Author Archives: CraigT

MtE Update – December 21 2017

Posted on by

The latest MtE News

  1. Worship this Sunday Dec 24 will be a cycle of Advent readings, carols and anthems.
  2. Christmas at MtE this year
  3. Hotham Mission is again making a Christmas appeal for support of its food program over the holiday season. If you would like to make a cash donation this can be done on Sundays in Advent via the retiring offering plate or via the Mission’s online donation facility (gifts over $2 tax deductible  via the online facility).
  4. In the absence of a useful notice board to proclaim the sermon title for the coming Sunday’s service, we’ll experiment for a while with an online version on our Home page; the first one is here! The set reading for Christmas Day will be John 1.1-14, and you might prepare further by reading the Christmas reflections in the Opinion section of your favourite newspaper!
Posted in MtE News, UCA News and Other Upcoming Events

LitBit Commentary – James K A Smith on Advent 2

Posted on by

LitBits Logo - 2

LitBit: The future we hope for—a future when justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream—hangs over our present and gives us a vision of what to work for in the here and now as we continue to pray, “Your kingdom come.” The temporality of Christian worship—macrocosmically expressed in the Christian year, microcosmically expressed in particular elements each Sunday—trains our imagination to be eschatological, looking forward not to the end of the world but to “the end of the world as we know it.” In worship, we taste “the powers of the age to come” (Heb. 6:5), which births in us a longing for that kingdom to come, because this taste is also a bit of a teaser: it gives us enough of a sense of what’s coming that we look around at our broken world and see all the ways that the kingdom has not yet arrived.

James K A Smith, Desiring the Kingdom

How to use LitBit Features and Commentaries.

Posted in LitBits, LitBits - Commentary

MtE Update – December 15 2017

Posted on by

The latest MtE News

  1. Christmas at MtE this year
  2. Hotham Mission is again making a Christmas appeal for support of its food program over the holiday season. If you would like to make a cash donation this can be done on Sundays in Advent via the retiring offering plate or via the Mission’s online donation facility (gifts over $2 tax deductible  via the online facility).
  3. The Mission made the newspapers last week
  4. A Pastoral Statement with prayers from President Stuart McMillan to be shared with congregations, in response to the Royal Commission Final Report.
  5. For those interested in some background commentary to the readings for this Sunday December 17, see the links here.

 

Posted in MtE News, UCA News and Other Upcoming Events

Lectionary Commentary – Advent 3B (December 11 – December 17)

Posted on by

The following links are to the Revised Common Lectionary commentary pages of Howard Wallace and Bill Loader, and are suggested as preparation for hearing the readings in worship for the Sunday indicated above.

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 see also By the Well podcast on this text

Psalm 126

1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 see also By the Well podcast on this text

John 1:6-8,19-28 see also By the Well podcast on this text

Posted in Lectionary Commentary

LitBit Commentary – James K A Smith on Advent

Posted on by

LitBits Logo - 2

During Advent each year, the Christian year teaches us to once again become Israel, recognizing our sin and need, thus waiting, longing, hoping, calling, praying for the coming of the Messiah, the advent of justice, and the in-breaking of shalom. We go through the ritual of desiring the kingdom—a kind of holy impatience—by reenacting Israel’s longing for the coming of the King. The repetition of this year after year is a training in expectation (and it is replayed each week of the year in the celebration of the Eucharist, by which we “proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” Thus Advent shakes us out of the presentist complacency that we can be lulled into. Instead, we are called and formed to be a people of expectancy—looking for the coming (again) of the Messiah.

James K A Smith, Desiring the Kingdom, pp. 157-158.

How to use LitBit Features and Commentaries.

Posted in LitBits, LitBits - Commentary

Christmas 2017 at Mark the Evangelist

Posted on by

Christmas 2015 Reflection ImageYour are most welcome to join us at our Christmas celebrations this year!

Sunday December 24 (Christmas Eve, morning worship): a service of Advent carols and readings with Eucharist, 10am.

Christmas Eve (afternoon and evening): (we have no later services at Mark the Evangelist, but commend the Christmas Eve services at St Mary’s Anglican Church – the 4pm “Kids’ Christmas” and the 11.30pm Christmas Eve Midnight Mass)

Christmas Day: Worship with Eucharist, 9.30am

Normal services will continue, 10am, throughout January

Posted in MtE News, UCA News and Other Upcoming Events

Illuminating Faith – DocBytes

Posted on by

“Docbytes” are short, 2-page discussion pieces for church councils and small groups, produced by the Uniting Church Assembly’s National Working Group on Doctrine. They have a Uniting Church feel about them but would likely be of use to many others. The all Docbytes presently available can be found on the UCA Assembly web site, here.

Topics covered include:

Apologetics

Doctrine

Marriage

Ordination

Baptism

Peacemaking

Evangelism

Christian

Life

Lord’s Supper

Conversion

Worship

Lord’s Prayer

Reading the Scriptures

Funerals

Science & Faith

 

Posted in Illuminating Faith, Illuminating Faith - Theology

MtE Update – November 30 2017

Posted on by

The latest MtE News

  1. There will be a congregational meeting on Sunday December 10, following worship. The agenda will include presentation of the proposed 2018 budget, an official “launch” of a new ministry of the congregation, and a report on our buildings project.
  2. The most recent Presbytery news (November 28) is here.
  3. For those interested in some background commentary to the readings for this Sunday December 3, see the links here.

Other things potentially of interest

Treatment of asylum seekers and refugees – can the International Criminal Court prosecute Australia’s leaders for crimes against humanity?

Organised by The RMIT Arts, Labor & Working Life Collective & The Refugee Advocacy Network, Melbourne

How has Australia ended up here? A modern and democratic country – and early signatory to the UN Refugee Convention – is now referred to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.  Members of the panel will talk about their submissions to the ICC and will examine why has happened and how – as civil society – we can be part of a concerted effort to end this human tragedy.

Speakers

  • Julian Burnside QC and Human rights advocate and submitter to the ICC
  • Professor Gillian Triggs, Vice Chancellor’s Fellow University of Melbourne & former President of the Australian Human Rights Commission
  • Mohammad Ali Baqiri, Refugee advocate formerly detained on Nauru
  • Tracie Aylmer, Human rights advocate, and submitter to the ICC

Thursday 7 December 2017, 6.00 – 8.00pm

Building 80, Level 2, Lecture Theatre 2

445 Swanston Street

RMIT University, City Campus

Map

This is a free event.

RSVP
Antonio Castillo: antonio.castillo@rmit.edu.au

Posted in MtE News, UCA News and Other Upcoming Events
« Older Entries Recent Entries »