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St Michael’s is a unique church. We are proud of our independent spirit; seeking continually to discover new ways to understand faith and to demonstrate it in our lives, and in the heart of the city.

As part of the Uniting Church in Australia, St Michael’s is committed to involvement in social and national affairs. We hold foundational Christian values of the importance of every human being, the need for integrity in public life and concern for the welfare of the whole human race irrespective of race, creed, gender, sexuality, status or age.

Chair of Congregation: Ian Smith

Church Council Chair: Laura Beckett

Treasurer: Ian Cox

Secretary: Maree McDonald

Deanery I: Household

Dean: Peter Anderson

Deputy Dean: Jack Morgan

Deanery II: Church Services

Dean: Graeme Adamson

Deputy Dean: Albert Phillips

Deanery III: Contact and Care

Dean: Lyndell O’Brien

Deputy Dean: Joy Arnot

Deanery IV: Programs

Dean: Lorraine Woolley

Deputy Dean: Val Gill

Culture of Safety Contact Person

(Keeping Children Safe)

Val Gill

Organist & Manager of Music

Rhys Boak

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St Michael’s is a vibrant, progressive, inclusive church with a long tradition of nurturing the

spiritual well-being of the human person and working for the common good in society.

♥ Our buildings may be closed, but our hearts are open. ♥

During the COVID-19 virus pandemic, we are offering Sunday Gatherings online – Reflections

by our minister Rev Dr Margaret Mayman; biblical and contemporary readings from

congregation members; beautiful music by organist, Rhys Boak and guest musicians; and

prayers for these challenging times.

A video of this service will be available on the website and YouTube on Sunday. http://www.stmichaels.org.au/

https://www.youtube.com/user/StMichaelsChurch/videos

Christa/community – in the theology of Rita Nakashima Brock.

“In using Christa, instead of Christ, I am using a term that points away from the sole identification of Christ with Jesus. In combining it with community, I want to shift the focus of salvation away from heroic individuals, male or female….Hence what is truly revealing of divine incarnation and saving power in human life, must reside in connectedness.”

“Emmaus” by Filipino artist Emmanuel Garibay http://mannygaribay.com

I want to grasp the freedom of progressive spirituality to reimagine Christ as Christa/Community and in doing so to name the liberation of women and queers, outsiders and refugees, Indigenous peoples and the earth itself, as part of the work of resurrection.

– Margaret Mayman, presentation at Inspiracy, Newcastle, October 2016.

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Welcome to St Michaels Uniting Church online gathering for the 3rd Sunday of the Season of Easter. I’m Margaret Mayman, minister at St Michael’s. Wherever you have come from, wherever you are going to; whatever you believe, whatever you do not believe; you are welcome.

At St Michael’s we acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, traditional owners of the land on which our church stands.

Today we also acknowledge other Indigenous People on whose land you and others who are participating in this gathering live.

We honour their elders past and present and emerging, and with Indigenous people we pray for justice for the people and for the land.

Today our Easter story telling takes us on a journey, on the road to Emmaus, of despair transformed into delight, as the Christ is made known in bread broken and shared.

Today as we tell the story of the Risen One who greeted the beloved community with the words, “Peace be with you” we acknowledge another story that shapes our culture, bound up in the remembering that is ANZAC Day.

It is my hope that being connected, as people of Spirit, will sustain us in the uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic, moving us beyond the necessity of social distancing into the grace of spacious connecting, in which love and compassion are shared.

In a world of many tears we search each day for markers of hope: for the small unexpected signs of light and love; for the quiet assurance that goodness is planted more deeply than all that is wrong.

Christ has risen while earth slumbers, Christ has risen where hope died, as he said and as he promised, as we doubted and denied. Let the moon embrace the blessing; let the sun sustain the cheer; let the world confirm the rumour: Christ is risen, God is here!

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Christ has risen for the people whom he died to love and save; Christ has risen for the women bringing flowers to grace his grave. Christ has risen for disciples huddled in an upstairs room. He whose word inspired creation can’t be silenced by the tomb.

Christ has risen to companion former friends who fear the night, sensing loss and limitation where their faith had once burned bright. They bemoan what is no longer, they expect no hopeful sign till Christ ends their conversation, breaking bread and sharing wine.

Christ has risen and for ever lives to challenge and to change all whose lives are messed or mangled, all who find religion strange. Christ is risen, Christ is present, making us what he has been – evidence of transformation in which God is known and seen.

John Bell (1949-) and Graham Maule (1958-2019) Tune: Blaenwern

William Penfro Rowlands (1860–1937)

God of love and peace, You travel with us; And in our travelling We struggle to shed our fears. Our hearts have not yet reached a trusting openness and we fail to recognize your presence in the stranger in our midst. God of love and peace, in our utterly divided world. We have not always loved our neighbour as ourselves. We have not always lived as people of faith.

A time of silent reflection

In Easter, we are reminded that the Sacred invites us to be people of love; to walk not in fear, but in that trusting openness which comes as a gift to the human heart from the heart of the Divine.

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Remembering Jesus, who showed us the Way, we pray together: God, you are life for us, holy be your name. Your new day come, your will be done, on earth as in your vision. Give us this day our bread for the morrow; and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Strengthen us in the time of test, and deliver us from evil. For the power and the splendour

and the fulfilment are yours, now and forever. Amen.

May the peace of Divine Presence be with you! And also with you!

People are invited to send peaceful thoughts to members of our community.

When I am laid in earth – Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

Though Henry Purcell only lived to the age of 36, he has earned a place as one of the most celebrated English composers. Purcell began composing at the age of 9, and went on to become the organist of Westminster Abbey.

Max Riebl (Countertenor) and Rose Riebl (Piano)

Yesterday was ANZAC day. A day to grieve lives lost in war. It is a complex day made more so this year by the limitations that the pandemic has placed on public gatherings.

For many Australians and New Zealanders Anzac Day has become a celebration of national identity. Questioning this understanding is considered disrespectful and inappropriate, and yet it is worth questioning out of respect for the dead and out of hope for a peaceful future.

On the day after Anzac Day 2020, in the context of a Christian community, I remember with respect and grief those who died in that senseless and bloody battle – Turks and Anzacs. And all the bloody battles that took young lives since then. I think of my great uncle, Robert Hugh McPhail, who was killed on the Western front in France, two months before the end of the First World War.

I remember the conscientious objectors who, for religious or philosophical reasons, refused to fight; including Christians pacifists, imprisoned or tortured by the state.

I remember those who return from war, physically and mentally, spiritually and emotionally harmed by the experience, and the enduring impact of war on their families.

I think about Brian, the man who lived on the Pitt Street Church steps for a year in 2016, an army medic traumatised in the first gulf war. An alcoholic veteran, homeless on Anzac Day.

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Our hymn “Honour the dead” captures with respect and sadness, and yet with hope, the complexities of our remembering.

Honour the dead, our country’s fighting brave, honour our children left in foreign grave, where poppies blow and sorrow seeds her flowers, honour the crosses marked forever ours.

Weep for the places ravaged by our blood, weep for the young bones buried in the mud, weep for the powers of violence and greed, weep for the deals done in the name of need.

Honour the brave whose conscience was their call, answered no bugle, went against the wall, suffered in prisons of contempt and shame, branded as cowards, in our country’s name.

Weep for the waste of all that might have been, weep for the cost that war has made obscene, weep for the homes that ache with human pain, weep that we ever sanction war again.

Honour the dream for which our nation bled, held now in trust to justify the dead, honour their vision on this Anzac Day: peace known in freedom, peace the only way.

Words: Shirley Murray (1931-2020) Tune: ANZAC

Colin Gibson (1933- )

Now on that same day two of the disciples were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened.

While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.

And he said to them, "What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?" They stood still, looking sad.

Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?"

He asked them, "What things?" They replied, "The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place.

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Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that Jesus was alive.

Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see Jesus."

Then he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared!

Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?"

Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, Jesus interpreted to them the things in the scriptures that referred to the Messiah.

As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, "Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over." So he went in to stay with them.

When he was at the table with them, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized Jesus who vanished from their sight.

They said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?"

That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together.

They were saying, "Christ has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!"

Then they told what had happened on the road, and how they had come to know Jesus in the breaking of the bread.

For the stories of Jesus and the beloved community of friends. We give thanks.

"Christa of the Red Dress – after Emmanuel Garibay’s Emmaus” by Nicola Slee.

Christa of the low-cut red dress the bare arms the fine boned, olive features of the laughing eyes the open mouth the long, gesticulating arms

I want to sit with you for a long time like your companions do in their ordinary, working clothes eating and drinking in some corner of a favourite club where the lights are muted and the colours warm

Everyone is talking at once throwing back their heads and laughing yet listening to each other too eyes and hands eager to connect

It doesn’t matter how or why you’ve returned to us nor that no one knows who you are It only matters that we are here, now

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caught up together in wild abandon in this unlikely inn of happiness.

For the Word that was in the beginning for the Word that invites and inspires, for the Word embodied in us,

We give thanks.

God, turn our grieving into grace: another way of being, learning what others have to face, another way of seeing; God, by the sharing of the pain, lift up the stone, lift up the stone, lift up the stone that weighs us down.

Grow in these dark resistant fears the seedlings of compassion, draw from this spring of helpless tears a love that you would fashion, till, through the anguish of today, hope takes us on, hope takes us on, hope takes us on another way.

Words: Shirley Murray (1931-2020) Tune: Solomon’s Memory, Ian Render

Gracious God, we carry with us the stories of our fellow travellers who have experienced loss and heart-break. We pray for friend and stranger alike.

We offer our prayers for those who have been betrayed by family, friends, or trusted institutions. Hear our prayers for peace and restoration where trust and relationships have been broken.

We offer our prayers for those who do not share in the bounty of the earth,

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those who do not have enough while others have so much, more than enough.

We pray for generous hearts and for open hands.

We seek insight and wisdom, to recognise the Sacred in unexpected people and places.

May Divine Love remind us that we are wounded healers, even when weeping ourselves; bearers of justice even when we are overwhelmed; witnesses of hope even when we are struggling.

May our prayers stay with us in the season of resurrection, and stir us to make our dreams real.

Amen.

For Light still shines, illumining our days as walk together in it. And in the walking we remember and celebrate the miracle and wonder of life – and the unfolding and surprising purposes of God at work in the world and in us. May God be with us in every footstep, Christ be known when we share bread and the Spirit touch our hearts in gentle gladness.

Amen.

Nimrod from The Enigma Variations - Edward Elgar (1857-1934)

Elgar's Enigma variations are amongst his earliest orchestral works. Nimrod is number 9 of the 14 variations. Elgar dedicated the piece to "my friends pictured within" and in the score each variation is prefaced with either a nickname or initials, a clue to the identity of the friend depicted. Nimrod is dedicated to Augustus J. Jaeger, Elgar's best friend. The name of the variation cleverly refers to Nimrod, the Old Testament patriarch who was described as a mighty hunter. The name Jaeger is also the German word for hunter. This individual variation has become famous in its own right becoming a firm part of the organist's repertoire even though it was originally written for orchestra.

Rhys Boak (Organ)

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People have been asking how they can support the mission and ministry of St Michael’s when they are not able to make their offerings at church on Sunday. A ‘Supporting Us’ button has been added to the St Michael’s website. We are very grateful for donations that have already been received in the last week from members and from the wider audience of people who are appreciating our online videos. If you would like to contribute, you can make an offering through the website by credit card or use online banking. A downloadable donation form is also available. Thank you!

The online banking details are:

St Michaels Uniting Church

BSB: 083004

A/C: 515113338

"Christa of the Red Dress – after Emmanuel Garibay’s Emmaus” by Nicola Slee in Seeking the Risen Christa, SPCK 2011.

Hymns are printed and streamed with permission.

Church Copyright License (CCL): 261070 and Church Streaming License (CSL): 569311

Max Riebl is an acclaimed countertenor, who has performed around the world with the La Cetra Baroque Orchestra, Pinchgut Opera, Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Vienna Chamber Opera, London Handel Orchestra, Basel Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Victoria. He is currently a principal artist with The Song Company. As a soloist he regularly performs at the Melbourne Recital Centre, Hamer Hall and Sydney’s City Recital Hall. Career highlights include performances at the Vienna Concert House, Musikverein and the Royal Albert Hall.

He has undertaken a masters of baroque performance at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, with Professor Gerd Türk. During this time he sang at the Basel Theatre and mentored and performed with early music masters Andrea Marcon and Jörg Andreas Bötticher. He studied voice with long time teacher Dermot Tutty in Melbourne and Silvia Purcar in Vienna. He attended middle-school at the Vienna Musikgymnasium. During this time, he sang in the Rene Clemencic Consort and became a principal artist with the Vienna Chamber Opera.

Max is a laureate of many vocal competitions: winner of the Herald Sun Aria, the Australian Singing Competition, the Royal Philharmonic Aria and finalist in both the Chicago Classical Singer Competition and London Handel Competition.

His repertoire spans from the renaissance to the contemporary, with particular focus on baroque performance and style. It includes many of the great works of Monteverdi, Schütz, Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Purcell, Pergolesi, Mozart, Schubert and Britten.

Max regularly features in festivals across Australia including the Adelaide Festival, the Adelaide and Melbourne Fringe Festivals and the Melbourne Cabaret and Summer Sessions Festivals. He has curated and written a number of unique, contemporary shows including ‘Hard to Handel,’ ‘the Great Pretender’ and ‘Bach to the Future’ which bring semi-staged baroque arias and contemporary ballads together in unique venues across Australia.

““Divinely bright and fluid countertenor” Opera Chaser ”Sweet, lush and sumptuously smooth. His coloratura is both agile and beautiful” Limelight Magazine ”Soaring, mellifluous, superbly controlled tone” Sydney Morning Herald

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”Other worldly” Classikon ”Absolutely striking” Weekend Notes ”Extraordinary athleticism and dynamic range” Sounds Like Sydney ”Unmatched by anyone in my experience except, perhaps, the great Andreas Scholl” Leo Schofield ”Exquisite tone and agility.” the Conversation”

Rose Riebl is a Melbourne based pianist, composer and producer. She began learning piano at five, and was competing and performing a few years later, while her legs were still too short to touch the ground. At 14 she moved to Vienna to accept a place at Vienna Conservatorium: here she spent time performing, competing and exploring her European roots. Following her return to Australia Rose continued performing and studying at the Australian National Academy of Music, and in the years following continued to study and live in New York, London and Sydney; using the time abroad to travel wide. While in London she completed a literature degree: books and stories have been a major influence on current work in composing for moving image and solo projects. Rose has performed throughout Europe and Asian, performing in some of the leading concert halls of China. Her self-produced shows Indigo Atlas and Antigone Reimagined both sold out at Melbourne Music Week (2017 and 2018) and her immersive performance Nightsong, which premiered at Melbourne Fringe Festival (2017) was awarded ‘Best Music Performance’ of the festival. She has composed for short films which have premiered at Sydney Film Festival, South by Southwest, as well as a feature documentary which premiered at Rotterdam International Film Festival in 2018. While still regularly performing classical repertoire, Rose’s major focus is on composing for moving image and her recordings and live performances of minimalist, ambient piano music

The members of the Contact and Care Team are available to talk with, or assist people, who are experiencing difficult times during the COVID-19 pandemic (or for any other reason). If you would like to speak with a member of Contact and Care, please contact the office and leave your phone number or email address. All matters remain confidential. Lyndell O’Brien - Dean of Contact and Care Joy Arnot - Deputy Dean

We are a small group of caring people, committed to sharing the load, with those going through difficult times. We have welcomed the positive outcome, experienced by those whom we have supported. All personal information is treated with respect and confidentiality. If you would like your own name put on our 'Prayer Tree' please speak with Catherine Jones directly, or contact the St Michael's office and ask for a message to be forwarded. If this request involves another person, please seek their permission first. 'A prayer may be a wordless inner longing, a sudden outpouring of love, a cry in the darkness for help, when all seems lost.' (Paul Gallico) Catherine Jones, Prayer Tree Leader

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Our minister, Rev Dr Margaret is available for pastoral care meetings by phone. Please phone the office to arrange this.

https://www.facebook.com/stmichaelsmelbourne/

https://www.youtube.com/user/StMichaelsChurch/videos

Podcast: www.soundcloud.com/stmichaelsunitingchurch

In light of the Premier’s continuation of the State of Emergency in Victoria, St Michael’s Sunday Gatherings will be offered online for the foreseeable future. Links to videos, orders of service and the latest eNews are on the front page of our website.

at St Michael’s are postponed until further notice.

is currently suspended. However, we will begin

offering Telehealth services (with the counsellors working from home) for existing clients within the next two weeks. If you require counselling, please contact the office and we will get back to you as soon as possible.