Ottavio Vannini, The Gathering of Manna, 1635
To simplify entry to the Zoom meetings, the following links will apply:
For all Ian’s activities – Wednesday chat, Thursday bible study & Sunday @ 10am:
https://stab.pub/3bGMD2h
For all Michelle’s activities – Wednesday morning prayer, Friday bible study & Sunday @ 11:
https://stab.pub/3ipDYUe
Manna from heaven
It seems we are never satisfied with what we have, even when we can see it as being directly provided by God. This morning’s Old Testament story of the Israelites’ complaints to Moses and Aaron aren’t fully satisfied for everyone, even though God literally rains down bread in the morning and quails at night.
Despite this a number of Israelites still did not obey God’s instructions. In our modern world we tend to think of the things we have as being the produce of our own labour and skills. But all things come from God whether we can see them raining down or not.
And when we gather up our ‘manna’ we need to use it to glorify God not hoard it as it will go rotten in ur hands. This is against God’s instructions, as it was for the Israelites in this morning’s reading.
Annual Meeting
Our Parish Annual Meeting will be held on Saturday 28 November at 11.00am, via the Zoom app. All documents will be emailed or posted to you beforehand. We do not know at this stage whether it will be possible to have people in the church at that time, and even then visibility may be better on a small screen than trying to see our large screens while also socially distanced around the church. If there are changes to these arrangements permitted by the State Government and the Diocese, we will let you know. At this stage, that is the approved plan.
It was a fine day for the market today (Saturday) and a good start to the weekend. Some of our Sat@6-ers meet on-line for a chat to keep in touch whilst we are waiting for our services to recommence. It was great to see many familiar faces venturing onto my screen through Zoom and hearing bout early brighton from those with all the historical knowledge. We trust this can continue regularly until we can meet in person.
There is also a general chat session on Wednesday’s at 10.30am and the link is in the list of activities below.
As the weather warms, people are looking somewhere convenient to sit with their take-away food, and our precinct has seen a lot of visitors in the last few days. This invariably has meant more frequent emptying of the additional garbage bins which have been deployed to assist with rubbish collection - most people will use them but they do tend to overflow quickly such is the voluminous amount of packing accompanying our mobile food these days. Thank you to Gerard Douglas and the groundsmen from Brighton Grammar who have been keeping the bins clear, so far as it possible given the COVID restrictions.
StAndrews@home
this week:
Sunday
10am - : Mattins : (in English) [join here]
11am – Bi-lingual service [join here]
Anytime – Video Eucharist [watch]
Wednesday
10am – Morning Prayer (in Chinese) [join here]
10.30am – Chat with the Vicar and friends [join here]
Thursday
10am – Bible study (in English) ‘The signs in St John’s Gospel’ [join here]
Friday
7.30pm – Chinese bible study [join here]
This past week it has been warmer outside than in the church, so Spring must have sprung.
主任牧师寄语 20/09/2020
奥塔维奥·凡尼尼，《捡拾吗哪》，1635年
进入Zoom会议，可用通过以下链接:
所有Ian牧师的活动: 周三聊天，周四圣经学习和周日上午10点的晨祷:
https://stab.pub/3bGMD2h
Michelle的活动: 星期三晨祷，星期五查经班和星期日@ 11:的双语崇拜
从天而来的吗哪
我们似乎永远不会满足于我们所拥有的，即使我们看到它是由上帝直接提供的。在今天早上旧约的故事中，以色列人对摩西和亚伦的抱怨并没有让每个人都满意，尽管上帝确实在早晨降下面包，在晚上降下鹌鹑。
尽管如此，仍有一些以色列人没有遵守神的命令。在我们所处的现代社会，我们倾向于认为我们拥有的东西都是我们自己劳动和技能的产物。但是所有的东西都是从上帝来的，不管我们是否能看见它们从天而来。
当我们收集吗哪的时候，我们需要用它来荣耀神，而不是囤积它，因为它会腐烂在你的手中。这违反了上帝的指示，正如在今天早上的经文中对以色列人所做的一样。
年度会议
本教会的年会将于11月28日(星期六)上午十一时通过Zoom app举行。所有文件将预先以电子邮件或邮寄方式发给您。我们不知道是否有可能在那个时候允许在教堂里活动，即使在那个时候，在一个小屏幕上的能见度可能比试图看到我们的大屏幕，同时也在教堂周围的社交距离更好。如果州政府和教区所允许这些安排有任何改变，我们会通知你。在这个阶段，这是已批准的计划。
今天对集市来说是个好天气，也是周末的一个良好开端。在我们等待我们的崇拜重新开始的时候，我们的一些会众Sat@6通过在线聊天以保持联系。通过Zoom，看到许多熟悉的面孔重新出现在我的屏幕上，真是太棒了。我们相信这种情况会持续下去，直到我们能见面为止。
本周StAndrews@home:
周日
随时-线上圣餐[观看]
周三
上午10:30 -与牧师和朋友聊天[点击进入]
周四
星期五
晚上7:30 -中文圣经研习[点击进入]
这个星期室外比教堂里面更加温暖，所以春天一定来了。