20 March 2020

Sisters and brothers in the Congregation of Mark the Evangelist,

last night the Church Council met to consider the meaning of the current COVID-19 crisis for our life together at MtE. Taking into consideration the necessity of containing the virus and the growing anxiety in the community about even those social gatherings which are still permitted, we resolved that the worship service this coming Sunday March 22 will be the last gathered service for at least four weeks, and likely longer. This will include the Holy Week and Easter Services. We believe this to be the most appropriate step with respect to our common worship under these circumstances. The service on March 22 will be as usual, except that the Eucharist will be received only by the celebrant, we will space the chairs out more than usual, and we will not serve morning tea afterwards.

We recognise that this is a dramatic step, although we are mindful that a large number of churches have already or soon will also cease gathered public worship.

We are aware that some MtE members have already decided no longer to attend worship under the present circumstances and that others may also be feeling that they don’t want to attend this coming Sunday. Please act in relation to Sunday’s service in whatever way feels most appropriate to you.

While we will no longer gather for worship, it is our intention to continue to deliver a weekly worship service online. The details around this are yet to be finalised. We hope that at least an audio recording of the service will be available even from this Sunday, although there is a steep learning curve to ascend to perfect this! We will let you know when these online services are available and how to find them on your smartphones or computers.

Most meetings and study groups will no longer take place face to face but via an online platform – ‘Zoom’ – which has already proven efficient and easy to use over the last few days; we will help anyone who needs to use Zoom to get it working. Operations in the church office are still largely normal but we will be shifting to more work being done from home. The Hotham Mission staff are thinking through how to continue to maintain as much as possible the Mission’s programs.

We are in the midst of something new to us all, and quite disorienting. As we are forced to distance ourselves from each other for ‘natural’ reasons, so must we also strive to draw closer to each other in every way we can, for love’s sake.

I encourage you to be carers of each other in word, deed and prayer.

I encourage you to let others know when you are in need, when circumstances mean you can’t help yourself.

Please let me or your elder know if you are free to assist others, should the need arise (some help has already been offered, if you would like to ask for assistance).

The Church Council will, of course, continue to monitor the situation closely and, as we await changes for the better in our circumstances, we will do whatever we can to maintain as much as possible the common life of the congregation towards the ends of faith and hope and love.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Craig

In view of the developing concern to minimise the rate of infection of the COVID-19 virus in the community, the health implications of gathering for worship and certain parts of the liturgy must be considered. As yet we have no reason to cease to convene in a common space for worship but such liturgical actions as the passing of the peace and celebration of the Eucharist must be addressed, not least because many of us number among those more vulnerable to the virus.

While no binding direction has been received from civil or church sources, at MtE the following changes will take place from this Sunday March 15 until it becomes clear that we can safely return to normal practice, or further changes are required:

1. The passing of the peace. This important liturgical act, which typically involves handshakes, hugs and sometimes kissing, will be limited to the spoken exchange between the liturgist/minister and the congregation. That is, the declaration ‘Peace be with you’ will be heard, and the congregation will respond as normal; we will then proceed directly to the recitation of the Creed.
2. The Eucharist. An obvious way to reduce the risk of infection is continuing the practice of the celebrant using a sanitiser before breaking of the bread. For the distribution, the option we will take up at MtE for the time being is ‘communion under one kind’. This method of communing – not always uncontroversial – has the priest/minister take of the cup and the bread but the congregation taking only the bread communion element, although received with the words ‘the body and blood’ of Christ.

A helpful source of information related to the issues involved here, can be found in two documents from the Lutheran Church in Australia: Guidelines on Hygiene in Worship and Guidelines for the Distribution of Holy Communion.

These changes at MtE are ‘imposed’ by the minister for the time being – after conversation with some members and colleagues – on the understanding that, while they’re not yet formally required, they may soon be so, and there will likely be a number of members whose concerns could affect their fullest possible participation in the meantime. There is now opportunity for reflection on the appropriateness of the changes, and any further changes, over the next few weeks.

1. Lenten Studies are now underway. Details of our Lenten Studies for this year are now posted here; NOTE that the Wednesday night studies at MtE will now commence at 6.45, without the prior meal but with a tea/coffee break in the midst…  
2. ‘Illuminating Faith’ is a ministry MtE extends to the wider church; see the web page for some of the recent materials; the recent sermon series on Jonah will eventually be added to this list as a study resource for local groups.
3. The latest Presbytery eNews (March 12) is here.
4. The most recent eNews from the Synod is here (March 6).
5. THIS SUNDAY March 15 (Lent 3): we continue with our reading of the ‘servant songs’ from Isaiah, this week looking at Isaiah 49.1-9. See here for more information.

Old News

1. Details of our Lent and Easter services are now available here.

Advance Dates

1. The MtE congregational AGM will follow morning tea on Sunday March 29; papers will be available from March 15, and nominations for elders and church councillors are due by then!
2. Sunday April 5 – Our morning service will be built around a hearing of the Passion narrative of St Matthew

1. Lent commences THIS EVENING with our Ash Wednesday service, 6.45pm in the church.
2. Details of our Lenten Studies for this year are now posted here; there are presently three groups in place for these studies in Nth Melbourne, the city (Syond office) and Hawthorn. The studies commence next week. It will help if you indicate which of the groups you’d like to attend via the registration page.
3. If you are planning to attend the first of the Lenten studies on Wednesday night (March 4), please let Craig know whether you can assist with the catering…
4. We are planning to run an children’s ‘Easter workshop’ in the first week of the school holidays (morning of April 2). This will be a morning program of learning, playing games, singing songs and working on the new Paschal Candle for Easter. If you are able to help in running this, could you please let Craig know…
5. The latest (Feb 20) Synod eNews is here.
6. During Lent (on the Sundays Craig is preaching) we will be considering the songs of the ‘suffering servant’ in Isaiah as our Sunday focus texts most weeks. See here for more information.
7. THIS SUNDAY March 1: the focus text will be Isaiah 42:1-9; See Howard Wallace’s commentary on this text here or Anna Grant-Henderson’s here. The gospel and the psalm will be from the RCL readings for Lent 1A; some online comment on them can be found here. These weekly commentary resources now include a link to the new lectionary  podcasts from the Synod’s Centre for Theology and Ministry

Old News

1. This Sunday we will continue with the new communion setting for use during Lent and Easter. If you would like to familiarise yourself with in or refresh your memory, the melody line is available in PDF here; a simple audio version can be heard via the following links (will download or automatically open a media player: ‘Lord, have mercy‘; Holy, Holy,…Blessed is he who comes…’; ‘Christ has died‘; ‘Blessing and honour‘; and ‘Lamb of God‘. The ‘Gloria’ will be introduced late March for Easter.
2. Details of our Lent and Easter services are now available here.

Advance Dates

1. The MtE congregational AGM will follow morning tea on Sunday March 29
2. Sunday April 5 – Our morning service will be built around a hearing of the Passion narrative of St Matthew

1. Our series on the prophet Jonah concludes this Sunday Feb 23, considering Jesus’ offer of ‘the sign of Jonah’ in connection with the designation of this Sunday as Transfiguration Sunday.
2. This Sunday there will be a sermon feedback discussion following morning tea, looking back to the recent series on Jonah, including the sermon to be presented this Sunday. Please stay if you are able… The sermons presented up till now are available here if you want to look back over them… 
3. This Sunday we will introduce a new communion setting for use during Lent and Easter. If you would like to familiarise yourself with in or refresh your memory after last’s week’s after-worship practice run. the melody line is available in PDF here; a simple audio version can be heard via the following links (will download or automatically open a media player: ‘Lord, have mercy‘; Holy, Holy,…Blessed is he who comes…’; ‘Christ has died‘; ‘Blessing and honour‘; and ‘Lamb of God‘. The ‘Gloria’ will be introduced late March for Easter.
4. Lent commences next week, February 26, with our Ash Wednesday service, 6.45pm in the church.
5. Details of our Lenten Studies for this year are now posted here; there are presently three groups in place for these studies in Nth Melbourne, the city and Hawthorn. It will help if you indicate which of the groups you’d like to attend via the registration page. Another great little Lenten devotional resource which might interest you is Walter Brueggemann’s, A Way other than Our Own: Devotions for Lent.
6. We are pleased to welcome Br Peter Bray back to Melbourne to speak more on the work of Bethlehem University; this time his public address in Melbourne will be jointly sponsored by Wesley Uniting Church (and the Palestine Israel Ecumenical Network), and hosted at Wesley at 630pm on next Monday, February 24. See the flyer here
7. ADVANCE NOTICE! During Lent we will be considering the songs of the ‘suffering servant’ in Isaiah as our Sunday focus texts most weeks. See here for more information.

1. POST UPDATE — Forgot to mention that there’ll be a hymn-singing session following worship this Sunday Feb 16 — after morning tea!!
2. Our series on the prophet Jonah continues this Sunday, considering chapter 2. See here for more information on the series.
3. Details of our Lenten Studies for this year are now posted here; there are presently three groups in place for these studies in Nth Melbourne, the city and Hawthorn. It will help if you indicate which of the groups you’d like to attend via the registration page. Another great little Lenten devotional resource which might interest you is Walter Brueggemann’s, A Way other than Our Own: Devotions for Lent.
4. We are pleased to welcome Br Peter Bray back to Melbourne to speak more on the work of Bethlehem University; this time his public address in Melbourne will be jointly sponsored with Wesley Uniting Church and the Palestine Israel Ecumenical Network, and hosted at Wesley at 630pm on Monday February 23. See the flyer here
5. ADVANCE NOTICE! We’ve still got a week or two with Jonah but during Lent we will be considering the songs of the ‘suffering servant’ in Isaiah as our Sunday focus texts most weeks. See here for more information.
6. Details of our Lent and Easter services are now available here.

Services for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday will be available online – in time for their normal time slots – Early evening Thursday, Friday morning and Sunday morning.

Links to the services can be found on the home page as the services become available, and on the online services page.

 

In Lent 2020 we will again move slightly off the Revised Common Lectionary to consider on Sundays those readings from Isaiah’s ‘Servant cycle’ which appear in the readings for Holy Week. While these readings are heard in congregations which observe a full Holy Week service cycle, they are not often preached on there. The readings also appear in other parts of the three year lectionary cycle but not as a group.

These readings are concerned with God’s intention to reconcile Israel to Godself through a chosen and somewhat mysterious ‘servant’. For this reason the servant songs have been an important element in Christian interpretation of the work of Jesus.

Preparing for the series

For an introduction to chapters 40-55 of Isaiah — so-called ‘Second Isaiah’ — within which the servant songs are found, see the first few paragraphs Anna Grant-Henderson’s commentary page here.

A video/audio introduction to Second Isaiah and the servant songs by Christine Hayes can be found here. This lecture covers also Ezekiel; the material on Second Isaiah begins at 31:58 and the material on the servant songs at 38:00

Another useful online video source is Sandra Richter’s general account of Second Isaiah (including the songs) here.

If you’re interested in a commentary on the Songs, Walter Brueggeman’s comment on Second (and Third) Isaiah is both accessible and solid. Available in hard copy and electronically via Amazon and other sources. Some online commentary for each passage is also indicated below.

The focus texts for the series will be as follows:

• Sunday March 1 (Lent 1) Isaiah 42:1-9; See Howard Wallace’s commentary on this text here or Anna Grant-Henderson’s here. SERMON 1: On seeing what is there
• Sunday March 15 (Lent 3) Isaiah 49:1-7; See Howard Wallace’s commentary on this text here or Anna Grant-Henderson’s here.
• Sunday March 22 (Lent 4) Isaiah 50:4-9a; See Howard Wallace’s commentary on this text here or Anna Grant-Henderson’s here.
• Sunday March 29 (Lent 5) Isaiah 52:13-53:12; See Howard Wallace’s commentary on this text here or Anna Grant-Henderson’s here.

1. Our series on the prophet Jonah continues this Sunday, moving to chapter 4. See here for more information on the series.
2. Details of our Lenten Studies for this year are now posted here; there are presently three groups in place for these studies in Nth Melbourne, the city and Hawthorn. It will help if you indicate which of the groups you’d like to attend via the registration page. Another great little Lenten devotional resource which might interest you is Walter Brueggemann’s, A Way other than Our Own: Devotions for Lent.
3. We are pleased to welcome Br Peter Bray back to Melbourne to speak more on the work of Bethlehem University; this time his public address in Melbourne will be jointly sponsored by Wesley Uniting Church (and the Palestine Israel Ecumenical Network), and hosted at Wesley at 630pm on Monday February 23. See the flyer here.
4. Most recent eNews from the Yarra Yarra Presbytery (Feb 3)
5. News from the Justice and International Mission Cluster.

1. Our series on the prophet Jonah continues this Sunday, jumping to chapter 3. In addition to looking at chapter 3 before Sunday, read also the book of Nahum (only three chapters!) for background on Jonah’s distaste for Nineveh! See here for more information on the series.
2. Details of our Lenten Studies for this year are now posted here; there are presently three groups in place for these studies in Nth Melbourne, the city and Hawthorn. Another great little Lenten devotional resource which might interest you is Walter Brueggemann’s, A Way other than Our Own: Devotions for Lent.
3. We are pleased to welcome Br Peter Bray back to Melbourne to speak more on the work of Bethlehem University; this time his public address in Melbourne will be jointly sponsored by Wesley Uniting Church (and the Palestine Israel Ecumenical Network), and hosted at Wesley at 630pm on Monday February 24. See the flyer here.

Other things of interest