Category Archives: Announcements

All is well in hand for the weekend celebration at the Anglican Church 150th Anniversary.  It was a walk down memory lane during the week as the team tried to identify some of the photos that had no names written on the back.

First event will be at Alcheringa at 10.30am with many “Golden Oldie” hymns being revisited.  No Foyer Cafe again until late January, but you can still come for coffee at 11am as we will will have a gathering in the Meeting room to hear about the Order of St Luke, which is a healing order.  Coffee at 11am, meeting starts at 11.30am.

Then at 6pm for 6.30 all will gather in the Function Centre for a wonderful meal, interspersed with little time capsule stories, and a display of photographic memories. The tapestry kneelers in the church detail the name and tenure of every priest here in the 150 years of history, and several former clergy have accepted the invitation to attend.

On Sunday ( note the time,)  at 10.30 am the whole Parish will gather for the Eucharist with Bishop Andrew, the Confirmation of Charlotte, Josephine and John , then followed by a BBQ lunch. To round off the festivities, the monthly Café Church will go ahead at 5.00 pm, the last for this year.

We pray for all travellers who will return to join our celebratory weekend.

Venue: St Mary’s Parish Center           62   Splatt St               Swan Hill

Time:   1.00 – 4.30 PM

Date:   Sunday November 8th,   2015

Cost:   $10

Contact: Fr Marcello (03) 5032 4144

JULIAN OF NORWICH wrote her book THE REVELATIONS OF DIVINE LOVE in one small room in a back street in Norwich more than 600 years ago.

Sheila Upjohn, like Julian a Norwich woman, grew up in the city where Julian lived and wrote her book. She is the author of In Search of Julian of Norwich and All Shall Be Well – a fresh and lively translation of Julian’s Revelations of Divine Love, abridged and arranged for daily reading. Her translation of Julian is used in the best selling Enfolded in Love and In Love Enclosed.

Our parish has just recieved a set of 4 banners and they  are beautiful. I have seen these banners used in worship at the now closed View Hill church in Bendigo, and I fell in love with them. With our large worship space here at Christ Church it is wonderful to have something to use to brighten and fill this space.

The banners are such fine beautiful silk that the just float in the air gentley and elegantly as they are waved.

The meaning of the colours has been gone into in great depth by the company who makes them (Out of Our Minds Banners). The seven colours of the rainbow can be seen to represent the Holy Spirit in seven characteristics, the Lord, Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Might, Knowledge, and fear of the Lord, just as the temple lampstand “menorah” does according to Isaiah 11.2 and Revelation 4.5. The seven colours of the rainbow have been linked to the seven branches of the menorah.

I was a little more pragmatic in my choice of banners. I chose the blue one to represent water – river, sea or sky, such as in our gospel story last Sunday with Jesus walking on the water. The green one I chose to represent growth, spiritual growth individually and as a church, for songs about the vine and the branches, and the 23^rd psalm “in pastures green”. The Red orange yellow one is to celebrate the Holy Spirit, and will be wonderful at Pentecost or any other time to represent fire. The rainbow banner represents God’s promise of restoration but the colours are so beautiful they also represent joy, and this banner is ideal for our first hymn on Sunday Joyful, Joyful.

I hope the older children will find creative ways to use the banners in our Sunday service or at Café Church. And that any of us who enjoy them will take them up, in procession and celebration, storytelling and singing, for colourful and expressive worship.

The children certainly enjoyed the banners on Sunday and waved them during the recessional hymn but I didn’t think to take a photo. Luckily I remembered to take the banners out to Nyah Church, and took photos at the end of the service there.

Our very first customers for Christ Church Swan Hill’s Saturday morning Foyer Cafe were Geoff and Elaine Young visitng from Kangaroo Flat.  On the menu were scones with jam and cream, savoury scones and sandwiches, as well as tea and coffee.  There was a steady stream of customers throughout the morning.  The sun streamed in on the cold winter’s morning and good conversation flowed.  Come and join us next Saturday between 10am and 12 noon.

Not every marshmallow made it’s mark on Goliath.

Our Café Church, with good coffee and fun food, is continuing on a monthly basis this year. In these winter months our gathering has been smaller in number, but has really developed in format and fun.

In June our focus was on being brave in God’s work, with the story of David and Goliath. We talked about how we can learn from David and be brave too. We finished off with a fun activity to firmly fix the story in our minds; we used sling shots to shoot a large paper Goliath on the wall with marshmallows.

Singing Love is Flowing like a River with percussion accompaniment.

The two little girls, united by the cross.

Our July Café Church investigated the Ephesians (2.11-22) reading of the day. We started with ‘the parable of the two little girls’ performed by the youngest members of the congregation. This story showed us how to move from disagreement and division, to cooperation and unity, via the cross that shows God’s love for us all. We found many words to describe the ways we work together to become united: forgive, listen, care, share, comfort, love, hope and trust. Then we put those words together to make a prayer of unity.