have 8 people who have indicated that they are prepared and able to scan people in on Sunday mornings.  These same people are also rostered on for other roles, and don’t want to be rostered on every week, so more people are needed for this role.

Knowing that many of our regular attenders do not have mobile phones that can host the Victorian Services app, and that many others do not have mobile phones at all, I made contact with the people in the Victorian Government responsible for the app.  I explained our situation with many people needing to be checked in at the same time who are the same people who come each week.  This is their response:

Good afternoon Robyn,

Thank you for reaching out regarding the check-in requirements.

As long as you are recording the manual entries for each person in your venue for more than 15 minutes, and keeping track of this in a consistent manner that can be supplied to contact tracers when requested, this will be sufficient.

This does not need to be via the Service Victoria app, but can instead be through a paper form with names and phone numbers, or a spreadsheet maintained by your team.

Please ensure the manual check-in form has a way to contact each guest, ideally via mobile phone.

We appreciate your work in protecting Victoria through maintaining contact tracing efforts.

So, while we are still able to sign people in with pen and paper,  should there be a case of Coronavirus exposure at St Luke’s, those recorded through the QR code can be contacted more quickly.   If you would like to be able to do this but are not sure how to go about it, please register your interest with Robyn at the church office.

 

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Works to repair Portico to begin Friday 5th of March

 

Works are underway to replace the ceiling of the Driveway Portico at St Luke’s.  

This may affect access to the front door of the building.  If the front door is fenced off, entry to the building will be either from the Courtyard at the rear of the building, or from the Eastern Foyer door – accessible through the Green fence gate to the left of the front of the building.
 
The plan for the works is as follows:
 
  • Friday 5th March – Electrician to remove existing lights
  • Tuesday 9th March – Install temporary barricade and remove existing asbestos ceiling and battens
  • Wednesday 10th March – Start installation of new ceiling
  • Monday 22nd March – Painter to start prep and painting ceiling
  • Thursday 25th March – Electrician to refit lights
  • Friday 26th March – Handover completed works 

Please call the office 52442997 if you have any further queries about the works.

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Messy Church Picnic – Sunday 31 Jan at 12:30pm

Messy Church logo

Community

Fun

Sharing

 

 

Our Messy Church family and friends picnic (postponed from December) is to be held this weekend.

Where:  Drewan Park near the Wandana Heights Lookout (which used to be known as the Ceres Lookout), just up the hill from St Luke’s church.  

When: 12:30pm on Sunday 31 January 2021

What to bring: Everything  for a picnic (food, drink, tables, chair, rugs, kid’s games…)

THE PARK HAS A PLAYGROUND, TOILETS, BBQS AND SHELTER

Who can come: Young and older – you just need to come with an open heart to have fun and be inspired.

NOTE: COVID SAFE REQUIREMENTS APPLY … PLEASE PLAN TO PHYSICALLY DISTANCE, AND WEAR MASKS WHEN THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE.  If you are feeling unwell, let us know and we’ll be thinking of you, but please don’t come – see your doctor or get tested if you have COVID symptoms.

Picnic

 

 

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Worship – Sunday 24 January – Day of Mourning – Aboriginal Sunday

The Sunday Service at St Luke’s Highton will be at 10am and we hope to Livestream to our Youtube channel
 
This is the Sunday (before Australia Day) where we join with our sister churches in a Day of Mourning to reflect on how God is calling us to respond to the ongoing challenges faced by our First Australians – the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
 
We’ll be using the Uniting Church Assembly resources, with more from Common Grace who have provided resources to churches and faith groups around Australia to share in Aboriginal Sunday.
The Preamble to the Constition of the UCA helps set our approach to relationships between First and Second Australians.
 
There is also a prayer service of reconciliation on Monday night (25th Jan) at 7:30pm – Victorian time – led by Aunty Jean Phillips – see www.commongrace.org.au/tunein  Some of us may gather at St Luke’s to participate.
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Time for remembering

The annual Time for Remembering ceremony invites people to come together to commemorate loved ones lost and injured on our roads, give thanks for those who survived, and pay tribute to all who work tirelessly to reduce the road toll.

This year the 20th annual ceremony will be held via Zoom on November 15 from 12pm-1.30pm.

Register here:

https://events.humanitix.com/time-for-remembering

 

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NAIDOC week reflection

Leprena Centre  Manager Alison Overeem has written a poetic reflection for NAIDOC Week, which starts on Sunday. This year, the theme is Always Was, Always Will Be in recognition that First Nations people have occupied and cared for Australia for more than 65,000 years. Alison asks that we learn the history of First Peoples and hear and honour their stories. “It’s in knowing this connection to Land, through this lens of discernment the true lessons are learned. Honour the land and the stories sitting within Country wherever you may be. May our Churches and agencies discern, for it is in Nature’s classroom that we truly learn.”

NAIDOC Week 2020 reflection

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Farewell to a St Luke’s icon

The Moreton Bay Fig Tree on the corner of Scenic and Barrabool Roads

Today we farewelled an iconic Moreton Bay Fig tree that has stood on the corner of the St Luke’s property for many years. The decision to take it down has been really hard – St Luke’s has a proud history of caring for our environment.

In the last 12 months several branches have fallen during windy conditions, and the roots are making it increasingly difficult for City of Greater Geelong to keep the footpath safe for the increasing numbers going past. We sought advice from an arborist, landscape architect, and consulted with the City of Greater Geelong – all agreed with the final decision. To quote our landscape architect who admired the tree “unfortunately it is the wrong tree in the wrong place.”

As our carpark needs resurfacing to fix a number of hazards that have developed, we have taken the opportunity to redesign the whole corner with assistance from a local landscape architect to:

  • Introduce a native rain garden on the verge to help manage the water run off from the car park
  • Plan a range of new native trees and shrubs around the edges of the carpark to offer shade, animal habitat, and not impede traffic visibility at the roundabout
  • Incorporate trees into the carpark itself to provide shade and reduce urban heat

You will see lots happening in the coming months, as we work to continue to upgrade our site to be a great resource for our local community and the many users who come from across the region to participate in the many groups who use our buildings.