Skip to main content

Life wasn’t meant to be easy, so it is said. Some days are certainly easier than others and there are weeks, months and sometimes years which can be really tough for some. Growing up I remember some of my great grandmother’s stories of life growing up in a wattle and daub hut in the Mallee country. She and her family had some very hard times, living through much hardship, like the fact that she was only one of two children out of thirteen born to her mother who survived to adulthood. Yet she had a strong faith. As I’ve continued to work both in nursing and in ministry I am often confronted with the deep suffering of many. No life isn’t easy, and I don’t believe it has ever been since the fall. Genesis makes that fairly clear. So what do our Sunday scriptures have to say about this? I believe what happened to Jesus at Nazareth gives us a good insight into what it was like for him some days. This story in Luke 4 is of Jesus coming to his local synagogue in his home town and reading out Isaiah 60:1 which begins ‘the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me.’ Having read out the whole verse Jesus said ‘this has been fulfilled today’ and sat down. The people got upset because they didn’t see him as anyone special, certainly not the Messiah, after all they grew up with Jesus, and so they took him out to the cliff near the town to throw him off it. The interesting thing is that Jesus just turned around and walked straight through that angry mob and left. From this scripture we learn that Jesus knows what it’s like to be rejected. He knows what it’s like to have the people you most want to support you push you away. He knows what it’s like to have your life threatened and he also knows that his Father is with him and is protecting him in the middle of this incident. Jeremiah is given a calling from God which sounds good but is quite scary. He is not only to build up nations but also tear them down. He really had a very hard time in following this prophetic calling, but God had his back and looked after him the whole way through it. Does this resonate with you? Have you been/felt rejected? If you have, please know that you are loved. You are not a reject. Jesus understands and he is with you.

Janice


This Week:

 

SUNDAY: Holy Communion, 8.45am
Family Service, 10.30am
Healing Service, 6.00pm
MONDAY: Prayer for the Parish, St Marks, 9.15am
Contact: Janice
Parish Council Prayer and Planning Day, St Mark’s, 10am – 4pm 
Contact: Janice
TUESDAY:  Zoom Prayer Meeting, 1.30pm (On Hold Till Advised)
Contact John (0421 426 156)
Zoom Bible Study Group, 7.00pm
Contact: Graeme (0490 664 843)
WEDNESDAY: Holy Communion Service – 10.00am
Bible Study Group St Mark’s, 11.00am
Contact: Janice
Cuppa, Craft & Chat Group.
Contact Robyn (0409 425 044)
THURSDAY: Men’s Coffee & Chat, Blackthorn Café, 10.00am (On Hold Till Advised)
Contact Steve (0437 984 679), Keith T (0413 319 327)
FRIDAY: Janice’s DAY OFF
SATURDAY: Men’s Breakfast, St Mark’s Narthex, 8.30am
Contact: Steve (0437984679) Keith T (0413 319 327)
NEXT SUNDAY: Australia Day Combined Service Holy Communion, 9.30am
in the front garden of the church (not on the foreshore)

Regular Worship Times

SUNDAY: 8.45am Holy Communion
10.30am Family Worship with Children’s Ministry
(Holy Communion – 1st Sundays)
6.00pm Healing Service – 1st Sundays
WEDNESDAY: 10.00am Holy Communion

Parish Contact Details

Monitored contact points 0493 280 691
contact@stmarksdromana.org.au
Parish Web Addresses www.stmarksdromana.org.au
Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/stmarksdromana
Pastoral Care Coordinators Kevin and Anne Cranwell (0438 234 457 Kevin)

Notices:

Thank You…

Thank you to all who made it possible to have our outdoor Australia Day service.

Celebration and thanksgiving for Fay Delaney…

This Sunday between the services, at 10.05am, we will be holding a short service of celebration and thanksgiving for Fay Delaney’s life. Before she died, Fay asked me to promise that I would hold a celebration service for her at St Mark’s. She was going to her Lord Jesus, and she wanted us to rejoice with her, so I want to honour that promise, and I’m aware that some of our parishioners would also like to do this. Fay asked that I make sure I wear pink for joy, and I invite those wishing to attend to do so too. Our service will finish by 10.25 so that the 10.30 service can begin on time. If anyone has a favourite photo or a story they would like to share about Fay, please bring it along. For any further details please see me. Rev’d Janice.

Hope25 Zoom Prayer and Share…

(previously St Mark’s Zoom Prayer Meeting) will recommence on Tuesday 4th February at 1.30pm and will focus on preparation for Hope25.

Men’s Breakfast…

The next men’s breakfast will be on Saturday 8th February at 8.30am in the narthex. Egg and bacon roll, coffee and fellowship. “Two minute testimony”. $7. (Gluten free bacon. Please BYO GF bread if you require it). Contact Steve Parkinson 0437984679
Save the Date: 8th April – Speaker will be Nathan Kim.

Harvest Festival & Shrove Tuesday Celebrations…

Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Meal) – 4 March. Harvest Services – 30 March (usual service times).


This Week’s Prayer Focus

In our country and the world:

  • For those affected by the current challenging weather conditions in Australia.
  • For all women in Afghanistan now banned from hearing each others voices.
  • For those facing homelessness, hardship, anguish and despair amid rising costs.
  • For all in Israel, Gaza, and Ukraine and Myanmar.
  • 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 Archdeacon Rev’d Sam Bleby, in the Frankston Archdeanery.
  • In our Deanery, we pray for the parish of Sorrento & Rye and their Vicar Fr. Nicholas Wallace.
  • For the work of the Church Missionary Society and Wei-Han the Victorian Director.
  • For Anna Radkovic our CMS Link Missionary in Watamu, Kenya.
  • 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.
  • 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 next Alpha program, the leaders and all who will attend.
  • 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 all members of the newly elected Parish Council.
  • For Hope25. That the Good News of Jesus will be known in the community of Dromana.
  • For Nikki, Jason, Bernadette & family, Noel and family, Rhiannon, Richard, Pat, Lorna & Peter, Keith S, Harry, Jen, Mike, Chloe, Ted, Monica, Jessica, Audrey, Backy, Fred, Robert, Jan, David, Guy..