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PARISH of fitzroy

Parish news

26th July 2020 Pentecost 8

green

Mission Statement

Serving God through Christ in Church and Community.

321 Berserker Street, Frenchville Office Phone 07 4926 1315

P O Box 10185, Frenchville, 4701 Web northrockyuc.org.au

READINGS Genesis 29: 15-28

Psalm 105:1-11, 45b or Psalm 128

Romans 8:26-39

Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52

DIRECTORY For pastoral care or urgent assistance please

phone the office on 4926 1315. For non urgent queries please email office@northrockyuc.org.au

HOSPITAL CHAPLAIN

Rev Ann Hewson – 0468 490 799

PRISON CHAPLAIN

David Horton – 0428 965 203

BLUECARE CHAPLAIN

Donna Muston – 0409 894 981

INSIDE TODAY

Page 2 Devotions and Prayers

Page 3 Scripture Union promotion

Page 4 Basis of Union Paragraph 5 Part 1

Page 5 Reopening the church

Pages 6,7 For kids

Page 8 The happy page

Even though church services are not being

held, the Parish still needs your financial

support. It may be that we don’t have to

pay a minister’s stipend, but the church

still has ongoing expenses. Once the

Covid epidemic eases we may have a sup-

ply minister or one may be called. For our

ongoing financial viability, your offerings

are needed either at the ANZ bank or by

electronic transfer. Please give this your prayerful consideration.

BSB 014010 ; A/C 210834038 ; Fitzroy

Parish OR BSB 014010 ; A/C

210834046 ;Fitzroy Parish Giving Direct

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Please pray for

The world as countries combat COVID

-19, and for the people of Victoria as

they face fresh outbreaks of the virus

Those burnt out in the bushfires earlier

this year whose lives are further

stressed by mandatory isolation

Countries of the third world as they

tackle the pandemic with limited re-

sources

The safety of health care workers, hos-

pital ancillary staff and those who come

in contact with the ill

Research workers trying to find a treat-

ment for COVID-19

Comfort for the bereaved in this time

Those struggling financially because of

unemployment including the QANTAS

employees soon to be retrenched

Our fellow Christians in this city denied

conventional worship and sacraments

Our Parish as we wait for the end to the

Corona virus shutdown so a new minis-

ter may be called

The people of Kiribati

Our parish as we search for a new min-

ister

Our partner parish of Clermont Capella,

the congregation and for the leadership

of Heather James

T HIS WEEK’S READINGS from Matthew’s gospel end the long series of teach-

ing in parables by Jesus. These three parables are always placed together by the

lectionary.

Jesus tries to explain what the Kingdom of God is. Matthew, being a Christian

Jew, is reluctant to use the deity’s name substituting the word heaven for God. This has led

to some confusion with readers. The word kingdom is troubling in modern times where

kingdoms are few and far between and the monarch is nearly always of very limited pow-

er. The use of the word heaven is most misleading as it seems to refer to an ideal place

somewhere.

The kingdom of God can be taken as referring to

The rule of Jesus Christ on earth

The blessing and advantages that flow from living under Christ’s rule

The subjects of this kingdom, or the Church

So it isn’t a place, it is a state of being.

The parable of the yeast indicates that with the rule of Jesus the kingdom expands. The

parable of the treasure and the pearl implies giving up all of the old life to live under the

rule of Jesus.

The parable of the net introduces the concept of a judgment. Please turn to page 5

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Are you ready for a …

CHAPPY DINNER

Fundraiser

Are you happy to be able to travel around again?

Are you happy to be able to visit friends again?

Are you happy to join with a few friends for dinner?

Then are you ready for a CHAPPY DINNER with a difference?

This is how it will work.

The Chappy Dinners will be held in homes where you can either be a host or attend

one of the dinners. As a host you would need to work out how many people you

could accommodate.

Thai Taste Restaurant in Norman Road have agreed to provide the Banquet for $25.00 per per-

son. This includes entrée, main course and rice, or individual meals could be ordered from their

menu. All would be packaged for the host to collect.

It is expected that these dinners will take place during the month of August, and those attending

will be given the opportunity to donate to the work of School Chaplaincy in Rockhampton.

If you would like to host a Dinner please reply by using the contact details below.

If you would like to attend a Dinner and need to be connected with a host please use the contact details below and we will direct you to a suitable host.

For enquiries please contact

Allan or David at chappydinner@gmail.com or phone/text

Allan 0407 735 937 David 0408 782 886

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THE BIBLICAL WITNESSES The Uniting Church acknowledges that the Church

has received the books of the Old and New Testa-

ments as unique prophetic and apostolic testimony, in

which she hears the Word of God and by which her

faith and obedience are nourished and regulated. When

the Church preaches Jesus Christ, her message is con-

trolled by the Biblical witnesses. The Word of God on

whom man’s salvation depends is to be heard and

known from Scripture appropriated in the worshipping

and witnessing life of the Church. The

Uniting Church lays upon her members

the serious duty of reading the Scrip-

tures, commits her ministers to preach

from these and to administer the sacra-

ments of Baptism and the Lord’s Sup-

per as effective signs of the Gospel set

forth in the Scriptures

THE BIBLE 101

Muslims believe that the Qur’an

as printed and distributed is a

copy of the original Qur’an kept

in heaven. Is this the same for

the Bible? Rhonda Burnette-

Bletsch writes that many people believe that

the bible simply fell from heaven, bound be-

tween black leatherette covers and written in

Shakespearean English.1 Not only is this in-

correct, but would seem to say that the Bible

is only meant for English speakers!

The Bible is an anthology of writings, all an-

cient to a greater or lesser extent. They were

not written in English as it hadn’t been in-

vented yet! The Hebrew scriptures (known to

us as the Old Testament) were written in ei-

ther Hebrew or Aramaic. The New Testament

was written in colloquial Greek. Unless we

are fluent in those languages, and few are, it

has to be translated, in our case, into English.

As there is no direct translation of some

words, approximations are sometimes used.

On top of that manuscripts can vary. This is

because there were no word processors,

cloud storage or photocopiers. Manuscripts

were copied by hand. From time to time a

scribe, given that there were no bright over-

head lights, only candles, might make a cop-

ying error or unfortunately make an altera-

tion to the text. A general rule is that the old-

er the manuscript is, the more accurate it

probably is. Modern archaeology has uncov-

ered significant numbers of manuscripts no-

tably, but not exclusive

to, Nag Hammadi in

1945 in Egypt and the

Dead Sea Scrolls found

in the Qumran Caves in

the Judaean Desert, near

Ein Feshkha on the

northern shore of

the Dead Sea in the West

Bank in1947. Both were

discovered by accident.

People were using some

of the Nag Hammadi

scrolls as kindling. No

doubt scholars tore their

hair out when they found

this out.

The danger in biblical studies is to concen-

trate on what the Bible is, and not what it

says. Next week the emphasis will be on the

unique prophetic and apostolic testimony

1 Burnette-Blesch, R: Studying the Old Testa-

ment (Abingdon Press, Nashville, 2007) P. 7

This is part of

a series on the

Basis of Union

which it is

hoped, will be

published

each week.

Don’t have a copy of the Basis of Union?

No problem

You can download a copy from

https://assembly.uca.org.au/images/

stories/Regulations/2019/

ConstitutionandRegulations%202018%

20-%20updated%20August%

202019.pdf.

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ADVERTISEMENT

Edith Plumb has for sale:

• Tomato Relish

• Pawpaw chutney

• Mango chutney

• Rosella jam

To make arrangement to

purchase please contact

Edith on 4928 3934

Proceeds will go to help

fund funeral catering

GREAT NEWS

The Church Council is hoping

to reopen the church for

worship on 23rd August at

the new time of 9.00am.

Sanitising the church is a

work in progress. The Hall

has been sanitised and hirers

advised accordingly.

Rev. Brian Gilbert has been

invited to lead worship on 30th

August.

All of this of course depends on the activity of the COVID

virus!!

As the fishermen unload the fish they keep

the good ones and throw away the inedible

fish. So on the day of judgment the right-

eous will be separated from the evil.

In the Lord’s Prayer we pray that the King-

dom of God will come and increase, bring-

ing an end to injustice to all. We further go

on to pray that God’s will be done on earth

as in heaven. (here we have the confusing

word heaven again.)

Let us examine ourselves and ask what

each of us is doing for the work and growth

of the king-

dom.

PART ONE OF PROCEDURES FOR THE CHURCH SERVICE

These procedures have been for-mulated for your safety and to meet government COVID safe regulations. It is recommended that you arrive at church reasona-bly early to avoid a bottle neck five minutes before the service. It would possibly help if you brought your own pen. When you arrive at worship, be prepared to hand sanitise, sign in and be directed to a socially distanced seat. Only members of the same household are allowed to sit together.

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Kids’ page ……...1

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Kids’ page ……...2

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THE HAPPY PAGE

My neighbour has two dogs, then he bought two geese. Now he has just arrived with two sheep. I hope he doesn’t start building a boat!

The eighth-graders will be present-

ing Shakespeare's Hamlet in the

Church basement Friday at 7 PM .

The congregation is invited to at-

tend this tragedy.