Sunday 30th December - 11am

Service this Sunday - 30th December - will begin at 11am.

I came across the following, written by Bishop Phillip Lok of the Lutheran Church of Singapore. Bishop Lok has been a friend to the LCA and our churches are partners in the gospel in various locations throughout SE Asia. I'm sure you'll agree that his comments bring the reality of Immanuel - God with us - into real life perspective very well.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. (John 1:14a)

In the aftermath of the Newtown tragedy in the US, where a gunman entered an elementary school and massacred 27 people, including 20 children below the age of 10, Governor Dan Malloy said in a press conference, "Evil visited this community today."

In times of inexplicable sufferings like the Newtown incident, or the destruction of typhoon Bopha which left over 1000 people dead in the Philippines, or even when one of our friends succumbed to cancer, most of us would struggle to offer an appropriate response to those in pain.

But in this season of Christmas, we are reminded that statements like, “Evil visited this community today”, should never be the concluding remark to any suffering or tragedy. As followers of the Christ Child, we must be comforted by the fact that, “God visited this world 2000 years ago.” The Incarnation – Word became flesh – assures us that the Almighty God fully understands our pain for He once ‘moved into our neighbourhood.’ (The Message) As a matter of fact, he even suffered for us and with us.

As another year comes to a close, we give thanks to our God for His grace that carried us. If we truly believe that our God is the Emmanuel, then we must also move with confidence into the new year. Let us be the messengers of God who carry the message of hope and life to the weary world. We need to tell the good news of a God who visited us many years ago.

Bishop Philip Lok

Christmas service times

The members at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Shepparton invite you to join them as they celebrate and give thanks for the birth of their Saviour, Jesus Christ over the coming days.

There are a number of services - some of which are at irregular times - so please note them below:

A service of lessons and carols - Sunday 16th December, 11am

Children's Christmas Service - Sunday 23rd December, 6.30pm

Christmas Day Service with Holy Communion - 25th December, 11am

Service on Sunday 30th December will also begin at 11am.

May the peace of the Christ child fill your hearts and lives this Christmas,

Pastor Matt

Sunday 11th November - 11am

Hi everyone,

I'm sorry for not posting recently - I am trying to ensure the blog is updated each week but the last few weeks have flown by without me giving it a thought.

Service begins at 11am this week. The Old Testament and Gospel readings challenge us to examine ourselves in light of the first commandment, asking the question 'do we fear, love and trust God more than anything else? Or are we relying on our reputation or our good works or our religiosity?'

See you at 11am. Please note that there's no lunch this week - stayed tuned for a HUGE weekend next weekend and remember that we've changed service time for the 18th - it will be 11am as well.

Here are the readings:

1 Kings 17:8-16 Elijah and the widow of Zarephath

Hebrews 9:24-28 Christ's sacrifice takes away sins

Mark 12:38-44 The widow's generous offering

Bless you!

Pastor Matt

Sunday 21st October - 8.30am

Service for this Sunday - 21st October - will begin at 8.30am and will be led by Pastor Graham Zweck due to pastor's attendance at the Victorian District Convention in Portland.

Here are the readings for your preparation:

Isaiah 53:4-12 The suffering servant

Hebrews 5:1-10 Jesus our great high priest

Mark 10:35-45 The request of James and John

Please remember that next week (28/10) is our celebration of the Longest Lutheran Lunch. Our service will be a celebration of the Reformation of the church with prayers for refugees and migrants and an African themed lunch to follow. Make sure you're there!

Blessings,

Pastor Matt

TIME CHANGE FOR THIS WEEK - 7th OCTOBER!

With daylight saving beginning this week, we made the decision that for 

this week only worship will begin at 5pm at St David's.

The readings for Sunday are:

Genesis 2:18-24 The creation of woman

Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12 God has spoken through his Son

Mark 10:2-16 Jesus teaches about divorce, and blesses children

You might also be interested to view this story from WIN news last Friday, reporting on the Police Remembrance service I led in my role as Police Chaplain:

God's peace,

Pastor Matt

Sunday 30th September - 11am

Service this Sunday will begin at 11am.

Here are the readings (and my apologies for a very short post!) 
 

Numbers 11:4-6,10-16,24-29 Moses chooses 70 leaders

James 5:13-20 Prayer offered in faith

Mark 9:38-50 Acting in Jesus' name; temptations to sin

If you're available, a reminder that on Friday 28th September at 11am I will be leading the annual National Police Remembrance Day service in my role as Police Chaplain. The service will be held at St Bredan's in Knight Street and will be followed by morning tea. All are welcome to come and support our local police members on this important day.

God's peace,

Pastor Matt

Sunday 23rd September - 11am

This Sunday worship will begin at 11am.

The gospel reading from Mark 9 records Jesus' second passion prediction in Mark's gospel and as usual, it is accompanied by teaching on discipleship. It's that uncomfortable passage that declares "Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all."

To emphasise his point, Jesus takes a little child and embraces him and declares the mystery that whoever welcomes a little one such as this, welcomes the Father and the Son.

How much trouble would we be in if our salvation depended on our ability to perfectly welcome and love and serve? Thanks be to God that our Lord Jesus - the first born Son of God - humbled Himself and became the very last to serve us and embrace us with his forgiving love poured out on the cross!

Service will be followed by our half yearly meeting - a great chance to catch up on all that is happening around our congregation. Please come along and see the plans for our new church, to hear about the proposed St Paul's African House and to be blown away by some other great news we've got to share!

God's peace,

Pastor Matt