MtE Update – November 9 2018

  1. Most recent Synod eNews (November 8) is here.
  2. You will have seen in the Spring edition of Mark the Word and in the pew sheet last week that Church Council has undertaken to provide training in the form of a Safe Church Awareness Workshop on Sunday 25 November.  All who have a leadership role in the congregation are invited to attend.  The workshop will be at 11.30am after church and will last for 2 hours. The Workshop is designed to provide all leaders with knowledge and understanding of our Safe Church policy and procedures. It is a valuable opportunity to acknowledge the importance of striving to be a Safe Church in our community and how each one of us is an important part of our success. All local appointed leaders – those who are required to have a Working with Children Check – are required to attend such a workshop as are officiating ministers, and employees. The invitation is also extended to any church member who would be interested.  Awareness raising training such as this is highly relevant to us all. Please register by adding your name to the list which is on the notice board at church. A facilitator from the Safe Church unit at Synod will be there to lead the workshop. Please speak to Ann if you have any questions at all. If this date does not suit you, other congregations will be arranging workshops for which you could register, and we can help you discover those.
  3. Please see the invitation to the opening of the community space at the new 8th Day Baptist building (North Melbourne).
  4. Taking a lead from the lectionary, we’ll spend the last three weeks of the liturgical year (November 11, 18 and 25) on a short series from the Old Testament book of Ruth. This is a brief but much loved book of only 4 chapters — try to read it through at least once in the next few weeks! The reading for this coming Sunday November 11 will be Ruth 1.1-18; some commentary from Howard Wallace on this text can be found here. (This was actually the set OT reading for November 4; we’ll hear it alongside last week’s complementary psalm and this week’s set gospel). 
  5. Other things potentially of interest

Anja & Zlatna: Russian Caravan — Saturday 17 November, 6pm in the Primrose Potter Salon. We’re delighted to invite you all to our second concert for 2018 in the wonderful Local Heroes series at the fabulous Melbourne Recital Centre Salon. Journey through a land imbued with a fascinating and curious history. Russian Caravan features traditional and street songs, exploring dreams, nature and integral questions of existence.