17 May 2020

Christianity & Crisis

Church News

The Uniting Church in Australia

MINISTRY TEAM:

Minister of the Word / Team Leader: Rev Cameron McAdam

E: cameronmcadam@hotmail.com

P: 9787 1683 M: 0425 774 780

Playgroup Coordinator: Barbara Mort

E: ucame.playgroup@hotmail.com.au

P: 9787 1683

Youth Engagement Coordinator: Tim Gordon

E: tim.gordon@fusion.org.au

P: 0401 875 505

Pastoral Support: Shona Potts

E: ucame.pastoralcare@gmail.com

P: 0424 787 204

Communication & Administration: Sally Mullins

E: ucame@hotmail.com.au

P: 9787 1683

OUR VISION AND MISSION

Following Jesus and walking together, the Village Church

aspires to live God’s unconditional love. We live Christian faith with integrity

and meaning and, with a servant heart, we offer a place of welcome, care,

inclusion and healing.

MISSION:

We will live out our vision by:

• Following Jesus who lived with integrity, honesty and justice.

• Building community both within and beyond the church.

• Nurturing a questioning and living spirituality.

• Fostering an inclusive and welcoming spirit.

You can find us at:

fb.com/villagechurchmteliza @villagechurchmteliza

www.mtelizaunitingchurch.org.au

ORDER OF SERVICE

Christianity & Crisis

Sunday 17 May 2020

9:50am Livestream Service welcoming

SONG Christ be our light

WELCOME

PRAYERS

SONG Your grace and your hope

PERSONAL REFLECTION Sarah Last

READING Deuteronomy 15: 1-3, 7-11

REFLECTION Justice - Care for all

Quiet reflection and prayer

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

OFFERING PRAYER

SONG TIS 690 God of the poor

BLESSING

MUSIC

Sunday

May 17 10:00am Morning Service led by Rev Cam McAdam

Live streaming of service on Facebook

10:45am Morning tea catch ups via Zoom invitation

** Let Cam or Shona know to join a group

Monday

May 18

Tuesday

May 19

Wednesday

May 20 10:30am Men’s Coffee morning tea via Zoom invitation

** Advise Ken Sleep to join meeting

Thursday

May 21

Friday

May 22 7:00pm Village Youth Zoom catch up

led by Tim Gordon

Saturday

May 23

Sunday

May 24 10:00am Morning Service led by Rev Cam McAdam

Live streaming of service on Facebook

10:45am Morning tea catch ups via Zoom invitation

The Village Church Services www.facebook.com/villagechurchmteliza

WHAT’S COMING UP?

This week’s livestream service is supported by:

Personal reflection: Sarah Last

Bible reading:

Music: Margaret Brown, Andrew Stork & Lorraine Pritchard

Technical support: Tim Gordon

Flowers: Jennifer Collet

Facebook support: Steph Hill

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE WEEK THAT WAS ON

OUR SOCIAL MEDIA...

This Sunday in our livestream

service, Christianity & Crisis, our

focus will be Justice – Care for all.

We will be challenged by the

question…

What concrete actions could we

take to encourage a better

future world?

The theme for National Reconciliation

Week 2020 is ‘In This Together’. In light

of the current COVID-19 crisis, this

theme is more relevant than ever.

Let’s stand together to re-imagine our

nation and continue to pray, act,

and walk for Reconciliation.

“So may our wake-up call, our

experience of creation and its

beauty and wonder across this

time, encourage and drive us to

think, re-feel and revision the

place of humans in nature.

And may we see God’s creation,

ever unfolding...as a companion

with us.”

Cam McAdam

This week...with Cam

It feels like a lot has happened in this last week and as we prepare for Sunday.

This week we have seen the first tentative step to reduce restrictions and get

our community out and working again. For churches, restrictions have

changed for pastoral occasions like weddings and funerals, and a small

religious gathering can be held with 10 people present, providing a criteria is

met including social distancing, cleaning and recording certain information.

Whilst worship and church life are important, safety of our people and our

community is more important. For the Village Church, our facilities remain

closed, although our intention is to re-open the Church office from Tuesday 26

May, in line with the return to school for children in junior years. We will

however continue our live-stream worship and all our online activities for the

foreseeable future.

We will work towards having communion together via our live-stream service

at the beginning of June. Our Church Council will meet next week and begin

the detailed work of planning for the coming months, safety our main priority.

Also, this week, we have heard the devastating news of such significant job

losses across our country – news we are told that is likely to get worse.

As a church we will need to consider how we support our local community,

how we minister to families and individuals affected, and how we offer

spiritual and pastoral leadership at such a challenging time.

This Sunday we will continue our current preaching series, Christianity & Crisis,

the very timely theme being, ‘Justice – Care for all’.

Bible Study

Christianity & Crisis

Justice – Care for all

Welcome each other and share.

➢ Share experiences about what you are seeing in the community

currently. What are you experiencing?

➢ Has our community become more caring of people across this pandemic

time?

Reading Deuteronomy 15: 1-3, 7-11

➢ Take a moment to reflect on the passage as a group, what jumps out of

the text?

Some thoughts…

The essence of the book of Deuteronomy, as one writer suggests very simply,

‘is the worship of one God, and a humanitarian concern for the wellbeing of

the community – the hallmark of both Jewish and Christian religions.’

From the earliest and most ancient writings in scripture, there has been this

clear and present attitude toward people in need; an attitude that may

have diminished or been lost in legality by Jesus time, but present hundreds

before him.

In this law is an understanding that everything we have comes from God –

we don’t own it, but rather it is entrusted to us. There is encouragement to not

be hard hearted or tight-fisted toward the needy, but open handed, willing,

giving liberally, ungrudgingly, and generously, always concerned for the

wellbeing of our neighbour. This is at the very heart of who we are as Christian

people, the spirit of being generous to the poor permeates the whole

tradition and length of our faith, right back to the most ancient of times.

Question…

1. As people of God, drawing on our long-held faith traditions, how can we

be part of casting a vision for a way forward – post Covid-19?

2. What concrete actions could we take to encourage a better future

world?

Prayer

Spend time in prayer, holding your thoughts, and if in a group, your

conversation and time together, before God.

What’s been happening in the life of our

Church Community?

‘Sunday Selfies’…

It was fantastic to receive so

many photos from morning tea

groups getting together after our

livestream service last week. You

may even spot the beautiful

Mothers day flowers in one of the

photos which Ronda and Bill

Jenkins spoiled us with. A

magnificent addition to our

service.

There is no question there will be a

big cause for celebration when

we can all come together again

in person as a united church

community. Until this time, our

morning tea gatherings are one

great way to keep connected.

All happening in the Meneilly household

During this time of isolation, Eseta has

relished the opportunity to complete

some long time, planned patchwork. As

seen below, there is a baby's throw over

for Chris' name-sake nephew of the

Meneillys in Fiji, a doona cover for Ava,

and a throw-over using up all the

left-over pieces.

The family have also built a new chook

house and pen for three laying hens, and

even had a visit from a Kangaroo, who

was more frightened of the family, than

they were of him!

An update from the Pepperell’s during this time...

Some recent activities of Roger and Betty Pepperell during this period of

isolation (and for which they have been grateful), has included some walking

on the beach area in Safety Beach on a glorious

Tuesday afternoon, eating a lovely fish meal during

the week, and doing a 1000 jigsaw puzzle of a church

in Russia.

Men’s Zoom catch up...

The Men’s group enjoyed another good catch up on Wednesday morning.

There were 17 participants in all, with some only able to join for part of the

time.

Ian Johnston shared another new invention, ’The Ultra Lo-Tech Water

Detector’ which is also shared in Church News and there was plenty of jokes.

All welcomed the slight easing of restrictions, with isolation from family

members particularly hard on some.

Ladies Zoom Catch up...

This photo was taken from a recent ladies Zoom catch up. The group is

starting to build momentum, with a fortnightly catch up on a Saturday

afternoon.

At this stage, there are 15 on the

mailing list, although not everyone

can make the catch up each time.

The ladies are quite creative and

have enjoyed learning more about

each other.

Anyone interested in joining, can

contact Marilyn Mason.

Book Review & Recommendation

by Kate Driver

THIS IS GOING TO HURT Adam Kay

I listened to the audio version of this book, it

was narrated by the author and was

fantastic!

It is a memoir taken from Adam’s diary

entries as a junior doctor working in the NHS

in England.

It highlights the ridiculous expectations of

the junior doctors and goes through some

laugh out loud scenarios that

Adam encountered.

I found it to be a very enjoyable read and

have recommended it to friends in my

book club who have also enjoyed it!

Church Office hours update!

With some lessening of restrictions and with school children progressively

going back from Tuesday 26 May, the Church Office will also re-open from

26 May and the standard hours will apply:

Monday & Tuesday: 930am-12:30pm

Wednesday: closed

Thursday: 930am - 1:30pm

Friday: 9:30am - 2:30pm

As social distancing measures will continue, if possible, please contact the

church office in advance so we can maintain safe practises for everyone.

How is COVID isolation different from

other times of isolation?

An extract from Jenny Vass’ thought provoking reflection

Sunday 7 May

“So how is COVID isolation different?

Obviously, it is on a much larger scale, and doesn’t only affect us, but is on a

global scale. Also, many of us are well, which makes the enforced restrictions

difficult for some, and causes hardship for others.

So how should we respond?

Use the mental resources you have built up over a lifetime to relieve yourself

of boredom and frustration of a monotonous routine, and reach out to others

through various outlets to keep yourself connected with friends and loved

ones, sharing the wonderful new things you have discovered, or returned to

now that you have time.

Take the things we can do to not only benefit yourself, but others as well. I

am not a crafty creative person, but I do find solace outdoors, and am

grateful that we have been allowed this freedom locally. When walking I am

aware of heightened senses, the fresh smell of newly mown lawn, the

fragrance of trees after rain, the uniqueness of creation around us. Feel the

roughness of the ironbark and the smoothness of a gum, rejoice in the

emerging fungi heralding the beginning of a new season, celebrate the

freedom of the soaring birds entertaining us with their bird song. I take photos

as I walk or from the garden to share with others not able to get out. While

we older folk can’t yet go further afield to practically help, we can give to

organisations and the church so they can continue to support others hurting

at this time.

This is a time for practical faith. Among some of mum’s things I came across

an order of service celebrating the 20th anniversary of combined

Presbyterian and Methodist worship in Casterton. On the back they had

printed John Wesley’s Rules for Christian Living and I will leave you with his

words”.

“Do all the good you can,

By all the means you can,

In all the ways you can,

In all the places you can,

To all the people you can,

As long as ever you can.”

Can you guess who has just shared their 50th Wedding

Anniversary in our congregation?

On Saturday 16 May, two very special members of our congregation

celebrated a wonderful milestone of 50 years of marriage. Can you guess

who this couple is? We have it on good account they have not changed

too much from this photo…

Baked Brie and Goats

Cheese

This baked cheese meal can be

enjoyed with some things to dip and

add. The recipe is adapted slightly

from the one that came with the

cheese baking container (with lid, not

pictured).

Ingredients and Method:

• 1 piece of King Island triple cream

brie (it was oblong rather than

round, so it didn’t fill the

container). You could also use camembert…

• Put slivers of garlic and rosemary into the top of the brie.

• Add a couple of tablespoons of white wine.

• I diverted from the recipe by adding goat curd into the spaces on

the sides of the oblong brie, and then stuff some halved cherry to-

matoes in as well. So we ended up with a goaty cheese sauce

around the brie.

• Back to following the recipe, I chopped a red onion, cooked it slowly

in butter and then added 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar. This was served as

a side add-on rather than on the dish.

• Bake the cheese for 15 mins at 175C.

• Afterwards I sprinkled on some good quality local smoked bacon

(Kanmantoo), cooked and blitzed to a crumb.

• We had cheesy sticks and bread to dip into it, some torn up

flatbread, the caramelised onion, olives, fresh cherry tomatoes.

Rich? Yes? Yummy? Yes. Will we do this again? Yes!

Favourite Recipes…

With extra time on our hands and more people cooking at home, we thought

it would good to share some favourite recipes.

This week, Craig Mitchell, the Presbytery Minister—Church Development for

Port Phillip East Presbytery, has shared some recipes with us. Craig is a

fantastic cook and has even established his own website of recipes:

craigcooks.com.au. The recipes he has shared with us are some of his

favourite, simpler recipes. For anyone more adventurous, Craig has lots of

other recipes on his website and many with quite a few ingredients.

Broccoli and Cheese Soup

Here’s a tasty and simple soup

adapted from a recipe by Charlotte

Binns-McDonald in Delicious magazine.

Ingredients (Serves 6)

• 1 large brown onion or 1 leek,

diced

• 2 medium potatoes, peeled and

diced

• 3 cloves garlic – diced

• 750g broccoli – chopped (but

shave some tiny bits off the top and

save them to top the soup at the end)

• 6-7 cups of chicken stock

• 1 large handful of spinach leaves – chopped

• 3-4 wasabi leaves – chopped (optional – but we have them in the

garden!)

• 2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

• 2/3 cup grated cheddar

• 2/3 cup of cream

• 1 cup corn kernels

• 4 rashers good quality bacon – fried and diced

• 1 large chicken breast – cooked and shredded

• Cook the onion or leek gently in butter for 5 mins, then add the garlic

and potato cook for a few minutes.

Method:

• Add the broccoli and just enough chicken stock to cover. Cook for

at least 20 mins or until soft.

• Add the chopped leaves and stir in for a couple of minutes.

• Allow to cool, then blitz with a food processor.

• Reheat soup and add cheeses, then cream. Be careful not to boil it.

• Season with sea salt and cracked black pepper.

• Serve sprinkled with reserved broccoli tops, corn, chicken and

bacon.

Simple, easy and tasty.

Ultra Lo-Tech Water Detector By Ian Johnston

This is an ultra-lo-tech invention for detecting indoor water leaks in places

hard to see, especially on floors under dishwashers and washing machines in

kitchen and laundry.

A malt-o-milk biscuit is inserted under the baseboard of the detector and

harnessed to a rubber-band powered mechanism applying mild bending

stress to the biscuit. When the floor is flooded the biscuit gets wet, becomes

soggy, and suffers catastrophic loss of tensile strength, causing biscuit

fracture, retraction of the tensioning mechanism and the switching on of an

alarm.

(Research in biscuitology reveals that Malt-o-milk biscuits are the “gold

standard” for this invention. Tim-tams are waterproof, custard-creams have

excessive section-modulus, and slimming wafers that look and taste like

polystyrene are of no mechanical use at all, except as a digestible platform

for the eating of thick layers of chocolate fudge.)

Repeated false alarms may be an indication that the structural integrity of

biscuits is being compromised by hungry mice.

Untitled Artwork

by Chris Tompkins

A work in water colour and

coloured pencil

This artwork is a response to the

burn-off of plant matter and

depicts the pile of ash with the

last flames. Collected, charred

items are around and in the ash

and the viewing perspective is

from above, looking down.

I started by rubbing the actual

ash onto the paper, then

proceeded with paint and

pencil. This gives the piece an

authenticity to the burnt material.

As I progressed I found that I had

drawn a cross and that my

subconscious thought had

brought the Easter message of

the Resurrection to the forefront

of my brain. I added the 3 nails nearby and diagonally opposite through the

flames, angel wings, as the angel had appeared to Christ’s tomb after Christ

rose from the dead.

So the painting/ drawing depicted two stories. One of the powdery residue

from a burn-off, being the destruction of burning. Secondly, of Christ’s

Resurrection.

Some words people have used as reaction to viewing the painting are:

explosive, symbolic, shattering, world swirling in turmoil, passion, intense,

cleansing, crosses to bear, weapons, destruction and the Phoenix. Thank you

to everyone for the comments.

Upon thinking about the Phoenix, which was a mythical bird of great beauty

and only one of a kind, living about 500 years in the Arabian wilderness, I

could see there was yet another story here. The Phoenix flew into a funeral

pyre and burnt itself, going up in flames.

After it’s death and destruction, it rose from the ashes in the freshness of youth.

A cyclic regeneration or a born again experience.

Christ and the Phoenix are both symbolic of immortality.

Making an offering...

If you would like to make a financial offering to the church, here's 2 options:

• You can make a direct deposit into the Village Church’s

General Statement Account: BSB 633 000 Account No: 143 632 834

• Another option now available will be to deliver your offering to the

church office (using the inside office mailbox to provide some anonymity)

on a Friday between 9:30 & 2. Please note that with this exception, the

church facilities remain closed, and we ask anyone dropping off an

offering to respect the required social distancing restrictions in place.

We hope this helps open an opportunity for people to make an offering to

the church at this time. It will certainly help the church.

Cameron

Are you interested in a Jigsaw?

A member of our church community has wonderful, very

funny, 1,000 piece jigsaws, which they would be happy to

donate if anyone is feeling lonely or bored and/ or likes

colour, shape, form ,pattern and humour. Please contact Cameron or Shona

if you’re interested.

Mandatory ZOOM updated required by all users!

As part of Zoom’s security updates, they are requiring all users to update to

Zoom 5.0 by May 30th. Failure to complete this update will mean you will not

be able to connect to Zoom meetings. You can complete the update

straight away by visiting https://zoom.us/download.

Please note that this advice applies to everyone who joins the meeting.