For Sunday the 5th August - 8.30am

Meaningless! It's all meaningless! We live and work for a time, only to die and leave everything to someone who hasn't worked for it! What's the point?

That's the cry we will hear from the book of Ecclesiastes this coming Sunday - a cry that still rings true in the lives of many people today. When we try to find life's meaning in the here and now we always end up in despair over the futility of it all. Sure we can make a name for ourselves - but even a great reputation and unbounded success cannot hold off the inevitability of death. The rich fool in our Gospel reading for this week spells that out very clearly for us. If what the world has to offer is the be-all and end-all of our existence, then it's all meaningless.

But when our life and work is grounded in Christ and His forgiving mercy, true meaning and purpose is restored. Our work ceases being an attempt to simply serve ourselves, and becomes an opportunity for us to live out our baptismal identity in the world. Unbounded by time and space, our lives in Christ take on a new and profound meaning for all eternity.

Check out how nicely the readings for this week compliment each other:

Ecclesiastes 1:2,12-14; 2:18-23 Only in God does life have meaning
Colossians 3:1-11 The old life and the new
Luke 12:13-21 The parable of the rich fool

The psalm is Psalm 49:1-12, although I'm going to include through to verse 15!

God's peace be with you,

Pastor Matt

For Sunday the 29th July - 10.00am

When Jesus' disciples asked Him, "Lord, teach us to pray" He gave them a very simple, and yet profound gift - the Lord's Prayer. In this prayer we are taught that our God and Father delights to have us ask for all we need. But even more than that, in the midst of all our false notions of God, the Lord's Prayer teaches us Who it is we pray to, and what sort of confidence we should have as we approach Him on our knees. This will be our focus on Sunday.

Remember we're having a parish service this week which will begin at 10am at St Paul's, Shepparton. The service will be followed by lunch (bring along a plate to share) and then the Shepp vs Echuca 10 pin bowling challenge! I look forward to seeing you all there.

For your preparation for worship, the readings are as follows:

Genesis 18:20-32
Colossians 2:6-15
Luke 11:1-13

The Psalm is Ps 138.

God's peace be with you,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday the 22nd July - 11.00am

This Sunday the Gospel reading tells of the occassion on which Jesus spent time in the home of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42). While Martha was properly and usefully engaged in her preparations, she allowed them to distract her from the wonderful opportunity she had to sit in the Lord's presence. Mary, on the other hand, had chosen to be occupied with Jesus' presence, which really was the primary need, namely to give attention to the word of God. We are taught that what we gain from similar eager searching will certainly generate spiritual life which will never be taken away from us.

Too often we put all the emphasis on what we do and fight against 'being still and knowing God'. Woody Allen once said that 80% of success is just showing up! Maybe there's some spiritual wisdom in this - the most important thing we do as Christians, is simply to "show up" in the Lord's presence where He blesses us with His gifts of forgiveness, life and salvation.

The full list of readings for Sunday 22nd July:

Psalm 15

Genesis 18:1-10a
Colossians 1:15-28
Luke 10:38-42.

Divine service will begin at 11.00am.

God bless and keep you throughout the week,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday the 15th July - 8.30am

This coming Sunday (15/7) we will be hearing the parable of the Good Samaritan. All too often this parable is disconnected from the reason Jesus told it - to point to our inability to live up to the Law of God which demands that if we want to earn eternal life we must 'love the Lord our God with all our all heart and with all our soul and with all our mind. And love our neighbour as ourselves.' (Luke 10:27)

The unpredjudiced love and care the Samaritan shows for the injured man in the parable is indeed the standard required of us all, but how often we fail in this! If we want to earn eternal life by our own efforts, despair and hell are all that await us.

Thanks be to God that our Good Samaritan, Jesus Himself, carries us who are beaten to within an inch of our lives by sin, dresses our wounds with His forgiveness, and pays the whole price for our healing. Renewed by His gracious love, we are able to begin to 'go and do likewise', sharing the mercy we have received with others. We can only begin to be good Samaritans, once The Good Samaritan has restored us to life from certain death.

The readings for Sunday are:
Psalm 25:1-10

Deuteronomy 30:9-14 A call to obey God whose word is very near
Colossians 1:1-14 Paul's thanksgiving and prayer
Luke 10:25-37 The parable of the good Samaritan

God's peace be with you,
Pastor Matt

New members!

This past Sunday we gave thanks to God for the opportunity to 'officially' receive our dear friends Moses, Rose, Brian and Faith into membership here at St Paul's. What a great blessing it is to have them in our midst - may our Heavenly Father continue to strengthen them in faith and in the joy of salvation through His holy Word and Sacrament.

As we celebrated this great day in our congregation's life, we continue to pray for Moses' young siblings orphaned in Uganda. Please join as we pray for their safety, for the provision of their physical needs in this time of limbo, and for the quick and successful processing of their visa applications with the Department of Immigration here in Australia.

Lord have mercy on these little ones of Your's.

Peace,

Pastor Matt

For Sunday the 8th July - 11.00am

This coming Sunday we will be gathering for Divine Service at 11.00am. The assigned reading from St Luke's gospel tells of how the Lord Jesus sent out seventy-two disciples to proclaim forgiveness, life and salvation in His name. When the disciples returned they expressed great joy over the success of their missionary journey and the powerful deeds they were able to perform in Jesus' name.

Success and the spectacular always impresses us - perhaps even seduces us. How easy it is to be intoxicated by power and to find ourselves lusting over the spectacular.

While Jesus acknolwedges He has given authority to His disciples, He urges them not to get carried away over these things. He points out to us all that the far greater gift and reason for joy is the fact that through faith in Him, their names are written in heaven.

For your preparation, the readings are:

Psalm 66:1-9

Isaiah 66:10-14
Galatians 6:1-16
Luke 10:1-11; 16-20

Don't forget that we've having a community lunch following the service, so bring along something to share and plan to enjoy some time together with your brothers and sisters in Christ.

God's peace be with you,
Pastor Matt