| The
Messy Christmas event on Sunday 27 November was a wonderful
success! Seventy adults and children were creative together,
celebrating the story of Christ’s birth! |
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Messy
Church is
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a form of church for children and adults that involves creativity,
celebration and hospitality.
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primarily for people who don't already belong to another form of church.
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Includes:
o
a welcome
o
a long creative time to explore the biblical theme through hands on fun
and craft
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a short celebration time involving story, prayer, song, games and
similar
o
community sit down meal
Click
here for more INFO. |
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Messy
Greetings!
New
life is all around us!
It’s
Spring of course, and a soggy one. The blooming gardens and pollen
laden air remind us that nature has cycles of new growth according
to the season.
We
too are planning and praying towards a season for new beginning
and growing in our church.
A
bit of a step back in history though first. The end of
October marks the day Martin Luther posted 95 theses on the door
of the Castle Church in Wittenberg Germany. It’s recognized as
the beginning of the Protestant Revolution. Luther wanted to
use truth and Biblical insight to help reshape a church that had
drifted into some unhealthy practices. Reformation was
needed. He knew that even though history and tradition were
important, there would need to be an ongoing re-forming of the
church. It should fit the times and be faithful to
Christ’s calling to be his hands and feet serving the world.
So,
as we remember the benefits of the Reformation that Luther began,
we might think a little about what shape our church has and the
community it is placed in now. Who does it serve, who is it
accessible to?
We
can question what are the basic structures that need to remain and
we ponder on where new growth will take root. These are big,
in fact worldwide issues the Christian church is facing.
And new growth has been emerging in many places. There
is some serious theological thinking behind these new expressions
of church. And, there is quite a history of reforming in the
church too.
So
we are looking to begin a new Messy Church here to give children
and young families an opportunity to experience God and engage
with church in a format geared to involvement and all age fun and
learning. We had a trial run at Pentecost with the Sunday
morning congregation. Since then a planning team has been
preparing and …
we
will launch on November 27th 4 – 6pm
It
will be the first Sunday of Advent and a great way to open up the
meaning of Christmas for some new generations.
There’s
a Flyer attached here, there’s an information sheet to explain a
bit about it for those who are interested. We have policy
guidelines and lots of t’s crossed.
But
we need you to pray, to pass on the news to friends, family,
neighbors! We believe there is a great opportunity for
outreach and re-engagement here. This new venture is for
those not going to church, those who haven’t fitted in with the
time or form of what church has been doing and starting in a
different place. The 4pm start time and meal provided to
conclude are aimed to fit with young families. The focus is
on meeting the Creator by exploring creativity and being part of
community sharing, celebrating and eating together.
Below
is a little reminder of some of the colourful experience of our
Messy Church at Pentecost.
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You
might even think about who you could invite, or what you might
like to do to help. There will be lots of learning and
trying things together. I have a personal invitation letter
for sending to families, if you think that would be helpful for
someone you have in mind, let me know. Word of mouth and
personal encouragement are often most effective.
To
gather interest we will have:
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Personal invitations will be sent to all playgroup families since
2017
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An "event" invitation will be put on WUC Facebook,
Website and Instagram.
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Banners for display inside and outside the Church building
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Flyers will be made available to the Kinder Families & other
groups using our church
o
Flyers will be available to share.
We
invite your prayers for the Spirit to encourage the curious to
come and join us.
As
the Pentecost characters on the window remind us, church is
something we do together, all of us different, all of us relying
on each other to play our part in being the body of Christ here in
Warragul.
We
aren’t nailing 95 complaints to the door, but we are looking for
new life in new form of church. The idea is to develop a
regular Messy Church. Exactly how often, how it works and
who it embraces, we have yet to discover.
It
will be a journey we take together in faith! 10 am services
will of course continue as normal.
The
messy church model won’t be for everyone. But it might be
what many younger families need today. It gives us some
chance of relating the gospel to more in our community and gives
kids the chance to hear about God’s love.
The
Census tells us over 50% of our local community have no church
affiliation. So we need these new ways to help the good news
to get out, to be ‘good news’ for us and our community.
I
pray you might be inspired to do a little bit to help.
Grace
and peace. Ian |
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Christmas
Bowl Appeal - 2022 |
A
WORLD WHERE EVERYONE BELONGS
At
the heart of our work is a powerful conviction: to create a just and
peaceful society,
we have to work together.
It's
not only the right thing to do, it's the only thing that will work.
Visit
website: https://actforpeace.org.au/
Christmas
Day Lunch. In the past before Covid, we ‘ve had a group from
'outside' in the community who come in to a prepare a roast meal with all
the Christmas fare, for those who are alone. Once again for this
Christmas Day, these folk are conducting Christmas Day lunch which will
commence at 12.00 noon in our church Activities Room.
For
information etc, please ring Marion Byrne on 0437278336
The
final WUC men’s group meeting for 2022 will be held at Warragul Uniting
Church on
Tuesday 13 December from 7:30pm to 9.00pm.
Even
if you haven’t been able to make it to many meetings this year it would
be great to see you there for some good conversation and fellowship.
We
will have a shared supper and chat about arrangements for men’s group
into the future (including what format and timing suits us the best).
Please
consider catching up with the good men of WUC.
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Blooming
Marvelous .
. . was the bus trip on Friday Nov 4th. There were 30 intrepid
explorers, a cool clear day and a well organised itinerary, thanks to
Tilly.
The Australia Gardens at Cranbourne is at it’s floral peak
in mid spring and the variety there is mind-bendingly huge!
God’s great creation to enjoy with some planning, design and
horticultural help from the clever Botanical staff there.
On
arrival at the gardens, most of us boarded the ‘tour train’ for a
guided introduction to the gardens, which took about 30 minutes, then we
were free to explore, lunch, or picnic as we wished and to meander with
much to see and enjoy.
We
boarded the bus for home, taking a scenic route, which included afternoon
tea at Picnic Point, where the Tarago River was running quite high and
fast. Time for a group photo then home to Warragul Uniting Church.
We
were pleased to know the bus was able to negotiate the Church driveway
(which was a major concern when the driveway was being reconstructed
earlier this year).
Thank you to
our driver Sue for
safe travel. We look forward to our next bus trip adventure!
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The
Great Outback BBQ at
the
State
election Polling Place
at our Church
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Come
to the church on Saturday the 26th to vote, have a sausage and a
cup of coffee. We will have a team cooking away from 7.30 am until
around 4.00 pm plus Alex and Laura Maka will have their coffee
caravan up and running for 7.30 am until around 1.00 pm and they
will donate a percentage of their takings to our cause.
At
the May election day we were told that we were the only polling
booth with a “democracy sausage”, so get the word out to all
and sundry. Vote at the church and help raise money for the
Victorian High Country Farmers. The BBQ will be part of Frontier
Services Big BBQ. |
*
Since the start of the pandemic we have moved the pews and chairs in the
worship area to keep to the required distance as recommended by the health
administration and, while it would be nice to reduce the area and sit
closer together, the threat of two new Covid strains is still around. But
there is another issue to consider, and I know that John Currie has talked
on this subject, and that is the safety requirement to keep a clear, one
metre, passage between the pews at both exit doors. Those are the double
doors that lead to the grassed area on the northern side. So, even when we
feel safe enough to move closer together, we still need to allow for this
space.
*
Although we are still running the Zoom programme each Sunday, we are
looking at better ways to stream our service and record it for those who
cannot be available at 10.00 am, but would like to watch it later. Watch
this space!
*
You may have noticed a heap of branches and foliage piled up at the rear
car park. Well, Jack did a great job of pruning the rear area and those
piles will be removed over a period of time.
*
Turning to finance, things are looking slightly better with an upturn in
offerings and a very generous donation earlier this year. Our hall
bookings have increased with some new hirers, and some returning people.
Maybe we will get a little closer to budget by the end of the financial
year.
*
At a previous meeting, we authorised a payment of $2,000 from money raised
as part of our coin a day programme and this money was paid to Warragul
Rotary; who in turn have been able to double that amount. So, $4,000 has
gone to the SHaRM Foundation in Vanuatu for the school’s project. A big
thanks to the congregation and their generosity.
*
Now, a bit of advertising. Messy Church. Sunday arvo the 27th at 4.00 pm
until 6.00 pm; so, check out the flyers and remember; word of mouth is
sometimes the best advertisement. So tell anyone you know with primary
school aged kids to come and join us. And there’s a BBQ tea.
|
Operating our Air Purifiers |
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Given
the ongoing threat of Covid and influenza viruses, and to
lessen the chance of contracting a virus in an enclosed
area, Church
Council has installed three air purifiers at a cost
of $2517 They will be adequate for the area required.
These air purifiers are now in the Worship Centre and have
been trialled to find the best and least
intrusive way to run them during Sunday Worship.
If
you have been at church recently you may have noticed, and
perhaps heard, our new air purifiers; known affectionately
as Darleks. When running on Auto the units sense the air
quality and react accordingly by increasing the fan speed,
then quieten down when the air quality improves. This can
be a little distracting, especially if you are sitting
near one of the units.
After
consultation with the suppliers (not Dr Who) we have
been advised to set the units on "Turbo" timer
for 30 minutes before the service starts, then the unit
will die down to a designated fan speed; just as efficient
but much quieter. Thank you for your patience while
we sort out the operation of these units.
<< One
of the new air purifiers |
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DECEMBER 2022 - Link
to CROSSLIGHT
to download PDF or open Flipbook
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AVAILABLE IN PRINT & ONLINE
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Using
the flipbook . . .
1.
Hover your mouse pointer over the Fullscreen icon at
bottom right of screen; word "Fullscreen" will
appear, then left click.
Crosslight
- Fullscreen icon
2.
There is a Zoom in/out slider (bottom right of screen) -
you can make print larger and easy to read.
3.
Click arrow/s (mid-way down page edge) to 'turn' page
4.
Hit your ESC key to return to Crosslight Home page.
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