MtE Update – April 6 2017
Friends,
the latest MtE Update!
- This coming Sunday’s service – Passion/Palm Sunday – will feature a full reading of St Matthew’s passion narrative.
- The latest Presbytery update (March 28) is here.
- The latest Pilgrim college update (March 30) is here.
- The latest Synod newsletter (April 6) is here.
- Information on the progress of the Implementation of the Major Strategic Review
- Palm Sunday walk info; UCA members are invited to gather in front of Wesley Church, Lonsdale Street, at 1pm where the Moderator will speak, before proceeding to the beginning of the walk from the State Library by 2pm.
- Nomination forms are now available for this years Synod meeting (Box Hill from 8th to 13th September); speak to Craig if you’re interested in attending.
- Our Mark the Evangelist luncheon is coming up — Sunday April 23; Wes Campbell will be our guest preacher on that day.
- Our Easter services are as follows:
Passion Sunday April 9, 10.00am with Eucharist
Maundy Thursday April 13, 7.30pm with Eucharist
Good Friday April 14 10.00am
Easter Vigil Service Saturday April 15 8.00pm
Easter Day Service 10.00am with Eucharist
- There is an ecumenical service at St Paul’s cathedral on ANZAC Day, 11am.
Other things of potential interest:
A Tenebrae service at Auburn Uniting Church
UNITING CHURCH IN AUSTRALIA MEDIA RELEASE, 1 April 2017
The President of the Uniting Church in Australia Stuart McMillan has asked Church members to lend their support to UCA appeals for communities suffering in the aftermath of Cyclone Debbie.
“Our Church will be there to support people in need and help Queensland and northern NSW recover,” said Mr McMillan. “Please continue to pray for the safety and the welfare of all affected communities, as they come to terms with their losses.”
“I ask all UCA members to please try to support our appeals, which go to support ministry in these communities.” Cyclone Debbie made landfall on the Whitsunday Coast as a Category 4 storm with winds of more than 260 kilometres an hour on Monday 28 March causing extensive damage. Five days later water, shelter and communications are still limited into towns of Ayr, Bowen and Proserpine. Torrential rains from the weakening cyclone have also seen rivers in south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales reach record peaks, causing major flooding in Beaudesert, Lismore and the Tweed Valley. Tens of thousands of residents had to be evacuated.
Counsellors from Lifeline UnitingCare Community in Queensland are working in the disaster-affected communities to supports locals to deal with the trauma of the last week. Disaster relief chaplains in NSW are working at evacuation centres in flood-affected areas in Lismore and the the Tweed Valley. National Disaster Recovery Officer Rev. Dr Stephen Robinson says all communities face a long road to recovery. “What’s most needed now are our prayers and support,” said Rev. Dr Robinson. “Your donations will support the recovery of those affected by providing personal and practical care to people, many of whom might otherwise fall through the gaps of formal support.”
“The Uniting Church is well-placed to provide this kind of support, because we’re part of the affected community, and we’ll be there alongside the community into the future.”
In the weeks ahead, the Synods of Queensland and NSW/ACT will be sending trained peer supporters to come alongside church leadership as the process of recovery begins. Rev. Dr Robinson will be following up with affected presbyteries and congregations and working with Synods to assist the recovery effort. Queensland Synod has launched a Disaster Relief Appeal. The NSW/ACT Synod is encouraging its members to donate to the Moderator’s Appeal. The Assembly’s National Disaster Relief Fund remains open to receive donations, with funds to be drawn on by Uniting Churches and agencies supporting recovery in affected areas. https://assembly.uca.org.au/national-disaster-relief-fund/. Donations of $2 and over are tax-deductible.
From Andy Calder, Disability Inclusion
Director, Uniting CPE – The John Paver Centre
“The most extraordinary, precise, deep and beautiful account of blindness I have ever read. It is to my mind a masterpiece.” – Neurologist and author Oliver Sacks
Jan Dale has written to let us know about a wonderful film which was made about Prof. John M. Hull. Their father was a Methodist minister, Rev. J.E. Hull, his last ministry being at Elsternwick Methodist around 1960. John went to live in the UK in the late 50s and was considered one of the most influential religious educators in the world. He held the first full professorship in Religious Education in England (at Birmingham University). John became blind in mid-life after a history of eye problems. John kept an audio diary recording his struggle with loss of sight and subsequently published it in a book “Touching The Rock: An Experience of Blindness.” The filmmakers discovered the book and decided to make a documentary and then discovered that the original diary tapes still existed. These, along with recent interviews with John and his wife, are used as the film’s dialogue with actors lip synching. Sadly John died as a result of an accident just after the filming began. The film has won many awards and received extraordinary reviews.
There is to be a special screening on April 26th at Cinema Nova at 6.30 but only if enough tickets are sold by 17th April. The screening is the first time it has been available in a cinema in Australia. https://tickets.demand.film/event/1522
There is an app available for visually impaired people through MovieReading which automatically synchs with the film and gives an audio description of scenes, writing on the screen etc. in between the film’s dialogue
I commend this film to you and your networks
With thanks, Andy.
Commission For Mission
130 Little Collins St Melbourne 3000
t (03) 9251 5489 | f (03) 9251 5491 | m 0417 562 556
e Andy.Calder@victas.uca.org.au
w victas.uca.org.au
