The Epiphany
On Wednesday we celebrated the Epiphany, the shining of the glory of God to the whole world. represented by the three wise men from other cultures coming to adore the baby Jesus. They joined us in the Lady Chapel for the service.
Just as the showing forth of the glory of God in Christ takes many different forms, so our season of Epiphany commemorates many different things. First, the coming of the wise men from the East to worship at the cradle of the Infant Christ; then, the Baptism of Jesus in the river Jordan by John the Baptist, with the voice from heaven declaring that this Jesus is the beloved son of God; then the visit of Jesus, at twelve years old, to the Temple at Jerusalem, where the learned doctors were astonished by his understanding and his answers; and then, a series of Jesus' miracles: the changing of water into wine at the marriage feast at Cana; the healing of a leper, and the centurion's palsied servant; and the calming of the troubled sea. Then, at the end of the season of Epiphany, we have prophetic lessons about the final coming of the Son of God, in power and great glory.
Many different things - a great diversity of commemorations; yet they are tied together by one common theme. They are all aspects of the showing forth, the shining forth, the "Epiphany" of the divine glory of Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son of God, the Eternal Word of God, made flesh.
Thus these many commemorations of Epiphany make up a continuing meditation upon the meaning of the Christmas miracle - the miracle of God with us, God in our flesh, Emmanuel, God visible to human eyes, God audible to human ears, God tangible to human touch, God manifest in human life, judging, restoring, and transforming it by the grace and truth he brings. "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth."
Vale David Greenhalgh
The funeral service in thanksgiving for the life of the late David Greenhalgh will be celebrated in the church on Monday morning at 10am, followed by refreshments in the hall and adjacent lawn behind the tennis courts. The link for a live stream or to see the subsequent video of the funeral service is: https://stab.pub/35kJe77
Vale Shirley Hine
The funeral service in thanksgiving for the life of the late Shirley Hine will be celebrated at the W D Rose Chapel in Marriage Road, Brighton East on Wednesday 13 January at 2pm.
Services
Our 10am service now has pewsheets in Chinese. As we cannot use the translation headsets at the present time due to the COVID cleaning requirements, the sermon will appear in Chinese as an insert to those particular pewsheets.
The seating in the Pioneer Chapel have been replaced with plastic chairs to facilitate the chapel’s use during COVID - primarily for baptisms which, for a variety of reasons, will no longer be conducted during the 10am service unless that is specifically requested. The number of people who can be accommodated in the chapel is restricted to 30. The chairs will be cleaned twice on a Sunday morning to ensure compliance with the COVID requirements.
During January the Pioneer Chapel may be used for Sat@6 though that service is, pleasingly, outgrowing this venue. Entry is afforded through the entry door from the carpark to the chapel and step-free entry through the glass doors adjacent to the Lady Chapel – if entering through the alternate route please make sure your name is ticked off by the sidesperson. A bowl for the collection will be on the bench at the rear of the chapel.
Attendance QR code
Registration for all services is still required but if you have already been registered for a service in the past, your name should still remain on the list for all future services at that time. In addition, QR code signs (provided to us by Bayside City Council) have been re-installed in the Narthex, and can also be used for signing in where there are a lot of people queuing, such as is likely at Monday’s funeral.
Christmas 2020
Parish office
Christmas 2021 may come early thanks to one of our Parish Council members, Greg Kissane, as we hope to be reconnected to the phone in the coming week. in the meantime the Parish Office phone number 03 95921240 has been redirected to Angela’s mobile.
This week at St Andrew’s
click here to see our calendar of services and events
SACPA welcome & AGM will be held in the Lady Chapel on Friday 29 January at 8pm.
mainly music will recommence next year on Monday 4 February 2021
St Andrew’s Choir returns to church on 7 February when we will be commissioning the new choir members
Merry Melodies is returning next year on 11 February in the church – the second Tuesday of each month.
主显节
星期三我们庆祝了主显节,上帝的荣耀在全世界闪耀。代表三位来自其他文化的智者来崇拜婴儿耶稣。他们和我们一起在圣母礼拜堂做崇拜。
正如神在基督里彰显荣耀有许多不同的形式,我们主显节也有许多不同的纪念。首先,来自东方的智者来到圣婴基督的摇篮前进行崇拜; 然后,施洗的约翰在约旦河里为耶稣施洗,有从天上来的声音宣告这耶稣是神的爱子; 然后,十二岁的耶稣来到耶路撒冷的圣殿,那里有学问的智者对他的聪明和他的回答感到惊讶; 然后是耶稣的一系列神迹:在迦拿的婚筵上把水变成酒;治愈麻疯病人,百夫长瘫痪的仆人痊愈了。以及能让惊涛骇浪平静下来。然后,在主显节的结尾,我们有关于上帝之子最终降临的预言,彰显在权柄和伟大的荣耀中。
很多不同的方式——各种各样的纪念活动;然而,它们被一个共同的主题联系在一起。纪念神的永生之子,神的永生之道,变成肉身的耶稣基督的神圣荣耀的显现、发光、“显圣”的各方面。
因此,这许多纪念主显节的活动,构成了对圣诞节奇迹意义的持续沉思——与我们同在的上帝、肉身的上帝、以马内利、肉眼可见的上帝、耳可闻的上帝、人能触摸到的上帝、在人的生活中显现的上帝,通过他所带来的恩典和真理来判断、恢复和改造人类的上帝。祂道成了肉身住在我们中间,充充满满的有恩典有真理。我们也见过祂的荣耀,乃是父独生爱子的荣耀。
Vale David Greenhalgh
悼念已故的大卫·格林哈尔的葬礼将于周一上午10点在教堂举行,随后在大厅和网球场后面的草坪上提供茶点。https://stab.pub/35kJe77
Vale Shirley Hine
已故的雪莉·海恩的葬礼将于1月13日(星期三)下午2点在Marriage Road, Brighton East的W D玫瑰教堂举行。
崇拜
我们上午10点的崇拜现在有中文的pewsheets。由于新冠肺炎的清洁要求,我们目前不能使用翻译耳机,中文正道词将打印在pewsheets中。
先锋礼拜堂的椅子已被更换,以方便在新冠肺炎疫情期间使用——主要用于洗礼,由于各种原因,除非有特别要求,洗礼将不再在上午10点的仪式期间进行。可容纳的人数被限制在30人以内。椅子将在周日上午清洁两次,以确保符合COVID - 19要求。
在一月份,先锋教堂可以用于Sat@6。但令人高兴的是,参加崇拜的人数有时会超过30人。若使用先锋堂,可以从停车场到教堂的入口进入,也可以从圣母教堂旁边的玻璃门自由进入——如果从其他路线进入,请确保你的名字被服务人员打上标记。收奉献的碗将放在教堂后面的长凳上。
会众仍然需要注册所有的现场崇拜,但如果您在过去已经注册过某个崇拜,那么您的名字应该仍然保留在当时的所有未来崇拜的列表中。另外,前厅已经重新安装了QR码标志(Bayside市议会提供给我们的),也可以用于排队很多人的地方签到,比如周一的葬礼
教会办公室
感谢我们教会议会成员Greg Kissane,我们希望能在下周重新接通电话。同时教会办公室的电话03 95921240已经转到Angela的手机上了。
本周教会活动安排
SACPA欢迎暨年会将于1月29日(星期五)晚上8点在圣母堂举行。
主要音乐Mainly Music将于2021年2月1日星期一重新开始
圣安德鲁合唱团将于2月7日返回教堂,届时我们将委任新的合唱团成员
2021年2月11日,每个月的第二个星期二, “快乐的旋律” Merry Melodies重新开始。
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Fr Ian Morrison
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