For Sunday 4th January - 8.30am

This Sunday we will be celebrating the Epiphany of our Lord a couple of days early. The word 'epiphany' means 'manifestation' or 'showing plainly'. Epiphany is an extension of Christmas. Now Christ, who came to earth, is shown as Saviour to the whole world - to us and to all people, as originally to the wise men from the East.

We will be thinking about how Christ continues to reveal His glory to us, and through us, to the world.

Divine Service will begin at 8.30am.

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday 28th December - 11.00am

Divine Service will begin this Sunday (28/12) at 11.00am.

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday 21st Dec & Christmas Day

In the midst of the hectic pace of December, the peace of God is about to descend upon us as we rejoice in the gift of the Christ Child once again. Over the next few days we will have plenty of opportunities to hear the angels' joyful proclamation, to sing our favourtie carols and to take the very body and blood of our Lord who was born of the Virgin Mary.

Please join us for the following services:

Sunday 21st 8.30am - Service of readings and carols
Sunday 21st 7.30pm - Children's Christmas Service
Christmas Day 11.00am - Service with Holy Communion

The peace of God be with you all,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday 14th December 2008 - 11.00am

This coming Sunday (14/12), service will begin at 11.00am and will be followed by a community lunch. During the service we will be privileged to witness Maeve Sefton, along with Ayowen, Emanuwel, and Awal Deng receive the gift of new life as they are baptised into the family of God.

Please come along and rejoice with us as God does His work in our very midst!

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday 30th November - 10am

St Paul's will be hosting a parish service this Sunday, beginning at 10am. We will begin our new church year together as a parish, reflecting on the coming of our Lord Jesus and His call for us to keep watch so that we don't miss out the abundant gifts He has prepared for us.

Service will be followed by a shared lunch and then we're off to the soccer pitch for a social game of soccer (either as players or spectators). There will also be an opportunity for people to inspect the proposed site of our new church.

I look forward to seeing you all there.

God bless,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday 23rd November, 8.30am

This coming Sunday we've had to rearrange our service times as we have a guest preacher, Pastor Allan Heppner, the District's Pastor for Congregational Support.

Pastor Allan will be leading studies in Shepparton on Saturday morning (9am - 11am) on outreach and evangelism, and will be following it up with a sermon on discipleship on Sunday morning. Service will begin at 8.30am.

I look forward to seeing you all there as this will be a wonderful opportunity for us to be reminded of how we are called to serve God by serving those around us.

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday 16th November, 8.30am

This Sunday (16/11) Divine Service will begin at 8.30am.

As we enter the second last Sunday of the Church year, our thoughts continue to be on end times, and in particular, St Paul's admonition in 1 Thessalonians for us to be alert and self-controlled, encouraging one another and building each other up. Clearly this is not a call for the church to become a mutual admiration society. Instead it is a call for us to live with the end in sight. To live in such a way that we do not fall asleep through the neglect of our faith or allow our brothers and sisters in Christ to fall asleep and therefore be lost to the Lord. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord.

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

For 2nd & 9th November

My apologies for not posting these times earlier.

Service times as follows:

Sunday 2nd November - The Festival of the Reformation will be observed with Divine Service beginning at 8.30am.

Sunday 9th November - Service will begin at 11.00am

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday 26th October - 11.00am

It seems to be a natural inclination of ours to try to get God to specify just how much 'we have to do.' Not wanting to go beyond the letter of the Law, we join with the Pharisee who asked Jesus, "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"

Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

Jesus' answer simply reveals that the whole law of God, as well as each individual law, is dead without 'love to God and neighbour' lying behind it and within it. Confronted with this simple, yet profound reality, we must realise our inability to live up to this great commandment. Even the bare minimum is too much for us to do ourselves.

This recognition leads us to our Saviour, who loved us and God perfectly by giving up His life for our salvation.

How do we then love God and neighbour? We'll be thinking this through this coming Sunday.

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

Upcoming services

Service times for the next few weeks are as follows:

Sunday 21st September: 8.30am

Sunday 28th September: 11.00am

Sunday 5th October: 8.30am (please note Daylight Savings begins this weekend)

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

They're here!!!

At 5.55am today Moses' four brothers and his sister touched down in Melbourne to join their brother for a new life in Asutralia. After one hiccup after another there was much rejoicing and thanksgiving as we met these amazing young people. The weary travellers were supposed to arrive at 12.30am but at about 2.30am we discovered they had been stranded in Dubai. Unable to contact anyone at that hour we had a nervous wait for the next flight and thank God for answering our prayers and delivering them!

What a day! Forty-five minutes sleep in 48 hours and a family expanding from 4 to 9 in the blink of an eye! (It'll be 10 in a few weeks!)

The entourage of supportive friends couldn't contain themselves - declaring that God is indeed great!

Enjoy these couple of photos - hopefully there'll be more in the Shepp News on Monday.

For Sunday 14th September - 11.00am

Our Service will begin at 11.00am this Sunday (14/9) and will be a time of great rejoicing as we celebrate God's work among our congregation. We will witness the baptism of Jack Donaldson, receive quite a number of people into membership, and praise God for finally uniting Moses with his siblings. Our thanksgiving will be followed by lunch together.

With respect to Moses' siblings, here's the most up to date news:

IOM have confirmed that after the hiccup of last week, Moses' siblings will be boarding a plane at 4.15pm in Kampala today (11/9) and God willing, will arrive in Melbourne at 12.30am on the 13th September. Please keep them in your prayers as they make this final leg of what has been a long journey.

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday 7th September - 8.30am

As we remember our earthly fathers this Sunday we will also have a chance to consider how it is that we are blessed to have a heavenly Father.

While we all clearly fail to live up to the 'rules of the family', we who have 'put on Christ' in holy baptism (Romans 13:8-14) have also received adoption and acceptance into the family of God. As those who have been forgiven in Jesus we are therefore freed to come before God with the confidence of children who come to their Father for all they need.

Divine service will begin at 8.30am.

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday 31st August - 11.15am

This Sunday (31/8) we will be holding our service in Cobram, meeting at 11.15am at the Uniting Church hall in Hay Street, Cobram. A bus will be leaving St Paul's at 9.45am and if you would like a seat on the bus, you'll need to contact me by Wednesday (ankernator@gmail.com). Service will be followed by lunch together - please bring something to share. Please note that there will be NO service in Shepparton this week.

Last Sunday we heard Peter's bold confession, claiming without hesitation that Jesus is 'the Christ, the Son of the living God'. As we follow on from that reading this week (in Matthew 16:21-28) we hear Jesus saying he 'must’ go to Jerusalem to suffer and die. After the triumph of recent days these words leave the disciples bewildered. Their Messiah of God must fail? However, the Lord knows that the only way to glory for him and for us is through death. Both death and Satan must be conquered. So he went.

If we then need to pick up our cross to follow him, let it so be. That which may stand in the way of salvation needs to be sacrificed

God's peace to you all as you prepare for service this week,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday 17th August - 8.30am

This week we'll be hearing of an encounter Jesus had with a nagging Canaanite woman who's daughter was suffering demon possession. Although she wasn't a Jew, she'd obviously heard of Jesus and His ability to heal and drive out demons. So out of love for her daughter she took the bold step of approaching this Jewish rabbi for help.

Her first plea for help was met with silence from Jesus. It seemed unlikely He was going to answer her request. Unperturbed by this, and determined to gain Jesus’ help, the woman continued – nagging if you like! She prayed again, ‘Lord, help me!’

This time Jesus responds with a heavy rebuff declaring that it's not right to offer His blessing and help to the gentiles (non-Jews) before it has first been offered to God’s chosen people (the Jews). At this point even the most tenacious nagger would have been tempted to give up! But not this woman. She knew that Jesus had the power to free her daughter from bondage to the Devil, and she had faith that He would have mercy and do it. So again she calls for His help.

Jesus hears her persistent, determined prayer for help and understands that her ‘nagging’ reflects her absolute confidence that He will hear her prayer and answer it. Jesus honours her ‘nagging’ as a sign of great faith and grants healing for her daughter.

On Sunday we'll be thinking about how this encounter encourage us to prayerful 'nagging' as we seek the help and support of our Lord in daily life.

Divine Service will begin at 8.30am.

See you there!

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday 3rd August - 8.30am

This Sunday Divine Service will begin at 8.30am. I'll be preaching on the feeding of the 5,000 from Matthew 14. We'll particularly be considering how the Lord takes our meagre offerings and uses them to bless others as He supplies their needs for this life and the next. When our eyes see only what we lack, Jesus invites us to give with confidence in His blessed abundance.

A reminder that Kids' Club meets this Friday at 4.30pm and Confirmation from 5pm.

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

PS see below for some great news!

Art work courtesy of www.jesusmafa.com

SUCCESS!!

I have received some wonderful news that I'm sure our members and friends will be delighted to hear. As many of you are aware, we have been assisting our brother Moses in applying for his orphaned siblings to join him here in Australia. After many months the Australian High Commission in Nairobi contacted me to advise they've approved the application! Praise God!

It's now only a matter of weeks before this dear family will be reunited after many years of hardship. Thank you for your prayers and support throughout this process. I look forward to posting some photos of the reunion when the children touch down in Melbourne.

We've also had similar fantastic news for Bahati and his family. Two of his children who were separated from him many years ago have also been approved for migration! God willing these children will also be here in the coming weeks. We thank God for His protection of these children and pray for a blessed reunion with their Baba.

I'll keep you posted as things develop.

Give thanks to the Lord for He is good!

Pastor Matt

For Sunday 27th July - 11.00am

My apologies for not updating the blog earlier this week.

Service this Sunday (27th July) will begin at 11.00am.

For your preparation, here are the readings:

Genesis 29:15-28 Jacob works 14 years to marry Rachel
Romans 8:26-39 Nothing can separate us from the love of God
Matthew 13:31-33,44-52 Parables of the kingdom

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday 20th July - 8.30am

Many people are surprised when they discover that the church on earth is not a place of perfection. The existence of apparently good and bad people, side by side in the pews, causes some to scratch their heads. To the cynics among us this might even be seen as a sign of God's powerlessness in the face of evil.

Jesus challenges this notion in the parable of the wheat and the tares that we will be hearing this Sunday. The fact that God allows both "good" and "bad" to co-exist in His church is actually a sign of His grace as He continues to offer forgiveness and life in Jesus' name. His love for us impels Him to wait for judgment, longing for more and more to receive the gift of forgiveness and salvation.

Divine Service will begin at 8.30am this Sunday.

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday 13th July - 11.00am

This Sunday we will be hearing the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13). The temptation with this parable is to focus on the different soil types that are mentioned, and to make all kinds of rash assumptions about mission and the success of it based on the 'type' of people we are reaching out to. But to focus on this is to miss the point.

The Parable of the Sower reveals to us how lavishly God sows the seed of His word. With complete abandon He spreads this life giving seed without concern for the cost, looking forward to reaping the harvest that grows. I think the artwork by James Tissot captures this extravagant sowing quite nicely.

Service will begin at 11.00am and will be followed by our monthly congregational lunch. All welcome!

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday 6th July - 8.30am

Life, it seems, is all too often little more than a series of burdens that we must try to endure and make the most out of. In this age of self sufficiency we are often left to our own devices to cope and encouraged to look within to find the strength to get through it all. Trouble is there are some burdens we just can't do anything about. Try as we might, they continue to 'haunt' us to the point of despair.

St Paul knew this well when he said, " I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." He was, of course, speaking very specifically about the burden of his continued struggle with sin - a burden that saw him failing to resist sin as he truly desired. A burden he was powerless to overcome.

Into our burdensome existence the Lord Jesus speaks and says, 'Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.' This Sunday we will be focusing on how this rest Jesus offers us can transform our burdened lives.

Divine Service will begin at 8.30am.

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday 29th June - 10.00am

PARISH SERVICE 10AM

This Sunday (29/6) Trinity Lutheran Church in Echuca will be hosting a service of the Goulburn Murray Lutheran Parish. Service will begin at 10am and be followed by lunch and an opportunity to spend time with our brothers and sisters in Christ from across the parish. Please come along to worship together and get to know one another a little better.

If you wish to meet at St Paul's at 8.40am to arrange car pooling, there may even be some spare seats on the bus.


During the service we will hear the story of the call for Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac. As we consider the willing obedience not just of Abraham, but also of Isaac, we will have an opportunity to think about the place of faith and trust in the life of the Christian.

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday 22nd June - 11.00am

Divine service this Sunday will begin at 11.00am at St Paul's.

The readings for your preparation are:

Genesis 21:8-21; God's promise to Hagar and Ishmael
Romans 6:1b-11; Dead to sin, but alive to Christ
Matthew 10:24-39; Do not be afraid; take up your cross and follow Christ

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday 15th June - 8.30am

This Sunday we will continue to ponder the great mystery of God's promises to the aging Abraham and barren Sarah. Just when doubts threatened to consume them, God Himself visits with them and restore the hope of the promise. Sarah's laughter of scoffing is turned to a laughter of joy as the most unlikely thing happens - she bears the child God had promised.

As we think on this we will take the chance to reflect on the faithfulness of God in the midst of our doubts. As St Paul says in the second reading, it is while we were still sinners that the Lord Jesus died for us. God's work doesn't wait for our perfection - instead He takes up our flesh and blood, washing it clean in His forgiving love, and dares to use us in service to the world.

Divine Service will begin at 8.30am.

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday the 8th of June - 11.00am

A quick note to let you all know Divine Service will begin this week at 11.00am, and will be followed by a community lunch.

The readings we will be hearing are:

Genesis 12:1-9 The calling of Abraham
Romans 4:13-25 God's promise to Abraham received through faith
Matthew 9:9-13,18-26 Jesus calls Matthew, heals a woman, and raises a child

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday 1st June - 8.30am

All of us from time to time have grand plans for how we might build our lives. Whether it's in regard to a career, our family or our attitudes and actions for the sake of others - we often long to build our lives on a foundation of integrity, honour, success and compassion - among other things.

But how often don't our attempts to build our lives in these ways come crashing down in a pile of rubble?

In the gospel this week (Matt 7:21-29) Jesus calls us to build our lives on His word by hearing it and acting on it. At first glance it might seem as though Jesus is telling us to do what we have tried and failed to do ourselves - to build our lives on a standard we long for, but can never achieve. But as we hear Jesus' call this week we do well to remember that His is a word of forgiveness and life. So acting on this word is firstly about receiving forgiveness through the Word of God made flesh, and then with His help, seeking to live as His new born people.

Divine Service will begin at 8.30am.

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday 25th May - 11.00am

A number of years ago a singer by the name of Bobby McFerrin sang the song, 'Don't worry, be happy.' This catchy tune suggested that stress and worry, even when it was well founded, could be driven away if you just made a decision to be happy. If only it was that easy!

In Matthew 6:24-34 Jesus also calls us not to worry about our life, what we will eat or drink or what we will wear. Instead of insisting that we merely 'turn that frown upside down,' Jesus encourages us to get our priorities right and to recognise God's wonderful provision.

But more than that Jesus identifies that our obsessive worrying about things of this world reveals that we are seeking the wrong things. The answer to our worries is not to force happiness, but to seek first His kingdom and righteousness, and then everything else falls into place.

Divine Service begins at 11.00am.

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday the 18th May - 8.30am

This Sunday we celebrate Trinity Sunday where we focus on what it means that God comes to us as three persons in one God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This mystery that seems to contradict our reason, is very much a part of our existence as God's people. After all our life of faith begins with our baptism in the name of the Holy Trinity. And so we will especially be thinking about the significance of having the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit applied to us in baptism as we meditate on Matthew 28:16-20.

Service will begin at 8.30am and will include the baptism of Charlie Schulz.

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday 11th May 11.00am

As the photos show, our Kids' Club has been thinking about our Pentecost celebration of the gift of the Holy Spirit. We hope to have some of their work decorating the church on Sunday as we gather at 11.00am for Divine Service.

As we think about the gift of the Holy Spirit we will be hearing about the specific work He was sent to do. All three of our readings this week focus on the way in which the Spirit enables God's people to speak the Word of God which points us to Christ and the salvation offered in His name. This is beautifully proclaimed in the Gospel reading where Jesus' gift of the Holy Spirit to the apostles is linked to their calling to forgive sins in His name.

Following service we will be joining together in our regular congregational lunch. As it's Mothers' Day as well, the men and children will take care of lunch which will give us a chance to serve and honour the mothers in our midst.

God's peace,

Pastor Matt

For Sunday 5th May - 8.30am

Thursday 1st of May is the Festival of the Ascension of our Lord this year. As we are not having a service on Thursday, we will be including our commemoration of the Ascension in our Sunday service (5th May). In particular we will thinking about what it means for each of us that our Lord took our human nature into the heavenly sanctuary when He ascended.

Service is at 8.30am.

KIDS' CLUB will also meet this week, from 4.30pm-5.30pm on Friday night at the church. Please pass the word around to all those with children.

The Lord be with you,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday the 27th of April

Divine Service this week will begin at 11.00am.

The readings are as follows:
Acts 17:22-31 Paul in Athens
1 Peter 3:13-22 Suffering for doing right
John 14:15-21 The promise of the Holy Spirit

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

NB Don't forget our parish ride day on Saturday (weather permitting). We'll leave from St Paul's at 10am. Please arrive fuelled up and ready to go.

For Sunday 20th April - 11.00am

This Sunday (20th April), Divine Service will begin at 11.00am and will be led by Pastor Graham Zweck.

The readings for the day are:
Acts 7:55-60 The death of Stephen
1 Peter 2:2-10 God's chosen people, a royal priesthood
John 14:1-14 Jesus the way to the Father

A reminder that our parish ride day will take place on Saturday April 26th so dust off the leathers and make sure there's plenty of rubber for a quick fling around the hills! More details to follow.

God's peace be with you,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday 13th April - 11.00am

This week we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday (13th April) with Divine Service beginning at 11.00am.

For your preparation, the readings are as follows:
Acts 2:42-47 Life and worship in the apostolic church
1 Peter 2:19-25 The shepherd and bishop of our souls
John 10:1-10 Jesus, the gate for the sheep

The psalm for the day is of course, Psalm 23.

Service will be followed by our monthly lunch together. Please bring along a plate to share.

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

For 30th March & 6th April

Service times for the next two weeks are as follows:

30th March: Service of the Word; 8.30am

6th April: Service of the Word; 8.30am

May the peace of the Risen Lord be with you,
Pastor Matt

Service times for Holy Week

As we move toward the Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord, we prepare for that great celebration by first observing the other events of Holy Week.

Our service times during this period are as follows:

Maundy Thursday (20th March):
Service with Holy Communion, 8.00pm

Good Friday (21st March):
Service of the Word, 11.00am

The Resurrection of our Lord (23rd March):
Service with Holy Communion, 8.30am

We will have the joy of witnessing God's gift of new birth through water and the Spirit on the day of our Lord's Resurrection for Jennifa, Evral, Lawi and Jenny.

God bless your preparations for these holy celebrations!
Pastor Matt

Working Bee

Due to the high temperature forcast for tomorrow, the working bee has been cancelled. At this stage the work on the shed roof is being planned for the 26th April.

Please see below for service details.

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

Thursday 13th & Sunday 16th March

This week our midweek Leten devotions come to a conclusion as we meditate upon our Lord's death and burial in preparation for Holy Week. Service will begin at 5.30pm on Thursday.

Sunday's service will begin at 8.30am with the procession of the Palms. As we contemplate our Lord's entry into Jerusalem to shouts of Hosanna, we do so in view of His impending passion. The service will move us from Palms to Passion as we anticipate the events of the coming week.

Please note that a working bee will be held this Saturday 15th March, beginning with breakfast at 8.00am. Also there is to be a memorial service at the church on Saturday afternoon for James' mother, Liliana Lado Latomba. The service will begin at 4pm. Please keep James and his family in your prayers.

The Lord be with you,
Pastor Matt

Thursday 6th & Sunday 9th March

This Thursday (6/3) our Lenten devotional services will continue, with the service beginning at 5.30pm. This week we will be meditating on Matthew 27:27-44 where Jesus is mocked and crucified, with the crowd taunting Him to use His divine power to save Himself. Instead our Lord chose to suffer the ultimate humiliation and suffering so that we might live. His display of strength and power on the cross was far beyond anything the world could ever envisage!

On Sunday we will meet for Divine Service at 11.00am and hear St John's account of the raising of Lazarus. This reading reminds us of the sure and certain hope of our own bodily resurrection, but it also points to the compassion, love and grace of our Lord as He mourns with those who mourn. The 'mini' victory over death Jesus accomplishes in this reading whets our appetites for the even greater resurrection victory we will celebrate at Easter once more.

Following service we'll be having our monthly congregational lunch - please bring along something to share and stay to enjoy the good food and company!

God's peace be with you,

Pastor Matt

The picture above comes from www.jesusmafa.com

For Thursday 28th Feb & Sunday 2nd March

We will continue our Lenten devotions this week with service beginning at 5.30pm on Thursday night. As we hear of Judas' distress over his treacherous treatment of our Lord, we will think about the purpose of repentance and the direction in which it leads us.

On Sunday, Divine Service will begin at 8.30am. This week the Gospel tells of Jesus' healing of the man born blind and the response of the Pharisees. In their rejection of Jesus, the Pharisees reveal their spiritual blindness. As they excommunicate the healed blind man Jesus is able to reveal the purpose of restoring sight to this man - to bring him to faith and reveal His identity as the Son of Man. We may consider what it is that blinds us to the things of God; but more importantly we will be remembering the same resotration of sight is offered to us in the forgiveness of sins.

God's peace,

Pastor Matt

For Thursday 21st Feb. & Sunday 24th Feb.

Our Lenten devotions continue this week on Thursday evening, beginning at 5.30pm. As our meditation on the passion continues, we will be contemplating Peter's threefold denial of Christ during His trial before the high priest. Rather than pointing our finger at St Peter, we will remember the ways in which we all 'follow at a distance' and rejoice that our salvation is secured by Christ's faithfulness, not ours.

This Sunday (24th Feb.) there will be no service in Shepparton as our parish AGM is being held in Echuca. Divine Service will commence at 10am and will be followed by our AGM and then lunch together. Please endeavour to be at this important parish gathering as we commend our parish to the Lord for another year and commit ourselves to the work He has provided.

What better text to hear on such a day than Romans 5:1-11?

God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

For Thursday 14th & Sunday 17th February

Our Lenten devotions continue this week with service beginning at 5.30pm on Thursday. This week we begin our reading and meditation on the passion of our Lord. We will hear Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane and will consider what it teaches us about our own life of prayer.

On Sunday (17th February) Service will begin at 8.30am. With the cross looming on the horizon in this Lenten season, we will hear very clearly that God chooses us to be His and works to make it so through the gracious work of His Son. Just as Abraham was chosen by God and his faith was credited to him as righteousness, we too are set right with God purely out of grace. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

Ash Wednesday (Thurs 7th - 5.30pm) & Sunday 10th February - 11.00am

Ash Wednesday is already upon us with Lent officially beginning on the 6th of February. Due to the georgraphy of our parish, Ash Wednesday service will be held on Thursday 7th in Shepparton this year, beginning at 5.30pm. This service will include the ancient rite of the imposition of the ashes, and will mark the beginning of our midweek Lenten services (which will also be held on Thursday evenings).

On Sunday the 10th, Divine Service will begin at 11.00am and will be followed by a community lunch.

For your preparation the readings for Sunday are:
Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7 The creation and fall
Romans 5:12-19 Death through Adam, life through Christ
Matthew 4:1-11 The temptation of Jesus

God's peace,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday the 3rd February - 8.30am

This Sunday we commemorate the Transfiguration of our Lord - that wonderful account of Jesus' meeting with Moses and Elijah on the mountaintop, in the presence of Peter and James and John.


As we hear this reading we may well ponder the temptation Jesus must have faced to step straight off that mountain and into heaven. But He didn't. Instead He chose to come back down the mountain and to journey on the Jerusalem and the cross.


Jesus' willingness to come down from the mountain to serve you and me provides great encouragement for us in our daily walk. Not simply because it shows that He walks with us, but most especially because it reveals the extent of His saving love for us.


Divine Service will begin at 8.30am and will be followed by our congregational AGM.


The Lord Jesus be with you,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday 27th January - 11.00am

This week we will be celebrating our Harvest Thanksgiving festival.

While we're still in the midst of hard times as a result of prolonged drought, we do well to acknowledge the enduring goodness of the Lord and rejoice in His provision of our daily needs especially at times such as these. But above all we give thanks and rejoice for the way our Heavenly Father has provided for our salvation in the sending of His Son, Jesus.

And so as we give thanks for the harvest again this Sunday, we look forward to that eternal harvest of all who are declared righteous through faith in Christ Jesus.

Divine service will begin at 11.00am.

The Lord be with you,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday the 20th January - 8.30am

This Sunday (20th January) St John the Baptist proclaims to us once more that Jesus is indeed the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

In an age where personal responsibility is on the decline, we are all well equipped to pass the buck when things go wrong. But despite our best attempts to blame others, our hearts are often weighed down by the truth that the buck stops with us.

How liberating then to know there is One who has taken on our sin and its damning effects so that we are freed to live without condemnation and without the need to justify ourselves by blaming others.

Come and behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

Divine Service will begin at 8.30am.

The peace of the Lord be with you,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday the 13th January - 11.00am

A belated post this week to advise that Divine Service will begin at 11.00am this coming Sunday, when we will be commemorating the Baptism of our Lord.

The readings for this day are:

Isaiah 42:1-9 The Lord's servant is a light to the nations
Acts 10:34-43 Jesus anointed with the Spirit and power
Matthew 3:13-17 The baptism of Jesus

Lunch will follow the service, so bring something along to share and enjoy the company and encouragement of your brothers and sisters in Christ.

God's peace be with you,
Pastor Matt

For Sunday the 6th of January - 8.30am

This Sunday (6th Jan. 2008) we will be celebrating the Epiphany of our Lord. The word 'epiphany' means 'manifestation' or 'showing plainly'. The festival of Epiphany is an extension of Christmas. Now Christ, who came to earth, is shown as Saviour to the whole world - to us and to all people, as originally to the wise men from the East.

Divine Service will begin at 8.30am.

Here are the readings for your preparation:

Isaiah 60:1-6 The nations will come to the light
Ephesians 3:1-12 God reveals his age-long purpose in Christ
Matthew 2:1-12 Wise men worship Christ the king

God's peace,
Pastor Matt