The Lord is faithful and good…

Pentecost 5

We’ve been following Abraham and Sarah as they navigated life with a promise of God which took time to come to fruit. They got a bit shaky in the waiting and tried to solve the problem themselves, but God still came through. We continue today to learn how to live by faith. We have learned that God’s promises will always come through, that we need to seek the Lord before trying to make it happen ourselves and hold the line if the Lord doesn’t give us the go ahead. We have learned that even when we do push into our own solutions, God will be gracious and still fulfill his promises because He is God and will be faithful to himself whether we are faithful or not, but we may lose what we thought we gained by doing it our own way. In Genesis 22 God speaks to Abraham and asks him to take Isaac up on Mount Moriah and sacrifice him there. Now Abraham has learned the lesson. He knows that he must obey God, and he also knows that God always fulfills his promises. The promise that Isaac will be Abraham’s heir and will be father to many means Isaac needs to reach adulthood, so a command to sacrifice him must have some other outcome, but it must be obeyed. Abraham therefore takes Isaac, his only son and heir, and heads off to Mount Moriah with all the things he needs for a sacrifice with Isaac. As they went, Isaac consistently asked where the sacrifice is. There should be an animal with them and there is none. Abraham said, ‘The Lord will provide it’ believing that God knows what he is doing but not wanting to scare his son. All the way to Moriah, up the mountain to the place of sacrifice he climbed. Then came the test of how completely he was prepared to follow through in faith. At the last moment God stopped Abraham and provided a ram instead. Is God cruel? No, he was setting the understanding that a life of true faith will require our everything. The call is to choose to believe the Lord is good, even if it doesn’t look that way. There may be a ‘ram in the bushes’, there may not. Either way, the Lord is faithful and good, and asks us to trust him to bring his best every time.

Janice

This Week:

Regular Worship Times

Parish Contact Details

Save The Date:

Notices:

Craft Group

Due to school holidays there will be no craft group on 1st and 8th of July and no Thursday bible study on 2nd and 9th July.

Op Shop

If you have a 1/2 a day spare once in a while and would like to assist us in the shop, we have a variety of ways in which you can help out including : Tip Runs , working B’s. Weekly sorting, cleaning, sewing counting jigsaw pieces!, or going on the shop roster once a month. Every little helps and we would love to hear from you.

Vicki. 0425770197.

Can You Help

We are again putting carry bags in the Samaritan’s Purse boxes this year. Could you please look through your fabric box and see if you have any pieces you could donate. The fabric pieces need to be a minimum of 50cm X 85cm of light weight cotton in cheery prints. They can be given to Edna or put in the box in the narthex.

Save The Date!

I know this feels awfully early but our Parish Fete will be held on Saturday 5th December so it’s time to get those plants and craft projects going. It will be nice and close to Christmas so Christmas presents will be on people’s agenda. Put the date in your diary and plan to be part of the fun.

Prayer Time At The Cathedral: Wednesday 15th July (7:00pm – 8:30pm)

We are warmly invited you to join The Archbishop (Dr Ric Thorpe) for an evening of prayer for the life and mission of our Diocese. This is a moment for us to come together before God: to pray for our churches, parishes and communities, to ask for the renewing work of the Spirit, and to seek God’s leading for the future He is calling us into. Together, we will seek God’s leading, pray for renewal, and listen for what the Spirit is saying to the Church. The evening will include gathered worship and space to pray across the Cathedral. Food trucks will be available in the Cathedral car park from 6:00pm, with time to eat before the gathering begins. Families are very welcome to attend. There is no cost to attend, but registration is essential as numbers at the Cathedral are limited. We have 4 spaces allocated to us and those interested should contact Keith Thomas to arrange registration to attend.

This Week’s Prayer Focus

In our country and the world:

• For de-escalation of the Middle East war.
• For the people of Israel and Iran and Middle East countries.
• For the victims and those who are mourning after the Bondi terrorist attack.
• For all needing support following home invasions and all other violent attacks.
• For Government action to address the out-of-control protests in Melbourne.
• For the Government plans to address the rise of antisemitism in Australia.
• For families suffering as a result of violence and home invasions.
• For those facing homelessness, hardship, anguish and despair amid rising costs.
• For all in Israel, Gaza, and Ukraine and Myanmar.
• 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 Melbourne Archbishop-elect Right Reverend Dr Richard (Ric) Thorpe as he prepares to move from London to Melbourne.
• For Archbishop Geoffrey Smith’s ministry as Primate of Australia.
• 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 Keiron, Vicar of Flinders/Balnarring.
• 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 the success of our building permit application.
• For our Parish, its people and those we reach out to every week.
• For the success of the new Beachside Youth program.
• For the Alpha program, the leaders and all who will attend.
• For the 9am at home prayer time for the Parish, Dromana & Mornington Peninsula.
• For all members of the Parish Council.
• That the Good News of Jesus will be known in Dromana.
• For Doris B, Ellen, Ted & Monica, Lorna, Louise, Jen, TJ and family, Karen, Mary, Jan K, David, Belinda, Joan R, Robyn, Phillip, Nikki, Jason, Rhiannon, Richard, Pat, Keith S, Harry, Mike, Chloe, Jessica, Audrey, Backy, Fred, Robert.