Still thinking Gathering together around the centre
I have the most wonderful memories of youth camps in my teenage years. Spending a weekend at Binna Burra or OReillys on the Lamington Plateau in the Gold Coast Hinterland was life changing. Our youth camps would take months to organize because we would camp in tents. The six or seven ex-army tents with the necessary pots, pans and provisions would be packed on to a couple of large trailers and hauled up the mountain. The programme was like most youth camps, Bible study, morning and evening devotions; swimming, hiking, camp fires, sing-a-longs, and worship in the outdoors. Living arrangements were simple and clear, boys tents to the left and girls tents to the right. Of course that didnt dissuade us from finding creative ways to get together.
Strangely, the Bible studies, the devotions and the worship seemed to have more relevance in that context than back home in the city. We would sit by the campfire late at night and looking at the stars in that warm darkness, sharing our deepest and sometimes most intimate thoughts and feelings. Everything seemed "more" real. God was closer; the Bible made sense; friendships were stronger and emotions higher. Perhaps it was an encounter between the adolescent world and the world of the Spirit. Whatever it was, it was both real and enduring.
It is a rare person who can find God outside of community. While it is possible, human development has brought us to the place where we need both the wisdom of the tradition and the warmth and intimacy of community to access the inner life. It is why in church we need to encourage small group gatherings. On Sunday morning we come together with friends and acquaintances on a journey into the sacred. Often it is a very personal experience and can be like being alone in the community. While there is time for fellowship in these gatherings, our souls crave a deeper more intimate experience of meeting each other. Small groups can be such places, where we can be intentional about meeting each others deeper needs. This is where Parker Palmers Circle of Trust can be of great benefit. He suggests that when groups meet they should be (and here I paraphrase)
Open to new discoveries and learning
Hospitable, safe and trustworthy for all who are present
Inviting to those who want to be honest
Honouring of each persons story and the Great Story
Supportive of both conversation and silence.
Christopher
Welcome to Toorak Uniting Church
2 September 25 October | Wolfgang Stahlberg on Roach Exchange at TUC. | |
Sunday, 6 September at 11:30am: | Welcome morning tea. | Faichney Room. |
Thursday, 10 September at 11:15am: | Ladies Coffee and light lunch. | Faichney Room. |
Saturday, 12 September 10:00 noon: | PB Handbells rehearsal. | Wettenhall Room. |
Sunday, 13 September at 2:00pm: | SoO Organ Students Concert | Church. |
Monday, 14 September 10:30am: | Drop In Card Day. | Faichney Room. |
Tuesday, 15 September TBA: | Management Team. | Wettenhall Room. |
Wednesday, 16 September at 6:30pm: | PB Handbells rehearsal. | Wettenhall Room. |
Thursday, 17 September at 10:00am: | Morning Group. | Faichney Room. |
Saturday, 19 September 10:00 noon: | PB Handbells rehearsal. | Wettenhall Room. |
Sunday, 29 November at 10:15am | Grandparents service and lunch. |
In our Thoughts and Prayers:
Family of Joyce Hill, especially her daughter Glenda Benness, following Joyces death.
Ian and the Mackay family following Patricias death.
Attention Kitchen users:
This week we have had a freezer failure in the main kitchen due to overloaded drawers, a build-up of ice, and the door not properly closing. People shoving the drawers in has also broken them. The freezer has been emptied and defrosted and we believe it is now working again. Most of the freezers contents were more than two years out of date. Please take care with freezing food, gently moving the drawers and ensuring that the freezer is securely shut before you leave. Thank you.
John Macrae Centres Annual Spring Dance
Refurbishment of Toilets
Renovations should be completed by mid-October. While construction is in progress, men are encouraged to use the Kinross loos and women the disabled loos off the Faichney Room. (Entry to the Faichney Room during the week is available using the concrete ramp at the Eastern entrance.)
The Congregation Directory
is now available at the rear of the church. For privacy reasons, only those whose names appear in the Directory will receive a copy. Please dispose of your 2014 directory by shredding it. Youre welcome to bring it to the office where Kimberly or Catriona can shred it for you.
Can Christianity and Islam Co-Exist? A National Dialogue
Join us to hear two eminent Christian and Muslim public scholars discuss key issues for a multi-cultural, multi-faith Australia. This important and timely dialogue will address Christian-Muslim relations in the Australian-Indonesian context and seek to build fresh understanding of how people of different faiths and cultures can grow together in under-standing and appreciation of one another.
The Rev. Professor James Haire AC Christian scholar and Companion of the Order of Australia for his leadership in ecumenical and interfaith relations.
Professor Azyumardi Azra CBE Prominent Indonesian Muslim scholar and public intellectual.
FREE Admission, bookings essential. Register via email: nceis-office@unimelb.edu.au
Monday 7 September 6.30pm 8.30pm. Yasuko Hiraoka Myer Room, Level 1, Room 106, Sidney Myer Asia Centre, University of Melbourne.
Facilitated by distinguished journalist Jim Middleton
Strength and Vitality Foundation
Fundraising event | |
Where: | Manse Gallery Café |
Address: | 603 Toorak Rd, Toorak |
Time: | 2:30 4:30pm |
Date: | Sunday 13th September |
Cost: | $35.00 |
Limited numbers: | booking essential |
Bookings contact: | Michelle Sorensen |
Mobile: | 0405 040 217 |
RSVP: | 8th September |
Web: | www.strengthandvitalityfoundation.org.au |
Daydreams and Torments of Love
A romantic literature and musical event dedicated to Frédéric Chopins 205th anniversary.
Program features Sergei Suetin, pianist.
TUC, September 20th at 3.00pm. Tickets at the door: $25 / $20 (conc).
Call Sergei on 0402 831 304 for details.
Time for Fellowship Lunch
Monday 28 September 12-2pm. Topic is "Advice from a male forebear." All welcome.
Missing from TUC archives
Videotape of a Service recorded 3 Sep, 1978, telecast on ABC TV, 11 Feb, 1979. Unfortunately, the ABC no longer has a copy in its archives either. I am hoping someone might have a videotape of this Service and allow me to borrow it to convert to DVD. This recording is significant. Not only was it David Hodges last televised Service before his retirement in 1983 (including his excellent sermon Man and Society), but it is also an historic document. This video will show images of the interior of the Church before refurbishment in 1979, with the old pipe organ and choir stalls in the east transept! If anyone can help, please contact me on 9809 0550 or 0429 907 908. Thank you. David Ross-Smith.
Roach Ministerial Exchange
Our Welcoming Services today will be followed at 11.30 by a special morning tea. Come and join us in providing a warm greeting to Wolfgang, Liliana and Rebecca!
The Roach Exchange provides a wonderful opportunity for our congregation to experi-ence a minister from a different country and tradition. The Messiah Community Church in Denver is well established and well attended with similar worship and activities to TUC. It is a church in the Lutheran tradition and affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) - a progressive denomination in a traditional environment.
2015 Christian Singles Network Conference
News from Kinross Arts & Spirituality Centre
Sunday,
9 August to Friday, 11 September |
Snowball Effect Anne Cuming
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Morning Coffee with the artist will be on Sunday 9th August 2015 at 11.30am. |
Gallery Contacts: |
For all exhibition enquiries and bookings please telephone Lyndel Wischer on: 9829 0340 or email: uat@toorak.unitingchurch.org.au or visit the Kinross House page on the TUC website. You are also welcome to call in to the Kinross House Office which is normally attended 10 am 3 pm, Tuesday Friday or by appointment.
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Lectionary Readings for 13 September 2015, Pentecost 16
Proverbs 1: 20 33; Psalm 19; James 3: 1 12; Mark 8: 27 38.
The liturgical colour for Pentecost is green.