17th December Bulletin

15 Dec

Written By Sonya Gubbins

The Anglican Parish of Tamborine Mountain

17th December 2023

Fourth Sunday of Advent

St. George’s, Tamborine Mountain

2 Dapsang Drive, Tamborine Mountain

Sunday: 10.00am Eucharist & 4.00 pm Eucharist

St. Luke’s, Canungra

15-21 Kidston Street, Canungra

Sunday: 8.00am Eucharist

We are a Christian faith community living in the way of Christ accepting and welcoming all in loving service, growing Christ’s future on Earth.

Sentence for the Day

This child will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High.

He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever,

and of his kingdom there will be no end.

Luke 1.32–33

Collect of the Day

Gracious God,

whose eternal Word took flesh among us

when Mary placed her life at the service of your will:

prepare our hearts for his coming again

and keep us steadfast in hope,

that we may be ready for the coming of his kingdom;

for his sake, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Liturgy: via PowerPoint + APBA Colour – Purple

Readings:

2 Samuel 7.1-11, 16; Psalm 89.1-4,19-27; Romans 16.25-27; Luke 1.26-38

We acknowledge and pay our respects to the Wanggeriburra people of the Yugambeh Nation, the traditional owners and ongoing custodians of the land on which we gather, and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people worshipping with us today.

A note from Helen

We have often portrayed Mary as someone who was ‘perfect’, or ‘different’ from the rest of the human race. As if she ‘had no sin’; as if she also was the product of a ‘virgin birth’, but there is nothing in our Scriptures which would support this, and to say that she was chosen to be the mother of God’s son because she was ‘unlike’ the rest of us diminishes our connection to God. Mary, in being called to be mother of God’s son, is ‘every woman’ or ‘every person’. We are all called by God, in challenging times, to give birth to God’s new age. And, like Mary, we all have probably, at challenging times, responded to God with a similar response to the one uttered by Mary. How can this be? Are you really asking me to do this? Are you sure you want me to do this? So, the question we need to answer is, are we, like Mary, willing to say ‘yes’, to take that leap of faith and walk into new adventures way out of our comfort zone. Mary shows us, not how to be ‘perfect’ or ‘different’, but simply how to say ‘yes’ to what appears unexpected and impossible.

NOTICES

Christmas Service Times

20th December - Carols by Torchlight - St Luke’s 6.30pm

24th December - Christmas Eve Pageant on the Lawn - St George’s 5.00pm

24th December - Midnight Eucharist - St George’s - 11.30pm

25th December - Christmas Eucharist-St Luke’s 8.00am & St George’s-10.00am

Please note: no morning services on Sunday 24th. Talk to Helen if this was going to be your only opportunity for church over Christmas.

Rev’d Helen Upcoming Leave

Rev’d Helen will be on leave from the 1st to the 14th of January, 2024.

For urgent matters please contact a warden.

There will be no 4pm services until the 28th of January.

AGM 1 December 10

We congratulate everyone who was elected at the AGM. Their names can be found on the notice board.

Christmas Pageant:

You are invited to be a part of the Singing Group/Choir for the Christmas Pageant which will be on Sunday 24 December at 5.00pm at St George’s.

In preparation there will be a rehearsal on Saturday morning, the 23rd of December at 8.30am at St George’s.

Hymns

Introit 143 Immortal, invisible

Gradual 322 The north wind

Offertory 233 I will sing the wondrous story

Missional 161 Tell out my soul

Year’s Mind Anniversaries this month: Sylvia Tomlinson, Yvonne Cossins, George Curtis, May Finch, Nancy Lovell, Garry Mailer, Beryl Jenyns, Tom Powell, Sylvia Perkins, Raymond Curtis, Vincent Youngman, Jean Jenyns, Wendy Lyne, Robin Keeley

Intercessions – prepared by Keith

As Mary waits for the birth of her child, so we wait, O God, for the time of your coming, for you call us, too, to bring the Saviour to the world.

We pray for your world: For the poor and the hungry, the refugee and displaced; for those experiencing trauma and war ….. and for all who wait to hear your good news of peace and justice.