Weekly Worship

St. Paul's Cooperating Parish -Winton.

Seems like church gets earlier and earlier these days. It was 8.30 a.m. when the service commenced at Winton, and we didn't quite make it on time!


A group that matched the disciples in number gathered and shared together in a church with remarkable links to the town's history. The neat well-kept building included a plaque dedicated to the memory of William Corfield one of the key businessmen in the town.

The faithful people who joined together on Sunday are just one of three congregations in the town, and the lay reader guided us competently through the service. An invitation to share morning tea in the old rectory was accepted and enjoyed.

Use of the prayer book ensured links with the broader tradition of the church, and recitation of the Nicene creed affirmed that which is held in common. One of the helpful aspects of worship was the time of confession, including the carefully prepared prayer that is familiar to users of the Australian Prayer Book.


During our time we met two BCA (Bush Church Aid) Nomads who are in Winton to assist the minister for a short time. The recently retired couple represents one part of BCA. What a great idea for retired lay people to encourage and support ministry in the country. There are ideas that can be learned and shared across denominations, and adapted as appropriate.

Four "E"'s

"We want to engage, first of all, we want to educate, then we want to excite and then we want to evangelise." Jeffrey Hayzlett (The Australian - Media and Marketing Section Monday 29/9/2009 p 31)

Jeffrey Hayzlett is the 'chief global marketeer' of Kodak. "The Four Es" are part of their social media policy.

Engage, educate, excite, evangelise.

Maybe it is an approach from which the church can learn.

Weekly Worship

Uniting Church - Orange NSW 7/6/2009


9.15 a.m. is a bit early to get to church during a cold snap - and despite a late decision we made it, and enjoyed worshipping at the early (and less traditional) service. It was the first of the three they hold most Sundays -the evening service being given over to the 'youth'.

After a period of singing praise and worship songs the service was fairly relaxed and interactive. Leadership was shared by a number of people (both male and female) and people were invited to participate in prayer, to respond to the Scriptures with a plasticine model, and to share with the neighbours their response. We were even invited to greet others while our offering was received. Even the sermon/message had its interactive moments!


Coming away from that worship service I was left with two streams of thought.

The first was about public speaking. No matter how passionate you are, or how fired up you are about a subject, remember three things: do your preparation, be clear about your purpose, and get to the point.

The second had a more immediate application for all - relationships are important. Sadly our technologicaly advanced and materially prosperous society has resulted in far too many isolated and lonely individuals. We were created for relationship - the challenge for all of us is to make sure all our relationships add meaning and value.

Weekly Worship

Presbyterian Church - Tocumwal 31/5/2009

On a cold winter morning we srrived late for the 10.00 a.m. service. The service was under way but the worshippers gathered in the youth hall welcomed us warmly.

It was there I learned that we were part of the VIAGRA set - Vitally Indepedent Aged Going Round Australia.

While the congregation was small (not unexpected in a country town of less than 2000) it represented most of the generations and the leader (a lay preacher) did well to cater for the range of people present.

Musical accompaniment (keyboard and violin) added to our singing, and coffee following the service offered the chance to meet and to greet each other.


The challenges of 'doing' church in a small community are enormous - 'being' church is not as hard and certainly more important. The challenge will always be the perceptions of the world around us, where profesional presentaton and numbers seem to be more important than relationships, reality, and integrity. .Regardless of attendance statistics we are the church - we must live in our communities in ways that reflect the God who loves us all.

Weekly Worship 1

Ringwood Salvos.

The Salvation Army is very familiar to us, and Ringwood Corps is part of our past. For 3 years we were part of that congregation but that was over 15 years ago.

Today we returned there to worship with family - so there were some familiar faces. It's holiday mode and things were a little different, but we expected that. So how was it?

Words are an inadequate substitute for any experience - but there was a connection and God 'showed up' for me. There was nothing dramatic, no 'wow' experience, more a quiet 'yes' and a gentle affirmation that things are going to be okay.

I was reminded of the importance of music in worship. Both old and new hymns affirmed that all will be well. Yesterday we shared with some families who had experienced great trauma - today we sang "Crown Him the prince of peace" and "The Heavens shall declare". Yesterday we felt the sorrow, today we were gently reminded to "Give thanks".

The message was on the Characters of Christmas - and the alliteration gets a bit tough here... but may be helpful in remembering the message. Today the focus was on the responses of four 'characters' in the nativity : Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds and the Wise Men. Why did God choose them as key players in the drama? We were reminded of their backgrounds - which are varied, but the focus was on their attitudes.
Mary - contemplation; Joseph - cooperation; Shepherds - celebration; Wise men - consecration.
The challenge: how are we going to respond when God invites us to adventure?

We were welcomed warmly, met some friends from recent and not so recent days, and enjoyed the hospitality afterwards. It was good to be there, good to share, good to be part of the Church.

The theme at Ringwood has been "Growing the church seven days a week." Worship on Sundays is often our focus ... but we worship in the way we live seven days a week, and growth in individuals and the church takes place seven days a week. God shows up always, maybe it is just that on Sundays we make time to tune in a little better.

Changes in the church and The Book of Acts

The Acts of the Apostles is an exciting part of the Bible. For the last month or so it has been a focus of my teaching with a small group of cadets. It has been great to share with them in this journey.

Many people have trouble seeing past the amazing things that happened at Pentecost or to Paul on the road to Damascus. They (or is that we?) struggle to read the theology in the many speeches, and skip over the social dynamics behind many of the events we read about.

The Book of Acts is all about change. It is about God working in the lives of ordinary people to usher in the Kingdom of God. Read the book and you will find that change did not come easily, even for those who were trying their hardest to follow Jesus and respond to God's leading. Sometimes it took persecution to get them moving. Sometimes they fought and argued to hold on to old ways.

But Luke writes about ordinary people and their struggle to do what God asked of them. It was (and still is) easier for things that stay the same than to embrace change. Just as they struggled to embrace God-inspired change, so do we. But if they hadn't eventually responded we would not have known about the life-changing power of Jesus.

Perhaps we need to be a little less resistance to change, and a little more open to what God wants from us.