I am with you always…

During the month of July, we will be looking at different types of prayer each Sunday. I have asked our team to preach on prayer in ways which are significant to them. This week, Graeme King will speak on Prayer as Thanksgiving. Next week Anne Cranwell will teach on Prayer for Inner Healing. I will preach on Deliverance in Prayer on 21^st July, and on the 28th John Rogers will speak on Praying with the Psalms. Hopefully this will be a time to learn and grow in our knowledge of prayer as communication and as a pathway for Holy Spirit’s healing and wholeness in our lives. As we think on thanksgiving this week, I would like to reflect on the place of thanksgiving in our lives in general. As we grow up, our parents teach us to say thank you for everything we receive. We learn that we mustn’t just snatch the thing offered, but to receive it with thanks. It takes time to make the connection between the compulsory words and the action, and between the action and the heart attitude required for us to be truly thankful. One of the most difficult things about thankfulness for me is when the gift is something I don’t want or like. It’s very hard to have an ‘attitude of gratitude’ when the thing I receive is less than I expected, not given with good grace, completely inappropriate, or perhaps something I am very unhappy about. Most of us can fixed grin our way through a thank you for a gift we don’t want. If we work at it, we can avoid sarcasm in accepting the gift given with little grace, and with practice we can keep a sense of humour when the gift is entirely inappropriate. But how do I give thanks for what is hard in my life? ‘In everything give thanks..’ says Paul – from jail. The key is not in pretending that what has happened is good. Many things are hurtful and wrong, and pretending doesn’t change that. No, instead I look to Jesus who brings all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purposes. I ask him to help me. I choose to trust him in my pain, and I thank him for being there. That small act of obedience brings light into my darkness every time. ‘I am with you always’ said Jesus, and He is. Do you believe him? Say thank you.

Janice

This Week

Regular Worship Times

Parish Contact Details

Notices:

For Your Diary..

Jumbunna Prayer Day Saturday 27th July 8am to 6pm at Glen Waverley Anglican Church. Join Janice in leading prayers 1.30 to 2pm.

National Grandparent Movement…

Started by the Rev Ian Barnett, an Anglican Evangelical minister. “What is the faith legacy we are leaving behind?” The National Grandparent Conference will be held on Sat 31st August at St Paul’s Castle Hill Sydney. The conference livestreams from 0900 to 1630 on the 31st. Six key speakers, plus interviews and worship music presented by City Alight. To attend the livestream more details can be obtained from Cheryl and Graeme King (magnum85100@gmail.com).

Op Shop…

We have had a notice in the pew sheet about our Op Shop for some time now. We are in real need of volunteers to assist us, especially on Fridays. At this stage the committee has decided to appeal for help once more, but without enough staff, the Op Shop cannot remain open on Friday mornings. At the moment Edna and Ellen are covering multiple shifts and we would like to relieve them of some of them. If you can spare some time to help, please see Edna South or another member of our Op Shop Committee: Vicki Brown, Lorraine Strickland, Richard Watson, Graeme and Cheryl King or Rev’d Janice. Thanks.

This Week’s Prayer Focus

In our country and the world:

• For those facing homelessness, hardship, anguish and despair amid rising costs.
• For all in Israel, Gaza, and Ukraine.
• For families affected by violence.
• For those affected by natural disasters in around the world.
• For King Charles III, the UK and the Commonwealth.
• For peace and unity in countries around the World.
• For aid agencies such as “Save the Children”, Oxfam, CARE, UNICEF, World Vision.

In our community:

• For teachers and students.
• For doctors, nurses, paramedics, Coast Guard, the CFA & SES.
• For local community outreach groups such as the Dromana Community House and “Food for All”.

In our Diocese and beyond:

• For Archbishop Geoffrey Smith’s ministry as Primate of Australia.
• For Archbishop Philip Freier’s ministry in the Diocese of Melbourne.
• For the ministry of Bishop Paul Barker in the Jumbunna Region and for Archdeacon Helen Phillips in the Frankston Archdeaconry. Give thanks that Archdeacon Helen is now well and beginning to return to work.
• In our Deanery, we pray for the Parish of St Andrew’s Somerville and their Vicar Chris Lynch.
• For the work of the Church Missionary Society and Wei-Han the Victorian Director.
• For Anna Radkovic our CMS Link Missionary.
• For Christian churches around the world to be free to worship and be witnesses of the love of God as shown through the coming of His Son.

In our Parish:

• For our leadership and ministry teams.
• For Rev’d Janice O’Gorman our Vicar.
• For the finances of our Parish.
• For our Parish, its people and those we reach out to every week.
• For the success of the new Family and Children’s Ministry.
• For the 9am at home prayer time for the Parish, Dromana & Mornington Peninsula.
• For our Op Shop staff and all who visit each week.
• For: Maggie Dodu, Chloe, Ted and Monica English, Joy Clayton, Jessica, Audrey, Joan R, Backy Cowie, Fred, Robert, Jan, David, Guy Fanning, Harry Patterson, Jen Watson, Bernice Lindsay, Mike Brown.
• Give thanks for the life of Margie Carey and pray for her family as they mourn.