Our worship centres around the celebration of the Lord’s Supper (Eucharist, Holy Communion)

It is fairly traditional Anglican in style based on A Prayer Book for Australia 1995

The prayer book provides us with a Liturgy which is a set form of words followed Sunday by Sunday. There are alternatives provided which are used from time to time.

Churches in our diocese vary as to the degree of freedom used in the way they worship.

The themes of our worship are based on the Church Year, an annual cycle of seasons and days commemorating the life, death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. This cycle is slightly different to the secular cycle in that it begins with the season of Advent which starts four weeks before Christmas. The first half of the year relates to various events of the revelation of Christ and finishes with Trinity Sunday.

The second half of the year, Sundays after Pentecost explore the teaching of Jesus in the Gospels as well as relevant New and Old Testament (for the Jewish people Tanakh) writings.

These Sunday readings are taken from a lectionary which relates the readings to the theme of the Sunday in the church year.

If you are interested in coming to know Christ then, in our tradition, sharing in the Worship Sunday by Sunday and experiencing the revelation of Christ in our worship is one of the most important ways.

Our Journey from Advent, focussing on the coming of Christ; Christmas, his birth, the Word becoming flesh, God becoming one of us; and then Epiphany, Christ’s manifestation to all people, has concluded with the celebration of Jesus’ transfiguration.

The Season of Lent

We, now, are in the season of Lent.

Lent begins with Ash Wednesday.

For many Christians around the world, it is preceded by Shrove Tuesday. A day to party and let go of the past before beginning the Lenten journey.

In Lent, we seek to imitate Jesus fasting in the dessert for forty days and nights. 

The themes of Lent are: Jesus’ death and resurrection; our life in Christ and we explore the mystery of our Baptism.  What it means for us to die with Christ in order to rise to new life with him.

The Journey, prior to Lent, through Advent, Christmas and Epiphany

Sunday 1st December, the first Sunday of Advent, was the beginning of a new church year. (See page 2 of our November Newsletter)

The Season of Advent focused on four weeks of preparation for our celebration of Christmas, the birth of Christ.  Advent is a season of anticipation and preparation, providing Christians with a time to direct hearts and minds “to Jesus’ ‘first coming’, as the child of Bethlehem, His ‘second coming’ at the end of the age, and His many comings in the events of everyday life.  Advent focused on four themes of HOPE, PEACE, JOY and LOVE (from page 4 of the November Newsletter)

Christmas

At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ: new beginnings, our birth, family; nurture and growth, personally, in Christ; God becomes human, the Word become flesh and dwelt among us.  We continue the theme of the presence of God.  We ask questions such as how can the eternal become finite?  How did and does the birth of Jesus change our human nature?  What does his birth mean for the whole of creation and all of human history? 

How do we grow in Christ? 

Christmas is also a time to particularly reflect upon the part of the Nicaean Creed, a basic summary of our faith, that speaks of Jesus true nature:

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,

the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father,

God from God, Light from Light,

true God from true God, begotten, not made,

of one being with the Father;

through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation

he came down from heaven,

was incarnate of the Holy Spirit

and the virgin Mary

and became truly human.

Christmas concludes with the celebration of the Epiphany which is the coming of the Wise men to worship Jesus (the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles). 

Epiphany

We reflect on ways that Christ is manifested in the world, in various religions and cultures, being mindful of how the wise men, through the intellectual culture of their society and aware of the expectations of the people of Israel for the coming of the Messiah, were led to Christ.

The first Sunday after Epiphany celebrates the baptism of Jesus. This is a pivotal revelatory moment where after Jesus is baptised by John the Baptist, as Matthew describes

‘And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

The baptism of Jesus leads us to reflect upon our baptism and what his baptism teaches us about the way we experience the Holy Spirit.

The season of Epiphany now concludes with the Transfiguration of Jesus and revealing to us the signs of a person fully indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

The Baptism and Transfiguration are given special focus as they not only help us to understand who Jesus is but they also show us something of the significance of our Baptism and who we are to become in Christ.

Pentecost 19th May 2024

The Congregation gathered at Pentecost. (A clearer picture than the slider)