This morning we hear again the two great commandments of Jesus. When a lawyer and expert of the law asked Jesus what the most important commandment is, Jesus responded, "To love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind...The second is to love your neighbour as yourself."
All of Christianity comes down to how we love God and how everything we do – our relationships, work, entertainment, education, displays our love for God and one another. No success, status, or possession will matter at the end of our days. How we loved God and loved others will be our victory.
On Thursday I was in court. Not physically, but on-line. Brighton Grammar and St Andrew’s are appealing the decision of Heritage Victoria to refuse a permit for the new (St Andrew’s) Exchange Building to be constructed by BGS on our tennis court site. The building work is unlikely to begin until 2022, given the intervention of COVID-19. Heritage Victoria do not like the appearance of the proposed building viewed from the street, it being next to the Parish Hall (which they do like). I’m not sure they ever like a new building in a heritage precinct, so seeking a review of their refusal seems to be where such applications end up.
The appeal is only part-heard and it would have been completed the following day, Friday, but that was a holiday (did anyone notice?) so the hearing is adjourned until Friday 6 November with another full day of testimony and submissions planned. It is likely that the result will be known by Christmas but not immediately. I will let you know how it all turns out, but our heritage advisors remain confident that an approval will be for forthcoming, possibly with some changes to the proposed building’s appearance and set back.
We now have 12 new people exploring what Christianity means through the Alpha course being run by Michelle, in Chinese, on Friday evenings at 7.30pm on ZOOM.
Please pray for these 12 seekers that the Holy Spirit might move them to become Christians. We also pray for the members of our own Chinese congregation attending the course, and for Michelle as she leads this group which will run until Christmas.
The Op Shop management committee are gearing up for a reopening, subject to confirmation today by the Premier of Victoria regarding the relaxation of restrictions on retail trading. Our shop will be recommencing initially for two days per week - Wednesday and Thursday 10am – 3pm commencing on 4 November. Additional days may be possible in the New Year as new volunteers take their place with those returning after such a long absence. COVID-19 restrictions are in place for the handling of merchandise by our wonderful volunteers.
If you have clean clothing and any curiosities for donation, please bring them along on a Wednesday or Thursday.
The Annual Meeting of the St Andrew’s Opportunity Shop will be held on 7 December 2020 in the Parish Hall at 2.30pm and afternoon tea will be provided. This is a tentative date made with the expectation that socially-distanced groups will be permitted to meet inside by the end of November.
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 also have a special page on our website for the Annual Meeting information (in case you lose the details) and it can be accessed here or from the front page of our website.
Arrangements are being made for those without a computer – who will be contacted directly once the Parish Electoral Roll is revised. Whether you are on the Parish Electoral Roll or not, a copy of the Annual Report for 2020 will be forwarded by email or post in order to keep you informed.
A formal notice inviting parishioners to be on the roll, and therefore able to vote at the meeting, appears below. I have sent individual emails to those who I have noticed are not on our Electoral Roll, but a formal notice about the revision of the Parish Electoral Roll is below.
NOTICE OF REVISION OF CHURCH ELECTORAL ROLL
The parish electoral roll of St Andrew’s Brighton will be revised by the Parish Electoral Committee on 30 October 2020.
The Parish Governance Act 2013 provides that parish electoral roll is to contain the names of people who are of at least eighteen years of age and who—
1. are baptised;
2. regularly and habitually attend public worship at a worship centre in the parish;
3. have signed an application seeking to be included on the roll and declaring that—
3.1. they are a member of the Anglican Church of Australia or of a church in communion with the Anglican Church of Australia;
3.2. they are not a member of any church which is not in communion with the Anglican Church of Australia; and
3.3. they are not on the parish electoral roll of any other parish or any Authorised Anglican Congregation in the Diocese other than a roll from which they wish their name to be removed.
The parish electoral roll as revised will be displayed prior to the annual meeting on the Parish website (names only).
A person must be on the parish electoral roll to vote at the annual meeting. A person may apply to be on the electoral roll at any time. A person wishing to apply to be on the electoral roll before the next revision may download a form here.
The completed form must be returned to the Parish Office (by posting to, or leaving the form at, the Parish Office, 228 New Street, Brighton 3186 before midday on 26 October 2020 or by email.
Dated: 19 October 2020
Fr Ian Morrison
Vicar
This week at St Andrew’s:
Sunday
10am - : Mattins : (in English) [join 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 – Chat with the Vicar and friends [join here]
Thursday
10am – Bible study (in English) ‘The ‘I AM’ statements in St John’s Gospel’ [join here]
Friday
7.30pm – Alpha Course (in Chinese) [join here]
RE-OPENING FOR SERVICES
I’m sure you are all pleased that hairdressers opened on Monday. I have noticed a few modified appearances since then. I haven’t joined in the queues as yet.
Despite appeals to the State Government to allow churches to be treated the same as cafés (this is what we are reduced to) in terms of the relaxation of restrictions on opening, it is likely that the government will stick with its original timetable that it proposed some weeks ago – that churches can reopen with restrictions from 23 November.
This is what we are gearing up to do. Looking forward to seeing you soon.
主任牧师寄语 25/10/2020
今天早上我们又听到了耶稣的两条大诫命。有一个旅法师问耶稣诫命中最重要的是什么，耶稣回答说:“要尽心、尽性、尽意爱主你的神。二是要爱人如己。”
所有的基督教义都归结为我们如何爱神以及我们如何做每一件事——我们的人际关系、工作、娱乐、教育，以及我们对上帝的爱 和彼此之间的爱。在我们生命的最后，成功、地位或财产都不重要。我们如何爱神和爱别人将成为我们的胜利。
上星期四我去出庭了。当然不是本人亲自到场，而是在线上的。Brighton Grammar 和 St Andrew’正在对维多利亚文物局的一项决定提出上诉，该决定拒绝Brighton Grammar在我们的网球场上建造新的（St Andrew’的）办公楼，考虑到2019冠状病毒感染的影响，可能要到2022年才会动工。
维多利亚文物局表示不喜欢从街道上看到的这所新建筑的外观，它将紧挨着教会的厅(文物局当然很喜欢这个厅)。我不确定他们是否会允许在一个文化遗产区内建造新建筑，所以寻求对他们拒绝的审查似乎是这类申请的最终结果。
上诉只进行了部分听证，并准备在第二天星期五完成，但那天是假日(有人注意到吗?)，因此听证被推迟到11月6日星期五，并计划再安排一整天的证词和提交意见。结果可能会在圣诞节前揭晓。结果出来，我会通知大家的。建筑许可即将获得批准，也许我们会对拟议建筑的外观进行一些改变。
有12位新人参加通过由Michelle主持的Alpha启发课程，探索基督教的意义，时间是每周五晚上7点半，在ZOOM参与。
请为这12位慕道友祷告，求圣灵感动他们愿意接受耶稣为他（她）们的救主。我们也为参加课程的华人会众祷告，也为Michelle带领这个小组的事工祷告。
教会的Op商店管理委员会正准备重新开业，现在在等待维多利亚州总理今日就放宽零售交易限制的确认。本店将于11月4日起，每周三及周四上午十时至下午三时开放。在新的一年里，商店可能会有更长的开放时间，因为新的志愿者会代替那些长期离开后返回的志愿者。我们优秀的志愿者在处理商品时严格的实施了针对COVID-19的措施。
如果你有干净的衣服和任何想捐赠的东西，请在星期三或星期四带来。
教会的Op商店的年会将于2020年12月7日下午2时30分在教会举行，并提供下午茶。这是一个暂定的日期，希望我们能够被允许在11月底在室内聚会。
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。你可在此下载通知及议程。我们在教会的网站上有一个专门的网页提供年会信息(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。
教会选举名册修订后，没有电脑的选民将会被直接联络。不论你是否在教会的选举名册上，我们都会以电邮或邮寄方式，向你转交2020年的年度报告，让你知道详情。
下面是一份正式通知，邀请教会会众参加会议，以便在会议上投票。我已个别电邮通知那些不在选举名册上的选民，教会选举名册修订的正式通知如下。
修订教会选举名册公告
St Andrew’s Brighton教会选举委员会将于2020年10月30日修订教区选举名册
《2013年教会治理法案》规定，教区选举名单必须包括至少年满18岁的人，并且：
1. 接受洗礼;
2. 定期及习惯在教会内的崇拜中心进行公众崇拜;
3. 已经签署了一份申请，希望被列入名单，并明确——
3.1是澳大利亚圣公会或与澳大利亚圣公会有联系的教会的成员;
3.2不属于任何与澳大利亚圣公会没有联系的宗教团体。以及
3.3他们并不在任何其他教会或任何获授权的圣公会会众的名册上，除非他们希望将自己的名字从名册上删除。
经修订的教会选举名册将于年会前在教会网页上公布(仅姓名)。
在年度会议上有权力投票的人必须在教区选举名册上。任何人可随时申请列入选举名册。任何人士如欲在下次修订前申请加入选举名册，可在此下载表格。
填妥的表格须于2020年10月26日中午前寄回或电邮回复。邮寄地址是：
Parish Office, 228 New Street, Brighton 3186
日期:2019年10月19日
Fr Ian Morrison
牧师
StAndrews@home
周日
10am: 晨祷 (英文)[点击进入]
上午11时-双语崇拜[点击进入]
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
上午10点-圣经学习(英文) 关于约翰福音经文中“我是”( 点击进入)
星期五
晚上7:30 -中文圣经研习[点击进入]
恢复崇拜
我相信你们都很高兴美发师在周一开业了。从那以后，我注意到了一些发型上的变化。我还没有参加排队去理发。
尽管呼吁州政府允许教堂一样对待咖啡馆(这是我们希望避免的) 的放松限制，很可能,政府会坚持其最初的时间表,在几个星期前所提出的 教会可以从11月23日开始有条件的重新开放。
这就是我们正在准备做的事情。