This special day was inaugurated in 1925 as a new festival in honour of the Kingship of Christ. While the world was increasingly telling Christians that they must compartmentalize their religion and give their highest allegiance to the government, this feast day was primarily intended to counter the claims of secularism by holding up the model of Christ, as King of the Creation, whose just and gentle rule is supreme.
Several theological and liturgical considerations account for the prominence of its observance. It concludes the Christian year with a climactic celebration that focuses on Christ as glorified Lord and King - a powerful reminder that praise of his Kingship is always the theme of the church calendar. by holding up the model of Christ, as King of the Creation, whose just and gentle rule is supreme.
Several theological and liturgical considerations account for the prominence of its observance. It concludes the Christian year with a climactic celebration that focuses on Christ as glorified Lord and King - a powerful reminder that praise of his Kingship is always the theme of the church calendar. It has been pointed out that every Sunday by its name, dominica (Latin) – belonging to the Lord and kyriake (Greek) -the Lord’s Day, is really designated as a day of Christ the King. This festival also deepens awareness of the final end of all things in the triumph of Christ: it brings the cycle of the liturgical year to an end, but looks forward to its turning again on Advent Sunday.
The spirituality of this festival was emphasised by Henri Nouwen in his Sabbatical Journey: "on the last Sunday of the liturgical year, Christ is presented to us as the mocked King on the Cross as well of the King of the universe. The greatest humiliation and the greatest victory are both shown to us in today's liturgy. It is important to look at this humiliated and victorious Christ before we start the new liturgical year with the celebration of Advent. All through the year we have to stay close to the humiliation as well as to the victory of Christ, because we are called to live both in our own daily lives."
In the Anglican tradition, this Sunday is also known colloquially as ‘Stir-up Sunday’. This name arose for two reasons:
Firstly, the Collect for the day begins with the words, “Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people…”
Secondly, some old pudding recipes require the pudding to sit for several weeks before being cooked. This Sunday became a day that people would traditionally begin preparing pudding for Christians, which includes “stirring it up.”
These two things came together in people’s minds, as, supposedly, cooks, wives and their servants would go to church, hear the words ‘Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord…’, and be reminded, by association of ideas, that it was about time to start stirring up the puddings for Christmas.”
In-church services
Register for the services here
The present mandatory limit is 20 people + one clergy member at each service.
REGISTRATION is necessary due to the restricted numbers and because we have to collect this data for possible contact tracing by the State government in the event that COVID returns. Those without the internet, or the courage give this a try, are welcome to ring the Parish Office 03 9592 1240 (the phone is still redirected) and the Vicar will book you in.
Christmas Services
Hopefully but without enthusiastic expectation, we will hear today from the Premier about the changed restrictions which will apply at Christmas. This will enable us to finalise the services for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We will need to provide some accommodation for people to sit outside the church as interior numbers will remain limited, but to what extent we wait to hear.
Bookings for the Christmas services will be essential – first in, best dressed (unfortunately). We will add the services to our registration page during the next week.
ZOOM services
The Bilingual Service will continue on Sunday morning at 11.00am (using the Zoom app). Similarly the Morning Prayer (in Chinese) service on Zoom will continue at 10am on Wednesdays.
These arrangements remain in place until the numbers allowed at our physical services can be increased.
Patronal Festival
Next Sunday, 29 November, is the feast of St Andrew. We will have services at 8am and 10am. There will be incense at the 8am and 10am service as we bless a new icon of St Andrew on his feast day.
PARISH ANNUAL MEETING
Our Parish Annual Meeting will be held on Saturday 28 November at 11am using the ZOOM app. You can download a copy of the Notice & Agenda here. We have a special page on our website for Annual Meeting information (in case you lose the details) and it can be accessed here or from the front page of our website. Our Annual report will be forwarded to you later today.
Those on the Electoral Roll should have received a voting paper for the election of 2 people to the Parish’s Incumbency Committee. Please return your vote to the Parish Office either by email to the Returning Officer, Dr Calvin Bowman, at dom@standrewsbrighton.org.au or to 228 New Street Brighton 3186 by 4 December 2020.
Christmas cakes
We had a stall at the Farmer’s Market on Saturday selling Christmas cakes baked by Fr Jan. It was a sell-out morning for the team but more are on their way, so it you would like a cake - $30 (or $45 for gluten-free) please send me a note here.
This week at St Andrew’s
Sunday
8.00 am – Holy Eucharist in the church [register here]
10.00 am – Holy Eucharist in the church [register here]
11am – Bi-lingual service [join here]
Anytime – Video Eucharist [watch]
Monday
1.30pm – English Conversation Class [join here]
Wednesday
10am – Morning Prayer (in Chinese) [join here]
10.30am – Midweek Eucharist [register here]
Thursday
10am – Bible study (in English) [join here]
Friday
7.30pm – Alpha Course (in Chinese) [join here]
Saturday
11.00am - Parish Annual Meeting [join here]
6.00 pm – Sat@6 in the church [register here]
Sunday 29 November – the feast of St Andrew
8.00 am – Holy Eucharist in the church [register here]
10.00 am – Holy Eucharist in the church [register here]
See you in church.
主任牧师寄语 22/11/2020
耶稣基督普世君王节 这个特殊的日子于1925年设立，以此纪念基督的王权。 当世俗世界越来越多地要求基督徒们必须把宗教分别开来，并要向政府尽最大的效忠。这一节日的设立主要是为了反对世俗主义的主张，因为基督作为创世之王，他的正义 公正的统治至高无上。 几个神学和礼拜仪式显明了它的重要性。以一个高潮的庆祝来结束基督教的一年，以基督为荣耀的王-一个强有力的提醒，赞美他的王权始终是教会日历的主题。 有人指出，每个星期天的名字分别是属于主的, dominica（拉丁语）和属于主日的kyriake（希腊语），由此被指定为耶稣基督普世君王节。 这个节日也加深了人们对万物在基督里得胜的结局的认知：它是礼仪年的最后一个主日，人们期待着的下个主日就是降临期的第一个主日。 亨利·诺文（Henri Nouwen）在他的书 《安息日志》中强调了这个节日的属灵特征：“礼仪年的最后一个星期日，基督被呈现给我们，他是在十字架上被嘲弄的王，也是宇宙之王 万王之王。最大的耻辱和最大的胜利都表现在今天的礼拜仪式上。在我们以降临节的庆祝开始新的礼拜年之前，先看看这个蒙羞而又得胜的基督是很重要的。在这一年里，我们必须紧靠基督的羞辱和胜利，因为我们被呼召在自己的日常生活中同样要活出这两样。”
在英国国教的传统中，这个星期天也被通俗地称为“搅动/激发 星期日”。这个名字的出现有两个原因:
首先，今天的祷告文以这样的话开始:“主啊，我们恳求你，激发你忠实子民的意愿……”
其次，一些传统的布丁食谱要求布丁在做熟前要放置好几个星期。在这个星期天，人们按照传统开始为基督徒准备布丁，步骤之一就是“搅动它”。
这两件事在人们的脑海中浮现出来，就好像厨师、妻子和他们的仆人去教堂，听到‘主啊，我们恳求你……’这样的话，联想起来Stir up的另外一重含义：搅拌，就会想到是时候开始做圣诞布丁了
教会现场崇拜
目前的强制性限制是20人+一名神职人员在现场崇拜。
由于人数限制，登记是必要的，因为我们必须收集这些数据，以便邦政府在COVID返回时追踪可能的联系人。
那些没有互联网的人，或者有勇气尝试一下的人，欢迎致电教区办公室03 9592 1240 (电话仍在转接)，牧师会为你预订。
Christmas Services
我们满怀希望但不抱太大的期望，我们将在今天听到州长关于将在圣诞节实施的变更限制的讲话。这将使我们能够确定平安夜和圣诞节当天的崇拜。由于教堂内部人数有限，我们将需要为坐在教堂外的人提供一些位置，但在很大程度上我们在等待新的消息。
圣诞节崇拜的预订将是必不可少的——首先，准备最好的着装(有点麻烦)。我们将在下周将这些崇拜添加到我们的注册页面。
ZOOM 崇拜
双语崇拜将于周日上午11点继续(使用Zoom应用程序)。同样，Zoom的晨祷崇拜也将在每周三上午10点继续进行。
在我们的实体崇拜允许的参与人数数量增加之前，这些安排会一直维持下去。
Patronal Festival
下个星期天，11月29日，是圣安德烈的节日。我们将在早上8点和10点举行崇拜。在上午10点的崇拜仪式上，我们将为圣安德烈的新圣像献香。
教会年会
本教会年会将于十一月二十八日(星期六)上午十一时使用ZOOM软件举行。你可在此here下载通知及议程。我们在我们的网站上有一个专门的网页供年会信息(以防您丢失详细信息)，您可以在这里或从我们的网站首页访问。我们的年度报告将在今天晚些时候转发给你。
在选举名册上的人士，应已收到一份选举两人进入教会委员会的选票。请于2020年12月4日前电邮选举主任, Dr. Calvin Bowman (dom@standrewsbrighton.org.au)
或邮至 228 New Street Brighton 3186
农贸市场 - 圣诞蛋糕
我们周六在农贸市场有一个摊位，出售由Jan牧师烘焙的圣诞蛋糕，可能还有一些留下的蛋糕，所以如果你昨天无法到市场，请与我联系。
本周StAndrews@home:
周日
8.00 am – 教堂内的圣餐崇拜[点击注册]
10.00 am –教堂内的圣餐崇拜[点击注册]
上午11时-双语崇拜[点击进入]
随时-线上圣餐[观看]
周一
1.30pm – 英语对话小组 [点击进入]
周三
上午10点-晨祷(中文)[ 点击进入]
上午10:30 –周中圣餐[点击进入]
周四
上午10点-圣经学习(英文) ”( 点击进入)
星期五
晚上7:30 -中文圣经研习[点击进入]
周六
11.00am – 教会年度会议[点击进入]
6.00 pm – 教堂崇拜 [点击注册]
周日 29 November – 圣安德烈节
8.00 am – 教堂圣餐[点击注册]
10.00 am – 教堂圣餐 [点击注册]
请继续关注
Fr Ian Morrison
牧师